IDW - First Strike #3

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

The Joes, MASK, Soundwave and the Helicopter Twins storm Castle Destro on multiple fronts and take down just about all of the Iron Grenadiers stationed there. Soon the team locate the MASS device and the Twins hook up their device to turn it into a mock-Space Bridge. Scarlett orders Quick Kick and Doc to remain on Earth in case something goes wrong so they can inform the others of the attack, as the rest of them step through the portal.

They arrive on Cybertron, in the middle of the battle, just as the Space Bridge detonates as predicted. Soundwave sends the Twins to scout the area so they can have a feel for the layout of the battlefield, and locate where Optimus and the other delegates are located, as well as seeing how far the battle has progressed. The Joes and MASK steal some abandoned vehicles from Ironblood's Alliance and use them to ram through their enemies. Soon, Soundwave uses his sonic powers to attack their foes and disorients them, allowing Scarlett to locate and tackle Baron Ironblood, she attempts to arrest him and removes his helmet, only to be shocked when Doctor Mindbender is revealed to be under the helmet, instead of Joe Colton, revealing that he is just a decoy. He refuses to talk further, but Scarlett gets another idea...

In the tunnels heading towards the planet's core, the main villains begin placing sound-dampeners so they can hide themselves from scans and even from Soundwave's enhanced hearing. Mayhem starts insulting Shazraella, so she pulls some wires, setting off some wall-mounted weaponry that shoots at Mayhem. She doesn't kill him, but just wants to show that she CAN kill him if she wants to. The masked figure who is with them removes his mask, revealing himself to be Joe Colton, and tells the others to work together.

The team continue their descent into the tunnels when Mayhem receives an automated message from a Trojan-Bot from the surface informing him of Scarlett's arrival. Colton is concerned as she is working faster than expected, but Mayhem doesn't care since she is "just a woman", a comment that gets his rope cut by Storm Shadow, sending him plummeting the rest of the way down the tunnel. Again he survives this but Colton just tells him to stop pissing off the rest of the team.

Back on the surface, Scarlett and her team examine the databanks in one of the Trojan-Bots and discover Colton's plan to use something to detonate Cybertron's core, but also sadly learns that Colton is not under mind-control or coercion as she was hoping. Soundwave is sure that there is no way a human to detonate Cybertron's core, but does agree that they need to stop them from even trying.

The team race towards Metroplex so they can access the tunnels to the planet's core from there, but are stopped along the way by Strika, who intends to kill any humans she finds. She battles against Soundwave briefly, but is stopped ultimately by the newly arrived Ironhide and Sunstreaker. Scarlett tries to explain what they learned to Ironhide, but he needs them to get permission from the Council to access the tunnels, given the current situation, so they are escorted to them...

...once inside the Council Chamber Elita One sentences the humans to death!

The Origins of Evil

Part 3: A Little Bit of Mayhem

A while ago, Colton visits Mayhem in his workshop, as he is tearing apart more pieces from the still living Blitzwing, and has been working on improving his vehicles using his parts. Colton reveals that he has been working with Kreiger and the Talisman and wants to use it to destroy Cybertron and save the world, and he needs Mayhem to help him provide the expertise to attack the planet...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Stormclash - Helicopter

Skyburst - Helicopter

Ironhide - Van

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Origins Only) Badly Damaged by Miles Mayhem

Cybertronian/Colonist

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Elita One

Strika - Battle Tank

Badgeless Officers

Primus (Mentioned)

GI Joe/MASK

Scarlett

Matt Trakker

Gloria Baker

Lady Jaye

Roadblock

Doc

Quick Kick

Talon or Flint

Ironbood's Alliance/VENOM

Joe Colton

Miles Mayhem

Storm Shadow

Garrison Kreiger

Shazraella

Destro

Doctor Mindbender/Decoy Baron Ironblood

Buzzer

Ripper

Iron Grenadiers

Red Shadow Ninjas

Trojan-Bot Defeated

Sly Rax (Origins Only)

Other

Richard Ruby/Bulletman (Origins Only, Flashback)

Mike Power, Atomic Man (Origins Only, Flashback) Dead

Joe Colton Wraith (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• I can understand Scarlett's logic in Quick Kick being kept behind whilst they go to Cybertron, since it wouldn't do much to punch Cybertronians or similar beings...but then why did she still bring Lady Jaye and the MASK duo? Jaye has some sticks, and the MASK team aren't bringing their vehicles with them...
• Why do the Helicopter Twins seem to know their way around Iacon? They are from Caminus, and were only on Cybertron for a few months before relocating to Earth, and in that passage of time, the city has been changed somewhat.
• Turns out the guy we thought was Colton the past two issues, was actually Mindbender in disguise, the real Colton was the previously unidentified masked figure with the rest of the main villains heading into the core of Cybertron.
• Shazraella appearing to understand how to activate the weaponry in the route to the core adds to her new host not being Eukarian but rather a Cybertronian, then again maybe Antagony was just a Eukarian who was assigned to work on the tunnels and Shazraella just got lucky with her body choice?
• Soundwave's comments about not being sure of the motives of someone important to him are of course a reference to Megatron, who denounced the Decepticon cause following Dark Cybertron, and was the reason he sent Ravage to spy on him whilst he was on the Lost Light.
• Due to him being on Earth or the Solar System for most of the last couple of years, it's unsurprising that Strika has never met Soundwave, though you would think she'd have seen a picture of a prominent Decepticon, being part of the very paranoid and militant Carcer crew...
• Unshockingly after all this time, despite being prominent on the cover, Pyra Magna and Acroyear never appear in this issue, and Optimus and Windblade only have brief, non-speaking cameos.
• It's confirmed that it was Joe Colton's Dire Wraith imposter who handed Blitzwing over to Mayhem, and likely was never part of the creation of the Spectrum team in the first place.