Some Answers
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| Planet Terry in Some Answers (Part III) | ||||||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | |||||||||||||||
| Published in | The Transformers issue 18 | |||||||||||||||
| First published | 18th May, 1985 | |||||||||||||||
| Writer | Lennie Herman (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Pencils | Warren Kremer (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Inks | Vince Colletta (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Colours | Peter Kremer (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Letterer | Grace Kremer (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Editor | Sid Jacobson (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Executive editor | Tom DeFalco (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
| Editor-in-chief | Jim Shooter (uncredited) | |||||||||||||||
"On the trail of his parents!"
Synopsis
Planet Terry begs Mr. Diggs for more information on his lost parents, and the old man tries to tell the tale, despite time having left gaps in his memory...
Once, during his time in the Confederation Astro Patrol, Diggs was the chief engineer and mess boy of the Confederation Cosmos Cruiser the Space Warp. He recalls a time when the captain of the vessel was nervous about the upcoming birth of his first child with the ship's supply officer. With the ship lacking a nursery, the doctor gives Diggs the task of finding a sterile environment in which to put the baby, and Diggs finds the solution: the Space Warp's life ship, sealed in glass only to be broken in an emergency.
Diggs recalls the day of the child's birth: the captain is called to the life ship hangar and, elated at having a healthy baby boy, jumps for joy – but in his wild gesticulating, he hits his coffee mug on the glass surrounding the life ship, breaking the seal and causing the vessel to automatically launch itself out into space. Under the stern looks of his men, the captain says only "oops!"
Diggs tells Terry that he was thought lost forever, and reasons that he must have been kept alive by the life support systems on the life ship, fed and comforted by its nutrition module and taught by its education module. Diggs reckons the boy is as sharp as a tack, which Terry demonstrates with his command of trivia, before Robota reminds him about the search for his parents. Diggs is unable to remember their names, but encourages Terry to meet up with the Space Warp's former radioman, Squink, at the Milktoast Malt Shop on Asteroid 43KX.
After Diggs fixes up the ship's rocket engines, he wishes Terry and Robota luck on their quest through space... quietly confiding to Hee Haw that they'll need luck at the Milktoast Malt Shop!
Featured characters
| Planet Terry's crew | Space Warp crew | Others |
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Quotes
Diggs (narrating): "The captain was very nervous because a baby was due!"
Captain (in flashback): "Diggs! This will be our first child!"
Robota: "You and the captain were expecting a child?"
Terry: "Y-you're m-my m-mother?"
Diggs: "No, no! The captain and his wife, the supply officer, were expecting the child!"
Notes
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Original printing
- Planet Terry issue 1, 25 December 1984
As originally published, each issue of Planet Terry contained multiple separately-titled but interconnected chapters. "Some Answers" is the third of four chapters from the first issue.
As it was originally published in the same book as "The Search", "Some Answers" carries no credits for its creative team, meaning they are uncredited by The Transformers.
Edits
- A plain text caption recapping the previous story was added to the first panel.
- Page five is printed in black and white.
- The original closing caption "Continued in this issue..." is replaced wholesale by "Continued next issue".
Artwork and technical errors
- The cap peak of Robota's helmet is missing on the second page.
Continuity errors
- Diggs exits Terry's ship from the opposite side to how he entered in "A Clue". It is the generous approach of this wiki that the ship has a hatch on either side.
- The name of the Milk Toast Malt Shop is spelled "Milktoast Malt Shop" in this story, which becomes an error following "Malt Shop Menace".
Continuity notes
- Terry discovers that his parents were the captain and supply officer of the Space Warp. Diggs is unable to remember their names.
- Diggs reckons Terry to be as bright as the 7th Sun of Nimrax.
Real-life references
- Among the vital facts instilled in Terry by the life ship are "Collect stamps or Spider-Man comic books but never egg shells!" and that Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941 (true!).
