G.I. Joe and the Transformers #2

History

The four-issue mini-series was written by Michael Higgins, who had prior experience with both franchises as an editorial assistant and later editor on Marvel's licensed titles, and drawn by penciler Herb Trimpe — a Marvel veteran best known for his Incredible Hulk run — with inking by Vince Colletta and colors by Nel Yomtov, the regular Transformers colorist. Editing was handled by Bob Harras with consulting editor Don Daley, under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. The editorial approach was deliberately self-contained: Harras's team designed the crossover to have minimal lasting impact on either ongoing series, which is why the regular G.I. Joe book essentially ignored the events entirely, while the Transformers ongoing made only glancing references. Notably, this mini-series is the only story from the Marvel US Generation 1 cycle that was not immediately reprinted by Marvel UK's Transformers weekly — likely because Marvel UK had only recently acquired the Action Force licence and its continuity was too far behind to accommodate the crossover without confusion.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Issue title: 'Power Struggle!' — second chapter of the 4-issue G.I. Joe and the Transformers limited series (Marvel Comics, cover date February 1987).
• Creative team: written by Michael Higgins; pencils by Herb Trimpe; inks by Vince Colletta; colors by Nel Yomtov; letters by Joe Rosen; edited by Bob Harras and Don Daley, with Jim Shooter as Editor-in-Chief.
• The issue opens with the Joes in direct combat with Superion (the Aerialbot combiner), who wounds Lady Jaye before abruptly withdrawing after receiving word via Blaster that Optimus Prime has been assassinated — a continuity event drawn from Transformers #24.
• Cobra and the Decepticons formalize their alliance on Cobra Island in this issue, with Dirge and Bombshell meeting Serpentor and Dr. Mindbender; Mindbender secretly plants a listening device on Dirge before they depart, which he later uses to discover that Shockwave plans to use Power Station Alpha to tap Earth's geo-thermal energy and destroy the planet.
• G.B. Blackrock — an established Transformers supporting character who had been supplying the Autobots with fuel — appears aboard a cruise ship that Serpentor uses as a hostage bargaining chip against the Joes; Blackrock's familiarity with the Transformers positions him as a key bridge character going into subsequent issues.
• The issue contains several noted continuity errors: the G.I. Joe team is unaware of the Transformers despite their existence being public knowledge in the regular Transformers series; Ravage appears despite having been thrown down a mineshaft in the ongoing book; and Decepticons are shown under Megatron's command in Florida in circumstances that conflict with the timeline of the regular series.
• A caption in this issue directs readers to G.I. Joe #55 to learn whether Cobra Commander is truly dead, one of the few editorial cross-references in the mini-series that attempt to anchor it within G.I. Joe's ongoing continuity.
• The story was later reprinted in the UK in the Transformers weekly (issues #269–272), though initially the crossover had been skipped entirely by Marvel UK; it was also collected in a 1993 Marvel trade paperback and again by IDW Publishing in 2012 alongside G.I. Joe #139–142, as well as in the eighth and final volume of Transformers Classics.

Cast · 39 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)