Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!

	Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Published in	The Transformers issue 22; issue 23; issue 24; issue 25
First published	13th July, 1985 (part 1); 27th July, 1985 (part 2); 10th August, 1985 (part 3); 24th August, 1985 (part 4)
Writer	Tom DeFalco
Artist	Steve Ditko
Colours	Nel Yomtov
Letters	Diana Albers
Editor	Dennis O'Neil
Editor-in-chief	Jim Shooter

Machine Man tries to fight the fate of all X-series robots, but the kid gloves have to come off when he faces a sinister supervillain.

"I feel naked without my left arm!"

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Synopsis

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Featured characters

Regular cast

Antagonists

Incidentals

Delmar Insurance

Jack O'Lantern
- Jack O'Lantern's freebooters
  - Geoff Peckman
An X series robot (flashback)
A military personnel (flashback)

Super-embassy personnel
Trick-or-treaters
Foreign dignitaries

Quotes

""

—

Notes

Jolted by Jack O'Lantern! on Marvel Database, an external wiki

Machine Man returns after being absent from issue 21.

Original printing

Machine Man (vol 1) issue 19, February 1981

The cover of the U.S. printing advertises this as a "Complete-your-collection special!", clarifying underneath "(Or, guess what mag won't have a 20th issue.)"

Crazy credits

Signing off in inimitable Marvel style, the story lists the credits as follows:

Tom DeFalco: wondrous writing
Steve Ditko: astounding artwork
Diana Albers: colossal calligraphy
Nel Yomtov: captivating colour
Dennis O'Neil: electrifying editing
Jim Shooter: penny pinching paychecks
Irving Forbush: soul & inspiration

Edits

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity errors

Aaron refers to Dr. Abel Stack informally and in a detached way, when "Introducing Machine Man" made it clear he referred to him in familial, paternal terms.
When Machine Man collapses through the roof of the athletics centre, he gives his weight as 850 pounds. That's only ten percent of the weight he claimed to have in "Alone Against Alpha Flight!" which was 8501 pounds!
Aaron concludes that his cerebral cortex is failing; Gears takes a look and discovers that the damage sustained to his head in "Alone Against Alpha Flight!" has been causing his raging blackouts. After Gears fixes him up, Aaron has a new lease on life... despite a) the attribution of his berserker periods to the damage to his head completely ignores the underlying possibility that his X series programming may one day cause him to go mad and b) the fact that he had a whole number of hot-tempered freakouts in "Where Walk the Gods!", and "Arms and the Robot!", both of which predate the dings to his bonce!

Continuity notes

Is it ambiguous how much time has passed between the previous story and this one, though we pick up with Aaron's face still disfigured as it was in the closing moments of "Alone Against Alpha Flight!". He returns to work (late) the following day, and a time skip takes us to Halloween, later in the week. Most of the action takes place on the same day, with Aaron undergoing a nine-hour open brain surgical operation towards the story's conclusion.
Machine Man recounts his origin story, including some illustrations of the events of "Introducing Machine Man". We explicitly find out that he became aware of Abel's death, something that has been only implied since "Where Walk the Gods!".
Aaron was nearly introduced to Brock Jones back in "Byte of the Binary Bug!" before being interrupted.
When Aaron is late contacting Peter, Gears suggests that he might have been grabbed by some hobgoblins, which is pretty funny given Jack O'Lantern's later criminal career.

Real-life references

After Machine Man takes down the freebooters at the old athletic centre, he tells them they're lucky he's a softer touch than Spider-Man.
The two trick-or-treaters are dressed as Batman and Superman; the latter is wearing a mirror-flipped insignia. Neither is named in dialogue, though on unmasking Aaron, Maggie quips that "Beneath one man of steel was another!"
A foreign dignitary is dressed as Archie Andrews.
Maggie calls Pam "Cinderella".
The "NEXT:" caption at the end of part 3 is "BALLROOM BLITZ!".
Gears says he'll bet his Harley against a Tonka truck.