G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #142

#142 – “Final Transformations”

Writer: Larry Hama
Pencilers: Jesse Orozco, William Rosado

Summary:

Just as Megatron is about to stomp on Scarlett, the Autobots arrive to start a big firefight. Scarlett gets in a duel with Cobra Commander, Zarana and a battalion of Alley-Vipers, but is saved by Snake-Eyes. Megatron makes a big ol’ explosion with one of his new abilities: “imploding neutrons”.

Spirit and Storm Shadow sneak a cache of deactivated Autobots into the Ark (along with an unexpected stowaway: Spike Witwicky). Megatron blows up more shit, grabs Dr. Biggles-Jones and flies away in the Ark.

Notes:

• All of the junk with Biggles-Jones and the Transformers was continued in the new “Transformers: Generation 2” comic. The Joes made a cameo appearance in the first two issues.
• Letters page announced that this was the last time the Transformers would be in this comic.
• Cobra Commander whines that their cover in Millville (now spelled without an “e” once again) has been blown. So for all intents and purposes, this is the end of the Millville subplot.
• Megatron blows away several Autobots: specificallly Steel-Jaw, Override and Chase.
• Hotspot is called “Hotshot” initially. I originally thought Hotspot was Optimus Prime… but had to read this thing several times when trying to ID everyone. After Googling, I found out that Hotspot looked similar to Prime, but they were two different guys.
• Spike Witwicky (old Transformers human sidekick) talks about his “internal sensors”. So he’s a cyborg or something?
• Spirit and Storm Shadow drive what may or may not be the Rolling Thunder.
• Snake-Eyes is holding Dice, but the Alley Vipers ask him to let “Slice” go. I wouldn’t score this an error, since it’s understandable that Cobra flunkies would get them confused.
• I take back what I said earlier: THIS is my least favorite GI Joe comic. The Joes and Cobra do little more than bicker and run around while the Transformers duke it out.
• Things improve a little bit with the next issue, but I still believe that this Transformers garbage and the 4 part “Ninja Force Saga” sent the book on its big sales decline. Longtime fans were still picking the book up, but these 8 or 9 issues taxed even them. The book also had a lot of scheduling problems with the last three issues, so that hurt even more.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Spirit, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Zarana, Slice, Dice

Characters (“comic-only”): Dr. Biggles-Jones, Spike Witwicky

Transformers: Megatron, Chase, Override, Skydive, Steel-Jaw, Brawn, “Hotshot”/Hotspot

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Rolling Thunder (?), Cobra Detonator

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): none

Firsties:
Characters: none

Vehicles and stuff: Cobra Detonator

Rating: 1 Flag Point