DIS-Integrated Circuits!

	; Decepticon sexual harassment violates you. And it violates the law.
	"DIS-Integrated Circuits!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	June 25, 1985 ("on sale" July 16, 1985)
Cover date	October 1985
Writer	Bob Budiansky
Penciler	Mike Manley
Inks	"M. Hands"
Colors	Nel Yomtov
Letters	Rick Parker
Editor	Jim Owsley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Autobots, now restored, strike a deal with G.B. Blackrock. But one of his former employees has other plans.

Synopsis

"Jack Kirby's Sybian City Saga" never got the attention it deserved, really.

G.B. Blackrock, driving practice laps on a race track, is interrupted by General Capshaw, who expresses concern over Blackrock's plans to unveil a new weapon designed to destroy the Transformers. Blackrock shrugs him off, and goes to visit Josie Beller in her hospital room to update her on the situation. She, in turn, shows Blackrock some technology she's been working on from her hospital bed, causing Blackrock to worry that she may put herself in another dangerous situation in her desire for revenge against the robots who crippled her.

These fears are warranted when Josie escapes from her hospital room, and shows up in Blackrock's office that night, revealing herself as Circuit Breaker, wearing a metal suit designed to compensate for her damaged nervous system and granting her offensive capability against any mechanical form. Blackrock orders her to forget the whole thing and get back to the hospital; Circuit Breaker ignores him and says she's going to do what she has to.

The Autobots have been revived after their imprisonment aboard the Ark, with Prowl in command. They seek a new solution to their fuel shortage, and Jazz takes Wheeljack and goes to strike a deal with G.B. Blackrock. Kidnapping the billionaire, Jazz offers to provide him with protection from the Decepticons in exchange for fuel. After a few confused moments, Blackrock agrees.

Starscream is feeling mutinous after receiving word that the Autobots are online again and that Megatron has disappeared. Shockwave sends him and Frenzy to destroy Blackrock's weapon, allowing them to blow off some steam.

Sparkplug Witwicky's customers are also feeling mutinous, as Buster can only offer fumbling excuses and delays while his father remains in the hospital. Despite tinkering with the automobiles in for repairs, it's all a mystery to him. But another headache-seizure grips him, and in a flash, everything becomes clear—the structure, the problem, everything. Buster repairs an engine block with merely a thought.

Later that day, the unveiling of Blackrock's Anti-Robot Photonic Multi-Cannon is sabotaged by Circuit Breaker, in an effort to get him to announce her as his intended weapon. The Decepticons attack just then. Jazz and Wheeljack transform, intending to make good on their promise to provide Blackrock with protection; but Circuit Breaker, unable to discern between Autobot and Decepticon, severely injures Wheeljack. Between her and Jazz, the Decepticons are driven off, though Jazz is damaged. Although Circuit Breaker spares Jazz at Blackrock's pleading, she destroys his weapon, and severs her ties with him. Blackrock fears she is the only one to have truly lost the day's battle...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Huffer (6) Wheeljack (7) Prowl (8) Jazz (9) Brawn (10) Bumblebee (11) Ironhide (12) Hound (13) Gears (14) Cliffjumper (15) Bluestreak (16) Ratchet (17) Windcharger (18) Sideswipe (19) Mirage (20) Optimus Prime (21)	Starscream (22) Buzzsaw (23) Shockwave (24) Frenzy (25)	Chuck (1) Ames (2) Capshaw (3) G.B. Blackrock (4) Circuit Breaker (5) Buster Witwicky (26)

Quotes

"Getting fuel is a piece of cake!"
"Cake is fuel?"

—Jazz and Prowl - different strokes, man.

"Now, with your okay, I'm going to pay a visit to Mr. Blackrock. We have a deal to negotiate."
"As my Special Operations officer, you have my complete trust, Jazz. Permission granted. Take Wheeljack with you as a back-up. I only wish I knew what I just gave you permission for!"

—Jazz and Prowl

"Or else... fall before the sonic fury of... Frenzy!! Ha ha ha!! Ha! Ha-ha-ha! ...An Autobot -- here! No matter -- you'll be a flaming piece of junk when I'm done with you! Ha ha ha!"

—Frenzy, smashing stuff and happy as a clam.

Notes

Production notes

They lack the "spark"? How things change...

This issue marks the introduction of Josie Beller's superhuman identity, Circuit Breaker. Conceived and designed by Budiansky to resemble Marvel colorist Janet "Jay Jay" Jackson, Circuit Breaker will go on to become easily the most famous of the comic's original characters, but this would not translate to roles in wider Transformers fiction—because Budiansky and Marvel orchestrated it so that they would own her, not Hasbro. Hasbro's licensing agreement with Marvel stated that any new characters debuting within The Transformers would be their property, so, to circumvent this, Budiansky requested that Marvel insert Circuit Breaker into the pages of their crossover event Secret Wars II prior to her appearance in the comic. So it was that Circuit Breaker debuted in Secret Wars II #3 (right), released a month before The Transformers #9, securing Marvel ownership of the character. The issue contained a capsule summary of Circuit Breaker's origin and her hatred of robots (with a footnote directing readers to pick up Transformers #9 for more); in fact, it was her disgust of such "soulless mockeries of life" that "had no true free will" that convinced the antagonist of the series, the Beyonder, to release Earth from the mind-control he had placed it under, as he realized he had reduced humanity to a comparable state.

Continuity notes

If the circumstances surrounding Circuit Breaker didn't make it clear enough, this issue was still being written from the perspective that The Transformers was set within the wider Marvel Universe, as is further evidenced by the newspaper in which General Capshaw reads about Blackrock's upcoming weapons test: it's the Daily Bugle, the publication that pays Spider-Man's bills, which previously appeared in issue #3.
As footnotes reminds us, Josie Beller was injured by Shockwave in issue #6, and has been working towards her recovery for the last two issues, with additional checks in on her ongoing subplot in the interspersed UK-original stories, "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" and "The Wrath of Grimlock!".
As the Autobots finish their performance examinations, Sunstreaker is absent from the group. He was blasted point blank by Shockwave in issue #5, and next issue is shown to still be inoperative, with Ratchet uncertain of his prospects for recovery.
It is revealed that the "electric shock" Optimus Prime gave Buster in issue #6 was him transferring the Creation Matrix into the human's mind. Buster has been having "headaches" since issue #7, in which his control over metal and machines began to manifest. The UK series got out ahead of this subplot, revealing this truth ahead of its reprinting of this story, in "The Wrath of Guardian!"
This is the first time US audiences are seeing Blackrock's photonic multi-cannon, but again, the UK reprints of the series got ahead of this plotline and actually seeded it a few issues in advance in "Decepticon Dam-Busters!"

Real-life references

A sponsor logo for the real-life Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company can be seen on the side of Blackrock's racetrack.
Alluding to then-current political tensions, the general worries that "Communists" might behind the ongoing robot plague.
Jazz likes Madonna, blasting her song "Material Girl" during the Autobots' test drive.
The guard at Blackrock's offices is totally reading Playboy.
The "next issue" box reads "CONSTRUCTICONS--PHONE HOME!", quoting the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Artwork and technical errors

The latest change of artists has Josie Beller looking quite a bit different than previous issues. In particular, her hair's wavier, shorter and brighter now (and more in line with the Marvel employee that Budiansky modeled her after.) After she becomes Circuit Breaker, it changes into a ponytailed mullet.
Prowl's forehead crest is consistently colored white instead of red throughout this issue, and he is lacking in portions of blue-black trim, including on his chest and thighs.
After settling into his finalized colour scheme last issue, Shockwave goes off-model again with blue shoulders instead of purple.
Cover: Starscream's helmet is colored white instead of blue, and his cockpit grey instead of orange.

Page 4 (pictured at right):
- Panel 3: Huffer is red instead of orange, the red and white on Wheeljack's chest are inverted, and Jazz is missing the blue on his hood.
- Panel 4: Gears's face is red instead of white, while his helmet is blue instead of red; Cliffjumper's face is yellow; Jazz is still missing the blue on his hood; Sideswipe's helmet is white instead of blue. As all the formerly-injured Autobots bar Sunstreaker are supposed to be in this scene, Trailbreaker should be visible, but he's the only one who's missing.
Page 5:
- Panel 5: The arms and torso of Optimus Prime's headless body are colored white instead of red.
- Panel 6: Ratchet is drawn finishing Prowl's line about rescuing Optimus and acquiring fuel. This leads to the peculiar sight of Ratchet stating that he is in command of the Autobots!
Page 6, panel 2-3: Wheeljack has a blue-black pelvis and white thighs instead of the other way around. He's missing the red on his torso, the blue-black on his shoulders, and his shoulder-fins are blue-black instead of white.
Page 6, panel 6: Starscream is missing his shoulder intakes, and his cockpit is red instead of orange. Buzzsaw is colored like Laserbeak.
Page 7, panel 2: Buzzsaw is still colored like Laserbeak.
Page 8: Continuing an error introduced by the artist of the previous two issues, Optimus Prime's head is drawn missing its antenna-ears.
Page 8, panel 7: The sign on Sparkplug's garage reads "Witwicky Auto Repair," but per issue #1 and #2, it ought to say "S. Witwicky Auto Repair."
Page 10, panel 14: The sign on G.B. Blackrock's office door reads "JB BLACKROCK."
Page 16:
- Panel 7: "You really are a robot" is missing its punctuation.
- Panel 8: Jazz says "If I were a Decepticon I would've let you bounce me a couple of times before scraping you off the ground!" The "me" probably shouldn't be there.
Page 20: Wheeljack's colored incorrectly again, still missing the red on his torso, and still with a blue pelvis (now in addition to his corrected blue thighs). His shoulder-fins have become red (except in panel 5, where they're colored like part of the background, and panel 6, in which they disappear altogether), and his shoulder-cannon is purple instead of blue. These panels were evidently used as reference for the coloring of the UK strips "The Wrath of Guardian!" and "The Wrath of Grimlock!"
Page 21:
- Panel 6: The interior of Starscream's shoulder-intake is colored pink like the background. His null ray is colored pale purple. The narration bizarrely refers to Starscream's robot form as his "secret mode".
- Panel 7: Starscream's wings are missing. His one visible null-ray remains miscolored, except for its rearmost segment, but only because the coloring misinterprets it as part of Starscream's shoulder.

UK printing

"Jazz, are you all right?"—"Totally not! I'm seeing weird colors, man!"

Issue #33:

Published: 26th October, 1985
Cover date: 2nd November, 1985
Back-up strips: Machine Man ("If This Be Sanctuary?!" Part 3), Robo-Capers and Matt and the Cat
November calendar: Prowl
A printing error resulted in the magneta and cyan plates of the CMYK printing process being switched for pages 4, 5, and 9, a problem that would continue into the next issue and occur again in issue #101 and issue #201 (there with the yellow and cyan plates). The original US printing of this issue used the correct colors.

Issue #34:

Published: 2nd November, 1985
Cover date: 9th November, 1985
Back-up strips: Machine Man ("If This Be Sanctuary?!" Part 4), Robo-Capers and Matt and the Cat
The printing error continues, with the magenta and cyan plates switched again for pages 5 and 10.

Other trivia

Float like a Jazzerfly...

The inker of this issue is credited as "M. Hands". This isn't a person, but a pseudonym (short for "Many Hands") used to cover multiple inkers working on a rush-job.
The presence of Marvel-owned character Circuit Breaker meant that when IDW Publishing was first reprinting the Marvel comic for their Classic Transformers series, this was another issue (like issue #3 before it) that they could not secure the license to reproduce, and were forced instead to replace it with a text summary. This was later resolved and the issue was included in the later reprint volume The Transformers Classics, Vol. 1—but only in the print copy of the book, not the digital version.
Judge Reinhold's character is shown reading pages from this issue in the film Vice Versa (1988). Though when the comic is closed issue #8's cover can be seen poking out from the newspaper that was used as a cover.
As seen at right, this issue is perhaps the only occurrence of Jazz demonstrating the capability to glide using his "rear-mounted ailerons" as he catches Blackrock and gently floats to the bottom of the cliff. This ability is only brought up in Jazz's expanded Transformers Universe profile and while it doesn't specify which mode Jazz can utilize it in, the art here seems to portray his car doors as said rear-mounted ailerons.

Bot Roster

Autobots: 21 active, as Ratchet revives all but one of the captive Autobots; Sunstreaker inactive; Optimus Prime held captive. (23 total)
Decepticons: 10 active; Megatron missing in action. (11 total)

Courtesy of my...

Blackrock unveils the Anti-Robot Photonic Multi-Cannon.
Starscream once again deploys his cluster bombs, this time unloading on Jazz.

Covers (3)

US issue #9: Circuit Breaker and Starscream, by Mike Manley.
UK issue #33: Circuit Breaker, Wheeljack and Frenzy, by John Higgins.
UK issue #34: reuse of art from US cover, modified to fit the UK aspect ratio.

US issue #9 - Thanks Marvel. Thanks
UK issue #33 - Introducing: DAVID BOWIE
UK issue #34 - Starscream has a really sweet cycling helmet

Reprints

The Transformers Comics Magazine #5 (Marvel US, 1987)
Transformers: New Order paperback (Titan Books, 2003)
Transformers: New Order hardback (Titan Books, 2003)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 2: New Order (Hachette Partworks Ltd, 2018)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 3 (Mediaboy Mook, 2019)

IDW Transformers Classics edits

wheeljack's got green, right, here's some dang green then, wherevs

For The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, IDW Publishing "remastered" the coloring of the series with varying degrees of success. These changes were sometimes to fix errors, but often to alter characters' color schemes to make them resemble their toy and/or cartoon selves, and were rarely applied with consistency. IDW's recolored version was also used for Hachette's Definitive G1 Collection.

Cover: Starscream's head is changed from the incorrect white to a cartoon-based grey-black, with cartoon red eyes. His cockpit becomes the correct orange.
Page 4, panel 4: Cliffjumper's miscolored face is the only error corrected on this page.
Page 5, panel 5: The colors of Optimus Prime's headless body are corrected.
Page 6:
- Panels 2-3: Spots of green are added to Wheeljack to emulate his toy/cartoon model.
- Panel 6: Shockwave's shoulders are corrected for this panel alone, but his Decepticon insignia and highlights on his chest-nubbins somehow become orange.
Page 8, panel 1: Shockwave's right shoulder is corrected, but his left shoulder is not.
Page 20: Green trim is again added to Wheeljack's chest and legs as well, and his blue shoulders are changed to white (pictured at right).

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