Transformers Comic issue 7

« Titan Transformers Comic #7 »
"Your letter sucks."
Publisher	Titan Magazines
First published	3 January 2008
Editor	Steve White
Deputy editor	Den Patrick
Designer	Danny Preston
Publishing manager	Darryl Curtis

They're coming to get you, Bumblebee...

Contents

Starscream's Militia

6:52 PM - At Starscream's command, Barricade, Blackout and Devastator have risen from beyond the grave—and the Autobots can't stop them!

Less than half an hour ago - Megatron was killed. Starscream nominates himself supreme commander of the Decepticons now that there's no one around to object, though he notes he'll probably need some Decepticons alive to command. Noticing a few rampaging AllSpark Mutations, he systematically kills them, harvests their AllSpark energy, and uses it to turn the Decepticon corpses into zombies under his direct command.

Back in the present, the Autobots have no idea how to stop the relentless zombies, and Ratchet has no idea how they can possibly be walking around. Optimus states that they can't let them continue unchecked, but as Ratchet is smacked aside, he's forced to admit he doesn't know what to do—"Allspark [sic] help me, Ironhide, I just don't know!". With his power still drained from fighting Megatron, he is similarly unsure how long he can keep fighting...

Luckily, Ratchet works out the zombies are being controlled by corrupted AllSpark energy and tells the others to target their weapons on such energy signatures. Doing so, they swiftly kill the zombies. However, Starscream's escaped from the city and still has several sources of AllSpark power...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Articles & features

Have murdering soulless monsters on your bedroom wall watching you as you sleep, kids!

• Character Profile: Frenzy
• Top Gear: A chance to win a Star Wars Transformers toy and a High Score 100 toy.
• How to Draw Megatron feature: "If you found this one a bit difficult to draw...well, it's all part of Megatron's evil plans!"
• An utterly awesome zombie Decepticon poster by Geoff Senior.
• Star Screams: Letters and art from readers, answered by Starscream.

Free Gift

• "Fab Free Holographic Gift!": a notebook with holographic "transforming" Optimus Prime cover, and a pen

Reprints

Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.

• Transformers: Movie Prequel, part 3a (7 pages)
• Beast Wars: The Gathering, part 3a (7 pages)

Quotes

Strip

"We're not stopping them!"
"How can we? They're already dead!"

—The Autobots set the scene

"Lacking any other candidates, I therefore nominate myself as supreme commander of the Decepticon forces. Any objections? No. Good."

—Starscream

"You used to say "Never say die", Prime, but, I'll admit, right now it seems a wholly inappropriate sentiment!"

—Ironhide

Star Screams

Don't blame Titan, you voted for this guy.

"I personally don't care for this meat-sack human you call 'Furman' - he sounds too much like a Maximal to me. Perhaps one that looks like a strategically shaved ape. Especially on the head."

"I also enjoy [this comic], especially watching it burst into flames when I hit my afterburners."

"Hairs on your arms? Urgh, you carbon-based creatures with your various fluids disgust me."

"The pitiful humans at Titan Magazines have been warned about their Autobot propaganda. Much more of this drivel and we'll destroy the entire office."

"This 'mum' you speak of sounds much like Megatron; she clearly lacks any clarity of vision and has no sense of priority. Perhaps you should pledge yourself to another leader, one more flexible and gifted with foresight..."

Production notes

• The cover is a stock image of Starscream, despite Titan having paid Geoff Senior to do a zombie Decepticon image. It is possible this was originally going to be a cover, but Titan decided to change it at the last moment for commercial considerations (an even more last-minute change of covers would happen for #18).
• For some reason, the dead Decepticons have turned grey. Based on his work on #1, it may just be Robin Smith's coloring decision rather than anything written into the script.
• Simon Williams was originally announced as the artist on Furman's Wordpress.^[1]

Continuity notes

Taaaaste the reeeaaal thiiiing...

• This issue contains the first post-movie comic strip by any company. It is set between the movie's final battle and the dumping of the Decepticon corpses into the ocean.
• Megatron was killed around 6:27 PM.
• This story features an Allspark-animated soda can machine, but it's not clear if it is supposed to be Dispensor, or if it's another one that we didn't see before that was just inspired by Dispensor's appearance in the film. It sure as heck doesn't look like Dispensor, but with this art...
• The AllSpark-animated machines have solidified AllSpark energy within them that can be removed and used for other things; it resembles a small, red AllSpark.
• The story is clearly meant to set up some future tales as Starscream flies off with a cockpit of Allspark energy and plans to be leader. "Is it truly over?", Optimus worries. Yes, it is, as Titan will decide from #9 to run an alternate universe story instead. It's unclear when the choice was made, as Furman (at Wordpress again) was talking about how strips going up to #12 would all be 'epilogues'

Errors

• The story says the battle is taking place in "downtown Los Angeles," even though it should be Mission City.
  • Revenge of the Fallen also identifies the battle as having taken place in Los Angeles.
• Brawl's left arm is sawed off by Ratchet in the movie. Yet, in here, both of his arms are intact.
• Barricade is among the dead Decepticons reanimated by Starscream. Except, whoops, he was never killed in the finished film, he's hanging around not-dead in The Reign of Starscream, and Star Screams would state in later issues that Barricade was alive, to say nothing of his appearance in Dark of the Moon. Sod it, we'll just claim "alternate timeline"...

References