So unfortunately I still can’t find any of the Spider-Man/Peter Pan lid comics outside of the one I own. I see them for sale but no scans online come up in search. Maybe next cycle.
Instead it’s back to the Starriors, the Protectors search for Man and the Destructors search to stop them…or at least the one who actually knows their goal. Based on the Tomy toyline, we’re up to #4 in the mini-comic series, which is the same number of issues as the shelf comic, but not our last mini-comic. All of those thus far are up and reviewed if you want to do a search. This one features a Starrior that shares the name with my favorite GoBot. This won’t be a problem for the shelves because there’s no toy of him. It’s a character created for the comic. Also, he’s dead. Oddly, having one less hero to fight isn’t the good part for Slaughter Steelgrave. It’s how he plans to turn this against Hotshot and his crew that will make this worthwhile for him.
Instead, it’s a trick that will let one of the Destructors know what the Protectors are actually seeking. Too bad that won’t help him.
That’s nothing. You should see the bees.
Starriors #4
Marvel/Tomy (1984)
“The Trap”
Again, we have no creator credits, like the other Starriors mini-comics. It’s a shame when they don’t put their names on a work. I guess they don’t want “the toy comic” to be on their resumes unless it’s on the shelf being sold. We’ve seen good and bad pack-in mini-comics before, so it’s not a new thing. I wish they have more respect for this work. If Marvel is making these, why not put your writers and artists in there so fans know who made them? DC never had that problem.
[Read along with me courtesy of Virtualnaut]
Our story begins after another battle. Slaughter Steelgrave questions why the Protectors would keep moving on knowing the Destructors are the only ones with the transfer rings, the plot device that allows a Starrior’s mind to be transferred to a new body. There’s debate on whether it’s foolishness or courage, but Slaughter (the only one who knows what the Protectors are really after and wants to maintain his own power) doesn’t care. “Heroism” must be discouraged, and that’s why they control the rings. They find the body of the Protector named Scooter. It’s dead, but not very damaged.
Backfire (who does have a toy) is the only one who shares the body type so he’s the only one who can be transferred into Scooter’s body. Slaughter’s plan is for Backfire to lead the Protectors into a trap so Deadeye can blow them all away. Backfire isn’t happy about being in a Protector body, especially one with a damaged axle, but he wasn’t exactly asked his opinion, so he’s sent off to make the trap happen, faking an escape that sees him being rescued by Thinktank, who doesn’t think a bot he thought was permanently off-lined being attacked by a surprisingly easy to run off Speedtrap (hey, that’s what I named my SWAT recolor of Energon Prowl from K-Mart–remember K-Mart?) isn’t suspicious. So much for his name. Thinktank tells “Scooter” that he was scouting for the battlestation believed to house the sleeping survivors of humanity, which is of course news to Backfire, so Thinktank coming up with the “amnesia” excuse works in his favor. “Thinktank” is like calling him “Tiny”, isn’t it?
Using his unintentional cover story to his advantage, Backfire/Scooter tells them of his escape and that he spotted a battlestation (which is of course in the area where the trap is supposed to be sprung). He’s rather surprised at how Scooter’s friends treat him, something Backfire doesn’t get from his allies, in part because he lives up to his name and screws up a lot. This leads to him questioning his trick the next morning as Hotshot leads the group to the destination where they think the battlestation is and Deadeye is waiting for them. “Scooter” and Crank are damaged so they stay behind until Crank tells his allegedly memoryless friend about the battlestation and sleeping Man. Realizing how big a mistake he made, Backfire tries to stop them, but with Scooter’s axle damaged he can’t get there fast enough. He tries instead to tell Deadeye what’s really going on.
“Blowing you up will surely fix you. Slaughter is a genius!”
Too bad Deadeye is a moron and Backfire is called Backfire for a reason.
This does, however, activate plan B: Deadeye’s shooting alerts the Protectors to his presence, unaware that their friend just died. Technically he was already dead and this was just another mind in his body, but they already didn’t know that. Otherwise, Deadeye’s not a bad guy for a literal tower of death and destruction who loves his job way too much, and asks Slaughter to put Backfire back in his actual body. Suspecting he learned of his enemy’s quest for Man, Slaughter actually does secretly cause amnesia by deleting information about the mission, leaving Backfire to wonder why he feels like left something behind…because he did. He got to experience actual friendship through Scooter’s eyes and learned that he’s actually part of the bad guys by stopping them from awakening the humans they’re supposed to be rebuilding the planet for.
It’s a tragic ending that falls a bit short of the time and panel count needed to really sell Backfire’s time with the Protectors. I may even be exaggerating that connection, but not on purpose. I see the story there, had Backfire truly been given storytime to experience life as Scooter and feel his place was here, questioning his loyalties between his commander and the guy who don’t hate him for all his blunders. Then learning about Man solidifying his decision not to blow them up as they need him to fulfill their actual purpose. He doesn’t know Slaughter Steelgrave is already aware of that purpose and working against the Protectors for his own ends, but now he doesn’t even know what the Protectors are really after. It’s a shame, really. For one moment he knew what it was like for bots to actually like him, and he’ll never remember, nor remember that Man might still live. This might be my favorite comic of this series thus far. We still have more to visit, but that’s way down the line.
Next time we’re getting DC one way or another. Either it’s more Superman and Sugar Smacks tales from 1955 or an Aquaman centered story from the 1980s, which we’ll get to after that anyway. What’s next? Find out in our next promo filled adventure!
BW Media Spotlight 