IDW - Rom #4

Title: Earthfall Part 4

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

At Vandenberg air force base, Corporal Leonard Song is showing off an image he managed to get of the mysterious alien, Rom before all information of him disappeared from the world. Agent Dubosky appears and orders him to hand the image over as part of his duties with the EDC. Dubosky tells Song that he's impressed that he was able to recover one of the photos of Rom, and escorts him to see the alien in a cell that keeps him out of phase with the rest of the world, whilst explaining that they need smart soldiers to help them against the alien threats like the Transformers and Rom.

Camilla is being kept in isolation as she's caught an alien infection, and is monitored by the other Dire Wraiths to see how her transformation is progressing. Darby is congratulated on her good job in capturing Rom, but she insists that she be allowed to see Rom up close, captured, for some sort of closure. Her psychiatrist agrees to this, and she approaches the cells, once there, Camilla gives her the signal to indicate that Dire Wraiths are there. Darby uses her alien gun to shoot Rom's cell, claiming to be trying to kill Rom, which destabilizes the cell.

Darby is restrained by Dubosky and her alien gun is taken away, but Rom manages to use his Neutralizer to break out of the weakened cell, He uses the Analyzer to scan the room, and manages to identify most of the soldiers there as Dire Wraiths. Rom attacks the Wraiths, but his Neutralizer needs to recharge following the energy used on the cell, so he can't kill them all right now.

Darby is knocked out by one of the Wraiths and is almost dragged away to use as a bargaining tool against Rom, but he detaches his Neutralizer (which is against the rules) and uses it as a projectile to skewer the attempted captor.

Dubosky approaches Camilla in her cell and begins to talk to her, or rather the Wraith inside her. He manages to wake up the sleeping Wraith, and tells him to remain inside Camilla for now, until he is needed in the future, as she is useful right now. Dubosky then leaves, claiming that she intimidated him.

Towards the end of the fight, the humans in the facility prepare to leave, with Song, Dr Shen and Commander Stamm unsure about what the aliens were. Darby refuses to leave Camilla and Rom behind, so she is left behind herself as the others leave.

Darby soon finds Camilla unharmed, and watches Rom torture a Dire Wraith to get information from it, and learns that their leaders are using a rare substance to create cloaking technology to use against Rom, but doesn't know anything else. Camilla confirms that he knows nothing else using her Wraith-mind reading powers, and Rom decides to finish off the Wraith, despite Darby's pleas to simply capture the alien as a prisoner.

Afterwards, Rom escapes with his human allies but Darby insists they land in a forest, and she decides to leave the group, unwilling to simply kill the Wraiths, but still wants to help out in other ways, even with the other human survivors from the recent attack, so they can help save the world properly.

Camilla reveals that she got one more piece of information from the Wraiths, there is something big happening in Seattle, and they need to get there to stop whatever it is. The group splits up into two, and worry about if they can win this war alone.

Meanwhile some partiers are watching stars on Pismo Beach, and are amazed when two shooting stars land in the ocean nearby, unaware that they are actually two more Space Knights, having arrived on Earth!

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom, the Space Knight

Snake Alien

Red Skinned Female (probably)

Other Members (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

Countdown/David Dubosky

Camilla's Inner Dire Wraith Sleeping Inside Camilla

EDC Troops Killed by Rom

Cooper's Mill Residents (Mentioned) Dead

Mason Family (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Camilla Byers Infected with Wraith Mark

Darby Mason

Corporal Leonard Song

Commander Stamm

Dr Shen

Song's Friends

Pismo Beach Partiers

Edward Snowden (Mentioned)

Other

Cybertronians (Mentioned)

Notes

• The end of this issue leads directly into Revolution: Rom, and explains why Darby is not involved in that story.
• Rom notes that the restraining device used last issue, the gun given by Countdown, and the cage used on him this issue are clearly alien in design, it's not clear yet whether these are Dire Wraith technology, or stolen from other species conquered by them.
• Part of the Dire Wraith's plan to besmirch Rom's mission was to spread propaganda against him as a murderer in Cooper's Mill, but apparently all footage of him was expunged from the internet, likely by the EDC.
• Commander Stamm and Dr Shen are both absent from the room when Rom scans for Dire Wraiths, so their nature is unclear, but it's still likely that at least one of them are Dire Wraiths in disguise, considering their previous role in the series.
• Camilla's symbol to Darby to identify the Dire Wraiths looks like a Nabla symbol, which is often shown as an inverted Delta symbol, representing the letter D, which would logically stand for "Dire Wraith" here.
• It keeps being mentioned that the Neutralizer is stuck in the body of the Dire Wraith he killed, but it shot THROUGH him, and carried on firing afterwards.
• The Wraith inside Camilla has seemingly been made into a sleeper agent for he other Wraiths, at least as long as Camilla lives, this is most likely to keep a tab on Rom's mission etc.
• Rom has a drill accessory that he can use for torture....eep.
• From what we saw of the other members of the Solstar Order, the newly arrived Space Knights are likely the snake-like one, and the red skinned female.
• D'rge appears on the cast page, but doesn't appear in this issue at all.