Revenge of the Fallen issue 1

« Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen#1 » «
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 202009
Cover date	May 2009
Written by	Simon Furman
Pencils by	Jon Davis-Hunt
Colors by	Kris Carter&Josh Perez
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	Movie continuity

An adaptation of the summer blockbuster of 2009.

Synopsis

It is the dawn of mankind. Primitivehumansstalk game through a lush jungle. Their hunt is interrupted by the impact of a colossal foot, cracks in its structure glowing with otherworldly energies.The Fallentakes notice of these curious fleshlings, wondering if this is truly life. He shrugs the question off, looking to the construction of theharvesterwhich will soon extinguishthis feeble planet'ssun.

In the modern day ofShanghai,China,theNESTforces engageDemolishor,who comments on the annoying tenacity of the human race. Meanwhile,Sidewaystries to make good his escape elsewhere in the city, withMudflapandSkidshot in pursuit. Unfortunately, their combined ice cream truck form proves too ungainly to handle the turns, leaving the three motorcycles that make upArceeto continue the chase. Arcee is advised to make certain Sideways does not breach the quarantine perimeter, to prevent public knowledge of the incident.

IronhideandOptimus Primefinally manage to take down Demolishor, while the timely arrival ofSideswipeaids in neutralizing Sideways. As Prime stands over the wrecked form of theConstructiconhe felled, Demolishor delivers a warning: their days on this planet are numbered as The Fallen will soon claim it!

Backstateside,Sam Witwickysnorts derisively at the government coverup of theMission Citydebacle. He is nearly finished packing to go off to college. He gets a call fromMikaela,now working at a motorcycle repair shop. She announces she's breaking up with him, which he objects to just shortly before he discovers a shard of theAllSparkembedded in the shirt he wore in Mission City. His vision is flooded withCyberglyphics,and the shard tumbles to the floor, burning a hole in it. In the kitchen below, all the appliances are brought to new, malevolent life!

The timely intervention ofBumblebeesaves the Witwickys from the newbornTransformers... at the cost of entirely demolishing their home. Mikaela arrives, having rushed over when Sam went quiet. Sam entrusts her with the AllSpark shard, urging her not to tell anyone of it. Little does he know that the RC truck over by the fire hydrant is actually theDecepticonWheelie,who is spying on them. Ron calms his wife down by saying that the government will take care of their house. Sam talks with Bumblebee, telling him that unfortunately freshmen aren't allowed cars on campus, so this will be goodbye for awhile.

Back at theDiego Garciabase of NEST, theAutobotsare met by a representative of the U.S. government, on orders from thepresident.Director GallowayandAdmiral Morshower's briefing for them is classified, even from other NEST operatives, but in low orbit the DecepticonSoundwaveparasitizes a communications satellite to listen in. Optimus Prime tells the Admiral that the Decepticons have most definitelynotabandoned Earth, and relays the cryptic warning he received in Shanghai. Galloway is concerned that the Autobots are keeping secrets, as they have kept weapons technology from their allies and have been sending unauthorized transmissions into space. He asks if the Autobots will leave should the president decide to ask them to. Prime reluctantly answers that they will. He however asks Galloway and by extension the president to consider what will happen if the Autobots leave and the threat still remains.

The Resurrection of Megatron...

Moving into his dorm on campus, Sam meetsLeo Spitz,his conspiracy theorist roommate. Leo manages a website dedicated to sightings of Cybertronians, and one of his contributors is uploading footage of the Shanghai incident. As Sam watches, he is approached by the extremely enthusiasticAlice,his neighbor.

Meanwhile off the shore of Diego Garcia,Ravagearrives via orbital insertion. Transforming to robot mode, he infiltrates the NEST installation and seeds its ventilation system withmicrocons.This swarm formsthe crude outline of a body,and manages to pilfer the AllSpark shard being held at the base.

Apparently wasting no time, Sam attends a party at theDelta Fraternitythat night. Though amply distracted by Alice's ample mammalian traits, he insists he ought to call Mikaela. Alice has other ideas, and suggests he just pretend thatsheis his girlfriend. Sam offers half-hearted protest, and is thankfully saved from embarrassing himself by the arrival of Bumblebee. Bumblebee urges him to get in, and he takes the welcome reprieve as he is driven off to speak with Optimus Prime. Prime reveals to Sam that the shard of the AllSpark has been stolen from the NEST base, and that the Autobots are under fire from human authorities. He asks Sam to speak on the Autobots' behalf, to help the humans understand. Sam says he's got enough on his plate, and thus can't help the Autobots right now.

Beneath the ocean, deep in theLaurentian Abyss,Ravage meets up witha tiny Decepticon.Surrendering up the shard, Ravage watches as his compatriot uses it to revive the inert form of Megatron. Optics blazing, Megatron rises from the ocean and vows retribution upon the Earth!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Too tight. Won't make it."
"Will. Just you—SEEEEE!"
"Told ya."

—Skidsdoubts they'll be able to make that sharp turn, butMudflapdisagrees. And is wrong.

"This is Arcee. Twins..."
"...fumbled the ball. So it's..."
"...my play now!"

—TheArceebikes think they'reReflector.

"Sorry I'm late, Arcee...... But I'm a sucker for abigfinish! "

—Sideswipedelivers the final blow toSideways.

"And now...let there be terrible retribution and carnage abound. Megatron is reborn!"

–Megatronis so happy that he's alive again, he's talking to himself.

Notes

A German license plate in Shanghai. Makes perfect sense, aber natürlich!

• Songs played onBumblebee's radio:
  • Page 12: Unknown - "But it's all over now" could be from a number of different songs, but chances are it might just be from the Rolling Stones song of the same name.
  • Page 13: "No Regrets" by Midge Ure, with no altered lyrics (unlike in thefirst movie'sprequel).
• On page 3,Sidewayshas a German license plate, assigned to the City of Hamburg. In fact, the license number "HH BA 740" is taken straight from commercials and other promotional materials for the Audi R8.
• The dummy corporationMcClaren Roboticsis held responsible for Mission City, just like inThe Last Primenovel. Except in the movie's viral marketing websites, it'sMendelson Robotics.And in thebook adaptation,it'sMassive Dynamics.Does your brain hurt yet?
• On page 6, when one of the Arcees transforms, the results are...interesting. The single robot that appears is colored entirely blue, as if it wereChromia,but the robot drawn is not based on the model ofanythe three individual bike sisters, with a particularly bulky upper torso and a head that is off-set to the right of her body. It is something of a frankensteining of the three sisters; its right arm is lifted almost directly from Arcee's concept artwork, while its left arm is a large laser-sword resembling the one seen inElita-1'sconcept art. Furthermore, this composite robot will reappear in one panel in thesecond issueof the movie adaptation, where it is colored half-purple, half-blue, in addition to being mirror-flipped from its appearance in this issue. It seems that this figure is intended to be the proposed "combined form" of the three Arcee sisters that was cut from the finished film... but that doesn't explain why only one bike is seen transforming into it in this issue, or why it's entirely blue. Last-minute attempt at removing the combined mode from the comic?
• The Witwicky's microwave appears to have been energized with a dose of AllSpark energy, but the robot mode for theMicrowave botdoes not appear.
• BothThe Real Effing DealandGiantEffingRobots.com,mentioned in the dialogue, are real websites that are part of the viral marketing campaign for the film.
• There is a poster in Leo Spitz's room of a woman who is totally not wearing any pants.
• One of the appliances brought to life isEjectorfrom aMountain Dewcommercial associated with thefirst film.The art seems to be taken directly from the originalmodel sheet.
• On page 20, just what the heck is going on? Are those badly drawnConstructicons?And why are they not present at Megatron's resurrection?? Are they off-panel?!? Ugh, this artist...

Differences with movie

• The Shanghai scene at the beginning immediately starts withDemolishor'srampage. In return, Demolishor remains in vehicle mode untilOptimus Primejoins the battle.
• Demolishor's vehicle mode is totally different from his depiction in just about every other form of media and his toys. In fact, the vehicle mode is very similar to that ofthe Constructicon who is sacrificed to make spare parts for Megatron's rebirth.
• Demolishor's defeat is toned way down from the movie version. Here, Optimus simply drives his sword into Demolishor's head during the latter's highway rampage, and lets the defeated Decepticon pass away from his wounds, with Demolishor's warning about The Fallen here being his dying words rather than his last words before an execution. Also unlike in the movie, Optimus expresses remorse for his having to kill Demolishor, declaring "I wish...there was another way!"
• Instead of merely causing a little mayhem at the Witwickys' house when he kills theAllSpark-mutated kitchen robots,Bumblebeeliterallyblows up the entire house,burning it down to the ground.
• Mikaela,not afraid of traffic accidents, rides her motorcycle to the Witwickys' house wearing a very short top and no helmet.
• Admiral Morshowerlooksnothinglike actorGlenn Morshower.
• WhenSammeetsLeo,Leo is communicating with his website staff,FassbinderandSharsky,online instead of having them sitting in the next room.
• When Bumblebee picks up Sam at the frat party,Alicestays behind instead of riding along and getting gooed on by Bumblebee.
• Skidsis present at the graveyard scene, but doesn't say or do anything.
• Scrapmetalis not sacrificed to make spare parts whenThe DoctorresurrectsMegatron.In fact, he is missing because no Constructicons are present at Megatron's rebirth. Unless they're off-panel.

Errors

• On page 2,Demolishoris drawn with the wrong vehicle mode, more closely resembling aLiebherrexcavator (with some artistic license), which is a much smaller model than a Terex RH400.
• On page 4, theArceemotorcycles are one giant mess. None of them particularly resemble the actual motorcycles from the movie, especially notChromia'sSuzuki B-King which shouldn't have side covers like the other two. In addition, the "pink" motorcycle has an exhaust pipe on the side of its rear wheel, whereas all three motorcycles in the movie have their exhaust pipes in the center above the rear wheel. Furthermore,twoof them (the "blue" and "pink" ones) have double headlights, even though only Arcee's Ducati 848 should actually have them, whereasChromia'sSuzuki B-King andElita-1'sMV Agusta F2 both have single headlights. And lastly, the "pink" one is decked out in Elita-1's (the purple one from the movie)Cyberglyphics,the "blue" one sports Arcee's (the pink one from the movie) Cyberglyphics, and the "purple" one sports Cyberglyphics that belong to none of the actual motorcycles from the movie.
• On page 7, when Demolishor delivers the warning of the Fallen, his face is drawn incorrectly.
• On page 15,Admiral Morshowerappears to be wearing the uniform of aUS ArmyLieutenant General.
• On page 21 in panel 3,Optimusis missing all blue color from his hips down to, and including, his kneepads.

Covers (3)

• Cover A:Optimus Prime and Bumblebee standing against a backdrop of several Transformers arriving intransition form.Art byJosh Nizzi.
• Cover B:Ravage leaping to eat your face.
• BotCon 2009:Knock Outand Mikaela Banes, byDon FigueroaandJosh Perez.

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