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.