Buster Witwicky is one of the main human protagonists of the Marvel Transformers comics, especially in the initial twelve issues.
He was created by Bill Mantlo, Jim Salicup and Frank Springer.
History[]
Buster was the somewhat studious teenage son of Sparkplug Witwicky. He attended a drive-in cinema with his girlfriend Jesse and his friend "O", where he witnessed the first battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth. In the confusion, he heard a transformed Bumblebee cry out in pain and took the damaged car to Sparkplug to fix. Once repaired, Bumblebee transformed to robot mode and explained who he was, and of the Autobots' desperate need for fuel. Buster and Sparkplug offered their assistance and soon after a convoy of Autobots led by Optimus Prime arrived. Moments later, however, the Decepticons attacked and kidnapped Sparkplug, intending for him to provide the fuel conversion information for them.
Buster was reunited with Sparkplug after he was rescued, but the Autobots were suspicious that he had assisted the Decepticons, and the stress of the incident caused Sparkplug to suffer a heart attack. Buster got him to hospital with help from Ratchet where he was soon recovering. Buster learned Sparkplug had poisoned the Decepticons' fuel but Sparkplug told him to cut ties with the Autobots. However, when Buster and Ratchet returned to the Ark, they learned that although Sparkplug had incapacitated Megatron and his troops, the arrival of Shockwave had seen the fuel-deprived Autobots defeated. Buster sneaked into the Ark and found Optimus Prime's head had been removed. In order to safeguard the Creation Matrix, Optimus transferred its energy to Buster.
Ratchet returned Buster to his normal life but he was confused that he seemed to have power over electronic equipment and other machines, including being able to repair cars with a wave of his hand. He hid this from Sparkplug, and blew up at Jesse and "O" when they visited him. He was finally contacted by Bumblebee and Bluestreak, shortly before being attacked by Shockwave's drone soldier Jetfire. He was able to gain control of Jetfire and agreed to held try and recover Optimus Prime's head, still being held by Shockwave. Although he was knocked unconscious in the process and nearly drained of the Matrix energy, he managed to gain control of Jetfire again and use him to overpower Shockwave and restore Optimus Prime, who defeated the Decepticons and took the Creation Matrix back from him.
Buster would disappear from the Marvel US comics for some time afterwards, but quickly reappeared in the Marvel UK title in "Christmas Breaker". He accepted a lift from Jazz to do Christmas shopping but an accident saw him knocked out. The anti-robot vigilante Circuit Breaker saw Jazz standing over him and attacked the Autobot, thinking he had deliberately harmed Buster. A combination of Buster's pleading and the church bells signalling Christmas Day caused her to stand down.
In "Robot Buster", Ratchet and Wheeljack provided Buster with a robot body to help fight the Decepticons in, but Optimus Prime quickly vetoed the plan, unwilling to put the boy at risk. Eager to prove himself, Buster used the robot form to raid the Decepticons' old base and, more by luck than judgement, defeat Frenzy, but was no match for Shockwave and had to be rescued by the Autobots, accepting the wisdom of Optimus Prime's decision. Soon after, he began having visions of the future of the Transformers, including the Aerialbots and Protectobots, which he shared with Optimus Prime, although Shockwave also received the information. One Christmas, he was visited by Jetfire and counselled him on coping with being an Earth-born Transformer.
Buster finally returned to the US title in Issue #31, where he was responsible for uncovering Ratbat's plan to use car washes to hypnotise humans into providing the Decepticons with fuel. Buster managed to free the human slaves, including his father and G.B. Blackrock, who drove off the Decepticons. In Issue #37, Buster was horrified to witness a televised government execution of six Autobots, including Bumblebee, now rebuild as Goldbug. Soon after, he was contacted by Walter Barnett, who had saved the Autobots' brain modules by placing them in toy cars and needed help delivering them to the Ark. However, they came under attack from Ratbat and the Predacons. Buster made it to the site of the Ark with Goldbug but found the ship gone, before being captured by Ratbat.
Buster would spend a year as the Decepticons' prisoner. During this time, he briefly encountered his older brother Spike, now binary bonded to Fortress Maximus, when the Autobot Headmasters and Targetmasters made a failed attempt to rescue him. He would remain a prisoner until Ratbat's attempt to recover the Underbase. Starscream manipulated the situation, planning to pit all the Earth Transformers against each other as a distraction so he could gain the Underbase. He abandoned Buster in an arctic waste, forcing him to call the Autobots for help or freeze to death, even though it meant leading them into a trap. He managed to convince Ratbat of Starscream's actions, resulting in a truce between the factions. He stayed with Optimus Prime on the Ark and helped his plan by sending a message to Spike, which tricked Starscream into following the Underbase into space and absorbing its full power, destroying him.
Buster last appeared in Issue #51, reunited with Spike and Sparkplug at the family home.
Trivia[]
- A Marvel colouring book depicts an adult Buster as married to Jesse and the father of Daniel Witwicky, who in other continuities (including the Marvel UK strip "Time Wars") is the son of Spike.
- Although in Beast Wars: Uprising, Daniel ends up marrying a Nebulan named Llyra, and they have twin sons Galen and Olin.
