Transformers #6 - Video Review by 80s Comics

Welcome back to 80s comics where I ask the big questions like, can’t murderous ill‑tempered robots that transform into guns just get along. No, because that would be boring. This is The Transformers issue number six from July of 1985 featuring Shockwave and Megatron battling on the cover for supremacy and control of the Decepticons.

This is a great issue of The Transformers. The early Transformers issues are just fantastic. Before they started adding more characters and the annoying human characters, or the additional annoying human characters that should be squashed and ground up, they were really good. There he is, Shockwave, not coming to save the day but to ruin it for all of these humans on their fancy oil platform, their oil rig. What do you call this thing. The oil rig.

The Worst of Two Evils, an appropriate title for this terrific issue of The Transformers, capably handled by this creative team. I love Alan Kupferberg’s art style on The Transformers. It is very cartoonish but also very solid and technically sound at the same time. It has a nice style, a little bit different than Frank Springer and many of the other artists.

So Shockwave just absolutely lays waste to these idiot humans who are trying to battle him with silly little helicopters and missiles. Dumbass humans. Shockwave is attacking the oil platform owned by G.B. Blackrock, who is poor man’s Tony Stark, because Shockwave wants the energy and the oil. So he rids the oil platform of all of the irritating humans. G.B. Blackrock just yells at things and these kids sit patiently on their BMX bike. This is a really fun issue because it is one of the few times that we really get to see Shockwave in his prime. He is kicking ass. He blows up a bunch of humans, electrocutes a few of them, drops heavy metal things on them, squashes them, steps on them, taunts them, makes fun of them, threatens them. And there is Megatron still strapped to the wall because in one of the previous issues Megatron was defeated by Shockwave. Shockwave takes control of the Decepticons.

I love these panels here. It is good art. Kupferberg’s style is very cool for The Transformers. I like this part here. I wonder if this would have made sense had you not seen the cartoon, because the cartoon always made it very clear that Soundwave and Frenzy and Rumble could shrink and then hop into one of the jets. I think he does his best here to try to convey this using panels for those of you who in 1985 may not have seen the cartoons. They shrink and then jump into the jet and then fly off. It does not make any sense, but it does not need to. Paper quality is pretty good in this issue. Ink quality is nice.

And here we have the other part of the story where Optimus Prime’s severed head has also been captured by Shockwave in the Ark. And then Buster Witwicky sneaks in there with the help of Ratchet in the previous issue. Nice facial expressions. He is going to help Optimus Prime by basically jump‑starting his brain. Does not seem like the safest thing to do really. I am surprised he is still alive, but we actually do not know what happens to Optimus. You have to keep reading.

We get some threatening between the Decepticons, but this part is great. As if the Decepticons are not bad enough when they are just trying to kill the humans, they also kill humans when they are trying to kill each other. And that is why the Decepticons are so awesome. They just cause destruction wherever they go. They ruin this high school football stadium or whatever that we obviously do not care about. But Megatron frees himself, blows Shockwave out the side of the mountain, and they battle like two giant monsters and Ultraman. But Ultraman is nowhere to be found because this is The Transformers, not Ultraman. I feel like Ultraman would just sit back with some popcorn and watch all this unfold.

It is fun just to watch the two of them battle and it sets the stage for the next couple issues. But this one is one of my favorites. The first six, seven, eight Transformers comics are the best. They are the best in the entire series. As a big fan of Shockwave, I love how he just tosses Megatron around in this issue. He wipes the floor with him, crushes human buildings and puny 1980s automobiles. It is a great issue for Shockwave lovers. Megatron really is not a good leader. Shockwave is a much better evil Decepticon leader in my opinion. Great cover. Great issue of The Transformers. Highly, highly recommended by 80scomics.com. And it is also approved by the Comics Code Authority, if that is important to you. It is important to me.

Megatron, you suck. He is in pain. That is so funny. Stupid ass.