Man of Iron (issue)

	; Mirage... the Autobots' peeping Tom.
	"Man of Iron"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	Part 1: 12th January; Part 2: 26th January; Part 3: 9th February; Part 4: 23rd February 1985; US: June–July 1987 (US)
Cover date	October–November 1987 (US)
Script	Steve Parkhouse
Art	John Ridgway (1 & 2) & Mike Collins (3 & 4)
Colours	Josie Firmin (1 & 2) & Gina Hart (3 & 4); Nel Yomtov (US printing)
Letters	Richard Starkings
Editor	Sheila Cranna
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

This article is about the multi-part comic story. For the character featured in this issue, see Man of Iron (G1).

The Autobots travel to England to track down the source of a coded Cybertronian signal... but the Decepticons aren't far behind.

Synopsis

Part 1: "First Encounter"

The Decepticon jets attack Stansham Castle in England and plant an underground probe before leaving. Not far away, Sammy Harker, the son of the castle's curator, is playing in the woods when he comes face-to-face with Jazz. Terrified, he runs home, only to be followed by Jazz in his car mode.

Arriving home in shock, Sammy tells his tale, which makes his father think of the old legend of the Man of Iron. In the 11th century, the Man of Iron, a giant metal man, was seen in the vicinity of Stansham Castle on three occasions. He did battle with an attacking force using a "javelin of flame" before disappearing again. Sammy's father then shows him a 900-year-old picture showing the Man of Iron, which Sammy thinks looks like the robot he saw.

Part 2: "Kidnapped!"

That night, Sammy is troubled by strange dreams of robots and jet fighters. Unknown to him, his dreams echo reality as Mirage visits his house and steals the picture of the Man of Iron.

The following day, Sammy is intrigued to see a white Porsche parked outside his house. The Man of Iron picture is on the back seat. The door opens and Sammy gets inside, but as Sammy's mother comes out the door closes and Jazz drives off with Sammy.

Part 3: "You've Got Friends?"

Jazz manages to calm Sammy and convince him that he will come to no harm. He is taking him to Optimus Prime. Along the way, Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Bluestreak join them. Then they are attacked by two of the Decepticon jets, who badly injure Trailbreaker before they taken down by Mirage's illusions and Bluestreak's firepower.

They eventually reach the shuttle ship where Optimus Prime is waiting. He explains to Sammy that they have been tracking a signal from an ancient Autobot ship. He believes that the Autobots on Cybertron sent a rescue ship for them after they crashed on Earth only for the ship to crash itself. The Man of Iron is an Autobot who occasionally reactivates in an attempt to complete its mission. The Decepticons want to destroy the ship and its occupants and the Autobots are trying to stop them.

Part 4: "Battlefield Castle Stansham"

The army investigates the Decepticon attack on the castle and digs at the point where their probe landed. Suddenly the ground shakes and the Man of Iron appears from a hidden door in the ground. The humans scatter in panic as he starts opening fire on them, when the final Decepticon jet suddenly appears and unleashes his own weapons, utterly destroying the Man of Iron.

Jazz and the Autobots arrive and drive the Decepticons away, returning Sammy to his family as well. Optimus Prime decides that, given the Decepticon menace, they can't possibly consider returning to Cybertron and abandoning Earth. He is equally unwilling to leave the rescue ship intact and orders Jazz to destroy it.

Deep within the ship, Navigator lays unconscious waiting for the time when his attendant, the Man of Iron, will awaken him to complete his mission. That time will never arrive as above Jazz—not knowing Navigator is in there—fires a missile that completely vaporises the ship and its occupant.

Sammy would never again see Jazz—but the Man of Iron would haunt his dreams...

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Jazz (9) Man of Iron (11) Mirage (13) Trailbreaker (14) Bluestreak (15) Optimus Prime (16) Navigator (20)	Starscream (2) Thundercracker (3) Skywarp (4) Laserbeak (18) Buzzsaw (19)	George Cousins (1) Peter Whitley (5) Mrs. Harker (6) Roy Harker (7) Sammy Harker (8) Godwin the Strongarm (10) Aethelric (12) Major Dawes (17)

Quotes

What kind of bozo would want to bomb the castle? The Saxon Liberation Front? The mind boggles...

—Roy Harker

"Well done, Sammy! You saved me!"
"You? It wasn't you I was thinking about, Jazz! It was me!"

—Jazz and Sammy Harker evade a head-on Seeker attack

Notes

Production notes

Rashoman of Iron

"Man of Iron" is the first UK-originated story, created to fill the gap while waiting for new US material after the initial four-issue mini-series. Creators Parkhouse and Ridgway (who were working on Marvel UK's Doctor Who Monthly strips at the time) had barely seen any pages, had no idea about the American plotlines, and only had a vague idea of the set-up. Consequently, Ridgway conceived the idea to have Transformers visit rural England so they could avoid any plot clashes, while he and fellow artist Mike Collins had to draw the Transformers using only the toys for reference, as character models had not been made available to them.^[1]
Unsurprisingly, this means the story's sensibility is markedly different from most Transformers fiction, as well as standing out compared to the contemporary UK "boy's action" comics of the era. What the comic most resembles, unsurprisingly, is the more surreal and atmospheric Doctor Who strips Parkhouse and Ridgway had been working on for the Sixth Doctor, though with a greater level of violence. The whole comic is narrated in past tense; the atmosphere is haunting, with the Transformers portrayed as very "alien" beings stalking in the shadows at first, while its battles are shockingly brutal and devoid of banter—in fact, the Decepticons are never even heard to speak. A single shot from an average Transformer weapon can reduce an enemy to a ball of flaming wreckage, and though subsequent US stories would mean that none of these casualties were actually fatal, the UK-original "Man of Iron" character does seem to be utterly destroyed by a mere two Seeker missiles.
Simon Furman had to read Parkhouse's scripts to understand what Marvel UK wanted from him. As a result, he considers this story set the standard Marvel would follow: "a case of 'here's Man of Iron, we might as well keep it at that level."^[2]
When originally published in issues #9-12 of the UK series, "Man of Iron" was presented in a mix of black & white and colour artwork, but was subsequently fully colourised for a reprint of all four chapters in Transformers Collected Comics #3 (which also gave the four chapters the individual titles used in the synopsis above). The vague lineart (see "Errors" below for more) led all three Decepticons jets (the one tricked by Mirage into crashing into a motorway bridge, the one shot down by Bluestreak, and the one who kills the Man of Iron) to be coloured as Thundercracker, when the original covers to #11 and #12 had identified Bluestreak's victim as Thundercracker, and the Man of Iron's killer as Skywarp (supported by dialogue in-story that indicates a use of his teleporting power, when it is noted that he "seems to appear from nowhere"). Presumably working off this version, the letters page in issue #63 would state that Thundercracker was the Man of Iron's killer, as would a quiz question published in the Transformers Annual 1989.
"Man of Iron" was the only UK-original story reprinted in the US title, appearing a few years later in mid-1987 as issues #33-34 (with two UK chapters in each issue). Issue #33 added an introductory blurb to explain the story's origins, and note that Optimus Prime (who was dead at the time in the US stories) appears in it because its events occurred "a while back." For this version, regular American series colourist Nelson Yomtov recoloured the entire story; his version presents the Decepticon tricked by Mirage as Thundercracker, the one shot down by Bluestreak as Skywarp, and the one who kills the Man of Iron as Starscream.
Modern reprints of "Man of Iron" by IDW Publishing and Hachette Partworks Ltd use the Collected Comics version, but with the last page of the Yomtov Marvel US version.

Continuity notes

Though printed after the conclusion of the mini-series, the story (like the subsequent UK tales "The Enemy Within!" and "Raiders of the Last Ark") is intended to be set in some vague time during its events. Fitting with this, the humans in the story do not seem to know what the Transformers are, as they have not yet been noticed by the world at large in the US stories at this point. The "Robot War" text features that would later run in issues #22, #36 and #63 indicated that it took place following the Autobots' return to the Ark in US issue #3, suggesting it would fall somewhere during the montage/time-lapse sequence that spans pages 9–11 of that issue. The thing is, US issue #3 pretty strongly intimated that that montage spanned only a single night, whereas the main events of this story take place across three separate days.
"Jazz" is treated as a codename, with the Autobot telling Sammy that his real name is "unpronounceable in your language." This fits with US issue #2, in which Bumblebee also identified his own name as a codename.
"Man of Iron" would be revisited some thirty-four years later in IDW Publishing's Transformers '84 #0. While not strictly designed to fit within the larger continuity of the UK comic, this one-shot details the story behind the titular character's coming to Earth and first encounter with the humans of Stansham Castle, and strongly implies that the "Man of Iron" and the Navigator are the Autobot Clones Fastlane and Cloudraker, respectively.

Continuity and plotting errors

The beginning of Part 1 states that summer is just ending, while Part 2 opens on an autumn night. This would suggest that the story is set during the latter half of September, when summer changes to autumn. However, Part 2 also sees Jazz state that Sammy is "on holiday", meaning he's currently on a school break. This doesn't make any sense since academic years in England begin during the first week of September, before summer changes to autumn. And every human in this story is seen wearing jackets, sweaters, and warm clothing in general, implying that the weather is now chilly, as autumn weather tends to be. So the story ought to be set a fair bit after summer has come and gone, not right as it's ending (during the autumn break of Sammy's school term).
Prime's order to destroy the rescue craft and its potential crew is uncharacteristically callous and poorly justified. As Jazz does the deed, the narration describes him as wholly ignorant of the craft's inhabitant and his knowledge of Cybertron's location. However, the Autobots' dialogue had established that they were fully aware of the ship's purpose, and Jazz himself had told Sammy that they expected to find multiple Autobots inside. In that same conversation, Prime had said that the Decepticons might wipe out the entire area just to destroy the ship, which may be why the Autobots did it first: Better to cleanly eliminate the target than let the surrounding humans suffer. But the obvious other option of enlisting the ship and its crew in the fight against the Decepticons is at no point ever mentioned. Even if we assume the ship to be inexcavable, the Autobots' lethal failure to check it for crew members first is curiously cold-hearted.
This would later be addressed somewhat in the aforementioned Transformers '84 from IDW, which explained that Prime's primary objective in launching the Ark was to lure the Decepticons away from Cybertron and keep them from ever returning. Though the decision weighed heavily upon him, Prime was willing to spend the lives of the Ark's entire crew to achieve this goal, making the life of the Navigator alone a much lighter price to pay.

Real-world references

Among Sammy's toys and possessions seen in part 2 include: a Spider-Man comic, a BMX magazine, a ZX Spectrum, some kind of toy monster (possibly an Silurian from Doctor Who), and a X-Wing toy from Star Wars.
In the intro for issue #33 for the Marvel US version, the introduction proudly proclaims that this story comes from the land of the Fab Four (another name for the Beatles), Dickens (as in English novelist Charles Dickens), and Princess Di (as in Diana, the wife of Prince Charles at the time).

Art and technical errors

When the Decepticon jets bomb Stansham Castle in the first chapter, they are all coloured in plain military grey (in Collected Comics; they were black and white in the original). The US printing amends this to give them their correct colours.
Further complicating the colouring and re-colouring of the Decepticon jets (see "Production notes," above) is the fact that the lineart doesn't really seem to know which of them is which either. Both the jet who is shot down by Bluestreak and the one who kills the Man of Iron are drawn with Skywarp's unique wing-sticker patterns, while the one tricked by Mirage also starts out with Skywarp's patterns, then, upon his second attack, has shoulder/intake stickers that combine the designs of Thundercracker's and Skywarp's into one. Starscream's patterns are nowhere in evidence on any of them!
Optimus Prime has a solid blue mouthplate throughout this story, which is incorrect even for artwork based directly on the toys and box art. This colouring quirk will reoccur quite frequently over the first year-plus of the UK comic.

Back-up material

Issue #9:

Back-up strips: Machine Man ("The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls" part 2), and Matt and the Cat
Fact File: Sideswipe
Other features: Mail-in contest to win an unnamed book about space; "Robot Round-Up"; and the results from issue #2's "Design-a-Decepticon" competition. Among the winners is Jason Yeo's "Night Stalker", who many fans believed to be the inspiration for the character of the same name and body-type from the following year's Annual story "State Games," although writer James Hill would claim it was just a coincidence in an interview in The Transformers Classics UK Volume 2. What's not a coincidence is the design of Jimmy Chang's nameless Decepticon entry; the comic's editors evidently didn't realise he just copied a VF-1 Valkyrie fighter/battroid from the anime series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the mecha that be introduced to Transformers later that year as Jetfire. Another entry from a Matthew Snyder was a yellow-and-purple coloured Seeker, who wouldn't call Sunstorm to mind if it wasn't for the fact he was named "Sunbender."

Issue #10:

Back-up strips: Machine Man ("Kill Me or Cure Me" part 1), and Matt and the Cat
Fact File: Starscream
February calendar: Megatron
Other features: Article on Robby the Robot; "Robot Round-Up"

Issue #11:

Back-up strips: Machine Man ("Kill Me or Cure Me" part 2) and Matt and the Cat
Fact File: Sunstreaker
Other features: "Right Word For Gears" puzzle; "Robot Round-Up"; mail-in contest to win an Insecticon toy; and more "Design-a-Decepticon" winners. One of the designs this issue is named "Soundblaster," and appears to be based on an upside-down version of the Micro Change toy that would become Blaster.

Issue #12:

Back-up strips: The Chromobots, Machine Man ("Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!" part 1), and Matt and the Cat; The Chromobots debuts this issue (printed first in the comic, before the Transformers strip!) and will run until issue #26.
Fact File: Skywarp
March calendar: Jazz
Other features: Mail-in contest to win a Crayola "Drawbot"; "Robot Round-Up"; "The Right Coordinates" picture puzzle

US printing

Grim save the Queen!

The cover to issue #33 featured a bizarrely mis-colored Megatron (complete with Decepticon faction symbol) being attacked by medieval knights. Megatron does not feature in the story and the 'Man of Iron' only bears a passing resemblance to him.
The corner box on issue #33 features a Union Flag behind the image of Grimlock; the cover contains the following melodramatic statement: You won't believe it! Your eyes will bug out!! An explosive saga from the house of ideas!!!
The introductory text box says that "in response to your overwhelming demand, we are finally printing some of the British issues of your favorite mag". "Man of Iron" would be the only such story to see print in the US under the original Marvel run.
With issue #33 Tom DeFalco replaced Jim Shooter as Editor-in-Chief.

Other trivia

With issue #11, the series price rises from 25p to 27p.
The Man of Iron's design seems to be based on a combination of Jazz and Megatron's body designs. His resemblance to Jazz is deliberate and referenced in story, used to verify that he is a Cybertronian.
At the end of part two, when Sammy is 'kidnapped' by Jazz in his car mode, this is followed by a public-service warning against accepting lifts from strangers. This message is completely undone by the events of parts three and four, when Sammy meets the other Autobots and has an adventure with them.

Courtesy of my...

The climatic battle is said to involve laser cannon and rocket fire.

Covers (6)

UK issue #9: Jazz and Sammy, by John Ridgway; artwork reused from page 7 of the story.
UK issue #10: Mirage, by John Ridgway; artwork reused from page 3 of the story.
UK issue #11: Thundercracker, by Mike Collins; artwork reused from page 6 of the story.
UK issue #12: Jazz attacks Skywarp, by Mike Collins; artwork reused from page 8 of the story.
US issue #33: badly miscolored Megatron vs medieval knights, by Charles Vess.
US issue #34: a Seeker attacks Optimus Prime, by Tom Morgan, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey.

UK issue #9 — Jazz hadn't figured out how to party with humans yet.
UK issue #10 — For every minute he spends invisible, Mirage has to look ginormous later on.
UK issue #11 — Onomatopoeias ahoy!
UK issue #12 — Jazz in your calendar? Misinterpret at your peril!
US issue #33 — A miscoloration... or a prophecy of Safety Megatron?
US issue #34 — "By the power of Greysku—AAARGH!"