IDW - Robots in Disguise #31

Title: Earthfall Chapter 4: Full Fathom Five

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Jazz Flashback Art by: Guido Guidi

Decepticon Flashback Art by: Brendan Cahill

Colours by: Josh Perez

Flashback Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Jazz reflects on his past, from the moment he killed John Powell, who was about to kill some of the Autobot captives and got taken away, he wasn't in trouble with the Autobots because his actions were somewhat justified, but he was distraught, so before the Autobots left Earth he destroyed  all the Cybertronian technology he could.

When the Autobots returned to Cybertron, Jazz chose a peaceful way of life, and started performing in bars alongside Sky-Byte, but before long the war started again, and Jazz went back to his violent ways. After Dark Cybertron Optimus approached Jazz to join his crew for the mission to Earth.

In the present, Jazz is now using a new stealth paint job to reach the human's secret base underwater, whilst the other Autobots wait inside Sky Lynx underwater. Cosmos is in space, five light hours away, so he can get images of Earth from 5 hours in the past, where the Autobots see that the Decepticons just appeared from nowhere, despite Orbital Jumping being blocked (they're being teleported by Skywarp, but the Autobots don't know that yet).

Jazz reports back to the others that he's located an Autobot ship inside the human's island base, which Optimus recognizes as Alpha Trion's (Windblade showed him a picture of it). The Autobots determine that the island is abandoned, except for the EDC members, so it should be safe to attack, without alerting the planet of their return. After the others prepare to leave, Arcee tells Prowl that she thinks Scavenger is a Decepticon spy, which Prowl doesn't care about and just tells her look out for Optimus on the battlefield.

At the EDC base, General Witwicky and Sanjay Bharwanay receive a report from Marissa at Poverty Flats that their containment is going well, when suddenly Soundwave and Galvatron teleport in, and destroy the communication device. Galvatron basically threatens them that if they ever use the Mind Bomb on them again, he will kill them all (as well as New Mexico, Sanjay's home). Galvatron then demands a report on their other project, a new satellite home for the Decepticons being built over Jupiter, which is what Soundwave and the others want now that Cybertron has become impossible for them to live in.

During their debriefing, the Autobots storm the beach and begin their invasion of the EDC base (targeting the automated weapons and not humans). Prowl manages to sneak away during the battle just before the Decepticon's ship appears from nowhere (due to Skywarp's abilities no doubt).

Inside the base, Jazz sneaks around whilst the soldiers are going to battle stations, and manages to find Alpha Trion inside on of the rooms, hooked up to a strange machine, just as he's about to free him, he has a gun put to the back of his head...BY PROWL!!!

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Jazz - Sports Car

Prowl - Police Car

Arcee - Sports Car

Sideswipe - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Cosmos - Orbiter

Jetfire - Jet

Alpha Trion Hooked to an EDC Machine

Metroplex - City/Space Ship (Flashback)

Bumblebee - Muscle Car (Flashback)

Hoist - Tow Truck (Flashback)

Huffer - Truck Cab (Flashback)

Gears - Pick Up Truck (Flashback)

Bluestreak - Sports Car (Flashback)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Tank

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Buzzsaw - Cassette (Flashback)

Laserbeak - Cassette (Flashback)

Rumble - Tank (Flashback)

Frenzy - Tank (Flashback)

Needlenose - Jet (Flashback)

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Flashback)

Asrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle (Flashback)

Skywarp - Jet (Flashback)

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned) 

Neutral Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Sky-Byte - Flying Shark (Flashback)

Metalhawk - Jet (Flashback)

Tappet - Car (Flashback)

Scoop - Front End Loader (Flashback)

Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)

Scavenger - Excavator (Mentioned)

Nova Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Human

General Witwicky

Sanjay Bharwanay

Marissa Faireborn

Poverty Flats Civilians

EDC Jones

EDC Workers

John Powell (Flashback) Killed by Jazz

Other

D.O.C.

Buster the Dog

Ardurian Rocs (Mentioned)

Notes

• We see a glimpse of John Powell's body after Jazz killed him here...it's quite disurbing.
• the aftermath of the incident is also shown, with Jazz clearly being shellshocked by his actions
• Jazz's instrument that was used during his peaceful days was an Aghartan Electro-Bass. It was destroyed during either the Decepticon riots or the Dark Cybertron prophecy.
• Jazz's stealth paint is implied by Jetfire to not be too protective, or possibly explosive.
• Optimus' clear dislike of Prowl after his recent actions is really showing in this issue.
• Arcee is shown to have noticed Scavenger's actions after the last mission, and Prowl appears to not care, implying he is aware of it, and either is also working with the Decepticons, or Soundwave is working with Prowl and the Autobots for peace.
• N'awwww Buster is shown sleeping on Thudnercracker's wing!!
• Scoop is shown with the Decepticons, which he was shown with at the end of Dark Cybertron, but he appears to be uneasy there, possibly meaning he didn't join them after all.
• Soundwave reveals that his idea for the Decepticons has always to have peace, and now that Cybertron is destroyed and the Autobots are mostly in power again, they just want their own new home, which the humans are building for them.
• It's possible that Prowl is just stopping Jazz from unplugging Alpha Trion from a life support machine at the end, but I'm more inclined to believe he's just gone off the deep-end and wants to kill the old Autobot.
• Cosmos' role as a glorified camera here is just further adding to his insulting life since leaving the Lost Light.
• the off-hand comment about the Orbital Jump blockers explains why that technology hasn't been seen since the end of Revelation.