G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #6

Credits

Story - Josh Blaylock / Pencils - Mike S. Miller / Inks - Armando Durruthy, Cory Hamscher / Letters - Dreamer Design / Colors - Lynx Studio

Story

As four ICBMs with nuclear warheads are launched towards Cobra Island, Hawk tells the troops they've got five minutes before they hit. Wheeljack, however, has an idea, and heads for the control center, along with Mainframe, Sci-Fi, and Bumblebee. The center is mostly deserted, except for a cowering Dr. Mindbender, who is quickly recruited to their cause. As they work on retargeting the SPS, one of Firefly's bombs explode, and several Cobras in SNAKE armor burst into the room! Firefly and Storm Shadow open fire, but Bumblebee, Cover Girl, and Sci-Fi hold them off while the others reprogram the satellite.

After a burst of inspired programming, the Joes successfully manage to reprogram the SPS to vaporize the missiles out of the sky. But the celebrations are short-lived -- one of the satellite controls was damaged in the firefight, and now the satellite is randomly firing beams of energy all along the island! It's total chaos outside, as Transformers and humans alike are suddenly being blasted by random power beams from the skies.

Admist the insanity, Cobra Commander redoubles his efforts to get away. He runs into the fallen Starscream, who quickly makes a deal -- if Cobra Commander will help refuel him, they can escape together...

Elsewhere, Megatron is also trying to escape, but is blocked by a squad of Joes. They open fire, which merely prompts Megatron to fight back. Mercer is vaporized by a random energy beam, and that's followed a second later by a second blast that takes out Megatron's left hand! A recharged Optimus Prime arrives a moment later, and the two fight; despite Megatron's best efforts, Prime handily defeats him, taking his fusion cannon in the process. Optimus then radios Mainframe for the coordinates of the USSPS -- and armed with the information, uses the fusion cannon to vaporize the SPS!

Seeral weeks later, Optimus Prime and Hawk are on the tarmac of a launch site. Prime thanks the humans for their help in the construction of a new Ark; Hawk admits the technology exchange benefitted them as well, and shows off several new G.I. Joe battlesuits. As the Joes watch, the Ark takes off, returning the Transformers to Cybertron.

Elsewhere, at an abandoned airstrip in the Florida Keys, Starscream and Cobra Commander bicker as the Commander tries to repair an old jet engine. And in a secret underground base in New Mexico, a group of government engineers report success at reverse-engineering and repairing a set of Decepticon parts that were "lost" after the Cobra Island battle. One researcher expects to have results surpassing Cobra's efforts within a year, even as he resumes working on Megatron...

Notes and Comments

• Mercer is a classic case study for Bad Writing 101. He comes out of nowhere, exists solely as a deus ex machina to nudge the Joes in the right directions, and is then unceremoniously wiped out once his utility has come to an end. Why was he even in this comic, and do we care?