Bird of Prey!

	; Call me if you see this.
	"Bird of Prey!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	November 1989
Cover date	January 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Artist	Geoff Senior
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Massara
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Matrix Quest begins, and dime novel detective stories make a comeback.

Synopsis

The Autobot leaders of Earth and Cybertron have sent several teams to search one cluster of the galaxy for the Creation Matrix, in the hopes of using it against the coming threat of Unicron.

Nightbeat, Siren, and Hosehead have journeyed to the planet Pz-Zazz, a planet apparently covered with seedy metropolitan areas and filled with lowlifes and mobsters. While interrogating some of those mobsters as to whether they've seen the Matrix, Nightbeat's conversational skills get the three Headmasters into hot water. Siren is belted through a nearby storefront window while Nightbeat and Hosehead are preparing to be "plugged" when thugs from a rival gang drive by and begin firing on their tormentors. The firefight hits a passing alien, who collapses into the storefront on top of Siren, passing on a mysterious bird statue to him with his dying breath.

Despite appearances, the one called "Hosehead" is on the left.

Though Nightbeat's first instinct is to follow up on the textbook detective story that literally dropped into their laps, his comrades convince him to put the bird away in storage and focus on their primary mission to find the Matrix. Still, Nightbeat is frustrated, citing their historical database which claimed Pz-Zazz was a lush and prosperous world once, nothing like the cesspool they've been searching through. His detective's instincts assure him the bird has something to do with that discrepancy.

Touche, gunman.

In the meantime, their conversation is overheard by Miss Fatale, who is willing to deal with the Autobots. She tells them of a legendary font of life that once sat atop a nearby mountain and, in exchange for leading them to that abandoned temple, she only asks for the return of the bird statue, which she claims is her property. Thinking that this healing object might be the Matrix, the Autobots agree—Siren and Hosehead go on ahead with Fatale, while Nightbeat goes to retrieve the bird from lock-up. While picking it up, though, he is confronted by the mobsters the Autobots met earlier, who also want the bird. Nightbeat clubs his way through the goons with the bird, only to get caught red-handed by another thug when he races outside. Moments from death, Nightbeat is saved by a mysterious energy blast that levels the thug before he can kill the Autobot.

Hosehead and the others reach the top of the mountain, but find the second gang-leader waiting there for them, interested in acquiring—you guessed it—the bird. Nightbeat races up then, revealing that the bird is a life-giving source of power, much like the Matrix itself. He discovered this when a piece of the statue's outer enamel was chipped off in his bar skirmish. After disabling the mobsters, Nightbeat makes a move to place the bird back in its special cradle on the temple. Fatale tries to stop him, pleading with him that they can keep the bird for themselves: she can stay forever young, and he can use it in place of the Matrix to restore his fallen comrades. Nightbeat admits having considered it, but ultimately decided that Pz-Zazz needs the bird to sustain itself, and however noble his motives, it would be selfish to keep for himself.

Nightbeat returns the bird to its proper place, and a wave of light and greenery spreads over the mountain. Pz-Zazz is given a second chance, but the Autobots are not: Thunderwing and his Decepticons shoot Nightbeat and the others in the back, taking them captive to find out just why so many Autobots are searching this neck of the galaxy...

Featured characters

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

Autobots	Robot Mob	Others
Nightbeat (1) Hosehead (2) Siren (3) Hot Rod (5) Optimus Prime (6) Xaaron (7) Grimlock (8) Jazz (9) Bumblebee (10)	Thunderwing (16) Needlenose (17) Windsweeper (18) Spinister (19) Ruckus (21)	Louie (4) Keeper (11) Primus (12) Unicron (13) Fatale (14) Gutt (15) B'hgdad (20)

Quotes

"Oh dear, it's as I thought -- lights are on, but no one's home!"
"Now listen up, slime bucket --"
"Time to shut up, Siren."
"Pardon me, sir... madam... whatever!"
"You're wrong, fatso."

— various lines from Nightbeat show the great depth of his people skills

"Erm, Nightbeat. How's about we ask someone else? These guys are probably busy... y'know, killing, maiming -- that sort of thing!"

—Siren

"For the last time, Siren, I know what I'm doing here. Interrogation is a science, combining psychology and bluff -- observation and -- [ducks a punch that decks Siren] -- reflexes!"

— Nightbeat

"What does the detective manual advise in this kind of situation, Nightbeat?"
"It mentions prayer, Hosehead..."

—Hosehead and Nightbeat, surrounded by armed goons

"Gutt's boys! That fat, cheatin' slug -- da next gang war ain't till da weekend!"

— one of B'hgdad's goons does not appreciate a breach of gangland protocol

"May I make a suggeston?"
"I'm way ahead of you. When surrounded by two hostile forces, firing randomly at one another, the manual descripes a process known crudely -- as running away!"

—Hosehead and Nightbeat

Notes

Now this is a group shot to instill fear.

Artwork and technical errors

TBD

Continuity errors

Optimus says the Autobots had no idea the Matrix was a physical object. Considering Ratchet spent something like 10 days putting Optimus's destroyed body back together back in issue #26... how could he not have noticed the Matrix in there?
Back in issue #41, Goldbug claimed that Prime's old body was launched into the sun - obviously not the case here.

Continuity notes

This issue kicks off the five-part Matrix Quest story arc.
Nightbeat, Siren, Hosehead, Needlenose and Spinister appear here for the first time in US continuity.
Optimus Prime and Emirate Xaaron recap the relevant events, including the encounter with Primus and the Mayhem Attack Squad from US issue #61, and the unwitting loss of the Matrix when Prime's original body was shot into space in US issue #26.
The people of Pz-Zazz knew Thunderwing's crew as the "Robot Mob", but they still preferred to be called "Decepticons".
Optimus Prime's belief that the Matrix could be used to revive dead Transformers is fairly ironic given that it technically causes the death and injury of several Autobots at the end of the Matrix Quest.
Miss Fatale told Nightbeat that she wanted the Bird for eternal youth, because unlike Nightbeat, she was finite. She didn't know she was also talking to Muzzle.
Thunderwing's cyclone cannon makes its US debut, having previously appeared in several UK stories.

Real-life references

This story is an ode to the hard-boiled detective genre, a favorite of Simon Furman. In particular, many references are made to The Maltese Falcon:
- Nightbeat's initial encounter with B'hgdad's thugs occurs beneath a billboard featuring what appears to be Humphrey Bogart, who played the detective Sam Spade in the 1941 movie.
- An alien dying of gunshot wounds gives Siren the bird (heh) wrapped in paper. Likewise, Spade receives the wrapped-up Falcon from a bullet-riddled man who stumbles into his office and dies.
- The bird sculpture bears a heavy resemblance to the Falcon, the principal difference being that the former's wings are partly outstretched instead of lying flat against its back. Well, and that it's enormous, as it's scaled up to be proportionate with the robots and aliens handling it.
- The immensely fat ganglord, Gutt, is an echo of Kasper Gutman, Falcon's rotund antagonist.
- Gutt's counterpart, B'hgdad, seems to be a more oblique parallel to Gutman's associate Joel Cairo. The name is certainly reference enough, though B'hgdad is a more authoritative and independent character than Cairo. The homage does get reinforced when Nightbeat tells him, "If you're its real owner, I'm Peter Lorre!" (referring to the actor who played Cairo in the Bogart film).
- That conversation occurred while Nightbeat was retrieving the bird from a storage service. Spade similarly stowed the Falcon away in a bus terminal's lost-and-found.
- And that line occurred while Nightbeat was clobbering B'hgdad with the bird, chipping a piece of enamel coating off and revealing its true, luminous nature. The jewel-encrusted Falcon's true worth was also concealed beneath an enamel coating.
Geoff Senior gets in on the fun with a city that harkens to Blade Runner—complete with cod Japanese kanji—which was itself doing a sci-fi noir.

UK printing

Issue #262:

Additional Transformers story: "Two Steps Back!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Manoeuvring for Position" and Combat Colin
In Dread Tidings, Dreadwind supplies the missing motto for Micromaster Battle Patrol member Flak, while expressing his dislike of the smaller guys, and debates what Pincher's level 5 endurance rating means.^[1]

Issue #263:

Additional Transformers story: "Break-Away!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Manoeuvring for Position" and Combat Colin

Issue #264:

Additional Transformers story: "Desert Island Risks!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Manoeuvring for Position" and Combat Colin

Other trivia

Transformers Universe profiles for Hosehead, Nightbeat, Siren, and Backstreet are found after the main story.
"Timely", the apparent publishers of the book shown on the cover, was the original name of Marvel Comics.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

Title (1990): "Rovfåglarna" ("Birds of Prey")
Title (2019): "Rovfågeln" ("Bird of Prey")

Covers (4)

US issue #62 cover: dime store novel with Nightbeat, Siren, and Hosehead, pencils by Rodney Ramos and inks by Eliot Brown.
UK issue #262 cover: Grimlock chewing on Shockwave, by Stephen Baskerville.
UK issue #263 cover: Grimlock quits on Optimus Prime, by Stephen Baskerville.
UK issue #264 cover: Bumblebee and Ironhide, by Pete Knifton.

US issue #62 - Seen THIS?
UK issue #262 - Why having an arm shaped like a drumstick is a bad idea.
UK issue #263 - Grimlock - Autobot union leader.
UK issue #264 - No, it's a giant Constructicon gameshow!

Reprints

Primal Scream TPB cover: Grimlock, Goldbug, Pretender Starscream and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
Primal Scream hardback cover: Grimlock victorious over the Sports Car Patrol, by Dave Gibbons.
The Best of Simon Furman cover: Cybertron, by Don Figueroa.
Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm cover: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.

Primal Scream TPB (Titan Books, 2002)
Primal Scream hardback (Titan Books, 2002)
The Best of Simon Furman (IDW Publishing, 2007)
Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm (Titan Books, 2008)

Classic Transformers Volume 5: panels from this issue, "Eye of the Storm", "Deadly Obsession" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Volume 17: Matrix Quest: Nightbeat and Prime's corpse by Makoto Ono and Geoff Senior.

Classic Transformers Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 (IDW Publishing, 2013)
Definitive G1 Collection vol. 17: Matrix Quest (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)

References

↑ Dread Tidings, issue 262

[0] Dread Tidings, issue 262

[1]

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