IDW - Optimus Prime #11

Title: Primeless Part 1

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher, Fico Ossio, Paolo Villanelli & Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Marissa gets ready to head to Cybertron for the signing of Earth into the Council of Worlds, and is accompanied by her father. The Cybertronians and Joes left behind on Earth are a bit bored and fed up, whilst Slide starts bad-mouthing Optimus again, when suddenly the attack on Cybertron begins and the Spacebridge is shut down.

Everyone starts to panic over what is happening, but Aileron calms the situation down, allowing them to realize that the Bridge was shut down on Cybertron's side to stop the attackers from escaping or getting reinforcements. Aileron has the human news crew present report that the situation is being dealt with, whilst Jetfire begins studying the Bridge figure out how to reactivate it, the Joes are called back to the Lemuria for back-up, whilst Aileron has Thundercracker head to Sanctuary Station to make sure the Decepticon inhabitants aren't up to anything. The Torchbearers are ordered to remain in Autobot City with Soundwave in case of anything else happening, whilst Aileron and the Colonists head off to find Jazz, since he's more of a target than ever now.

The Colonists head to Mexico, where they soon find, not Jazz, but humans wielding past EDC weapons ordinance. They realize that Jazz is probably following the trail of guns to try and get rid of them. Slide keeps edging on at Aileron by questioning all of her, and Optimus' decisions in the past, resulting in the Camien getting further annoyed.

After a while of traveling, they eventually find Jazz, as well as a bunch of humans attacking him with their Transformer-killing weaponry!

Characters

Autobot

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Jazz - Sports Car

Tracks - Muscle Car

Stormclash - Helicopter

Skyburst - Helicopter

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Dustup - Sports Car

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (On TV)

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck (On TV)

Kup - Pick Up Truck (Mentioned)

Bumblebee - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Swift - Helicopter

Ramjet - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Thrust - Jet (Mentioned) Dead

Predacons (Mentioned)

Seekers - Jets (Mentioned) Defunct

Colonist

Slide - Rear of Oil Tanker

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Roulette - Muscle Car

Bump - Armadillo

Gimlet - Lobster

Camien Newscaster

Oiler - Front of Oil Tanker (Mentioned) Dead

Centurion/HOS Bumblebee - Locomotive (Mentioned)

Junkions (Mentioned)

Sterling - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Nightbird (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Circuit

Flatline - Van

Blurr - Race Car

Tappet - Car

Dirge - Jet

Playback

Primus (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

GI Joe

Flint

Chameleon

Hi-Tech

Mainframe

Hashtag (On TV)

Scarlett (Mentioned)

Other Human

Marissa Faireborn

Serena Bharwaney

Jaylin Henry

Jimmy Pink

Sofia Orozco

Maki Asato

Bryce Chan

Brad Emory

BNN Newscaster

Hector Ramirez

Human News Team

Human Delegates

Mexican Villagers

Earth Defense Command (Mentioned) Defunct

Maki Asato's Parents (Mentioned) Killed in Decepticon Invasion

Action Man/Ian Noble (Mentioned)

John Henry (Mentioned)

Madame President (Mentioned)

BNN Reporter Nina (Mentioned)

Other

Buster the Dog

Ramjet and Thrust Clones - Jets (Mentioned) 

Notes

• Ironically, this issue works better as the Optimus Prime section of the First Strike event than the ACTUAL Optimus Prime tie in, which felt more like a Revolutionaries tie-in.
• This issue takes place during the early parts of the First Strike event, showing Marissa heading to Cybertron, we actually see her next scene on Cybertron in the Optimus Prime: First Strike tie-in.
• This issue uses four different artists throughout the story. This seems odd as it's not an anthology or perspective piece. Maybe Kei Zama couldn't keep up with the art duties for this issue?
• This issue features more news clips showing events or opinions of various characters over what is happening on Cybertron during these events, like we had in Optimus Prime: First Strike.
• Though she does get named in dialogue, Chameleon is the only major character in the issue to not get an identification box. Even the Torchbearers, who mostly do nothing all get a name box!
• Serena Bharwaney was last seen during the "Bumblebee" miniseries, where she was just a child that Bumblebee befriended, she is now a teenager/young adult, clearly showing us that time is passing in the Hasbroverse (unlike in most comic universes like Marvel or DC)
• Jaylin Henry is clearly a descendant of John Henry, who befriended the Hearts of Steel Autobots, who in this continuity are actually mind-wiped Eukarians
• Nightbird is mentioned as being a Camien Cityspeaker.
• The angry NAIL news caster is using the character model of Playback from the G1 episode "Fight or Flee"
• Despite constantly going on about how without Oiler she cannot transform, Slide is shown in trailer mode, hanging off of Midnight Express...if you can do this, then get an alternate mode that isn't reliant on another party!
• Jimmy Pink is shown to be back at work in his garage...it could be the art, but he looks a bit more haggard than usual. Maybe he's developed the same illness Verity had in "Sins of the Wreckers"?
• It's mentioned that Dirge and Blurr are "former" members of their factions, yet they still wear their insignias....