TF Book Scans: The Autobot Smasher!

An image of the book's cover. Mirage is firing his rifle at Thundercracker in jet mode. Also, Sideswipe is speeding along in car mode while Ravage runs alongside him.

Story by Dwight Jon Zimmerman
Art by Steve Ditko

This book was published by Marvel Books with a copyright of 1985. ISBN 0-87135-039-4.

The scans!

View the scans as... a single web page, a CBR archive, or a PDF.

I scanned this book myself.

Summary:

A platform with pillows and curtains, and an overhanging roof. It has large writing reading 'Autobot Rest Stop' on a ramp leading into it, along with an arrow pointing up the ramp. — The eponymous Autobot Smasher!

This book starts out with brief profiles for a few characters. The story begins with Thundercracker announcing that he has an idea of how to stop the Autobots. He brings his comrades to a junkyard where they set up a trap to lure Autobots into a car smasher.

Coincidentally, Gears happens to be driving nearby--towing a trailer full of potatoes to sell for gas and oil money! The Decepticons spot him and disguise the smasher as an "Autobot Rest Stop" with a few curtains and cushions, then set up a detour to redirect him. Gears falls for it and is non-fatally crushed.

Thankfully, some other Autobots show up out of nowhere and a fight ensues. Rumble accidentally swallows up Soundwave and himself with an earthquake, and the Autobots beat the rest. Ratchet repairs Gears, and all is well.

General observations:

The primary thing about this book is that its sole credited artist is Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man. Ditko is listed on two other books as well, but with a secondary artist in those cases: on Bumblebee to the Rescue with John Tartaglione and on Invasion of the Decepticon Camp with Brad Joyce. Did he really draw these pages himself? Maybe. But it's also possible that he was more like a manager or director for assistants or lower-ranking artists doing the actual work. I can say that, unlike some coloring books, there's no overt signs that different pages had different artists.

An unusually tight cast this time around, with neither Prime nor Megatron appearing. As is usually the case in coloring books, Ravage speaks just like any other Decepticon, which is more of a "comics" feel than "cartoon" feel".

Specific story notes:

During the character intros, it says "Mirage is very smart." This prompted me to check his tech specs, and indeed, he has an intelligence of 9! Among the original 1984 Autobots this ties him with Jazz, Prowl, and Wheeljack. Ratchet's only an 8! (The only 10 that year was Optimus Prime.) Mirage's "trickster" portrayals do correspond to a clever, quick-thinking sort of guy, but I don't think I've ever seen it just spelled out that way before.
In those same introductions we see Gears demonstrating his strength by holding an elephant over his head like it's an Olymipc barbell, and...
...we're told that Sideswipe "likes to stay polished". His bio doesn't say anything about this, so I wonder if it's related to the pre-release mixups between him and Sunstreaker. (Short version: the toy molds got swapped beween the two bios.)
The Decepticons' plan is devised by and put into motion by Thundercracker! Soundwave, who outranks him significantly, just goes along with it. Neither Megatron nor Starscream are mentioned in the entire book.
Ravage is defeated when Sideswipe kicks up a dust cloud. Ravage explains that the dust "is getting into my joints" and he ends up unable to move.

An elephant stands on Gears' two hands, held high above his head. Sideswipe watches on from beside, buffing his body with rags in two different spots. — Learning about Gears and Sideswipe.

Gears, in truck mode, is driving along a curved road. He is towing an open-topped trailer full of large sacks. — Heading to the farmer's market.

Art/production notes:

Although character proportions are sometimes a bit "cutesy" or exagerated, everyone's clearly based on their standard models throughout. The expressions of the scheming Decepticons as they think about their tricky plan really get to me.
The only page that looks "bad" to me is 22, where the Autobot reinforcements arrive by bursting through a fence. The Sideswipe there is a dead ringer for the cover to The Deadly Fuel Shortage.
Like Bumblebee's Dangerous Mission, this book's back cover has a punch-out character standee.

The Decepticons Soundwave, Thundercracker, and Rumble all snicker and Ravage yuks it up in the foreground. — Reminds me of high school.

A comparison image of Sideswipe in car mode. On the left, a picture from this book on page 22. On the right, a picture from the cover of The Deadly Fuel Shortage. — Left: this book. Right: Cover to The Deadly Fuel Shortage.

Part of a colored punch-out figure of Sideswipe, along with an uncolored illustration of how to stand it up with the included base. At the top of the page is the text 'Punch out fun with the Transformers', followed by instructions. — Punch-out fun!

The Autobot Smasher!