#3 - "Prisoner of War!"

Credits

Writer - Jim Salicrup / Penciler - Frank Springer / Inker - Demulder & Esposito / Lettering - Chiang & others / Colors - Nel Yomtov

Story

With the kidnapped Sparkplug Witwicky, the Decepticons retreat to their newly-built mountain fortress. There, Megatron tries to convince the human into giving the fuel-conversion process to the Decepticons. While Buster and the Autobots return to the Ark for fuel and repairs, Sparkplug is convinced into helping Megatron (with some help from Laserbeak). Sparkplug then sends the Decepticons on various errands, stealing equipment and supplies.

The Decepticons' activities eventually attract human attention. The U.S. Army surrounds the mountain fortress, closely followed by the news media. While the Decepticons battle the Army, photojournalist Peter Parker sneaks behind the lines as Spider-Man. He meets up with Gears, and at first mistakes him for a Decepticon. But after Gears saves a crowd of humans from being crushed by a flying tank, Spider-Man is convinced that the Autobots are the good guys. He then helps sneak Optimus Prime and the Autobots past the Army's perimeter, where they help battle the Decepticons.

Do not look at the super-hero! This scene never happened!
--Marvel Comics

While the Autobots, the Decepticons, and the Army fight in front of the fortress, Gears and Spider-Man sneak in from the rear. They fight through the Decepticon ranks and rescue Sparkplug, but Gears falls to his death during the escape. The Autobots gather Gears' parts, then return to the Ark with Sparkplug and Spider-Man. Gears is reassembled and Spider-Man leaves, whereupon Gears reveals that Sparkplug has given the Decepticons a supply of Transformers-compatible fuel.

Notes and Comments

• The cover was labeled "#3 in a four-issue limited series."
• Sparkplug Witwicky's first name is given as "William" here, and we also learn that he was a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Marines, and served in Korea. However, Lance Corporal William Dourte notes that "Sergeant First Class" is used by the U.S. Army, and not the Marines; the equivalent ranking in the Marines would be Gunnery Sergeant. So is Sparkplug actually a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines, or a Sergeant First Class in the Army? You decide.
• Starting with this issue, Ironhide and Ratchet are drawn as humanoid robots, instead of the "sled" designs of their respective toys.
• This issue firmly established that the events in the Transformers limited series occurred in the mainstream Marvel comic book continuity. In addition to the appearance of Spider-Man, there were cameos and/or references to Nick Fury and "Dum Dum" Dugan (of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dazzler, Mister Fantastic (of the Fantastic Four), and Robbie Robertson of the Daily Bugle.
  This proved problematic when the Transformers was extended into an ongoing series, as the ongoing Autobot-Decepticon war would be too disruptive to the rest of Marvel's comics. Ultimately, the events in the Transformers comic were declared as occurring outside of the "Marvel universe," and readers were asked to please ignore all references that indicated otherwise.
  Other Marvel universe references in Transformers include The Savage Land (seen in issue #4 and issue #8), and a guest appearance by Circuit Breaker (introduced in issue #9) in Secret Wars II, issue #3.