IDW - Sins of the Wreckers #1

Written and Drawn by: Nick Roche

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Arcee detects Prowl's signal on Earth, but suddenly it disappears, at the same time, Kup blacks out whilst riveting the bull of the Ark. Arcee manages to pull the older Autobot inside the ship, and questions why he passed out at the same moment as Prowl turned up. She's determined to find out what happened, so she orders Kup to unseal Prowl's old quarters, which Kup claims to be impossible, due to Prowl's extreme security measures.

Elsewhere in space, Impactor is watching over Guzzle, who has been locked into a crate to try and calm him down whilst at the Wreckers space station, Debris. Roadbuster joins him, taking a break from watching over Springer's still near-death body. The duo discuss how peace has essentially ended the need for the Wreckers, and all they are now is a group of baby-sitters for their leftover members. Impactor gets fed up of wasting his time, and takes Roadbuster elsewhere in the station.

Back on the Ark, Kup manages to quickly unlock Prowl's quarters, which Arcee grows a bit suspicious of. Soon the two Autobots locate some files mentioning Garrus-9, and find an image of Verity Carlo holding a copy of the Aequitas files, and threatening Prowl with releasing it. Kup explains to Arcee who Verity is, and correctly guesses that Ironfist made her a copy of the files before his sudden death on the way back from Garrus-9.
After the discussion, Arcee deems Verity a major risk due to her holding Autobot war secrets, and having the ability to send secret messages to the head of Autobot Special ops, but Kup doesn't agree. Soon, a hologram of Prowl appears in the room, having been left in case of his own disappearance, and asks for Springer to be called in to help find him. Arcee is shocked as she can't believe that Prowl trusts Springer more than her, despite them hating each other. Kup prepares to contact Debris, but Arcee knocks him out before he can, and heads out to confront Verity herself....

Somewhere, Prowl wakes up and soon finds himself in a place called the "Noisemaze" where he appears to be suffering from visual and audio disruptions. He's greeted by a shadowy figure, his apparent kidnapper.

In Nome, Alaska, Verity is sick with an unknown illness, and is almost attacked by a bear whilst travelling through the wilderness, however she is rescued by Stakeout, an Autobot assigned to protect her by Ultra Magnus following their separation. Despite his worries about her condition, Verity seems glad to see the Autobot, and allows herself to go into the back-seat of his police car mode. The two drive off, with Stakeout apologizing for not being with her for so long, but also reprimands her for trying to expose Prowl, and shattering their loose peace with the Decepticons. Verity claims that Prowl deserves to be punished for all he did, especially to her Wrecker friends, but STakeout points out that if she does release the information, then they died for nothing. Verity however, still wants to do this, before it's too late for her.
Before long, Stakeout is shot off the road by Arcee, who captures Verity and sword-point, demanding to know where Prowl is, before Verity passes out.

On the Ark, Kup manages to contact Debris, where he confides to the comatose Springer that he hasn't been to see him, because he doesn't know what he'd do, especially knowing that Springer would do anything to save him if their places were reversed. He then orders Springer to wake up, and cuts off communications.

On Debris, Impactor and Roadbuster are walking through the Wrecker monument and Impactor asks Roadbuster about letting Springer die with dignity, which starts an argument again. However this one is cut short when Hubcap, the station's new admin officer interrupts to tell them that Guzzle is over-heating his crate and will cause a fire soon. Suddenly the alarms hooked to Springer's life-signs goes off, alerting the Wreckers that he has no signs of life any more.
Roadbuster rushes to the medical bay, where he refuses to go inside, as he can't handle it, but Impactor forces him inside, where they find Springer...has gone...

Back on Earth, Arcee has taken Verity to an old warehouse where she interrogates her for Prowl's location. Verity admits to having threatened him due to him needing to pay for his evil acts in the past, but she had no part in him going missing, not that she's upset about it. Arcee threatens to destroy Verity's bag, which assumedly contains the Aequitas files (and probably medicine for her illness) unless she gives her Prowl, she gets interrupted however, when the Wreckers, led by a now healthy Springer, appear, ready to fix the problem.

Characters

Autobot

Arcee - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Springer - Rocket Car/Helicopter

Impactor - Tank

Roadbuster - Jeep

Hubcap - Car

Guzzle - Tank

Stakeout - Police Car

Prowl - Police Vehicle Trapped in the Noisemaze

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Mentioned)

Threnody (Mentioned) Dead

Crest (Mentioned) Dead

Hyperion (Mentioned) Dead

Ironfist (Mentioned) Dead

Rotorstorm (Name on Memorial) Dead

Rack (Name on Memorial) Dead

Pyro (Name on Memorial) Dead

Decepticon

Overlord - Jet and Tank (Mentioned)

Human

Verity Carlo

Other

Prowl's Captor

Polar Bear Injured by Stakeout

Sharkticons (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the sequel series to the hit series "Last Stand of the Wreckers" but also includes some lot lines carried over from the comics released since then (Such as Prowl went missing, and Arcee is in command of the Earth forces in The Transformers)
• The art style of this comic has a more muted colour palette than it's predecessor.
• Kup's connection to Prowl is more than likely due to his secret "Pretender" process that allowed Prowl to subliminally control the older Autobot. This was referenced before during Infestation, where Prowl was able to control the zombified Kup.
• Guzzle and Impactor were last seen working alone in space taking down residual Decepticon groups in the LSOTW Hardcover edition. Roadbuster was also noted as taking care of Springer in the same book, as well as Ironfist giving Verity a copy of the Aequitas files.
• Prowl's missing eye is due to the fight he had with Optimus, following his attempted coup.
• Judging from the basic shadow shapes, and the audio-based attack being used on Prowl, I'm going to guess that the kidnapper will be revealed as Hubcap, and is probably as revenge for Pipes' death at Overlord's hands (foot) which was indirectly caused by Prowl as well.
• It's strongly implied that the police car seen at the end of Last Stand of the Wreckers was actually Stakeout beginning his new job as Verity's guard.
• Verity's mystery illness appears to be in relation to Cybertronians, as she is seen suffering with pain whenever one appears. Stakeout also seems worried about touching her or even being near her. More than likely she caught this "disease" whilst with Magnus or the Wreckers, as Jimmy wasn't shown as suffering when he reappeared in recent comics.
• Kup's comments on how Springer would do anything to save Kup if he was ill is a reference to Spotlight: Kup, where Springer authorized the deaths of many Autobots just to rescue the insane Kup.
• Why didn't Debris go down when all the other Autobot outposts were knocked out during All Hail Megatron? We know it was around before those events, since Impactor put up his pre-emptive memorial slab before his arrest.
• Guzzle has grown A LOT since we last saw him, with him now being larger than Roadbuster, last time we saw him be was the shortest of the current Wreckers.
• Judging from the letter to the readers, and small doodle in the corner after the comic, at least three Autobots will die in tis story....eep!
• Due to them being around in "The Transformers" after this, we can assume that Kup and Arcee will survive at least.