Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Characters Case File #518: Circuit Breaker

Licensed comics are nothing new, but there is this thing about ’em in that, sometimes, a company will create an original character in a licensed book, and then that comic company actually owns the original character appearing in the licensed book.  And sometimes, those original characters cross over into the main comic company’s universe as seen with both Machine Man and Bug for Marvel.

But then there are the ones that Marvel could use at any time and then decides not to.  That would be the case in the character of Circuit Breaker.

Circuit Breaker started off as one Josephine “Josie” Beller, a computer genius who first appeared in Transformers #6 in March of 1985.  Created by Bob Budiansky, Josie was severely injured in an attack on an oil rig by the Decepitcon Shockwave.  However, she was smart and built herself some replacement cybernetic implants that made up for her paralyzed in both legs and one arm. Oh, they also allowed her to fly and some other electrical-type powers that could disrupt a Transformer’s robotic body and maybe even finish it off.

So, here’s Josie, calling herself Circuit Breaker, and she was in a Transformers comics, so she must have had a hate on for the Decepticons, right?  She sure did!  She also hated the Autobots because she couldn’t tell the difference between good Transformers and bad ones, so when businessman G.B. Blackrock tried to unveil an anti-robot weapon, she stepped in claiming to be that weapon.  But when the Autobots and Decepticons got into a fight over one of Blackrock’s oil fields, Circuit Breaker attacked both factions.  Jazz and Wheeljack only survived the attack because Blackrock stood up for them, causing Circuit Breaker to back off, for that one time at least.

Yeah, she really hated robots, even joining a government-sponsored anti-robot team, Rapid Action Anti-Robot Team, AKA RAAT.  They even had some successes over the years.

Yup, nothing would change Josie’s mind that there was a difference between Autobots and Decepticons.

However, the thing about licensed books is that Marvel (or whichever company) can only hold onto the book for the duration of the license.  At a certain point, Marvel lost the rights to the Transformers, and that would mean…well, they couldn’t make Transformers comics anymore.  But original characters that Marvel created could make the crossover to mainstream Marvel books.  Heck, Death’s Head, a giant alien robot bounty hunter, first appeared in one of their Transformers books.  Why didn’t Circuit Breaker?

As near as I can make out, it’s due entirely to a lack of interest.  She’s something of a one-note character, and given her hatred of robots, what would she do in the Marvel Universe aside from maybe mess with Machine Man, the Vision, and maybe Ultron.  She’s a one-note character, and without the Transformer, it’s probably a pretty flat note.