Arms and the Robot!
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 Geddit, readers? "Arms" dealer? | ||||||||||||||||
| Arms and the Robot! | ||||||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | |||||||||||||||
| Published in | The Transformers issue 15 issue 16 issue 17 | |||||||||||||||
| First published | 6th April, 1985 (part 1) 20th April, 1985 (part 2) 4th May, 1985 (part 3) | |||||||||||||||
| Writer | Tom DeFalco | |||||||||||||||
| Artist | Steve Ditko | |||||||||||||||
| Colours | Nel Yomtov | |||||||||||||||
| Letters | Peter Kirch | |||||||||||||||
| Editor | Dennis O'Neil | |||||||||||||||
| Editor-in-chief | Jim Shooter | |||||||||||||||
Machine Man's investigation into his missing limb leads him into the domain of an underworld arms dealer.
Synopsis
Part 1
Following his encounter with Baron Brimstone, Machine Man reviews the scene and finds his left arm – detached to rescue Pamela Quinn from a falling helicopter – is missing from the immediate vicinity, and beyond the reach of his radio controls! His search is delayed before it even begins as, on a rooftop below, the NYPD clashes with stragglers from the Satan Squad. Unaffected by their hallucinogenic smokescreen, Machine Man puts his quest aside and quickly subdues the henchmen, even grabbing a blaster by the barrel to prevent its discharge.
With his missing arm even further from his reach, Machine Man questions Pamela, hoping she won't recognise him as Aaron Stack. In the heat of the moment, she didn't see anything. Police intervention prevents Machine Man from staying longer, and he flies away, taken aback by Pamela's fear of him and confused about his protective feelings for her.
Elsewhere, a tramp named Krager rushes a precious package to a warehouse that outwardly appears abandoned – but he knows is full of masked henchmen dealing in illegal munitions. Krager reveals his cargo to be Machine Man's arm, swiped during the confusion of the battle, and the lead henchman decides that he's earned an audience with the boss lady...
Shortly afterwards, in a luxurious penthouse apartment, the fashionable and affluent Ms. Sunset Bain is holding one of her exclusive soirees. A congressman in attendance is beguiled by her beauty and mysteriousness, but she tells him that he'd be shocked if he really knew her...
Part 2
Sunset's butler, Rollins, hands her a special delivery: a letter featuring only the distinctive pattern of the masks of Madam Menace's henchmen. Excusing herself to attend to business, Sunset changes into the practical fatigues of her underworld armourer alter ego, Madam Menace!
Krager has been blindfolded and brought to Madam Menace's headquarters, underground beneath Sunset's apartment. She offers to buy Machine Man's arm for a thousand dollars, but when Krager asks for twenty thousand, she offers to introduce him to her scientists' latest project: a breed of roach that can digest human flesh. The cowed Krager accepts the thousand. Having heard of Machine Man, Menace ponders the concept of mass-producing robot super-soldiers based on his designs... but first she needs to study more than merely his arm!
Back in Aaron and Peter's apartment, Machine Man paces, troubled, as Peter and Gears Garvin bicker over their next course of action; Peter favours analysis of their situation, while Gears volunteers to lash a replacement arm up. Machine Man gets his back up at the last remark: he's a person, it's his arm, and he wants it back. After a tense silence, Gears excuses himself to work on a device to help track the missing member. Peter protests that Aaron must unwind, but the Machine Man dons a trenchcoat and fedora and hits the streets...
Machine Man happens across a pub called Molly's, which he recognises as the type of establishment with underworld connections, and perhaps some answers. Inside, he is approached by Bear Benson – who has mistaken him for movie talent scout – but the heavy faints at the sight of Machine Man's extendable arm. The burly Gorelick goes to retaliate with a chair, and as soon as Machine Man defends himself, the pub erupts into cacophonous violence. Machine Man is no closer to answers and, though tempted to blow off steam by fighting back, overloads the pub's electrics, plunging it into darkness so he can make his escape.
Early the next morning, Aaron fashions a false arm in a sling out of a folding chair, some padding, and a glove. At Delmar Insurance, Pamela expresses concern for Aaron's 'injury'. After she makes the first move and asks him out to dinner, Aaron brushes her off, but can't tell her why. As ever, the abortive office romance amuses Eddie Harris and Maggie Jones.
Machine Man meets Gears at his garage after work. The mechanic has whipped up a power-booster to be worn in place of Machine Man's missing arm; with it, his chest circuitry receives enough energy to boost the range of his transceivers, and he picks up a definite signal for his lost limb. The radio waves direct him to a warehouse on a deserted pier overlooking the Hudson River. Entering through the skylight, he is suddenly hit by a blast of electro-magnetic energy, having taken the bait for Madam Menace's trap!
Part 3
Madam Menace wastes no time in restraining Machine Man in an electromagnetic stasis field of her own design. She is forced to leave him hanging around, however, as her boat is ready to take her to a meeting with a client.
Having re-energised his power cells, Machine Man releases the catch on his extendable limbs, magnetising a hand and foot on opposing sides of his prison. Then, by pushing with all of his strength, he successfully overloads the electromagnets and breaks the walls they were mounted to, freeing him. It's a simple matter to subdue his guards, and shortly he is in the air again, tracking his arm's signal out into New York Bay...
Madam Menace boards the ship of her favourite anarcho-terrorist, Zarkoff. He's intrigued by her robot army sales pitch, but their business meeting is interrupted by the vengeful Machine Man! Zarkoff decides to cut his losses by setting his men on both Machine Man and Menace alike while he swipes her sample case. Having taken all he can take, the living robot makes short work of the assembled henchmen, many of whom are tossed overboard in the fight.
Madam Menace zaps Zarkoff in the shoulder with a blaster and retrieves her sample case. With Machine Man going berserk just to retrieve his arm, Menace knows when to fold 'em, and makes to dump the case overboard. Zarkoff discreetly hits the button for his exit strategy, as he can't afford a confrontation with the harbour authorities.
Elsewhere, Machine Man notices Zarkoff's men are abandoning ship, and detects another signal on his boosted receiver – the timing device of a bomb! The ship explodes!
After recovering from his disorientation, Machine Man detects that no-one else was left on the ship to get caught in the blast. What's more, he's still picking up the radio signal that brought him here. His relentless search takes him underwater, and he retrieves the sinking sample case... and with it, his left arm! Despite his joy at the reunion, Machine Man remains pensive, disturbed by his near loss of control in recent bouts. And what of his formidable foe, Madam Menace? Did she perish in the explosion, or is she still at large...?
Featured characters
| Regular cast | Antagonists | Incidentals |
|---|---|---|
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Delmar Insurance |
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Quotes
Pamela Quinn: "I was dazed... terrified, but you wouldn't know about such human reactions, would you?"
Machine Man: (The depths of my emotions would shock you!)
"I prefer not to haggle, Mr. Krager. I am a respected business woman in the field of terrorism."
- –Madam Menace drives a hard bargain.
Madam Menace: "Are you truly a machine... or a man in a mechanical body?"
Machine Man: "I'll let you know after I find out!"
Notes
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Original printing
- Machine Man (vol 1) issue 17, October 1980
The final narration box of the previous story suggests that "Arms and the Robot!" was originally meant to be named "Macabre Means Murder!".
Crazy credits
Following a trend from the previous issue, the credits box reads:
Masterfully produced by:
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| *These guys apparently think that I'm too lazy to read the credits these days! Well, just wait -- they'll get theirs next issue -- [Shooter's signature] |
Edits
- Nel Yomtov's "colors" credited is corrected to "colours".
- Only the fifth and final page of part 1 is printed in colour.
- An edit is made to part 1 to correct a mistake in the U.S. printing, changing "bureacracy" to "bureaucracy".
- The head henchman asks Krager "[how] a fool like you" could grab Machine Man's arm. In the U.S. printing, he instead calls Krager a lox.
- Pages 1-2 and 5-7 of part 2 are printed in black and white.
- In part 2, "tires" is changed to "tyres".
- Only the fifth and final page of part 3 is printed in colour.
- In part 3, "humor" becomes "humour", "favorite" becomes "favourite", "traveling" becomes "travelling", and "harbor" becomes "harbour".
- As Machine Man escapes his magnetic confinement, one of Madam Menace's henchmen says "He's cracking the flamin' wall!". In the U.S. original, it read "He's cracking the bloody wall!"
Artwork and technical errors
- U.S. English spellings to slip through include "humor", "computerized", "recognize", "colored", "armorer", "analyze" (and "analyzing"), "patronize", "specialized", "smoldering", "cannibalizing", "paralyzed", "apologize", and "re-energizing".
- "Simonized" seems like another z-based error, but see #Real-life references.
- In part 1, Machine Man's right hand grabs the barrel of the blaster, but it's his left hand in the subsequent panel. In part 2, it is again his left hand that grabs the lightbulb in the bar.
- The (Marvel UK-penned) recap at the start of part 3 spells the villain's handle as "Madame Menace". (It also abbreviates Machine Man to "M.M.", which is probably not wise when Madam Menace has the same initials).
Continuity errors
- Peter is identified as a psychiatrist for the first time since he was last referred to as a psychologist.
Continuity notes
- This story picks up immediately after "Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!", with Aaron's day at work with a false sprained arm occurring the following morning.
- Madam Menace has read that Machine Man was designed by the military to be an invincible super-soldier.
- Eddie has the middle initial of "W.", possibly in an attempt to reconcile the surname discrepancy from "Kill Me or Cure Me".
- We've had scenes set in it for two stories now, but Gears' garage is finally given a name by an establishing shot: "Garvin's Garage".
- Machine Man ends the story ruminating on how his anger has overcome him. The last time this happened, in "Where Walk the Gods!", it manifested in a near-fatal way. The loss of his temper would also play a part in "Victory".
- Madam Menace offers Zarkoff an army of loyal robots, eh? Hmmmm.
Real-life references
- The story is presumably named for the George Bernard Shaw play Arms and the Man.
- To calm Aaron down, Peter suggests he partake in his usual pleasures of playing some Billy Joel or watching "The Carson Show".
- A patron of Molly's asks who "that clown [is] in the Foster Grants?" referring to Aaron's darkened glasses.
- Another patron says "Mike Hammer lives!", riffing on Aaron's fedora/trenchcoat/private eye ensemble.
- Machine Man says he's no Jim Rockford when it comes to detective work.
- The narration calls the captive Machine Man a "struggling Simonized Samson". "Simonized" is U.S. slang meaning "polished", derived from the cleaning product company Simoniz, while Samson is a strong man from Bible.
