IDW - Rom #11

Title: Long Roads to Ruin Part 1

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Art by: David Messina and Guy Dorian Sr. (Side Story)

Inks by: Michele Pasta and Sal Busema (Side Story)

Colours by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assist by: David Mariotte

Edited by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Orphion has tasked Livia and Rom with flying around Earth to analyse and deal with the Wraith situation, whilst he deals with some mysterious secret business, which totally does not seem dodgy... Despite his earlier hopes, Rom sees that Livia has become  blood-thirsty and just wants to take out the Wraiths regardless of the situation, so Rom decides to show her a different way,,,

The duo soon locate a cruise boat, where a couple of Wraiths are busy posing as being retired, Livia approaches them, and prepares to kill them on sight. Rom takes her away, but reveals that he does plan to kill them. Rom uses his Translator to spy on the Wraiths, revealing that they were there for a reason, and learn who they are going to warn about the Knights being there, then proceeds to kill them, with no collateral damage. Before they can act on their new information though, a giant Wraith squid grabs them from the water, and drags them under.....

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, Ruan and Darby begin their mission against the Dire Wraiths, by breaking into a storage facility they control, so Ruan can steal a severed Solstar Knight arm from them, so Darby can use it to identify Wraiths by herself, however in the process, Ruan kills himself to get the arm, leaving her on her own again...

At Pismo Beach Medial Centre, a couple of Wraith cops "visit" Camilla, intending to put her out of her misery due to her rejecting her Wrait, but as they attack her, Camilla accidentally activates her now inert Wraith powers and defeats the duo, freaking her out, and leading her to run away.

Battle Scars Part 1

Rom is flying around Earth, looking for Wraiths to kill, when he remembers his old friend Fy-Laa, and of a mission they went on to the planet Verdulun-5, where upon touch down, Fy-Laa is enveloped by a gelatinous substance, that appears to be cleaning any impurities on his armour. Rom however discovers that there are Dire Wraith life signs around them, which the substance confirms, as it announces that it is both a Wraith and the indigenous life of this planet.....

Characters

Solstar Order

Orphion

Rom

Livia

Fy-Laa (Battle Scars Only)

Dire Wraith

Ruan Sablik Likely killed when getting Fallen Knight's arm

Squid Wraith

Gelatinous Wraiths (Battle Scars only)

Retired Wraiths Killed by Rom

Warehouse Wraiths Killed by Darby and Ruan

Wraith Cops Defeated by Camilla

Wraith Priest (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Darby Mason

Camilla Byers

GI Joe (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue features the first "Tales of the Solstar Order" side stories...YAY!
• What is Orphion's "true business" all about? Could it have something to do with the upcoming First Strike crossover?
• This is the first issue that I've read since it was announced that post First Strike we're getting a joint Micronauts and Rom comic...let's keep an eye out for bug sized cameos from here on!
• So...Ruan's big plan is to loudly break into a warehouse with his human buddy, then kill himself to give her a severed Space Knight arm with no knowledge on how to work it? Good fella!
• Also, speaking of the arm, I'm pretty sure that's Fy-Laa's arm, aka Rom's likely former partner and best friend along with Livia before their joining the Solstar Order.
• So...if we take it at face value, one of the Wraith cops implies that he had sex with Camilla in the past...I guess he can keep up his human guise whilst....um...climaxing?
• Despite having the Dire Wraith removed from her body, it seems that it's presence has left her body altered to be a Human-Wraith hybrid
• So...there's a giant squid Wraith.....HIDE!!!!

IDW - Rom #10

Title: Interlude: A day in the life

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Art by: David Messina

Inks by: Michele Pasta

Colours by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assist by: David Mariotte

Edited by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Following up on the conditions of their cease-fire, Rom takes the other two Space Knights into a Californian city, where they reveal themselves to see hoe regular humans act around them. Orphion expects the humans to attack them, but is shocked when they accept them, assuming them to be Autobots, and appreciating their work to protect their planet from evil aliens. The plan works, and both Orphion seems pleased with humanity (though hates being thought of as an Autobot) whilst Livia seems to be easing up on her cold exterior and is more playful, as she was when they were younger.

One of the humans asks if they are there to tackle evil aliens in the area, and points them towards a nearby church, where he says an alien is hiding.

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, Darby and Ruan are out walking, and Darby s worried about what they are going to do about the Wraiths. Ruan speculates that Darby was able to resist being turned into a Wraith before because of her PTSD messing with her mind. She doesn't care though, as she is worried that she can't identify Wraihs like Ruan and Rom can, but Ruan reveals that the Wraiths have something that could help her, that was taken from a fallen Solstar Knight, but it'll be hard to get to it..

The Knights head to the church, where some kids also ask if they're there to get the alien too, adding to their suspicions. Inside the church, the Knights encounter a Dire Wraith disguised as a priest, who then reveals that he has been hiding on Earth for a long time, hiding as various religious leaders and a congregation members, claiming to bring the humans salvation when he kills them, and evokes his belief that his god will allow him to continue and condones this course of action.

In Seattle, Leonard Song has been called to Deepwave HQ to finalize the work on the Axiom armour, finally perfecting the technology to allow people to control machinery, much to Caleb Awan's delight.

Meanwhile in a Californian hospital, Camilla wakes up from her life-saving operation, seemingly in pain...

The three Knights fight the priest, who manages to get the upper hand on them by morphing into a never-before-seen giant monstrous Wraith form, who is able to resist a Neutralizer's blasts with ease, however when Rom and Livia combine their weapons, they are able to destroy him, but not before he claims that his god will "embrace" them and the planet soon....

Orphion s glad that they have defeated the powerful Wraith, and is now intrigued by why the Earth is making the Wraiths so powerful, but is also concerned that this is further proof that they should just destroy the planet after all...

Characters

Solstar Order

Orphion

Rom

Livia

Fy-Laa (Mentioned)

Fallen Solstar Knight (Mentioned) Dead

Dire Wraith

Ruan Sablik

"Freaker" Priest Killed by Solstar Knights

Caleb Awan

Axiom

Dave Dubosky (Mentioned)

Human

Darby Mason

Camilla Byers

Leonard Song

Jogger

Old Lady and her Dog

Californian Civilians

GI Joe (Mentioned)

Other

Benna K'atsema (Flashback only)

Reyn K'atsema (Flashback only)

The Transformers (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue follows up on Rom's promise last issue to show Orphion and Livia why it is worth saving Earth
• Shockingly, all of the civilians seem to be very accepting of the aliens, even assuming they are Autobots, whom they have been shown to partially blame for the devastation on Earth and recent annexation of the world.
• This issue confirms that the short black haired  mother is Benna, and she is the one who would later be turned into a Wraith during the Annual story.
• Despite her imaginations, the three "Wraiths" seen by Darby are clearly not actually Dire Wraiths...Ruan would have told her if they were.
• This issue reveals to us that starting from issue 11 there will be a back-up story focusing on the other Solstar Knights!
• It's unclear whether Leonard Song knows that Caleb and Axiom are Dire Wraiths, as you would assume he'd not want to work with a known invading alien group
• Also, Deepwave have now continued their work on developing their cybernetic interfaces, as seen previously in the Rom: Revolution tie-in, but they apparently needed some outside human help with it.
• ALSO, didn't Caleb get absorbed into the Karza-Wraith hybrid? After which they all died, resulting in most of the other Wraiths going rogue on Earth since a large portion of their leaders were now gone?
• Rom still has Orphion's Neutralizer, most likely he'll keep it until his commander promises not to blow up the planet.

IDW - Rom #9

Title: Reinforcements Part 5 

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Pencils and Inks by: Paolo Villanelli

Colours by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assist by: David Mariotte

Edited by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Wraith sorcerers work with The Absence to complete their mission, despite the Space Knights having defeated all their troops above, but they have an unexpected ally, Rom is distracting the other Knights from attacking them...

Above, Orphion starts to charge his energies into the drill heading to the core of the planet, but Rom continues to fight him, despite being weakened himself. Livia is forced to fire on Rom by an order from Orphion, and knocks him out. Before anything else can happen though, The Presence appear and slams his arm through Livia's chest, draining her of her energy. He turns to Orphion, who tries to attack him, only to find him intangible. The fight continues to go bad for Orphion, but Rom suddenly appears, and fires his Neutralizer from inside The Presence, causing him to explode.

Orphion thanks Rom for his help, but goes back to charging the drill, whilst informing him that Livia is close to death now, and he has to choose, either save her life, or stop him from destroying the Earth.

Meanwhile, in Pawtucket, Darby has brought Ruan home with her, and her grandmother is surprisingly understanding about it (though still shocked that he's an alien). They explain that they are going to try and stop the Dire Wraiths from conquering the world, so she gives Darby a suitcase filled with weapons to help her out (she'd been stocking them up since the Transformers returned to Earth)

Rom tries to save Livia, but his energy is too depleted to heal her, Orphion continues to send his energy into the drill, unaware that the energies are being syphoned by the Wraiths below into a device.

Luckily, Rom is able to convince Orphion that saving his loyal and obedient partner is more important that rashly destroying a planet, which manages to convince Orphion of his mistake, so he helps Rom to heal Livia.

Livia wakes up, but is angry that they would "sacrifice" this world to the Wraiths just to save her. Orphion reveals that he hasn't given up on his plans to destroy Earth, but wishes to allow Rom a chance to prove to him why it should be saved instead...

Down below, the energies of Orphion's Neutralizer has killed the Sorcerers, and The Absence reforms following his fight with Rom. He is annoyed that their plan is not complete yet, but is also glad, since it is still within his sights, and he is still waiting for "The Presence" to awaken....

Characters

Solstar Order

Orphion

Rom

Livia

Dire Wraith

Ruan Sablik

The Absence

Acolyte Sorcerers Killed by Orphion's Energy

The Presence (Mentioned)

"Friends of our Enemies" Staff (Mentioned)

Human

Darby Mason

Grandma Gay-Lyn Mason

Grandpa Mason (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Orphion mentioned "The years of solitude" regarding Rom, this implies that his partner died a while ago. We know that the upcoming Shining Armour crossover is set about 200 years ago, so it's likely that we'll see the identity and death of his partner in that (Most likely the Cybertronian member)
• "The Absence" refers to him as the absence of a Wraith, and is shown to be impervious to most attacks, implying that he is either ghost-like, or simply projecting himself to Earth in some way.
• Grandma keeps a suitcase filled with armed guns in her house?! HIDE!!!!
• "The Absence" mentions someone else named "The Presence" who seems to be his opposite....wouldn't ALL of the Wraiths other than he be classed as "present" though...