First Strike issue 2

Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 23,2017
Cover date	August 2017
Written by	Mairghread ScottandDavid A. Rodriguez
Art by	Max Dunbar
Colors by	Ander Zarate
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Hedgecock
Assistant editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

M.A.S.K. accompanies G.I. Joe to Autobot City to get help, while more members of Baron Ironblood's villainous cadre step out of the shadows to proceed with the next step of their plan.

Synopsis

Scarlett's reading ofJoe Colton's letter is interrupted as a phalanx ofRed Shadowscrash through the walls of the bunker. TheJoespull out, fighting their way through the ninja back to the surface, realizing as they go that Colton has wired the entire base to blow. The team intends to hijack one of the heli-transports on the launchpad outside to get away, but even it is set to explode, and does so before they can get to it. His patience expired,Roadblockputs all of his might to work shoulder-charging his way through the Red Shadows, clearing a path that lets the team make it outside before the whole base goes up. Once they have regained their bearings, Scarlett resumes reading Colton's letter, and learns that Colton has joined forces withGarrison Kreigerto avail of the "weapon of last resort" he possesses. Having found official channels to be insurmountably corrupted byDire Wraithinfiltration, Colton went outside the law to enact this plan, creating a new identity for himself: Baron Ironblood.

OnCybertron,DestroandStorm Shadowblast their way pastOptimus PrimeandWindbladein theRazorback,making for their pre-determined rendezvous point. Also on course for the same location is the team ofMiles Mayhem,Garrison Kreiger, and a third villain whose face remains hidden in shadow, who are transporting Kreiger's weapon—the mysterious alien obelisk known as the "Talisman"—in Mayhem's"Outlaw"truck. The plan is to connect the Talisman to Cybertron's core and poison the planet from within—a task which requires the"enerchange"interface abilities of the final member of the villainous team,Microspaceminister of warShazraella.The inches tall Shazraella requires a larger body in order to do her part, the procurement of which falls to Storm Shadow; from the fleeing crowd of panicked Cybertronians, the ninja selects and cuts downAntagonyso that Shazraella can enerchange and fuse with her, gaining control of her body. Linking up with the rest of the villains, the now-giant Shazraella hefts the Talisman onto her back, and she and the rest of the team—squabbling and backbiting all the way, of course—enter a duct that will lead them down into the depths of the planet.

While the villains' main objective goes into motion, Baron Ironblood and the rest of his footsoldiers keep the Transformers andFlint's G.I. Joe team busy. Head of planetary securityIronhidesaves Flint,Spike,andTalonfrom a band of Red Shadows led byMajor Bludd,then calls for a retreat back to theSpire,hoping that theCouncil of Worldscan work together and form a plan. Unfortunately,StarscreamandElita Oneare too busy arguing to do any planning; Elita blames Starscream for allowing the humans onto Cybertron in the first place, and opines that they should all be wiped out, starting with new council memberMarissa Faireborn.Optimus Prime tries to intercede, but Marissa can take care of herself; she impugns Elita's ability to resolve the situation without resorting to mass-murder, which proves just insulting enough for Elita to take up the challenge. When Elita calls her orbiting shipCarcerto order reinforcements sent down the planet's surface, however, the council are met with only more bad news: theKnightsof theSolstar Orderhavealsoarrived in Cybertronian orbit, their attention caught by the mutated, Dire-Wraith-like biology of the Talisman-altered Red Shadows, and they have placed the planet under quarantine!

Back on Earth, Scarlett calls inMatt TrakkerandGloria BakerofM.A.S.K.,who provide the heroes a weapon of last resort of their own: a stabilized version of the alien techno-virus recovered from the remains ofAstrotrainduring the two teams'last adventure together.Knowing that they will require use of aSpacebridgeto get to Cybertron and join the fight there, the group sets course in a submarine forAutobot City,hovering above theGreenland Sea.Upon surfacing, they are met bySkyburstandStormclash,who usher them aboard the city to meet withSoundwave.The Decepticon explains that the Spacebridge has been shut down from Cybertron's side, cutting them off, but the humans and Transformers put their heads together and figure out how to proceed. Deducing that the villains must have piggybacked theirM.A.S.S. Deviceteleporter on the Spacebridge's signal to reach Cybertron in the first place, the heroes conclude it should be possible for them to recreate the effect for a one-shot teleportation—ifthey can get their hands on the M.A.S.S. Device itself. With alamaring alacrity, theTorchbearertwins refit the bridge for the plan, then the combined forces of G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., and Autobot City prepare to stormCastle Destroand take the M.A.S.S. Device by force!

Featured characters

Characters initalic textappear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

TheIron Ring

Others

Astrotrain(19)
Soundwave(28)

Matt Trakker(17)
Gloria Baker(18)

Cybertronians

Humans

Marissa Faireborn(28)

Solstar Order

Prim(30)
Butin(31)
Guar(32)
Nikomi(33)
Diavod(34)

Quotes

"People sure have a crap way of complimenting you, Scarlett."
"I blame myself."
"I blame you too. Underachieve some time, will ya?"

—Lady JayeandScarlett

"You are extremely bossy for someone so easilycrushed."
"That should tell you something."

—Storm ShadowandShazraella

"Soundwave? That's the talking boom box, right?"
"Right."
"There's a reason I missed this work."

—Gloria BakerandRoadblock

Starscream:"I will not be spoken to in this manner, Elita."
Elita One:"Perhaps you should have thought about that before allowing these flesh-covered parasites to run rampant across Iacon!"
Marissa:"Hey! I amrighthere. "

Notes

In addition to this 20-page main story,First Strike#2 also includes the four-pagesecond chapterof an ongoing back-up strip, "The Origins of Evil",detailing how Ironblood assembled his evil allies.

IDW continuity notes

Colton refers to "getting a new hand";issue #0showed how he had lost a hand to attemptedDire Wraithpossession, whilelast issue's back-up stripexplained how he had replaced it with a Talisman-tech prosthesis.
Colton references his very first encounter with a Cybertronian life-form, as documented inissue 3ofRevolutionaries.
Trakker notes that the facsimile Transformers Ironblood uses to smuggle his forces onto Cybertron are "definitely M.A.S.K. tech." There's nothing overtly "M.A.S.K." -y about the robots themselves, and the advanced tech Kreiger has access to means Mayhem's involvement is hardly a certainty based on that alone; therefore, though it's not specifically stated, Matt must logically be deducing this based on regular Cybertronians' inability to detect the villains' robots as phonies. M.A.S.K. vehicles are blind to Cybertronian scanners as a result of enhancements made following Mayhem's study ofBlitzwing,as seen inRevolution#2.
As referenced in a footnote, the Joe and M.A.S.K. teams previously worked together to recover the remains of Astrotrain inthe 2017M.A.S.K.Annual.The Decepticon died in space inThe Transformers#55,and the annual showed how his dismembered body parts crashed to Earth, having picked up a techno-virus along the way.
According to Roadblock,Dial Tonehas "eyes on"Doctor Xand theIron Klaw,answering the question of where the other two members of Ironblood's alliance inRevolutionariesare. Last issue's back-up strip,"Redcliffe Club",alluded to Doctor X's absence by having her mention her disinterest in travelling to Cybertron.
Scarlett refers to Gloria Baker getting "out of the game", and a footnote referencesM.A.S.K.#10for this story point... except that issue was running late and hadn't been released at the time of this issue's publication.
Major Bludd appears among Ironblood's ground troops; he has been working for the Baron since prior toRevolutionaries#1,having severed ties with Cobra some years earlier following the events of the 2012"Cobra Command"storyline.
Appearing for the first time in the mainFirst Strikeseries, after appearing in theFirst Strike#0 prelude,is the mysterious obelisk code-named "Talisman", which has been the central plot device ofRevolutionaries.This enigmatic device is an apparent creation ofOnyx Prime's, but also includes elements of the biotechnologies of Microspace and the Dire Wraiths. Its original purpose is unknown, but it arrived on Earth during theIce Age,when thevesselcarrying it crashed on the planet. The Talisman teleported away with the vessel fromWorld War II-eraBrasnya,somehow winding up inEgypt,where it was uncovered in the 1980s by Garrison Kreiger, who made study of it his life's work; in particularRevolutionaries#7showed how Kreiger and Colton discovered the Talisman's energy was deadly to Transformers, setting them on the course that has led to the events ofFirst Strike.
Also referenced in a footnote is Starscream's familiarity with Dire Wraiths, with whom he previously worked nearly two centuries before today inRom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor.
Starscream mentions Elita One's refusal to bring down Carcer and help Cybertron, back inTill All Are One#5.
Ironblood's alliance has been using the M.A.S.S. Device to move around Earth throughoutRevolutionaries;this issue'sback-up stripexplains that Destro provided the Baron with use of it. The Joes head out to storm Castle Destro at issue's end, since that's where theoriginal,imperfect M.A.S.S. Device was housed way back in the very earliest issues of IDW'sG.I. Joein 2008. The perfected M.A.S.S. was constructed at Cobra's Arctic Section Zero base, but Destro has evidently used the advancements made there to get his original working.
The Space Knights who appear in this issue have previously made minor appearances in theROMcomic. Prim is the cat-like Knight, Guar is the purple blob, Nikomi is the bear-like Knight, and the Knight resembling an armored human like Rom is probably Butin, anElonianwho barely appeared in the2017ROMannual.The appearance of the unarmored Diavod comes as something of a surprise, as he is also an Elonian, a species not known to have centuries-long lifespans. It is unclear if in fact they do, or if Diavod possesses Space Knight armor that doesn't cover his head.

Transformers references

Shazraella's enerchange victim is the same purple insectoid Transformer who stood out so conspicuously from the crowd last issue. She's not mentioned by name, but we now get a clear enough look at her to confirm that she is indeed Antagony, drawn based on her profile art in theBeast Wars Sourcebook.
Like Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Windblade, Soundwave is now being drawn based on the "evergreen"design for the character created by Hasbro for use in licensed materials not tied to a particular toyline or film/animation project. Clear indicators are the presence of oscilloscope details on his upper arms, and an additional" satellite dish "on his left shoulder.

Hasbro franchise references

The Outlaw was a toy from the second year of theM.A.S.K.toyline, converting from the tractor trailer seen here to a mobile battlefield headquarters. It was Miles Mayhem's second personal vehicle in the series, following theSwitchblade.

Covers (7)

Cover A:Rom,Matt Trakker, and G.I. Joe surround Baron Ironblood as he stands atop the Talisman, byFreddie E. Williams IIandJeremy Colwell
Cover B:Shazraella lunges at Ironhide, G.I. Joe prepare to storm Castle Destro, and Ironblood looks on, byMax DunbarandAnder Zarate
Cover C:Doctor Mindbender,Destro, Baron Ironblood, Scarlett, Roadblock, the Red Shadows, and the Talisman, byAlex Ronald;the Red Shadows appear with their original paramilitaryAction Forcedesign, rather than their IDW ninja appearance.
Cover D:Soundwave, Scarlett, Shazraella, Roadblock, Matt Trakker, and Gloria Baker, byRob Duenas

King of the hill!
Yes Baron, this is bad comedy.
Biker 'Stache returns!
Dreamwaveon acid

Retailer incentive cover A:Scarlett and Soundwave, byJay Fosgitt
Retailer incentive cover B:Miles Mayhem, Destro, Doctor Mindbender, and the Talisman, byDavidé FabbriandMonica Kubina
Retailer incentive cover C:Shazraella, Storm Shadow, and our mystery villain, byLeonardo Manco