IDW - Revolution: M.A.S.K.

Written by: Brandon Easton

Art by: Tony Vargas

Colours by: Jordi Escuin

Letters by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

One year ago, nine recruits are brought in to a secret training facility for a new project, to use their natural skills to fight the Cybertronians using high tech vehicles and other things.

The team are soon introduced to each other, and make their first impressions with each other. Miles Mayhem, leader of the facility, calls in Dr Mindbender from the collapsed Cobra group to help him identify which recruits would be perfect for his team.

Despite knowing him from before the training program, Manheim is disappointed by how Matt Trakker is performing, and thinks he has grown weak. On the other hand, he does find Vanessa Warfield's no-nonsense attitude and refusal to leave things to chance very refreshing and has her join his team.

Later, the team are taken outside to test out the vehicles and some prototype masks, and has Evans and Watkins take the wheels, however during the test, Manheim sabotages them, and causes the vehicles to malfunction and kill the two trainees. The rest of the trainees react to this in different ways, which Manheim examines to further sort his teams out.

Later again, the trainees are given a mask each, and are allowed to train with them, during it Sylvester accidentally shoots a physical spear from his hard-light generator helmet, impressing Manheim further, and getting him a place on the team.

Later still, the trainees are taken to the Canadian Rockies, where they are led to a train filled with innocent civilians, but which is also set to explode in a short amount of time. Matt wants to save them, but Bruno forces him to retreat, and detaches the detonating carriage from the rest of the train, killing the civilians, but protecting the team, giving Manheim is final team-member. Back at the base, the recruits are trying to cope with the mission, and Manheim reveals to Vanessa that the civilians were actually just holograms that he projected there...

In the Present, the newly formed MASK team, led by Matt Trakker arrives at a GI Joe base, where they are introduced as Manheim's new team, leaving out the truth that his REAL team is VENOM.

Characters

M.A.S.K.

Matt Trakker/Spectrum

Brad Turner/Eclipse

Julio Lopez/Gulliver

Gloria Baker

V.E.N.O.M.

Vanessa Warfield

Sylvester Rax/Stiletto

Bruno Sheppard

Project Spectrum Members

Miles "Mayhem" Manheim

William Evans Killed in MASK Vehicle Test

Marcia Watkins Killed in MASK Vehicle Test

GI Joe

Scarlett

Random Joes

Cobra

Dr Mindbender/Armand Singh

Other Human

Passengers on the Train (Holograms)

Judge Banks (Mentioned)

Matt's Parents (Mentioned)

Manheim's Past Allies (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• This issue acts as a the "pilot" issue for the new MASK series. As such it doesn't really have much to do with the bigger Revolution storyline...I'm pretty sure the GI Joe cameo at the end was a last minute thing to make it fit...
• Throughout this issue we are made to believe that Manheim is choosing the best members of the team for the MASK program, but is actually recruiting for VENOM, a black ops counterpart to MASK.
• The purpose of the two different teams leads into Manheim's own ideals, where he likes to cover all his bases, and leave nothing to chance. Therefore, if MASK aren't able to legally deal with a mission, he'd logically send in VENOM to cover for them.
• Despite him being abducted and experimented on by Manheim for the MASK program, Blitzwing doesn't appear here...awww
• From the dialogue we can guess that Matt Trakker has been in trouble with the law, but wants to change his life for the better.
• Manheim is meeting with Dr Mindbender to assess his team and find his ideal team?! How can people NOT know he is evil?!?!
• The members of the program here were chosen because they have displayed some technopathic traits, explaining their abilities with the masks and vehicles.
• It's quite appropriate that the only other franchises from the Revolution to actually appear here are from GI Joe, which was an earlier attempt to bring MASK into Hasbro's fiction, with Matt Trakker being a Joe there.

IDW - Revolution #1

Title: Concord Hymn

Written by: John Barber & Cullen Bunn

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Edited by: David Hedgecock

Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Action Man, following a distress signal winds up at Mount Olympus (totally a real place!) and finds a cavern filled with Ore-13, and several dead bodies. One of the "bodies" is still alive, and introduces himself as Big Ben, a former member of GI Joe, he warns Action Man that some shady covert agents did this to them, and they were after the Ore-13 crystals, he gives Action Man a set of nametags he took from one of them, which are GI Joe-issue, implying their involvement.

The crystals start to react and Action Man is yanked out of the cave by his helicopter partner. Big Ben stays behind, too badly injured to leave and apologizes to a picture of his daughter.

The Ore explodes and takes most of Mount Olympus with it.

In Washington, the President and Joe Colton are discussing the situation in Greece, and aren't sure what to make of it. They think that the Cybertronians planted the Ore on their planet, but are somehow detonating it as part of their "invasion" plans. Scarlett, nearby, decides to put GI Joe on the case.

At Auotbot City, Optimus wonders what happened to Mount Olympus too, and worries that the humans may blame them, but also worries about the cache of Ore-13 under the city as well. Optimus decides to recall all his troops from around Earth, in case of retaliation for this possible perceived attack on them. Kup posits to him that the humans may have detonated the Ore-13 themselves just to give a reason for the humans to go against the Cybertronians in force.

In Portland, Arcee and Jazz are helping to deal with a flood, when GI Joe arrive and start watching them. Scarlett begins to questions why they would be helping with flood efforts just after blowing up a mountain, but Colton reminds her that the Cybertronians must have ulterior motives. Scarlett has Mainframe fire a missile at the Autobots, and injures Jazz. Arcee heads towards the Joes to confront them, Jazz follows her, knowing she'll do something stupid otherwise.

Arcee approaches the Joes, and starts attacking their vehicles with her swords. Optimus soon arrives with Soundwave, Windblade and Victorion, and tries to enact a ceasefire to talk through their issues, but Scarlett takes it as an order to surrender, which makes her more angry. Luckily though, the Joe weapons aren't effective against the Cybertronians, and they just shrug them off.

Nearby, Mainframe prepares to use his adapted version of the EDC Mindbomb on Soundwave, intending to kill him, despite Mayday/Ayana Jones' protests that Soundwave and Optimus' alliance is important to Cybertron.

Soundwave however uses his own skills to knock out the human vehicles and weapons in the area, stopping the Mindbomb and the other vehicles in general.

Optimus attempts to talk to the humans again, to try and make peace, but no-one is listening, and still see them as the enemies.

Rom, the Space Knight appears in Portland, and the Joes assume he's another Cybertronian due to his armour. Colton orders the Joes to kill Rom immediately, but isn't quick enough, as the Space Knight blasts him with his Neutralizer, killing him, much to everyone's shock.

In the immediate aftermath, the Joes are stunned and Rom kills three more, but doesn't attack anyone else. Jazz tries to restrain Rom so they can easily clear up that he's not a Cybertronian, but he's attacked by the Joes, knocking  him down, allowing Rom to escape.

The Cybertronians are lifted away with Victorion's gravitational field and they give chase to Rom. The Joes now believe that a Cybertronian just killed several of their team, including their leader, and now Scarlett wants revenge...

Transcript

Before the battle in Portland, Action Man contacts Mainframe to inform him about the dog tags found by Big Ben, and identifies the owner as Countdown of GI Joe, Mainframe believes that the Cybertronians planted them for some reason, and considers that one of the Cybertronians was disguised as a human to frame the Joes.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Arcee - Sports Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Ironhide - Van (Image)

Prowl - Police Car (Image)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Aileron - Space Shuttle (Image)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Solstar Order

Rom the Space Knight

GI Joe

Scarlett/Shana O'Hara

Mainframe/Blaine Parker

Mayday/Ayana Jones

Roadblock/Marvin Hinton

Grunt/Robert Graves

Rock 'N Roll/Craig McConel

Agent Helix

Slip Stream/Gregory Boyajian

Beach Head/Wayne Sneeden

Short-Fuze/Eric Freistadt

Breaker

Big Ben Killed in Ore-13 Explosion

Random Unnamed Joes

Duke (Mentioned)

Other Human

Action Man/Ian Noble

Terrence Salmons

Madame President

Big Ben's Team Killed by Dire Wraiths

Betsy (Image, Big Ben's daughter)

Mercy Gale (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

Joe Colton Killed by Rom

Red Zone/Luke Ellison Killed by Rom

Hi-Tech/David Lewinsky Killed by Rom

Wreckage/Dillon Moreno Killed by Rom

Countdown/Dave Dubosky (Mentioned)

Notes

• Turns out Mount Olympus is actually a real mountain!
• So...Ore-13 IS actually very explosive after all! It blew up a mountain!
• I like how they gave name tags for every character in this comic, but the President is still unnamed...
• Optimus learned that Autobot City is sitting on top of an Ore-13 deposit during the Titans Return event.
• Windblade is on Earth! The reason will be explained when the Till All Are One tie in is released (all we know so far is that it involves the Titan and the Micronauts)
• It's mentioned that the rest of the Earth team is currently on Cybertron doing relief effort (wonder if that's a spoiler for the upcoming Till All Are One Titans Return tie-in, with the army of Titans approaching the planet?)
• GI Joe and the EDC are now fully integrated it seems, with EDC agent Ayana Jones now going by the "Mayday" code name.
• The Joes seem shocked that Arcee uses swords...makes sense, you wouldn't think an advanced alien robot would use swords would you?
• Mainframe reveals that some of his friends were killed during the Decepticon Occupation of Earth, and remembers Soundwave's major role in the event.
• Mainframe has revamped the mindbomb used by the EDC to make it fatal rather than just painful
• Rom's appearance here follows directly from his own Revolution tie-in, where he learns that Joe Colton is a Dire Wraith. Evidentally he must have scanned the other Joes here and identified the other three as Wraiths too
• Rom does not talk in this issue...it could be because there's a few different languages being used in the area and would get confusing, but more likely it's to cause some future drama.
• In the transcript at the end, Action Man alludes to the fact that Countdown is now a Dire Wraith as well, which is known to Rom readers, but not to the Joes or general in-universe characters so far
• Mainframe alludes to some Transformers who can look Human, this is most likely a reference to Blackrock, who was revealed to be a Cybertronian named Sovereign during the Titans Return storyline.

IDW - Revolution: Rom

Title: Field Test

Storytellers: Chris Ryall, Christos Gage & Ron Joseph

Colours by: Jay Fotos

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Six Months ago, Deepwave, and artificial intelligence development company is bought up by the EDC, and Joe Colton meets with the two scientists working there, to help them complete their new Axiom suit, which heightens reactions using brainwaves. Colton gives the scientists some Ore-13, which is explained to be a rare ore that is able to attune to machinery.

Within a week, the suit is working perfectly for Aaron, so Joe and the others, all revealed to be Dire Wraiths, attack Aaron, resulting in him being knocked out by an electrical shock from Colton. Soon, Aaron is restrained in a cave, where he is infected with a Dire Wraith, which merges him with his Axiom suit, creating Axiom, an augmented Dire Wraith.

In the present day, Rom and Camilla have abandoned Darby again, after Rom detects a strange Dire Wraith signature and decides to investigate it, they soon encounter Axiom, who immediately attacks Rom. Rom leaves Camilla on top of the Space Needle, and starts to fight back.

Rom and Axiom crash into the Space Needle in Seattle, where they continue their battle, causing a lot of damage to the area, during the battle, Rom uses the Analyzer to confirm, that despite his Dire Wraith appearance, Axiom reads as a human still, making Rom worry that his Analyzer is still being messed with.

The battle continues, and during it Rom tries to get Axiom to allow him to help him, with Axiom simply explaining that he doesn't want help, and he's happy being this new creature

Axiom realizes after a while that Rom is holding back in their fight, most likely due to him being unsure as to whether Axiom is a human or not, so he goes after Camilla to force his hand and fight back.

Seeing this, Rom does indeed start to fight back, and powers up his Neutralizer. Before the battle can continue however, Axiom is ordered to retreat as their test on the suit and Ore-13 is complete, after a short argument Axiom leaves, just as the Neutralizer fires.

In the aftermath, Camilla confirms that she heard the Wraiths speaking to Axiom, showing that he does appear to be a melding of Earth technology and Dire Wraith magicks. Camilla also gives Rom the name of General Colton, who was mentioned by the Wraiths as being one of them, giving Rom a new target....

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom the Space Knight

Human

Camilla Byers

Darby Mason (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

Axiom/Aaron Grundy

Joe Colton

Caleb Awan

Riggins

Kohl

Notes

• Since this story jumps about quite a lot chronologically, I'm re-arranging the story to flow easier here
• This issue establishes that Joe Colton is a Dire Wraith, and has been since he took on the job as new Director of the EDC.
• Part of the Dire Wraith's main scheme is revealed to include Ore-13, which has been a recurring theme in Transformers comics for some time. Ore-13 is mentioned here to have a great affinity with machinery here too.
• Axiom appears to be a Dire Wraith parallel to Rom himself, being a humanoid inside a metal suit, and granted extra benefits as a result.
• This story appears to be set a little after the current Rom issues, as Camilla is mentioned as a fugitive here too, which doesn't appear to have happened yet as of issue 3.
• Also, through dialogue we learn that Rom has left Darby by herself somewhere again....she must be developing an abandonment complex by now!
• Camilla's Wraithmark appears to have spread even further across her face by this time, showing that it is slowly covering her.
• Since the Wraiths know that Camilla can hear them, it seems likely that they gave her Colton's name as part of their big plan to turn GI Joe against Rom, since they know he'll kill the general on sight now.

IDW - Rom #3

Title: Earthfall Part 3 (Maybe?)

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Pencils and Colours by: David Messina

Inks by: Michele Pasta

Colour Assist by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Chris Mowry

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Rom and Camilla are being held within a binding spell by D'rge, one of the Elite Dire Wraiths, who exposits about how he finds it weird that Rom is on Earth alone, and wonders whether his long time fighting the Wraiths has driven him a little mad, even taunting him by pointing out that he doesn't intend to kill Rom, like he would have done if their situations were reversed.

He reveals that he plans to remove Rom's armour so they can examine it and use it against the Space Knights, but Camilla interrupts him, and makes him focus on her instead. He tries to convince her that the Wraithmark on her forehead is an honour, and shows her a vision of how the Dire Wraiths arrived on Earth hundreds of years earlier and have integrated into Human life.

D'rge tells Camilla that he can heal her Wraithmark, but in actuality intends to fully convert her into a Wraith instead. Luckily for Camilla, Rom has taken this distraction to get free from the spell and attacks the Wraiths, D'rge disappears during the battle, and Camilla gets captured and threatened by one of the soldiers. Camilla uses her Wraithmark to compel the soldier to let her go, allowing Rom to kill him before he can hurt Camilla.

In the aftermath, Rom and Camilla decide to team up to take down the Dire Wraiths, since he has the weapon to kill them, but Camilla can actually identify the Dire Wraiths, which Rom cannot do any more.

At Vandenberg air base, Darby has been taken for a debriefing with Countdown and some others, who question her about Rom, she lies convincingly and tells then that she thinks he was trying to interrogate her. She is given a GPS phone and a neural disruptor gun to help her if she comes across Rom again...

Darby leaves on a bus and starts to worry that everyone around her could be a Dire Wraith too, and worries that since her family were Dire Wraiths, then maybe her extended family and everyone she knew are too. She gets off the bus near a beach and waits alone...

An hour later, Darby notices Rom flying with Camilla, and he introduces the two women to eachother, with Rom apologizing to Darby for abandoning her earlier. Camilla and Darby don't get along at first, but become "friends" out of circumstance.

The team decide to infiltrate Camilla into the air base, so she can identify all the Dire Wraiths, allowing Rom to kill them, and try and ally with the Human military, as he needs to do. Darby has a plan, but doesn't think Rom will like it...

At the earlier battle site, a bird tries to eat a shrimp, which jabs it with a spike, merging them into a Wraith Hawk, which flies to a nearby lighthouse. Having arrived, a weakened D'rge heads to a lower chamber in the lighthouse where he injects into and possesses an elderly human.

Later, D'rge in his new body speaks to a translucent Dire Wraith about their new plans to try and manipulate the Cybertronians to aid them in their war, so they can destroy the Solstar Order and Rom...

Meanwhile, Darby has contacted Countdown, who is escorting her and her "prisoners", Camilla who is acting crazed and talking about shapeshifting aliens, and is intended to be placed in quarantine for her infection, but also a restrained Rom, whom she still claims to have killed her family....

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom the Space Knight

Human

Darby Mason

Camilla Byers

Old Man Taken over for D'rge's new host

Random Soldiers

Jedediah (Flashback)

Jedediah's Wife (Flashback)

Uncle Ellsworth (Mentioned)

Grandma Anne (Mentioned)

Omar Ruiz (Mentioned) Dead

Dire Wraith

D'rge

Countdown/Dave Dubosky

Dr Shen

Darby's Ex-C.O.

D'rge's "Brother"

Dire Wraith Soldiers Killed by Rom

Colonial Dire Wraiths (Flashback)

Darby's Parents (Flashback)

Notes

• Through exposition we learn that the Solstar Order is supposed to travel in pairs, so if one is killed, the other can pick up the slack, this also implies that Rom is on Earth without the knowledge of the other Space Knights
• According to the flashback shown by D'rge, the Dire Wraiths arrived on Earth during the colonial age in America....that's quite a long time!
• It's mentioned that the Dire Wraiths have been able to block the Analyzer by using technology, something they never did in the past.
• The process of becoming Dire Wraiths is explained further here. The Human is injected with the palm spike, which injects the Dire Wraith into the human, taking over their body, and merging them together.
• It's mentioned here that Rom can use his Neutralizer to heal Camilla's Wraithmark, but if he does, they will lose their "spy" amongst the Wraiths
• Though not explicitly said here, it is likely that Dr Shen and Darby's Ex-C.O. are also Dire Wraiths.
• Since they never attacked her or tried to convert her, I will guess that the soldiers on the bus are NOT Dire Wraiths.
• Through dialogue, it's made clear that the Dire Wraiths are planning to try and manipulate the Cybertronians into giving them technology, possibly as posing as human allies.

IDW - Rom #2

Title: Earthfall Part 2 (I guess)

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage & Chris Ryall

Pencils & Colours by: David Messina

Inks by: Michele Pasta

Colour Assist by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Rom and Darby have returned to her family home, where she wants to take something to remember her family. She begins to freak out when she realizes that she doesn't know when they were replaced. After being calmed down by Rom, she offers to get him in contact with her old commanding officer for assistance in stopping the Wraiths, but Rom is reluctant to trust anyone he hasn't scanned to make sure they're human.

Suddenly Dire Wraith vines break through the windows to attack the duo, forcing Rom to fly out with Darby, and they see that the entire town itself is infected with Dire Wraiths, buildings and all. Rom taps into his reserves and sets his Neutralizer to wipespread mode, and burns the entire town, killing the Wraiths, though he keeps Darby's house intact, realizing how important it is to her.

The two fly off, but Rom needs to rest somewhere safe to recharge his power cells, Darby directs him to a cave formation nearby, where he can rest for a while.

Whilst resting, Darby asks Rom about his past. He explains that when he was 20, the Dire Wraiths invaded his planet, and he joined the Solstar Order to stop them, but despite their power the Dire Wraiths managed to take them out, and took over the planet Elonia, infecting people and spreading further out into the galaxy. Rom has been fighting them for over 200 years now.

Rom detects some inhuman signatures approaching their location, and heads out, leaving Darby alone...

Elsewhere, Scarlett is deployed to Utah to deal with an alien issue there, whilst he sends an "elite" team to Cooper's Mill to investigate the Rom situation for him...just as three soldiers approach Darby in the cave at gun point asking about Rom's location.

Nearby, Camilla is running down the road, and is being chased by a trio of dog-like Dire Wraiths, who are trying to take her back with them, due to her Wraithmark, but she is rescued by Rom, who located them. Rom explains that these are Wraith Stalkers, and used to be humans before being infected. He kills them, and prepares to rescue the human, until he sees her Wraithmark and prepares to kill her to stop the infection.

Suddenly an army team arrives and orders him to leave her alone. Rom scans them, but deems them to be humans, so he cannot fight them. The soldiers shoot at him with explosives, leaving Camilla confused as to why Rom isn't fighting them, since SHE can clearly see that they aren't Humans. The Elite Dire Wraiths drop their disguises and use their dark magicks to paralyze and hurt Rom, leaving him fearing that he'll fail in his mission to save the Earth....

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom the Space Knight

Bear Alien (Flashback)

Snake Alien (Flashback)

Red Skinned Female Alien (Flashback)

Purple Goo Alien (Flashback)

GI Joe

Joe Colton

Scarlett

Other Human

Darby Mason

Camilla Byers Infected by Wraithmark

Darby's Parents (Picture) Dead

Dire Wraith

Army Soldiers/Elite Dire Wraiths

Population of Cooper's Mill Killed by Rom

Wraith Hawk Killed by Rom

Wraith Stalker Trio Killed by Rom

Elonia Dire Wraiths (Flashback)

Notes

• So...it's 2:40 PM at the start of this issue, and yet the sky is dark and the Moon is out? Seems legit!
• Darby is worried that her parents were replaced by Dire Wraiths for years, even to before she left Boot Camp, however since she was at war for 5 years, and apparently the Wraiths WANTED army personnel, it's unlikely.
• Darby reveals that she went on leave due to seeing things, this is likely due to the PTSD.
• Rom learns that the Dire Wraiths can now infect non-organic things like buildings and laptops...YIKES!
• Rom reveals that his home world was Elonia, and it was invaded by the Dire Wraiths more than 200 years ago.
• Rom also explains that he's been modified to allow himself to survive in space unaided, and has lived for more than 200 years. However he was originally human-like in appearance.
• The situation that Scarlett is heading to in this issue appears to be the transport of Blackrock to a secure location, as shown during the Titans Return storyline.
• From the dialogue, it seems very likely that the soldiers who meet with Darby this issue are Dire Wraiths.
• Rom is reunited with Camilla, and discovers she has a Wraithmark on her forehead, and reveals that it will eventually lead to her becoming a Dire Wraith herself
• Rom's Analyzer is revealed to be faulty against the Elite Dire Wraiths disguised as soldiers in this story
• Camilla's Wraithmark is revealed to also allow her to see behind Dire Wraith disguises

IDW - Rom #1

Title: Earthfall Part One (and Prologue)

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Pencils & Colours by: David Messina

Inks by: Michele Pasta

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Officers Camilla Byers and Omar Ruiz have been called out to investigate a fire along the Northern Californian Coast, when they are overtaken by an armoured transport filled with army soldiers, also heading to the fire.

Soon, the police officers arrive there, where they find the soldiers approaching an armoured man in a small crater, having just landed on the planet. The armoured man scans the soldiers and identifies all but one of them to be Dire Wraiths, an alien species that can take on human forms. One of the Wraiths identifies the man as Rom, and the soldiers attack the alien, however Rom takes out his Neutralizer and destroys all but one of the Wraiths, leaving the one human soldier to live.

The police officers get ready to attack Rom, not knowing that he killed some evil aliens, and not humans, but the last Wraith attacks the duo, killing Omar, and draining his blood from his body, but only scratching Camilla on the forehead. Using Omar's blood, the Wraith starts to grow wings and becomes a Wraith Hawk, however, due to his being young, Rom is able to kill the Wraith Hawk with ease. He flies off into the sky, remarking to the two remaining humans that their planet has been invaded by the Dire Wraiths, and he has come to save the Earth from them.

Later, the soldier has been taken to Vandenberg Airbase, where he is debriefed by two EDC agents, and the former GI Joe member, Countdown/Dave Dubosky. The soldier tells them all about what happened to his team and Omar, and they seem concerned. Countdown leaves to inform his superiors of them, and leaves the soldier with the two EDC agents, who are revealed to be Dire Wraiths, and attack the soldier.

Elsewhere, Rom is flying over the town of Cooper's Mill where he finds out that the town is infested with Dire Wraiths, but the town doesn't look any different to any other Earth settlement, with no visible signs of Dire Wraith activity anywhere...

At Mantlo Park, in the town, Darby Mason has returned from war and is struggling with PTSD, her family have taken her out for a relaxing walk, and try to keep her calm, however things turn sour when her "father" tries to turn her into a Dire Wraith so they can use her military clearance to access a nearby Military Base, however she is able to tear herself apart from her "father" and wonders what was just happening, before deciding that it was likely just another panic attack due to the PTSD.

Soon, Rom appears behind the family and announces that they are all, bar Darby, Dire Wraiths. Rom kills the Dire Wraiths immediately, much to Darby's horror, as the entire town turns up in the park and starts recording his murder spree on their phones. Rom identifies the entire crowd as being Dire Wraiths, and soon realizes that they are recording him to use as propaganda against him with the Humans, who will only see him as an alien killing Humans. Some of the Wraiths spread their infection into the ground and nearby plants, turning the tress and local animals into Wraiths too, much to Rom's shock, considering this never being an ability of theirs in the past.

Nonetheless, Rom manages to destroy the new Dire Wraiths fairly easily, and locates Darby, who is running through the woods to escape him, and he decides to save her from the Wraiths.

Elsewhere, Camilla wakes up on the beach, having passed out at some point after her encounter with Rom, and she gets a call from her boss. They have a brief conversation about what happened, but suddenly she hears him ordering someone to hunt her down. This shocks her, she hangs up and destroys her phone, before running away again.

Back at Cooper's Mill, Rom captures Darby and takes her away, soon explaining to her that her family had been dead for a long time, and were replaced by Dire Wraiths, which she takes quite well really!

Back at Vandenberg, the soldier, know turned into a Dire Wraith, joins Countdown and Bryce to welcome a new military helicopter to the base, as they discuss the situation with Rom being on Earth now, and begin their plans to take him down.

Countdown greets the new arrivals, former members of GI Joe, Roadblock, Scarlett and Joe Colton himself to bring them up to date on the new arrival....

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom, the Space Knight

GI Joe

Joe Colton

Scarlett

Roadblock

Other Human

Camilla Byers Infected with Wraithmark by Young Wraith Hawk

Darby Mason

Bald Soldier Killed by Kukuk and Francis, turned into Dire Wraith

EDC Members

Omar Ruiz Killed by Young Wraith Hawk

Dire Wraith

Dave Dubosky/Countdown

Ken Francis

Bryce Kukuk

Army Soldiers Killed by Rom

Young Wraith Hawk Killed by Rom

The Mason Family Killed by Rom

Population of Cooper's Mill

Cusiter

Notes

• What's this? A non-Transformers comic series on my site? What is this?!
• This series is NOT connected with the Marvel Rom series, and is it's own new continuity made to fit in the IDW-verse
• Due to how confusing the Dire Wraiths are, I'll be identifying characters who are Dire Wraiths during the present day events of these comics, but if a character is converted into one, I'll make that note in the human section.
• The bald army guy seems quite shocked by the idea of aliens invading Earth...he does remember the Decepticon occupation of Earth right?
• Rom's comments about the Dire Wraiths changing their strategies on Earth could be a reference to how the characters needed to be redesigned for IDW to use them (since the Marvel designs belonged to them, and not the Rom brand itself)
• Also, the reason the Dire Wraiths aren't being too open about their actions on Earth is likely because of the presence of Cybertronians on the planet, trying to help them.
• The events at Monument Valley mentioned here are of course referring to Optimus setting up Autobot City there.
• Darby's "mother's" comments about the Cybertronians as "those things" could be a reference to the known thoughts of Cybertronians across the Galaxy as being monsters due to their war.
• Though not mentioned here, it is likely that Darby is immune to the Dire Wraith probes due to her PTSD.
• Part of the "Rom Protocols" mentioned at the end of this issue are likely to be the use of propaganda against him to turn the normal Humans against him, by making him look like a murderer.
• Camilla's Wraithmark is shown here to allow her to hear the internal communications of the Dire Wraiths, even over a mobile phone.
• It's not sure exactly how Dire Wraiths work yet but through the dialogue it seems that they kill humans, then plant a new Dire Wraith into their dead bodies, taking on their personality and memories, but with the ability to change appearance too.
• Countdown of GI Joe is revealed to be a Dire Wraith in disguise, unknown to the rest of the team.

IDW - Till All Are One #4

Title: The Line Between Us

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editors: John Barber & Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Combaticons have now combined into Bruticus, but due to their anger, they wind up going on a rampage and attacking the city. Chromia, Rattrap and Wheeljack run away to avoid being killed by the combiner.

Inside his head, the Combaticons are looking for the secret that Swindle had on Starscream, when Blast Off finds the memory, the team discover that Starscream gave the Enigma to Swindle to cause havoc on Caminus with the Stunticons, but that he recorded the conversation for proof. The Combaticons, minus Blast Off want to kill Starscream now, but Blast Off just wants the tape to take down Starscream legitimately, leaving Bruticus outwardly confused and further angry.

Ironhide is informed of the Combiner attack and gathers his security forces to take him on, quickly recognizing one of the limbs as being Blast Off, he tries to reach out to him, but the other Combaticons see him as an enemy. Bruticus attacks the security forces, whilst the Council Chambers are evacuated for their safety. Starscream orders Windblade to assassinate Bruticus so his secrets can be kept safe, and threatens Chromia's safety again.

Windblade has had enough, and contacts Chromia telling her to stop Ironhide from killing Bruticus, as she has decided to break off her deal with Starscream, and take him down with Bruticus' information. She orders Chromia to return to Caminus as soon as she can for safety from persecution.

Windblade makes it to Bruticus, and Chromia manages to get Ironhide to stop his attacks on him. Windblade appeals to Bruticus and tells him that she is against Starscream too, and wants his help, but the angry combiner doesn't believe her and smacks her out of the sky. Chromia rushes to Windblade's aid, and Bruticus aims his back cannons at the two Camiens, preparing to kill them.

However Ironhide shoots Bruticus through the head, and forces the Combaticons to decombine, knocking them all unconscious in the process, stopping Windblade from getting the information from them.

Chromia and Windblade are mad as this was their only chance to take down Starscream, and now he'll use the dirt on Chromia to destroy them both. Chromia sees Circuit and Longtooth nearby and decides to protect Windblade one last time. She interrupts their live report on the Combaticons and admits to her murders and causing the Acrolight earthquake. She forces Ironhide to arrest her, to show that NO-ONE is above the law.

Starscream watches this on the news feed and is clearly angry at losing his main gambling point with Windblade, and hopes that Windblade will be fine without her, and will step into the light now...

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Ironhide - Van

Chromia - Speedbike Arrested by Ironhide

Wheeljack - Race Car

Metroplex - Iacon City

Decepticon

Bruticus - Combaticon Gestalt Disabled by Ironhide

Onslaught - Anti-Aircraft Tank Arrested by Security Force

Blast Off - Jet Arrested by Security Force

Swindle - Van Brain-Dead, Arrested by Security Force

Vortex - Helicopter Arrested by Security Force

Brawl - Tank Arrested by Security Force

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Tall Tankor - Truck/Jet

Fat Tankor - Tank

Unified Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Mole Rat

Circuit

Longtooth

Unaligned Colonist

Strika - Battle Tank

Moonracer - Sports Car

Knock Out - Sports Car

Air Hammer - Owl-Hammerhead Shark Fuzor

Other Cybertronian

Random Civilians

The Primes (Mentioned)

Scrap Cruncher (Mentioned) Killed by Chromia

Exhaust (Mentioned) Killed by Chromia

Technimus (Mentioned) Killed by Chromia

Notes

• This issue marks the end of the first storyline in Till All Are One, resolving the mystery of Swindle's "death", the Combaticon's role in modern Cybertron, and even the plot thread of Starscream blackmailing Windblade over Chromia's crimes.
• This is the first time a combiner created by the Enigma of Combination has gone on a rampage, and has had visible problems. This is likely because of Swindle being brain-dead, but could be because of the team not really trusting each other.
• Windblade decides that her Cityspeaker role should include speaking to Combiners....that doesn't work too well....
• So Bruticus was defeated with just one shot through the head by Ironhide? Seems a bit anti-climactic for the built-up "villain" of this first story arc.
• The names scratched into Chromia's scalp are confirmed here to be the names of the Cybertronians she killed.
• The next issue to be released will be the Revolutions tie-in. So unless #5 is set during the same time as Titans Return, I'm guessing there will be a time-gap between the issues
• Despite their factions not being mentioned here, Chromia's three victims sound like Decepticon names.

Sig Pub - Robots in Disguise #12

Notes

• I'm pretty sure Windblade and Octopunch have never met, despite their pairing in the matchup article
• The comic reprinted this issue is a screen-cap version of "True Colours", but has been condensed into 10 pages

Features

Opening Page - Decide what type of Transformer you would be. According to the birthdate part, I would be part of High Intelligence....seems appropriate :)

Under Arrest! - Use your brain to decide which Decepticon committed which crime!

Battle of the Bots: Windblade vs Octopunch - Decide who would win!

Pack a Punch Puzzles with Grimlock - Puzzles!!

Observation Tests! - Use your eyes to solve these puzzles!

Pull out Poster - Tear out the middle page for a poster of Optimus and Bumblebee

Decepticon Dilemma - Look for the Decepticons in a picture

Autobot Alert! Colour in a picture of Sideswipe

Comic Investigator - Use your head-goop to answer questions about the comic

Action Colouring - Colour in a picture of Optimus and Megatron(us) (They misnamed him as Megatron...)

Puzzle Time with Optimus Prime - Do some more puzzles with Optimus.

Puzzling Prizes - Do some puzzles and enter a competition

Transformers Post - Fixit judges you for your artistic skills

Puzzles with Fracture - Help fracture to find the odd-one-out

IDW - Transformers #56

Title: Titans Return: White Light

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Livio Ramondelli

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

At the Indian Ocean, the Autobots are gathering up the remaining Decepticons from Galvatron's abandoned base. Jetfire gets in contact with the new Autobot City, where he gets in touch with Alpha Trion, but is quickly cut off by interference.

At Autobot City, Alpha Trion is trying to figure out why the radio cut out when a small robot named Infinitus appears and starts insulting the ancient Transformer, and asking where the stronger Prime is. Trion soon realizes that Infinitus is actually Sentinel Prime, who soon attacks the old Autobot.

Outside, Optimus and Soundwave hear Alpha Trion scream, but are distracted by Sentinel Prime's body fighting D.O.C. and the animals, whith Aileron badly injured at his feet. Soundwave and Optimus join the battle, which ends shortly afterwards when Arcee appears and grabs hold of it, as it transforms to jet mode and heads inside the city.

Soundwave and Optimus head after him, into the Titan city, as they notice Alpha Trion in jet mode being piloted by someone they think might be a human.

Elsewhere, the President has appointed Joe Colton as the new Director of the EDC, and he plans to make major changes to deal with the alien invasion. Faireborn is getting ready to head off to her new job as the President's liason, and Skywarp is worried about what will happen to him with the new anti-Transformer group.

Blackrock is being taken away for studies and detainment by GI Joe, but the convoy they are in is attacked by Infinitus, with Alpha Trion's body, having decapitated the Ancient Autobot's head. Despite the Joe's attacks, Infinitus grabs Blackrock, andleaves.

Inside the City Titan, Optimus and Soundwave follow a trail of energon, which leads them to Arcee and Sentinel's headless body, still fighting. Soon, Infinitus, still using Trion's body appears and forces Blackrock to transform into his true form: Sovereign, and reveals him to be a Titan Master, just like him.

Upon his transformation, Sovereign finds that he can feel the Titan all around him, he locates the Titan's internal Space Bridge and activates it. Infinitus travels through the bridge, and takes Alpha Trion's body and head, Optimus, Soundwave and Sovereign with him, leaving just Arcee behind, much to her annoyance.

Later, Arcee returns to a medical bay where Sideswipe is still being repaired in his tube, and Aileron is being fixed up by D.O.C. Arcee decides, against her better judgement, to tell Prowl about what happened, and also reveals that Optimus executed Galvatron. Prowl isn't shocked, and claims to know exactly where Sentinel plans to go....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab Abducted by Sentinel Prime

Alpha Trion - Jet Decapitated by Sentinel Prime

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Space Shuttle

Infinitus - Head

Arcee - Sports Car

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Prowl - Police Vehicle

Tracks - Muscle Car

Jazz - Sports Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Sky Lynx - Space Shuttle

Pyra Magna - Emergency Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dust Up - Sports Car

Silverbolt - Passenger Jet

Alpha Bravo - Rescue Helicopter

Skydive - Fighter Jet

Fireflight - Fighter Jet

Sideswipe - Sports Car STILL in repair tube

Decepticon

Soundwave - Personnel Carrier Abducted by Sentinel Prime

Skywarp - Cybertronian Jet Still going out of phase

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

Frenzy - Motorcycle

Rumble - Motorcycle

Sky-Byte - Shark

Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet

Blitzwing - Tank/Fighter Jet Captured by Autobots

Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber Captured by Autobots

Mindwipe - Bat Captured by Autobots

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet Captured by Autobots

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Sovereign - Head/Garrison Blackrock Abducted by Sentinel Prime

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Aileron - Space Shuttle Under Repairs

Bob the Insecticon

D.O.C.

Onyx Prime (Mentioned)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Human

Joe Colton

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Spike Witwicky

Scarlett

Roadblock

EDC Troops

Madame President (Mentioned)

Daniel Witwicky (Mentioned) Dead

Adventure Team (Mentioned)

GI Joe (Mentioned) Defunded by Government

Cobra (Mentioned)

Other

Buster the Dog

Notes

• As mentioned in MTMTE 56 this issue was supposed to be released first, so the big surprise about Sovereign will be officially discussed here!
• So the Autobots capture Blitzwing here, but the EDC end up with him for Revolution? Weird.
• I never noticed how much a swimming  Sky Lynx looks like a manta ray before!
• Sentinel Prime is revealed to have just been a disguise for Infinitus all this time, and was a follower of the teachings of at least one of the Primes...based on him being a Titan Master, which is basically a new version of Headmasters, I would guess his teacher would be Onyx and/or Nexus Prime, since they worked together to make Headmasters in the past.
• The Infinitus body has laser swords here....go ahead, try and make the toy do that!
• Despite never being seen before, both Soundwave and Optimus make sure to audibly identify Alpha Trion's aerial mode...guess they want to show off the new toy some more!
• Joe Colton is revealed to be the new Director of the EDC. Since the GI Joe comic isn't named "EDC" I'm guessing either he'll absorb the EDC into GI Joe, or have the Joes as an elite sub-division of the group.
• Hey look it's Roadblock and Scarlett! Maybe we'll get a decent Transformers vs GI Joe series from IDW after all!
• Infinitus attaching himself to Alpha Trion's body is both a reference to both Setinel and Alpha Trion's Titan Return toys, and their line's inter-connectivity
• Oh wow! Garrison Blackrock is actually Sovereign, a Titan Master! I never saw that coming (at least not until the spoiler in MTMTE 56)
• In case you missed the reference, Sovereign is Alpha Trion's head in the toyline, and here Alpha Trion is decapitated just before Blackrock is revealed to be Sovereign.