IDW - Star Trek vs Transformers #5

Title: Prime's Directive: Part 5

Written by: John Barber & Mike Johnson

Art by: Philip Murphy

Colours by: Josh Burcham 

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Edits by: Chase Marotz & David Mariotte

Plot

The repairs of the real Enterprise are underway, and the two crews discuss how to "invade" Klingon space, so they can save it from the impending Decepticon invasion, but Optimus ends the argument when he declares that he will not allow the Klingons to be harmed by the Decepticons, since he has had no bad history with them, unlike the Federation.

On the way to Kronos, Kirk/Fort Max get the idea to use the ship's replicators to create something to help them against the Decepticons...

On Kronos, the Klingons have detected unidentified vessels crossing the Neutral Zone, and considering the Federation claiming Cygnus Seven from them, they are considering retaliation . However, before they can do anything, Starscream blasts into the high command and claims leadership of the planet for himself.

Soon however, the planet is under attack by Megatron and the other Decepticons, with Megatron taking Starscream's place as leader of the planet.

Luckily, the Autobots and Enterprise crew arrive, with the Starfleet officers now wearing Cybertronian mech suits, which were replicated for them to use for this battle earlier.

Megatron is sure the Klingons will work with him, but Fort Max releases their Klingon prisoners, and they reveal Megatron's earlier betrayal, turning them against the Decepticons in turn.

An all out battle erupts, but is ended when the Klingons unleash a fleet of cloaked warbirds on the Decepticons, defeating them and ending the fight.

In the aftermath, the Enterprise and Autobots leave Kronos, but have established a brief truce with the Klingons for now, however they had to leave the Decepticons as their prisoners as part of the truce.

The Autobots decide to leave on their own to find themselves, but let Kirk know that they can call on them again in the future if the Federation, or Earth in general need future assistance, and the two crews say their farewells for now...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Fortress Maximus/Fortress Tiberius - Copy of USS Enterprise

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Jazz - Porsche

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol Left in Klingon Captivity

Starscream - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Skywarp - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Dirge - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Thrust - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Ramjet - Fighter Jet Left in Klingon Captivity

Airachnid - Helicopter Left in Klingon Captivity

Soundwave - Cassette Player Left in Klingon Captivity

Rumble - Cassette Left in Klingon Captivity

Frenzy - Cassette Left in Klingon Captivity

Ravage - Cassette Left in Klingon Captivity

Laserbeak - Cassette Left in Klingon Captivity

Buzzsaw - Cassette Left in Klingon Captivity

Trypticon - Klingon D7 Class Battle Cruiser Left in Klingon Captivity

Federation

Captain Kirk

Commander Spock

Lt. Arex

Dr McCoy

Uhura

M'Ress

Sulu

Scotty

Klingon

Commander Kuri

Kor

Chancellor Gorkon

Klingon High Council

Other Klingons

Notes

• This issue marks the final issue of this mini-series, but as I mentioned last time it was originally meant to be a four issue series, but was extended by one issue. So this story is essentially a one-off special following the plot of the previous four issues.
• The title is revealed to be Prime's own version of the Star Trek Prime Directive, where he will not allow any Cybertronian to harm another civilization, regardless of their allies wishes.
• The mechs used by the Starfleet officers don't appear to be able to transform (there's no kibble or noticeable parts/marking visible) But if I had to guess, they'd probably be shuttlecraft of some sort
• It's unclear if Fort Max is still alive/active after being separated from Kirk at the end of this story. Maybe Ratchet created a copy of him to act as his mind?
• Considering in the main continuity, we learn that the Federation and Klingons don't end up with a permanent peace treaty until after the Enterprise-C is destroyed defending a colony, we can assume the truce at the end of this story is not permanent itself.
• Despite this being the end of the series, the ending is open to a future crossover in the future, with the Decepticons being imprisoned on Kronos and the Autobots out exploring on their own, and willing to aid the Federation again in the future. Personally, I think they'll do a crossover with the Next Generation cast next, perhaps leading to a battle with the borg and all that fun stuff!

IDW - Star Trek vs Transformers #4

Title: Prime's Directive Part 4

Written by: John Barber & Mike Johnson

Art by: Philip Murphy

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Edits by: Chase Marotz & David Mariotte

Plot

Fortress Tiberius and Trypticon start their brawl, and the smaller Cybertronians fight amongst themselves too. Amidst the chaos, Starscream sneaks away using a portable cloaking device and steals some Dilithium for his own goals and flies off planet, much to Megatron's fury.

Megatron terminates his alliance with the Klingons and attempts to kill them with his fusion cannon, but they are defended by Optimus, who engages with the Decepticon leader. Inside Fortress Tiberius, Kirk is having trouble controlling Fort Max's rage at Trypticon, but soon reaffirms himself and manages to defeat Trypticon.

Megatron, knowing they have lost, calls for a retreat, with him and his Decepticons boarding Trypticon they fly off. The Klingons are taken prisoner and the Autobots/Federation forces board Fotress Tiberius and they head off to find the real Enterprise.

The real Enterprise, which was crippled by the Decepticons earlier is still adrift, and the crew are shocked to see it's duplicate appear alongside them, as most of the Autobots and Federation personnel transport over to repair the vessel, before they chase after the Decepticons, since they know they are going after Starscream, and they also know where he is likely to head to...the Klingon's homeworld to conquer it.

As predicted, Starscream uses the Dilithium to travel to Kronos, the Klingon homeworld and prepares to conquer it for himself.... 

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Jazz - Porsche 

Arcee - Sports Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Fortress Maximus/Fortress Tiberius - Copy of USS Enterprise 

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Dirge - Fighter Jet

Trypticon - Klingon D7 Class Battle Cruiser

Other Seekers - Fighter Jets

Federation

Captain Kirk

Commander Spock

Doctor McCoy

M'Ress

Sulu

Uhura

Lt Arex

Federation Personnel 

Klingon

Commander Kuri Captured by Enterprise crew

Kor Captured by Enterprise crew

Kaz Captured by Enterprise crew

Kali Captured by Enterprise crew

Notes

• Originally this series was supposed to be 4 issues long, but due to popularity it was extended an issue. This would imply that Starscream's sub-plot was added in last minute to give a mini-plot for the next issue to follow.
• Windblade forms a grid-image version of her face when in vehicle mode to communicate with Sulu, similar to the ones used in RID2001 and Rescue Bots, just without colour.

IDW - Star Trek vs Transformers #3

Title: Prime's Directive: Part 3

Written by: John Barber & Mike Johnson

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Edits by: Chase Marotz & David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

The Decepticons and Klingons attack the mining facility on Cygnus Seven, and are overwhelming Optimus and his Federation allies with their firepower.

Inside the crashed Fortress Maximus, Kirk is hooked up to a machine by Ratchet, who scans his mind to get the schematics for the Enterprise for the Titan to scan and use for their big plan for take down the Decepticons.

On the surface, Spock prepares to surrender, along with Optimus to ensure the safety of the civilians on the facility, when suddenly the Enterprise explodes from the ground beneath them, followed by the other Autobots.

The Enterprise attacks the Klingon's ship, which transforms and reveals itself to be the Decepticon Titan, Trypticon, who also joins the battle properly now.

With their new reinforcements, the Autobots and Federation manage to fight off the smaller Decepticons and Klingons, which the civilians are transported onto the Enterprise, shortly followed by the Autobots.

Once most of the crew are on board the ship, Kirk is prompted to transform the ship, revealing it to be Fortress Maximus in a new body, who introduces himself to Trypticon as "Fortress Tiberious" and prepares to fight....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ratchet - Ambulance

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Jazz - Porsche

Arcee - Sports Car

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Fortress Maximus/Fortress Tiberious - Copy of USS Enterprise 

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Dirge - Fighter Jet

Airachnid - Helicopter

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Trypticon - Klingon D7 Class Battle Cruiser

Federation

Captain Kirk

Mr Spock

Doctor McCoy

Scotty

Sulu

M'Ress

Cygnus Seven Miners and Staff

Klingon Empire

Commander Kuri

Notes

• Why does Fortress Maximus use the Enterprise's name and serial code in his alternate mode? I know he scanned the ship, but won't it be a little awkward later when there's two of them flying around?
• Disappointingly, Trypticon's dinosaur-robot mode doesn't incorporate anything from the Klingon ship in it. Silly comic with a lack of logic!
• Arcee uses an energy sword in this series, something used by her IDFW counterpart, but not her G1 cartoon version.
• Megatron literally appears from nowhere near the end of this issue. Was he cloaked and just sitting around all issue?
• The Kirk-Fort Max hybrid's name is "Fortress Tiberious", the latter part is taken from Kirk's middle name "Tiberius" (though misspelt here)
• The artist for this series has shifted to Jack Lawrence, the former artist for the now concluded Lost Light.

IDW - Star Trek vs Transformers #2

Title: Prime's Directive Part 2

Written by: John Barber & Mike Johnson

Art by: Philip Murphy

Colours by: Leonardo Ito & Josh Burcham

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Edits by: Chase Marotz & David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Scotty completes his scans of the inert Optimus Prime, and determines from his previous actions and engineering that he may be alive after all. Spock believes that if his mind is like that of an organic being then he can mind meld with him. Spock begins the mind meld, and quickly sees the history of Optimus and his species, which also reactivates the Autobot leader, who thanks Spock for what he just did.

In the mines nearby, the other Autobots have awoken and are attacking the Federation officers, assuming them to be humans who have killed Optimus Prime. Ratchet manages to stop his teammates from firing too much, as the mine may collapse, giving Kirk the opportunity to tell them that Optimus is still alive, but stunned on the surface, and asks the Autobots to explain to them who they are.

Elsewhere, at Trypticon, the Decepticons confront the Klingons, who have taken control of Trypticon. The Decepticons are ready to just kill the Klingons, as they don't believe they could be of use to them, but then Commander Kuri sparks their interest when he brings up his cloaking technology...

Bumblebee explains to Kirk and his team that they arrived on Earth and hid there using their ability to change shape. However after a while the Earth began World War III and in the aftermath, the Autobots left the planet in a Titan, Fortress Maximus. They travelled for some time until they were attacked by the Decepticons in Trypticon and their Titan is invaded. The Autobots crash Fort max into Cygnus Seven where the two teams were knocked into stasis once again. Recently the teams on the mining colony accidentally woke them up, leading to Optimus chasing after the Decepticons before the rest of the Autobots could wake up...

In orbit, the Enterprise is caught up to speed with what the Autobots are. Before they can do anything else though, the Enterprise finds a crater where Trypticon was set up and are quickly attacked by some cloaked Klingons.

Soundwave jambs the transmissions between the Enterprise and the surface teams and the Decepticons mount the Klingon Bird of Prey and launch their attack on the surface team, whilst the Enterprise is damaged.

Optimus drives himself and his new allies to the mine where the Autobots and other Federation officers are, but the entrance is collapsed by the Decepticons, trapping Optimus and his friends. Inside the mines, the Autobots decide their only way to win this is to wake up Fortress Maximus, and the Federation officers agree to help them...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax - Truck

Ratchet - Ambulance

Jazz - Porsche

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Arcee - Sports Car

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Fortress Maximus - Battleship (Flashback Only) Deactivated

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Airachnid - Helicopter

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Trypticon - Battle Station

Other Seekers - Fighter Jets

Sunstorm - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Federation

Captain Kirk

Commander Spock

Doctor McCoy

Scotty

Sulu

M'Ress

Arex

Enterprise Bridge Crew

Cygnus Seven Mining Colony Staff

Klingon Empire

Commander Kuri

Kor

Kali

Kaz

Other Human

Zefram Cochrane (Flashback Only)

Lily Sloane (Flashback Only)

WWIII Soldiers (Flashback Only)

WWIII Survivors (Flashback Only)

Notes

• This issue doesn't have a title, but since the previous one was a "part 1" we can assume this one is "part 2"
• So it turns out that the Transformers in this continuity ARE actually from this universe and were even present on Earth during World War III, an event from Star Trek canon. At some point they must have been either forgotten or erased from history.
• Optimus is shown to have been Orion Pax in his past, and looked like he did from the cartoon. The brief flashbacks also show us that events similar, if not identical to those from the cartoon's opening mini-series and the Movie took place (though likely without the deaths of Optimus and Megatron)
• The Seeker being repaired by Teltraan-1 in Optimus' flashback is unidentifiable due to sharing his body type with a few dozen other characters. But since we later see Optimus being repaired by a similar device, and we can see his red colours through the yellow light, we can assume that this Seeker is yellow, so I say he's Sunstorm!
• Jazz, Bee and Windblade appear to be VERY willing to kill the "humans" they find. I guess they did some horrible things to them during the unseen events before this story takes place.
• Fortress Maximus and Trypticon being used as the counterpart Titans here is clearly a reference to their recent pairing as Titans in the Titans Return toyline.
• Bee mentions how the Autobots left Cybertron to deal with meteors to clear a path for Cybertron. This was the backstory from the Marvel comics, and not the cartoon. Implying this is another continuity, or perhaps even set in a universe similar to the Beast Era, which was shown to have a mixture of Marvel and cartoon backstory.

Star Trek vs Transformers #1

Title: Prime's Directive Part One

Written by: John Barber & Mike Johnson

Art by: Philip Murphy

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Christa Miesner

Edits by: Chase Marotz & David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

The Federation ship, the Enterprise, is called to a remote Dilithium mine on Cygnus Seven, which is under attack. Kirk, Sulu, Spock and M'Ress beam down to the surface and are shocked to see, not Klingons as expected, but last 20th Century aircraft!

The Federation crew are confused by what they are seeing, and discover that their communications are being blocked by something. Suddenly a tunnel is blasted open and another time-displaced vehicle, a truck, appears. Spock soon realizes that none of these vehicles have pilots or drivers. Kirk determines that the Klingons must be controlling them somehow, so he shoots the truck with a phaser, which shockingly starts screaming and transforms into a large red robot, Optimus Prime. Kirk tries to figure out if there is someone in there piloting the robot, when he starts worrying about dragging more humans into his war, before passing out from the pain.

Kirk demands for the aircraft to identify themselves, resulting in the Decepticons transforming and revealing themselves too. Soundwave soon launches a sonic attack on them, to incapacitate them, however in the process this lifts the communications block, allowing the crew to contact the Enterprise to get them to fire on the Decepticons.

Soundwave is injured in the blast from space, forcing the Decepticons to escape and plan what to do about their unknown enemies. Whilst escaping, Soundwave picks up another Decepticons signal, so they head towards it.

The Enterprise crew start examining Optimus, whilst the medical team go to fix up the injured miners and staff of the Federation facility, when they determine that Optimus is more than just a robot, as he seems to have energy coursing through him, like a human would with blood. Soon they discover more, similar signals from inside the mine tunnel he came out of originally, so they decide to investigate.

The Decepticons locate the Decepticon signal, and are shocked to see Trypticon in his city mode, with a downed Klingon Bird of Prey nearby. The Decepticons and the Klingons soon realise they have a common enemy in the Enterprise crew, so they ally together to take them and the Autobots down...

Kirk and his team find a wall with a large Autobot insignia on it, made of an unknown alloy, which seemly explodes, revealing more robots within, demanding to know where Optimus Prime is!

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Injured by Phaser Fire

Ratchet - Ambulance

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Jazz - Porsche

Decepticon

Megatron - Pistol

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Airachnid - Helicopter

Starscream - F15 Fighter Jet

Thundercracker - F15 Fighter Jet

Skywarp - F15 Fighter Jet

Acid Storm - F15 Fighter Jet

Ramjet - F15 Fighter Jet

Thrust - F15 Fighter Jet

Dirge - F15 Fighter Jet

Trypticon - Battle Station

Federation

Captain Kirk

Mr Spock

Sulu

M'Ress

Lt Arex

Uhura

Scotty

Doctor McCoy

Cignus Seven Mine Staff and Miners

Enterprise Medical Team (Mentioned)

Klingon

Commander Kuri

Klingon Warriors

Notes

• This mini-series is set in a universe based on the Star Trek animated TV series. The Transformers characters seem to be based on the 80's animated series as well, but it's unclear how this works yet (my guess would be time travel)
• Assuming time travel is involved, we can guess from the Transformers characters present that this story is set during the time skip between Season Two and the Movie
• The Star Trek setting is apparently set between Season One and Two of their series
• So...from the artwork it looks like the Decepticon laser fire doesn't really harm Optimus, but Kirk's phaser can cause him immense pain and damage
• Airachnid's resign is mostly just a simplification of her Prime counterpart, but with an added head-crest that features some extra eyes.
• Trypticon's role here is confusing to me, in the US media he was created in 2006 by the Constructicons, so he shouldn't be here really. However if we also take the Japanese Scramble City specials into account then he was created earlier, but just lost somewhen and rebuilt later. So maybe this will show us what happened to him between Scramble City and Season Three?

IDW - Infestation

CVO (1)

Characters

CVO

Director Overmars
Britt (Vampire) Zombified by Benny, Split across the Multiverse
Cross (Vampire)
Bools (Vampire)
Benny (Zombie)
Nikodemus (Demonkind)

Human

Wade Killed by Zombies
President of US (Mentioned)
Noble (Zombie - Dream Only)
Kathryn Cross (Zombie - Dream Only)
Sean Cross (Zombie - Dream Only)
Military Guys Eaten/Turned by Zombies
CVO Personnel Eaten/Turned by Zombies
Dr Elizabeth Zych (In Portal Only)
Emigh (In Portal Only) Bitten by Barnes
Barnes (In Portal Only) Zombie
"Long Hair Zombie" (In Portal Only) Zombie
Egon (In Portal Only)

Other


The Undermind
Zombies
Robots Zombified
Sci-Bots
Sweeps Zombie (In Portal Only)

Storyline

Wade presents to a group of higher ups an inter-dimensional portal to Dimension Z (full of zombies) in the Kirtland underground munitions storage complex in New Mexico, and explains that the Sci-bots on site have it activated, but also prevents anyone from exiting it. He explains that the plan is to send probes into the dimension and examine the zombies and to use the natural resources that are otherwise just being left to waste there for themselves. All of a sudden Wade is pulled through the gateway and eaten, and the zombies somehow break through the shutters and start attacking the assembled personnel causing the base to be evacuated and emergency calls being sent out.
At the Coffin (CVO base) Cross dreams that his friend Noble has attacked his family and turned them into zombies like him when he wakes up. Britt enters his room and tells him they have a mission. The team is assembled in a command room and are told about the zombie outbreak in New Mexico and are teleported to the base using Artillica, when in the base Benny collapses and starts to hear the voice of the Undermind, a collective zombie intelligence.
The team manage to get into an air duct to avoid the zombies, but Benny succumbs to the voices and bites Britt in the leg, she kicks him out of the air duct but doesn't worry about the bite, since she's already dead, being a vampire. The team get out of the air duct on the way to the gateway and they find a storage area full of robots.
Benny leads a zombie hoard into the CVO Artillica storage compound by teleporting them there, and they proceed to attacking the staff there, Benny grabs a piece of Artillica. The staff in the Command Center of the base discover the zombie breach and prepare to fight them off.
Back in Kirtland the team start working on activating the robots to help them fight off the zombies, whilst Benny enters the gate room again and performs a task for the Undermind. Just as the vampires activate the robots with the help of a Sci-bot Britt starts hearing the Undermind when Benny appears through a teleporter again and kidnaps Britt. Britt is hooked up to the gateway and used, due to her being Undead Squared (half vampire, half zombie) and is turned into a living Artillica for the Undermind to use to traverse more universes.
Britt opens up a gateway to four more dimensions and the zombie hoards appear behind her ready to feast in other dimensions. Cross and Bools arrive with their robots and start attacking the zombies and try to stop Britt. Cross teleports himself using his vampire powers in front of Britt and tries to reach her, but she just blasts him away. Bools uses the robots to blast off her head, but it reforms thanks to the Undermind's powers.
Britt attacks the robot that Bools was on and infects it with the virus and turns it against Bools. The fight continues until the Sci-bot throws the Artillica that Benny's been using into the portal and causes it to destabilise. Britt screams and is torn into five parts, one physical and four spiritual, with the latter four speeding into the open dimensional portals, along with several zombies and infected robots. Benny's back to normal, at least for now and the team begin to work on a way to get Britt back together and to stop the Undermind's plan.

Notes

• In case it's not clear, Benny was a zombie BEFORE this storyline, but could just control himself
• The Gate Room for the Inter-Dimensional portal really does resemble the one used in the Stargate SG1 series, even including a ringed gate, ramp up to it and a blast shield behind the people
• Cross hasn't been a vampire for very long, and is though to be dead by people from his past life.
• Artillica is weaponized scientific magic essentially
• Bools' species is never mentioned, but since he's on a team with two vampires in a the same uniforms as them and even has red eyes like them, I'd say he's a vampire too.

My Thoughts

Art

The artwork here is very nicely done, it's made to look like a traditional horror story without having it too gory

Story

This story sets up the Infestation crossover series very well and introduces all the CVO characters needed

Continuity

This story leads directly into the four other universes stories, and the 2nd part of the CVO storyline, discussed later here.

TRANSFORMERS

Characters

Autobot


Optimus Prime - Truck Cab
Bumblebee - Sports Car
Prowl - Police Car
Kup - Pick Up Truck Zombified by Britt - Sent to Dead Universe
Drift - Race Car
Ratchet - Ambulance
Wheeljack - Race Car

Cybertronian


Galvatron - Laser Cannon
Cyclonus - Space Jet
Scourge - Space Shuttle
Jhiaxus - Jet
Sweeps - Space Shuttles Zombies, Destroyed by Galvatron

Human


Spike Witwicky
Larson Zombified - Destroyed or Sent to Dead Universe
Benny (Zombie - Flashback)
Stephen Cross (Vampire - Flashback)
Bools (Vampire - Flashback)

Other


Britt/Bayonet - Attack Helicopter/Space Bridge Sent to Dead Universe
The Undermind (Flashback)
Zombies Sent to Dead Universe
Robot Zombies Sent to Dead Universe

Storyline

A Cybertronian space shuttle burns up in Earth's atmosphere and crashes into Las Vegas in a fiery mess. The local authorities try to clear the area when the ship opens up and a slew of zombified robots, humans and Sweeps exit it and start attacking the people in the city. The zombies are slowed down when Galvatron as his troops, Cyclonus, Scourge and Bayonet also exit the ship and start attacking them. Galvatron starts calling out for Optimus to appear and as if by magic he does, along with the rest of his team and a Skywatch patrol. Optimus goes to attack Galvatron when Galvatron tells him that the Zombies are a more pressing matter to deal with, but he wont listen and the team continue to attack the evil Transformers when Kup starts getting flashbacks to when he was trapped on that planet and had delusions about zombies, and starts to freak out. Kup goes on full attack mode against them.
One of the Crash Suits is attacked by a robot zombie and it's infected by the virus, the operator inside it, Larson manages to get the front off, but by the time one of the paramedics reaches him he has already turned as well, and starts biting the people trying to help him. The Autobots and Skywatch gang up on Galvatron and manage to pin him with several suppressors, causing him to slow down and cause him pain, the other Cybertronians surrender as well. Wheeljack sets up a forcefield generator to stop the zombies from spreading any further than Las Vegas, for about 20 more hours anyway.
Optimus sends the other Autobots to try and round up the other zombies whilst Optimus and Prowl get Galvatron to explain what's happening. He says that whilst out on a recruitment drive they found a portal that had some traces of the Dead Universe in it so they went to investigate and they found a block of ice with some life forms in it, so they took it on board their ship and started to thaw it out, however once it thawed the zombies were reawakened and started attacking, the ship got redirected to Earth where it crashed in Las Vegas.
Kup starts freaking out saying how he remembers everything and how he had to fight off zombies on that other planet and then starts to claim that Bayonet isn't supposed to be there and starts to say that she's somehow responsible for this, Bayonet skewers Kup through his chest and lifts him up, whilst revealing herself to really be Britt and sends her greetings from the Undermind to them.

Britt tries to use her connection through Kup to infect the other Transformers around her, and whilst trying to she explains what's happening with the Undermind and how it manipulated facts a little bit to make it seem like she was always there, and how she just joined with Galvatron after she was freed from the Ice. Kup manages to draw a weapon and blasts Britt head on, causing her to lose her connection and the Transformers go free. The zombies attack the Transformers, but Galvatron uses the Heart of Darkness to attack them and blasts a big batch of them away. The Transformers speed away in the chaos, however Britt and several zombies, including Kup walk out of the smoke and Britt orders the human zombies to go after them..
The Transformers manage to regroup and Galvatron says that they have to leave Earth and concentrate on a bigger threat in space, Optimus ignores the suggestion, and Prowl realises that their technology will be compromised now that Kup is a zombie too, and sure enough Britt has hooked into the old Autobot and learns how to use a Space Bridge from him. Britt reconfigures herself into a Space Bridge and alters the system to allow her to send her zombies to Cybertron, but in the past BEFORE it was abandoned so they can have millions of giant robot zombies.
The Autobots approach Britt and try to blast her, but she's protected by a forcefield that she also stole from Kup's mind too. Prowl manages to use his connection to Kup and explains what he did to him in the past when he was revived before and uses it to tell him to redirect the Space Bridge elsewhere, Galvatron suggests the Dead Universe and Kup does it, sending everything inside the forcefield into the Dead Universe in an explosion.
After the end of the infestation Galvatron tries to conscript the Autobots again, but they flat out refuse him, and Galvatron says that they are enemies again now, calls Jhiaxus and has him teleport them back to their base. The Autobots look on worried about what Galvatron's big issue is.

Notes

• Kup being with Optimus' team without Springer being present implies that Springer has gotten better since having his face torn off
• Despite them being called Decepticons here I'm not going to call them that, they are still Cybertronians to me, just bad ones.
• It's possible that Galvatron mistook "Bayonet" for one of his loyal troops due to his massive recruitment drive during Heart of Darkness
• The Character Larson, whom gets zombified here isn't the same character as Larsen from the Bumblebee series (since that one was a woman)
• It's not known why this version of Britt was sent into space rather than to a planet like the others were, it's possible that its a time loop situation, and that when they send her there at the end of the story they are starting the story off again in an endless loop, but then again, why doesn't Britt remember the events and why isn't Kup there as well in that case?
• Britt somehow learns about Space Bridges from Kup...how does HE know about them? And didn't she use a space bridge-like device to travel the dimensions?

My Thoughts

Art

Ironically despite it being a horror genre story Nick Roche mostly uses his standard cartoon style of artwork, it really juxtaposes very well in my opinion

Story

This story shows what happens when the zombies invade the IDW Transformers universe

Continuity

This leads on from CVO's first segment. Galvatron's story begins and ends after this story in Heart of Darkness. This story seems to be set during the time missing in International Incident. Kup was revived and manipulated by Prowl in the All Hail Megatron Coda series.

G.I. JOE

Characters

G.I Joe


Psyche-out (Kenneth D. Rich) Killed by B.A.T.'s
Hound Drowned by Cobra
Dolphin Killed by Eel 1


Cobra


Baroness
Interrogator
Dr Jacob Mitchell Injured by B.A.T.'s
Dr Elizabeth Zych Turned into Control Bot, killed by Psyche-Out and B.A.T.'s
Eels Presumably Killed by the Infected
Eel 3 Drowned by Baroness
Vipers Killed by the Infected
Rick (Viper) Killed by B.A.T.
Last Viper Killed by Baroness
B.A.T.'s Deactivated
Cobra Commander (Mentioned)


Other


Zombie Robot Arm Destroyed by Psyche-Out
Raptor (Mitchell's bird)

Storyline

A Cobra submarine is heading to intercept a ship in the Pacific Ocean when one of the Eels on bard starts moaning about the mission being pointless etc, Baroness walks in and slashes his oxygen tank's pipe and starts to flood the room whilst she and the other more willing Eels leave the sub,and leave Eel 3 to die.
On the surface of the water a G.I. Joe team are on a low-tech boat carrying a sensitive piece of technology on board, with Dolphin and Hound bored on the deck and Psyche-Out is inside the ship with the cargo. Hound tries out his night vision goggles and Psyche-Out gets angry at him for bringing technology on board, despite their orders. Hound sees the Cobra Eels board the ship using his goggles however and starts shooting at them,  one of the Eels captures Dolphin and slashes her throat and the Joes are knocked out when a flashbang bomb is set off.
Later Psyche-Out is taken to an underwater Cobra base where he is being interrogated by Baroness and Interrogator, Baroness gets impatient and makes him watch as she has Hound drowned just outside his room, then takes out the briefcase they were transporting and tells him to explain what the mechanical arm inside is.
Dr Zych and Dr Mitchell are in Lab 9 working on a new more powerful breed of B.A.T. for Cobra to use, but the systems are still malfunctioning making it attack everyone it sees and not just Joes, Mitchell pushes the kill switch and turns it off before it can kill the science team and Zych is angry at their failures. She leaves the lab and runs into (well wheels into) Baroness who gives her the arm to analyse, Zych is fascinated by the thing. Zych goes back to her lab and starts to working on her own project, fixing her legs electronically with implants, but to no avail still.
Psyche-out tells the Cobras that the arm isn't safe, all whilst Zych plugs it into her computer (which is still plugged into her as well for her own tests and it hacks into her systems as well, with the computer virus on board using her as a control bot. Psyche-Out explains to Baroness and Interrogator that the arm has sentience and tries to control other machines, which is why they used a basic boat to transport it before, and that it destroyed one of their bases before they managed to stop it.
The arm uses Zych's computer and Zych to search for Attack Bots and activates the B.A.T.'s on the base and sends them out to kill any guards they find. Baroness goes to leave the interrogation room when a Viper tells her that there are reports of gunfire in the base, she tells him to look into it. Zych searches for more attack bots and finds the animal testing lab, where some scientists and Vipers are hiding from the B.A.T.'s and she taps into the electronics in the animals and takes them over as well and orders them to kill all the hiding Cobras in there. Baroness and Interrogator leave the room and see the B.A.T.'s approaching....

The zombie virus is having difficulties spreading the virus through any additional systems outside the base, so Zych says she'll help it, if it will help her as well, the virus agrees to the alliance. Baroness and Interrogator run from the B.A.T.'s as Zych begins to work with the virus. The trapped Vipers and scientists are attacked by the animals and are all killed, except for Mitchell who escapes in the air ducts.
Baroness arrives back at the interrogation room and wants to know what's going on and why they can't raise anyone. Psyche-Out says it's the arm's fault and that it must be hooked up into a computer somewhere on the base. Baroness frees Psyche-Out so he can help her and the others to beat the virus. The group fight through a group of the B.A.T.'s but a hull breach is caused by one of the robots and the humans all run into a storage room for safety. Mitchell exits the air duct in the room but some of the infected animals have followed him. The Cobras kill the animals and decide to use the air ducts to escape the room and get closer to Zych's lab (since Baroness gave it to her they assume it's still with her rightfully).
The group realise that the B.A.T.'s are targeting armed targets before unarmed ones, so they send Psyche-Out and Mitchell into Zych's lab first past two B.A.T.'s, and fire on them so they'll be targeted instead of them, however when the robots realise that they're heading to the control bot's location, they go after them anyway. With the B.A.T.'s gone Baroness, Interrogator and the last surviving Viper head for the sub decks for a submarine to escape on.
Mitchell and Psyche-Out enter Zych's lab and Mitchell finds here standing up with a heavily modified and mechanical looking body, and having severed her own right arm and attached the mysterious one from before onto it,so she can leave the base with the virus and spread it further, however Psyche-Out takes an axe and slices off the new arm when the B.A.T.'s appear to kill them, they injure Mitchell and Psyche-Out runs in front of Zych and grabs hold of her, pulls out her connection to the base, the B.A.T.'s shoot him and accidentally kill Zych as well. Zych is dead but still standing upwards, but Psyche-Out falls over, totally lifeless and all the B.A.T.'s are rendered lifeless as well. Mitchell hears his pet bird squawking and goes to find it, and hoping to find an exit as well as the base floods.
Baroness and the other two survivors have made it to the bay and finds all the submarines damaged when the Viper mentions about how he didn't like the water and that's why he didn't become an Eel, which Baroness uses as an inspiration.
The Viper finds 15 oxygen tanks for them to share, and Baroness kills him, so she can take his share, then tells Interrogator to take shallow breaths as he needs to make his 5 last all the way to the surface.

Notes

• Despite this being a G.I. Joe story, most of the characters are Cobra, with the only three Joes appearing all dying by the end!
• Baroness seems to care for Psych-Out in this story.
• Zych doesn't actually care about Cobra, she was just using them so she could regain the use of her legs
• The Cobra weapons don't do much as they aren't armour piercing bullets, due to thembeing on an underwater base.
• Though not stated outright, it's likely that the arm is a part of Britt's form in this universe and/or Britt was just the computer virus that eventually took over Zych's body
• Unlike the other Infestation stories, only machines and animals connected to the computer for experiments are infected by the zombie virus
• It's not shown in this story whether the characters bitten by the infected animals are infected as well

My Thoughts

Art

Very detailed and murky artwork, as one might expect from a zombie story

Story

Shows what happens when a virus that is interested in machines does when it enters the IDW GI Joe universe

Continuity

This leads on from CVO's first segment.

STAR TREK

Characters

Human


Admiral James T. Kirk
Mr Spock
Dr "Bones" McCoy
Padilla Zombified - "Cured by Bones"
Lt. Emigh Zombified by Barnes - "Cured by Bones" 
Barnes Zombified by Padilla - "Cured by Bones"
Robert Durant Williams Zombified by Britt - "Cured by Bones"
Calibus VII Colonists Zombified - "Cured by Bones"

Other


Britt (Vampire/Zombie) Defeated by Kirk
Thirty-Seven (Robot)
Other Robots

Storyline

Kirk leads an away team to Calibus VII where Bones is to be honoured with an award whilst the Enterprise goes elsewhere to restock supplies, and to rendezvous with them in five days. The shuttle approaches Calibus but they don't receive any signals from the planet and they get concerned. The team land on the planet and go out armed to see what's going on. The team find a dead body in the middle of the street and Bones examines him, suddenly the body wakes up and attacks Padilla by biting him hand, the group try stunning him but it does nothing, suddenly they're surrounded by more of the walking corpses and they run for it, whilst they notice by the uniforms that the corpses are the colonists from the planet.
Spock locates the Administrative Center as near by, so they start to head for it for answers about what happened when Padilla starts to acts weird and turns into one of the zombies as well, he attacks Barnes and bites his neck before being pulled off of him, the group run from him as more zombies start approaching them. The group hides in a room and Bones examines Barnes and says that he can do nothing for him as he dies. The group leaves the room before Barnes wakes up again and head into an alley way, however once outside Emigh is attacked by one of the colonists and is forced to be left behind.
The group sneak past the public gathering area where they landed and notice Barnes and Padilla walking towards the shuttles, and get concerned that they might be planning to use it to leave the planet, so they race them to it, and blasts it with their phasers to destroy it. The team reach the Administrative Center but can't find out anything about what happened, but do detect a power spike in a structure 5 Kilometres away, but they have to go cross country to reach it.
The team head through a forest and get ambushed by some zombies who get distracted by a deer allowing the Humans to reach the facility, but find the door locked, leaving Bones and Kirk to attempt to kill the approaching colonists if needed.

The zombies are approaching the group whilst Spock continues to work on opening the door when he finally succeeds and they manage to slip into it and lock the zombies out again. The trio explore the facility and find some information-computers that also happen to be robots, one of them, "Thirty-Seven" greets them and tells them about what happened to the planet.
His creator was working on creating more humanoid robots when he has a new assistant assigned to him, Britt, who somehow mesmerized him and made him create powerful robots, and infected them with a virus that infects humans and robots alike, the virus spread across the colony, except for Britt.
Thirty-Seven takes Kirk and the others to see his creator, Williams, whom he has had locked away in a cell to keep him safe. He then takes them to the lab so they can try and fix everything. Bones says that he's worked out a cure of sorts, and he sets it into a tranquillizer gun and fires it at Williams, lessening his symptoms. Thirty-Seven informs the group that whilst Britt is gone, she does sometimes return for some reason, and it's approaching that time again. Bones gets ready to mass produce the cure as the zombies start to breach the facility.
The team work together to create a large batch of the cure and to fill it into some missiles ready to be used to distribute it when the zombies enter the room and they are forced to fight them off. Suddenly Britt enters the room from the roof in her true form and Kirk tries to reason with her, but she just swats him away. The two fight, but during the fight she learns that they've developed a cure, she tries to stop them from releasing it, but keeps getting stalled and is finally stopped by Kirk flipping her right into the vat of cure and making her dissolve, the cure is launched into the sky and detonates, causing the cure to rain from the sky and freeing the colonists from their infection.
Later Kirk and the others meet with the now cured colonists and says that sadly they aren't truly cured, the virus was just suppressed, so they, and the three infected team members have to stay on the planet indefinitely. Kirk, Bones and Spock leave the planet when the Enterprise returns for them and the planet is quarantined 

Notes

• Only an away team is featured from the Enterprise crew here
• It's shown here that the virus can turn people whilst they are still walking rather than them having to die first
• Animals cab be turned as well
• The zombie virus is suppressed in this universe, implying that it could return at a later date in fiction

My Thoughts

Art

Very bold lines and colours here, and it looks like it was painted which gives it a nice rustic feel to it (appropriate since it's set during the Original series time frame).

Story

Shows how Kirk and the others deal with a planet infected with a foreign zombie virus very well

Continuity

This leads on from CVO's first segment.

GHOSTBUSTERS

Characters

Human


Peter Venkman
Ray
Egon
Winston
Janine
Long Hair Guy Zombified - Destroyed by Ghostbusters
Jack and his Dog "Chuck" (Mentioned)
Mr Payne (Mentioned)

Supernatural Beings


Britt (Vampire/Zombie)
Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man Zombified by the Hoard - Negated by his clone
Stay Puft-Marshmallow Man Clone Disappeared with other
Poltergeists

About 37 Zombies Absorbed into Stay-Puft Zombie
Gozer (Sumerian God - Mentioned)



Other


Cat Zombified by Long Hair Zombie - Destroyed by Ghostbusters

Storyline

A young man drink drives and has an accident where he crashes into a tree and another man, he starts to panic about what the cops will think when the dead man moves and bites his leg. The man stamps on the guys head and crushes it, suddenly Britt comes out of nowhere and says that he's messed up his schedule now, and how could he make it up to her.
Two days later in New York City the Ghostbusters are having problems with a Poltergeists, but manage to capture it when the man appears before them, as a decaying zombie. Egon and Ray are fascinated by him and realise that it's a just a body with barely any soul left, a zombie. Suddenly the zombie starts to attack the Ghostbusters and Winston blasts him with his Proton Pack and causes him to explode spreading necrotic flesh everywhere, the flesh infects a nearby cat and turns it into a zombie as well which the Ghostbusters blow up as well. The Ghostbusters worry about the necrotic flesh being on their uniforms, so they strip them off and get into the Ecto-1 and back to base.
The next day they start receiving calls about people eating dogs, but Janine thinks it's just a case of a psychopath and ignores it, and Peter tries to handle the customer on the phone himself when a zombie walks into the Ghostbusters office and goes to attack the two of them, when Janine grabs one of the traps with a poltergeist in it and throws it at the monster then activates it, hoping it will capture him as well.
The trap opens and the poltergeist is absorbed into the zombie, which causes it to decay and freeze, also trapping the Poltergeist as well. A short time later Egon examines the frozen zombie and determines that the poltergeist must have neutralised it somehow. Egon opens up the trap again, draws back in the poltergeist and caused the zombie to shatter into a pile of goop. Ray calls Peter whilst out on an errand and tells him that the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man has reappeared in New York City.

The news reports about Stay-Puft returning is watched by the Ghostbusters, whilst Egon activates their Zombie Detector and gets concerned when he learns that they aren't attacking people any more and that they're heading right for Stay-Puft now. They try to work out what's going on when Britt manifests herself in the room in front of them and she introduces herself to them and says that the zombies aren't the real threat and that Gozer is looking for a power to stop them, since they can neutralize them. Britt says that if the Ghostbusters deal with the zombies and Stay-Puft then she'll deal with the mastermind, they agree and leave. Britt reverts to her true half zombie form and comments on how annoying it was to keep them hypnotized enough, she steals one of the traps and goes for Gozer herself.
The Ghostbusters head towards to the Stay-Puft and the zombie hoard with a trunk full of traps and Ray shows the others a gun he's worked on that allows them to shoot the trapped ghosts from the traps at their targets. The team arrive at the battle site and find the zombies have started eating Stay-Puft so they start attacking the zombies when suddenly Stay-Puft turns into a zombie himself and starts roaring and absorbs the other zombies.
The Ghostbusters set up a load of the traps with poltergeists in them under Stay-Puft and let them go, forcing them into the great zombie, but rather than just rotting him it splits him in two, one a zombie, the other a clean version and the two start fighting over who is true (the loser would be absorbed into the other). The Ghostbusters start helping the clean version by attacking the zombie marshmallow man and they overload him with poltergeists causing it to explode. Before the Ghostbusters can capture the clean version he dissipates and goes elsewhere.
In the aftermath the Ghostbusters wonder what ever happened to Britt and her own mission, whilst she watche son from secret having captured a portion of Gozer's energy and prepares to go home, but before she does she creates some more zombies to keep the Ghostbusters busy, and the zombie detector picks it up.

Notes

• The zombies and Britt in this universe are just looking for a part of Gozer's essence for the Undermind, they have no real desire to add to their ranks after the initial troops are created
• The zombies in this universe are much more distorted than in the other universes
• Poltergeists trump Zombies and can negate their existance
• Britt is mistaken for a Vampire Bokor (voodoo sorcerer) by the Ghostbusters
• Poltergeists look like dogs
• Britt creates some new troubles for the Ghostbusters before leaving this universe
• This is the only universe where Britt isn't actually defeated in some way

My Thoughts

Art

Very detailed, and yet somewhat comical artwork here, the colours tend to be more subdued to what I'm used to with Transformers.

Story

Zombies vs Ghostbusters? What's not to like?

Continuity

This leads on from CVO's first segment. This continues in the start of the IDW Ghostbusters comic.

CVO (2)

Characters

CVO


Britt (Vampire/Zombie) Comatose due to Cross
Stephen Cross (Vampire) Zombified by Benny, protected by Nikodemus - Gone Missing
Bools (Vampire)
Director Overmars
Nikodemus (Demonkind)
Benny (Zombie)


Human


President of US
Long Hair Zombie (Portal Only)
Barnes (Portal Only) Zombie
Emigh (Portal Only) Bitten by Barnes
Dr Zych (Portal/Flashback)
Baroness (Flashback)
Dr McCoy (Flashback)
Admiral Kirk (Flashback)

Other


The Undermind Destroyed by Cross
Sweeps - Space Shuttles (Portal Only) Zombie
Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Flashback)
Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man Zombie (Flashback)
Robots Zombies
Zombies

Storyline

The CVO team continue to fight the zombified humans and robots in the Kirtland base whilst worrying about Britt needing medical attention after her being knocked out before when the team hear some jets above them and they drop some bombs on the base to end the infestation.
Back at Coffin the CVO teams are being overrun by zombies in the command center when the CVO team from Kirtland reappears from a trans-gate saying they just escaped with some war bots, who manage to suppress the attacking zombies.
A short time later the team reach the Artillica storage compound to try and cure Britt and Benny uses a helmet to block out the Undermind's voice if he returns again. CVO send a team to Washington to protect the President whilst Britt wake sup again, meaning that her four split parts have returned and she starts attacking everyone. She uses a trans-gate to summon the Undermind again. In Washington, Benny and the others who were with Britt gate into the White House and they start to plan things, all whilst Britt is allowing the Undermind to enter this universe.
Cross gets an idea and takes off Benny's helmet, meaning  he starts to regress to a zombie slave again and Nikodemus bleeds himself so that Cross can be infected, but keep his mind as well (making him Undead Squared like Britt) Benny bites Cross and he turns, and teleports himself to the Coffin again to confront Britt and tris to use magic to stop them. He fights Britt and manages to skewer her with a knife in the back, defeating her, but it's too late The Undermind breaks through the gateway and enters this universe planning to spread his zombie plague. Cross uses all his power and causes the Undermind to completely fall apart and is destroyed, leaving just a pile of corpses as the Storage Area is destroyed.
In the aftermath the zombies, who all just stopped living again (except Benny) are cleaned up and it turned out that all Magic has been whited out and rebooted, and all Artillica is neutralised as well. Britt is stuck in hospital with no signs of getting better and Cross has gone missing, assumed to be just destroyed.
At Arlington Cemetery a cloaked figure visits the grave of war hero Stephen Cross and walks away from it (the figure is Cross)

Notes

• So...I guess being turned into a vampire makes you massively muscled then?
• The blood of demons can be used as a protective substance if drunk...it's bright green...ew

My Thoughts

Art

The artwork here is very nicely done, it's made to look like a traditional horror story without having it too gory

Story

The conclusion of this zombie outbreak storyline and links up to the other stories very nicely. The ending is also quite intriguing and makes me want to start following this storyline some more.

Continuity

This leads on from CVO's first segment, and is also set after the other four stories as well.