Mars Attacks: The Transformers

Mars Attacks: The Transformers
Nice Planet. We'll take it!
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	January 23, 2013
Cover date	January 2013
Written by	Shane McCarthy
Pencils by	Matt Frank
Colors by	Josh Perez
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	Generation 1 continuity family

Martians invade Earth, forcing Optimus Prime and Megatron to put aside their differences and deal with the alien menace.

Synopsis

"Why can't we work out our differences? Why can't we work things out? Little people, why can't we all just get along?"

Following a major battle between the Autobots and Decepticons in a human city, Optimus Prime defeats Megatron, at last bringing the Transformers' war to an end. As the evil robots are carted away by the American military in Wheeljack's new stasis cuffs, Spike cheers for the Autobot victory until a hard-nosed general silences him by angrily questioning his choice of footwear. The general thanks Prime for his effort, certain that nobody will mess with America now... and is then promptly vaporized by a death ray from an invading Martian armada! Ironhide is unimpressed by the big-headed little aliens as they swarm the city streets, but soon changes his tune when their weaponry blows his arm off. Weakened after their long battle, the Autobots seek cover, and Bumblebee translates Martian transmissions calling for the planet's surrender.

Meanwhile, the Martian bombardment strikes the convoy transporting the immobilized Decepticons, freeing them from their stasis cuffs. Confronted by Martian troops, Megatron sees an opportunity and requests to be taken to their leader. Having deduced that the Martians have been watching Earth for some time and only decided to strike after one faction of Transformers had been eliminated, Megatron proposes an alliance, and the Martian leader accepts. The rallying Autobots are shocked to see their old enemies at the Martians' sides, but dive into battle nonetheless—at which point the Martians double-cross Megatron and seal all the Transformers inside a gigantic forcefield.

"We know they're extremely advanced technologically, which suggests - very rightfully so - that they're peaceful. An advanced civilization, by definition, is not barbaric."

As the Martian attack worsens outside their prison, Megatron is forced to accept Optimus Prime's suggestion: that they will have to team up in order to escape and stop the aliens. Megatron has Soundwave and Blaster link their systems, using them to shut down the forcefield with a sonic attack, and the united Autobot/Decepticon forces confront the Martian leader, who deals with Megatron's pontifications by blasting him with a shrink ray that reduces him to the size of a toy. This does little to quash Megatron's destructive power, however, as he is still able to kill the Martian leader with his fusion cannon even at his diminutive size. Starscream sees his leader's loss of height as a chance to take over, but Megatron jumps on his treacherous lieutenant's face and begins clawing at him, sending Starscream into a panicked dash around, with Soundwave chasing after him trying to restore Megatron to his proper size with the appropriated Martian weapon.

The battle continues with 'Bots and 'Cons uneasily teaming up; Prowl saves Astrotrain from one of the giant Martian war machines, while the Insecticons bail out Ironhide and Jazz by proving themselves the superior of the Martians' giant ants. Spike, meanwhile, is surrounded by Martians and about to be blasted when a power pole knocked over during the Insecticons' battle lands in the flooded street, electrocuting all the Martians, but sparing Spike, who is insulated by the trusty rubber boots the general had insulted. Eventually, the Martian ground forces are broken, but their hovering ships prepare to deliver a final attack that will wipe out all the Transformers... only to be foiled by that most unlikely of 'bots, Cosmos, who has been hiding in plain sight amongst the Martian armada in his flying saucer alternate mode and launches a surprise attack that blows the aliens out of the sky! As the remaining Martians flee back to Mars, Prime thanks Megatron and the Decepticons for their help, but after a moment's pause, Megatron assures the Autobots that he's going to go right back to trying to destroy them all!

That's our Megatron!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(iris out)

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Son, what on God's green Earth are you wearing on your feet?"
"What... I... I'm an oil rig worker."
"See any oil rigs around here, kid? No? 'Cause there aren't any. Yellow boots... think it through next time."

—The general is not a fan of Spike's footwear.

"Die, weak yet stylishly dressed human scum!"

—The Martians, on the other hand, love it!

Martians: "Citizens of Earth, surrender now to Martian rule!"
Spike: "Can you understand them, Bumblebee?"
Bumblebee: "Our ability to adapt allows us to understand any new language, like we do with yours."
Spike: "What are they saying?"
Martians: "Surrender now or we shall do unspeakable things to your faces and pets."
Bumblebee: "Nothing good."

Megatron: "Stand before us and quake in fear, Martians! Did you think your feeble trap would hold the might of Megatron?!"
Cliffjumper: "Kind of takes all the credit for himself, doesn't he?"
Thundercracker: "It's a thing."

Optimus Prime: "We've done it, Megatron. By working together, we managed to drive back the invaders. This is an historic day in the history of our race."

...

...

Optimus Prime: "You're just going to go back to trying to kill us, aren't you?"
Megatron: "Absolutely."

—That's all, folks!

Notes

• This issue is one of five one-shot specials released in January 2013 by IDW, in which the Martians of the Mars Attacks franchise—currently being published in comic form by the company—attack different IDW licensed properties, similar to the Infestation events of the previous two years. In addition to the Transformers, the other victims were Popeye, KISS, The Real Ghostbusters and Zombies vs. Robots. There's no complicated dimension-hopping multiversal explanation for the attacks as with Infestation: it's all just a bit of silly fun.
• Pushing the wackiness even further, each of the five issues featured two retailer incentive covers that showed the Martians attacking lots of other comic properties, including current and former IDW licenses, and even books from other companies. The two variants for this issue, listed below, saw Martians attack bad-boy Brit-vamp Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and popular independent comic book Strangers in Paradise.
• The story in this issue is unconnected to the IDW 2005 universe, and instead serves as a broad parody of the original The Transformers cartoon, using minimally-altered versions of its character models and playing on more than a few of its tropes and eccentricities.
• It wouldn't be an homage to the G1 cartoon if Prime and Megatron didn't bust out their energon-axe and mace, respectively.
• Stasis cuffs originated in the Transformers Animated cartoon. Wheeljack is credited with inventing them in this story, though he doesn't actually appear on-panel.

Real-world references

• The martian leader called the Transformers "machine men". Soundwave began to explain how the designation "machine men" was incorrect but was interrupted. "Machine Men" was a line of converting toys sold in America and Australia. In America, the toys were eventually re-branded into the GoBots.

Errors

"My -- my arm! My special arm... there is no other like it!"

• It's Ironhide's left arm that gets blown off by the Martians, but the severed limb itself is consistently drawn as his right arm.
• In the digital version of the issue, the General's line about Spike's boots is missing a full stop after the second "any".

Covers (3)

• Regular cover: Optimus Prime and Megatron fend off a Martian horde, by Ray Dillon. Like all the regular covers for the Mars Attacks one-shots, it is designed to look like a trading card in homage to the franchise's beginnings, with the back cover showing the card's rear, sporting a blurb for the comic's contents.
• Cover RI A: Mars Attacks: Spike, by Franco Urru and Fabio Mantovani.
• Cover RI B: Mars Attacks: Strangers in Paradise, by Terry Moore and Brian Miller.

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