IDW - Bumblebee #1

Title: The Man with the Golden Car

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

David Reeve, an agent of P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. infiltrates an E.I.D.O.L.O.N. facility in Germany and makes his way to the office of their leader, Konrad Gotell, only to find him dead in his chair, and just manages to ump out of a window as the building explodes. He radios for his partner, Bumblebee, to catch him as he plummets, but he is instead "rescued" by the Decepticon Wildrider, whilst Bee is being chased by the German police in Berlin.

Bee soon makes his way to the captured agent and the Decepticon, and manages to smash the latter into the Berlin Wall, damaging it, and knocking out Wildrider in the process. Bee and Reeve drive away to return home to the UK...

After getting back home, Reeve heads to their disguised HQ, which fronts as a music studio, where Agent Lux informs Reeve that they haven't gotten anything from Wildrider, but thanks to footage from America they know he has been in contact with two other Decepticons, Runabout and Diabla, and thanks to a contact within Sector Seven, she also relays that the Decepticons are seemingly working for a human, which is concerning as it isn't their usual style.

Outside, Bumblebee is waiting for Reeve to return, when a limo appears behind him carrying the director of the agency, Pelham, however as the director leaves the limo, he is stabbed in the chest and dies. The limo races away, setting off a bomb at the studio, sending Bee flying. The Autobot gives chase to the limo, but is stopped by the Decepticon Diabla, with the limo also being revealed to be Runabout in disguise.

Inside the studio Lux and Reeve escape, after finding another agent there dead, but are encountered by the Decepticons, who throw Bee to the ground in front of them. The human agents fire on the Decepticons, but to no real effect. Bee tries to convince Diabla to change her ways, as she was once an Autobot, but she reveals that she was ALWAYS a Decepticon, and was just acting as a spy for Megatron when she posed as an Autobot.

Following this disaster, the agents and Bee drive away, with Bee using an oil slick to keep the Decepticons from following for now, much to their irritation.

Later, the group stop at a payphone, so Reeve can contact the "E.G.G.H.E.A.D.S." of their organization to figure out what to do. They inform him that they have been suspicious of a Decepticon spy within the studio for a while now, and are disavowing the three survivors until the spy can be identified...Reeve states that he understands and loads his gun....

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee/Agent Goldwheels - Aston Martin

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Diabla - Lamborghini Islero

Runabout - Rolls Royce Limousine

Wildrider - Shelby Cobra  Captured by PROGRAMME

Megatron (Mentioned)

PROGRAMME

Director Pelham Killed by a Dagger

David Reeve/Agent Omega Zero

Agent Diana Lux

Agent Parson Killed in Studio Explosion

EGGHEAD Agent (Voice Only)

Other Human

Konrad Gotell Killed by a Dagger

EIDOLON Staff

EIDOLON Operative 37

Berlin Civilians

German Police Force

London Civilians

"Human Big Villain" (Silhouette Only)

Sector Seven (Mentioned)

Queen Elizabeth II (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story is very obviously a play on spy-themed movies/programmes like "James Bond" and "The Man from UNCLE", including the hi-tech gadgets, use of acronyms and the cheesy theme song.
• This is the first full-on comic series set in the Movie universe by IDW since the adaptation of "Dark of the Moon". Whilst it hasn't been stated anywhere, it seems likely that this was due to the disgusting amount of spoilers shown in the previews for that comic, which spoiled just about every major detail of the then upcoming film (Sentinel being on the Moon, him being evil, him killing Ironhide amongst others)
• Following the revelation in the movie "The Last Knight", that Bumblebee has been on Earth since at least World War II, we see a further adventure from him approximately twenty years before the upcoming Bumblebee movie, set in the 1980's
• Despite being majorly into Transformers, I've never been too interested in cars, so I had to use a combination of TFWiki, google searches and asking Andrew Griffith on Twitter for the types of vehicles the Transformers shown this issue turn into (I figured that would go over better than just naming them all "car")
• Lux mentions how the Decepticons working for a human is unusual behaviour. However, as we learned in "Dark of the Moon", several Humans have been made to work with the Decepticons for a future plot, so maybe this is alluding to that?
• I would not be shocked if it is revealed that the mysterious human villain is also the main human villain in the upcoming movie.