IDW - First Strike #2

First Strike

Written by: Mairghread Scott & David A Rodriguez 

Art by: Max Dunbar

Colours by: Ander Zarate

Letters by: Tom B Long

Assistant Editor: David Mariotte

Editor: David Hedgecock

Publisher: Ted Adams

The Origins of Evil

Written by: John Barber

Pencils by: Netho Diaz

Inks by: Walden Wong

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Plot

First Strike

At Ironblood's hidden base in the Swiss Alps, Scarlett finishes reading Colton's letter to her when the room is filled with Red Shadows, the Joes fight them off, but Doc notices a beeping noise, alerting the team to the whole facility being rigged with explosives. They manage to escape just as the base detonates, and they start trying to work out what happened to Colton to make him go bad.

On Cybertron, Ironblood's alliance are holding their own against the Transformers and Joes, and even take a few down, taking them apart for resources. The teams split up to take on their own missions, with Mayhem and Kreiger delivering the Talisman to a rendezvous point, and Destro and Storm Shadow escorting Shazraella to find her a body to Enerchange with.

Back on Earth, the Joes have teamed up with Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker of MASK and are travelling to Autobot City via a submarine. Inside the sub, the MASK members confirm that the false Cybertronians seen on Cybertron are based on MASK technology, meaning that Mayhem is involved in the attack too. They're planning to use the spacebridge in Autobot City to reach Cybertron and help out with the fight, and plan to take every weapon they have at their disposal with them, including a virus that MASK has been working on from Astrotrain's body.

On Cybertron, Storm Shadow disables a purple female Transformer, Antagony, allowing Shazraella to Enerchange with her, meanwhile Flint's team of Joes are being pinned down by Red Shadows until they are run down by Ironhide who drives the humans to safety.

At the villain's rendezvous point, Shazraella, in her new Cybertronian sized body retrieves the Talisman from the back of Mayhem's new Outlaw truck and carries it on her back, whilst guiding the villains through some tunnels, planning to poison the planet's Energon with the Talisman's dangerous energy.

Optimus and Windblade arrive at the Spire where they assist Starscream, Elita One and Marissa in trying to figure out what to do now. Elita proposes to kill all Humans on Earth to stop the attack, but Marissa counters that if she has to resort to indiscriminate murder then maybe she isn't a good leader. Elita respons to this by contacting her ship back in orbit to request reinforcements, however the ship cannot help.

Diavod of the Solstar Order contacts Cybertron through Carcer and informs them that the planet has been quarantined due to the massive amount of Dire Wraith readings on the planet, leaving the Cybertronians alone...

On Earth, the Joes and MASK arrive at Autobot City, where they are escorted in by Skyburst and Stormclash, however once inside they learn that the spacebridge was disabled from Cybertron's side and cannot be opened from Earth right now. The teams wonder how Ironblood's troops managed to get to Cybertron themselves, and they realize that they must have used the MASS device in Destro's possession to piggyback on the spacebridge portal and headed there that way. The Helicopter Twins create a device that will allow them to copy that same process, but they need to use the MASS device to activate it as well, so, along with Soundwave and the Twins, the team storm towards Castle Destro in Scotland.

The Origins of Evil

Part Two: A Game of Chess

Months ago, Destro is contacted by Doctor X about Baron Ironblood coming to visit him, which Destro is not happy with, as he only leant his MASS device to them and doesn't want to be part of their team. He shows a momentary sign of emotion when Joe Colton comes out of the MASS device, but simply orders the BATS in his employ to kill him. Colton explains that he IS Ironblood, but Destro doesn't care.

Colton tries to appeal to Destro's interest in new technology by saying he can give him Cybertronian technology, which Destro is no longer interested in, since he has studied all he can from Earth's Cybertronians, however Colton points out that the best stuff is likely still on Cybertron, and by working together they can use the MASS device to hack into the spacebridge signal and ravel there to get more tech.

Destro is interested now and deactivates his BATS, stating that his only condition is to go to Cybertron as well, which Colton is very happy with, securing his places in the alliance....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Ironhide - Van

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Astrotrain - Train/Space Shuttle (Flashback) Dead

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Elita One

Antagony - Ant Enerchanged with Shazraella

Green Guy Killed and Dismantled by Ironblood's Alliance

Random Cybertronian Crowdfillers

Carcer Crew Member (Voice Only)

GI Joe

Scarlett

Roadblock

Lady Jaye

Quick Kick

Doc

Talon

Flint

Spike

Dial Tone (Mentioned)

MASK

Matt Trakker

Gloria Baker

Ironblood's Alliance

Baron Ironblood/Joe Colton

Destro

Storm Shadow

Miles Mayhem

Garrison Kreiger

"Mystery Villain"

Lady Shazraella Enerchanged with Antagony, main personality

Major Bludd

Buzzer

Ripper

Red Shadow Ninjas

Iron Grenadiers

Doctor X (Hologram, Origins Only)

Iron Klaw (Mentioned)

Other Human

Marissa Faireborn

Solstar Order

Diavod

Prim

Butin

Guar

Nikomi

Other

BAT's (Origins Only)

Dire Wraiths (Mentioned)

Notes

• Just a quick note, it turns out that issue 0 of this series was originally meant to be printed in Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #3, but due to delays it was released beforehand online and the prequel was replaced with a preview of issue 1 in the actual issue. So that explains where that whole thing came from!
• The Cybertronian killed by and then ripped apart by Ironblood's troops  looks an awful lot like Kup, specifically his Prime toy counterpart, based on the shoulders and chest design.
• The heavily shadowed member of Ironblood's team is most likely someone from Visionaries, an upcoming IDW comic series set in the Hasbroverse.
• Due to delays for Revolutionaries, this issue spoils that both Kreiger and the Talisman will be recovered from the team by Ironblood's crew. Luckily nothing else appears to have been spoiled yet...YET...
• OH WAIT! Gloria is spoiled as having left the MASK team here, but the issue where that happens hasn't been released yet...good thing I only get the trades for MASK huh?!
• Shazraella is seemingly in her Karza-themed armour that she donned towards the end of Wrath of Karza.
• The "MASK tech" that Mayhem uses to imitate Cybertronians is likely due to him using Blitzwing's body for experiments and developing robots based somewhat on him.
• The part with the virus developed from Astrotrain's body may seem out of the blue here, but it's actually a plot line from the MASK Annual from last year...something I don't follow here!
• Shazraella's new host body isn't named still, but she is most likely Antagony, however this character appears to have knowledge of Cybertron and the tunnels etc under the city, so I'd guess she isn't Eukarian like most people believe...she could just be an explorer though I guess?
• The Shazraella-Antagony fusion form looks somewhat like a darker-coloured, less-kibbley version of Windblade. If it is then this is appropriate since she made contact with the Cityspeaker during the Revolution event.
• Diavod is shown to still be alive in the modern day, having last been seen during Rom's training days for the Solstar Order. This either means that Elonians have extended lifespans, or he does indeed have Solstar armour on, but it either doesn't cover his face, or it's able to take on a fluid facial form, much like how Stardrive's does in Shining Armor.
• The detection of Dire Wraith activity on Cybertron is due to the Red Shadows being fused with their technology, and the Talisman itself being partially of Dire Wraith origin.
• Based on Soundwave's design here, and how he can seemingly fit inside either the Twins or the MASK vehicles, I'm guessing he has reverted to a cassette player alternate mode, having been a personnel carrier for the past couple of years.
• OH MY PRIMUS!! They finally gave some personality to a Torchbearer other than Pyra Magna!! I'm very serious here, I love the Torchbearer designs, but I've always hated how they were pretty much just treated as "Pyra Magna plus the others". This is a good next step for the team.
• From the background of the scene in Autobot City, it looks like cameras and lights have been set up, as well as plates etc on the tables...I guess there was meant to be a party or something following the signing at the city?
• Destro plays with a Hasbro Heroes and Villains themed chess board in the Origins story....HASBRO!!! STOP PUTTING COOL PRODUCT IDEAS IN YOUR COMICS AND NOT MAKING THEM IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS!!!
• Doctor X and Iron Klaw are mentioned as still being on Earth...I guess we'll be catching up with them going against the Earth-based heroes during the tie-in issues.