“Getting fuel is a piece of cake!” “Cake is fuel?”
Like the man once said, “It’s called show business, not show art.” So let’s talk business.
This issue marks the first appearance of Josie as Circuit Breaker in The Transformers, but it’s not the first time Circuit Breaker appeared in a Marvel comic. That would be a scene in Secret Wars II #3, which came out a month before Transformers #9. In that story, she tells the Beyonder, an omnipotent being visiting Earth, that she was “crippled by a robot” and now uses her “circuitized exoskeleton” to strike back at those “soulless mockeries of life” who have “no true free will, no spirit, no creativity — because they lack the spark of life!” The Beyonder then dismisses her and… well, that’s about it.
Later in that series, the heroes of Earth band together to try and defeat the Beyonder, but Circuit Breaker wasn’t among them because her brief appearance in the mini-series had already served its purpose; namely, to secure Marvel’s ownership of the character. Hasbro’s licensing agreement with Marvel made it clear that any new characters debuting in The Transformers would become their property, so Budiansky and editor-in-chief Jim Shooter arranged for Circuit Breaker to make a cameo appearance in Secret Wars II before she showed up in this issue. That way, they would have a legal claim to the character and share in the profits of any future appearances she might make in the Transformers franchise.
(Although when you think about it, Hasbro had a valid claim to the rights for Josie Beller, Circuit Breaker’s alter ego, so while Marvel could say it owned the “Circuit Breaker” trademark name and look, it probably wouldn’t have been able to use Josie’s name if they wanted to put out more Circuit Breaker stories — or to put it another way, it would be like if one company owned the rights to Clark Kent and another company owned the rights to Superman. And to make it even more confusing, the Circuit Breaker in Secret Wars II was later retconned to be an entirely different character than the one in the Transformers comics after Marvel decided the Transformers stories would not take place in their “official” universe… which means that — if Hasbro were so inclined — the toymakers might have a case that the version of Circuit Breaker appearing in this issue is their property free and clear. This is why lawyers charge by the hour.)
| “Dis-Integrated Circuits!” The Transformers #9 October 1985 Cover Art: Mike Manley
CREDITS |
ROLL CALL Autobots Bluestreak; Brawn; Bumblebee; Cliffjumper; Gears; Hound; Huffer; Ironhide; Jazz; Mirage; Optimus Prime; Prowl; Ratchet; Sideswipe; Wheeljack; Windcharger Decepticons |
In the years since, other publishers reprinting Marvel’s Transformers stories have had to negotiate with the publisher for the right to print stories featuring Circuit Breaker, but (as far as I’m aware) she’s yet to make an appearance in any Transformers cartoon, film, or other part of the franchise in ways that would net Budiansky or Marvel a nice payday for permitting her use. So was it worth it? I’d say so — at the time, there would have been no way of knowing how big the Transformers franchise was going to be, or how much profit there would be in owning a part of it. Both Budiansky and Marvel were paid for the stories they produced on behalf of Hasbro, sure, but it’s hard to fault them for wanting a piece of the pie — and Circuit Breaker or no, there’s no denying these comic stories played a huge part in building the Transformers franchise in its early years.
“Dis-Integrating Circuits” begins when G.B. Blackrock, while driving practice laps on a racetrack, is interrupted by General Capshaw, who shows up in person to voice his concerns about Blackrock’s plans to unveil a new weapon designed to destroy the Transformers.”Until the army determines who is behind these machines, we think it unwise to needlessly publicize your problem,” he says. (You heard it here first: a member of the American military advocating restraint.) Blackrock shrugs him off (which I guess you can do to the U.S. military if you’re rich enough), and rushes off to visit the still-paralyzed Josie in her hospital room.
We get a flashback to when she was injured in Shockwave’s attack on the Blackrock facility (I get the feeling we’re doing to see that image more often than Martha Wayne’s pearls) as she agrees he needs to take action; in fact, she’s been working on something that might help him get back at “those robots,” showing off a little doohickey she rigged up to fly “using an electromagnetic field to repel itself from ferrous objects.” Blackrock compliments her ingenuity and suggests they talk about this later, while thinking to himself he hopes she forgets about getting even with the robots… “because what I let them take away from her is more than I can repay… and I won’t let them hurt her again!”
Hey, isn’t this a comic starring big giant robots? Why, yes, it is. We switch scenes to “a rock-strewn plain near Mount St. Hilary in Oregon’s Cascades Range” where the Autobots are test-driving their newly repaired bodies. With Optimus Prime’s head still in the hands of the Decepticons, Prowl has assumed temporary command, and he authorizes Jazz and Wheeljack to strike a deal with Blackrock in which they offer protection against the Decepticons in return for fuel. After some confusion, Blackrock agrees to their terms…
…and just in time, too, as a radio report about Blackrock’s new “anti-robot photonic cannon” has riled up the Decepticons, who have enough problems with the “most inefficient” slave labor working for them at the Blackrock aerospace plant they seized as their base of operations. After he permits a mission to destroy the weapon, Shockwave checks in on the “head” (ha!) of the Autobots to gloat over the fact that Prime is being used to create “the next generation of Decepticons” (“Just in time for Christmas 1985!”). Little does Shockwave know, however, that Prime has transferred his life-bestowing Prime Matrix to a human — “and you’ll never find out who he is!” Cut to Buster in his dad’s garage having a raging headache before realizing he can repair car engines “with a single thought” but who cares about that twerp because…
…it’s time for Circuit Breaker to make her dramatic entrance! Fresh from the hospital room she just escaped from, Josie arrives at Blackrock’s office to show him what she’s been working on, a metal exoskeleton designed to compensate for her paralysis while also giving her flight, super-hacking skills, and offensive blast-hurling capabilities against the Transformers. It’s an impressive demonstration, but Blackrock — still feeling the guilt of putting her in harm’s way — pleads with her to go back to the hospital and let him deal with the robots, a suggestion Circuit Breaker does not take well.
Everything is now in place for the big action set piece of the story, which takes place at the same racetrack we saw at the start of this issue. While Starscream and Frenzy race to the scene, Blackrock unveils his giant weapon for the press, only to have it fizzle out when it turns on. Whoops — turns out Circuit Breaker sabotaged the weapon by hacking its systems, and she demands Blackrock name her as “the real secret weapon you intended to use all along!” Before he can agree, though, all hell breaks loose as Starscream and Frenzy swoop in to attack, and when Wheeljack and Jazz transform to protect Blackrock and the other humans, Circuit Breaker starts attacking them, refusing to see any difference between them and the Decepticons.
The story ends with the Decepticons forced to retreat, and Blackrock pleading with Circuit Breaker to spare the lives of the two injured Autobots: “I don’t want your help if it destroys innocent beings!” She blows up the mock robot from the demonstration, and considers all debts paid as she walks away. “But the next time we meet, I’m on my own! And nothing you say will stop me!” Of that I have no doubt.
Random Observations:
Make mine Marvel: As if Circuit Breaker’s appearance in Secret Wars II didn’t make it clear, the general’s choice of newspaper shows we’re still living in the official Marvel universe, at least for now. Though the fact the newly established West Coast Avengers couldn’t be arsed to travel a few hours up the Pacific coast to deal with this giant robot situation suggests otherwise.
You know, I’m not the warmongering type or someone who wants to see America’s national defense in the hands of self-interested billionaires like Blackrock, but… he kinda has a point, no? Even if no one on Earth knows the Transformers are a sentient alien species, we’ve still got a situation where an oil rig in American waters was destroyed and a factory on American soil has been taken over by unknown forces, to say nothing of the hostages the Decepticons are keeping as slave labor. It’s just a little weird how the tone among the military brass we’ve seen so far has been more “real shame you’ve got that infestation problem in your factory, G.B., but let’s keep it on the down-low, eh?” and less “HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITFIREALLTHENUKESNOW!!!”
Speaking of things that don’t seem logical: the last time we checked in on Josie in the hospital, we learned she couldn’t move her arms on her own and could barely type with her fingers (which doesn’t seem likely if her arm is paralyzed, but never mind that for now). We saw in the previous issue how she used robotic arms (irony!) to make the beginnings of her super-exoskeleton, and now she’s fully clothed (so to speak) and showing up ready for battle. Why wasn’t Blackrock aware of what she was doing in the hospital room that he paid for and visited often? Why would she show him that little flying doohickey device when he visited her instead of the full suit that she clearly had at least partially completed? Why wasn’t anyone in the hospital aware of what she was building or, if they were aware, why weren’t they informing Blackrock about what Josie was up to? How did a nearly fully paralyzed Josie get herself into that exoskeleton without anyone helping? Where are the frantic calls from the Blackrock corporation’s finance and procurement departments to Blackrock’s voicemail about the millions in equipment someone was requisitioning for Josie’s hospital room? The answer to these questions, as it is to so many others, is: “comics.”
Yep, Starscream is a dick: What, you thought Megatron’s disappearance would mean we’ve seen the end of Starscream’s ambition? Oh, you sweet summer child. Here, he manipulates Shockwave into giving him permission to destroy a human weapon that could mean trouble for the Decepticons… unless Starscream decides to keep it for himself.
Budiansky modeled Circuit Breaker after Marvel colorist and production designer Janet “Jay Jay” Jackson. From her bio: “Jackson brought a state-of-the-art sophistication to Marvel’s advertising pages, feature pages and non-comics editorial pages; and introduced a number of cost-cutting and technological improvements to Marvel’s printing and production processes. Her outstanding work and thorough mastery of printing and production led to a rapid promotion to Art Director of Advertising.” Good on her.
Oh, here’s something I’m only just now noticing, nearly 40 years (gak) after reading this comic for the first time. So the whole reason Shockwave keeps Optimus Prime’s head alive is because he wants the “creation matrix” that he believes Prime to possess. This matrix is apparently what makes it possible to bestow life on newly assembled Transformers. Shockwave wants to create new Transformers so he can build up his army and conquer our “pathetic” world. Makes sense so far. But not only is Shockwave clearly unaware that Prime no longer has the matrix within him, he’s also gloating to his captor about how “the next generation of Decepticons is thriving” thanks to Prime’s unwilling help. So… what gives? Does he need the matrix to make new Decepticons or not? And if he does, then how come it appears as if things are going according to plan even though Prime has pawned the matrix off on someone else and therefore can’t give Shockwave the one thing he needs to make new Decepticons? Maybe we’ll find out how this all works in another issue, but since it’s a subplot that involves Buster… enh. I’m kind of good if they don’t, you know?
And that’s why they call it the ’80s, Part 1: One of the challenges Budiansky faced as a writer was creating distinct personalities for each of the Transformers; another was finding ways to make an alien species with no knowledge of Earth culture more relatable to Marvel’s culture-soaked readers. Killing two birds with one stone, Budiansky anointed Jazz as the Autobots’ resident super-fan of Earth culture which, in the mid-1980s, means he’s obsessed with Madonna’s “Material Girl” playing on his radio. Meh, I was more of a “Crazy for You” guy myself.
And that’s why they call it the ’80s, Part 2: The “next issue” line promising the arrival of the Constructicons says they’re going to “PHONE HOME” when they show up — an obvious reference to the line “E.T. phone home!” from the 1982 blockbuster film. Between that and the “Who you gonna call?” line from Ghostbusters, about 27% of our cultural memes back then were phone-related.
Next Issue: “Constructicons — PHONE HOME!”
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