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Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1

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"Dark Dawn"
Dark Cybertron Chapter 1
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published November 6,2013(regular edition)
November 20,2013 (deluxe edition)
Cover date November 2013
Written by John BarberandJames Roberts
Art by Phil Jimenez(layouts)
Andrew Griffith(finishes)
Brendan Cahill(prologue)
Colors by Josh Perez(main story)
John-Paul Bove(prologue)
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)
Price $3.99 (standard)
$7.99 (deluxe)

While Orion Pax's team joins up with theLost Lightcrew, Shockwave unleashes his undead Titan on Cybertron.

Contents

Synopsis

Six million years ago, theArk-1comes upon a mysterious swirling vortex on the fringes of theBenzuli Expanse.Jhiaxusis left baffled by the cosmic anomaly, butCyclonusis reminded of a legend that spoke of a parallel reality of unlife—aDead Universe.Jhiaxus scoffs at the superstitious notion, but there is no denying that whatever the vortex is, it is indeed a gateway to another universe. AtNova Prime's command,Galvatronsets the ship on a course toward the anomaly, but as it grows near, the anomaly reaches out and begins to pull the ship in. Nova Prime remains calm, but a distressed Jhiaxus quickly beams a final message back toCybertron,to his studentShockwave,urging him to carry on his work...

(thumbnail)
Attack of Titan.

In the present day, beneath the surface of Cybertron inCrystal City,Shockwave gloats over the imminent fruition of long-germinating plans. Jhiaxus, reporting in from the vicinity ofGorlam Prime,lets Shockwave know that theTitanawoken on the planet byOrion Paxis presently in mid-teleport to Cybertron, guided byWaspinator,whileDreadwing,at Shockwave's side, reports on the energy fluctuations that herald the Titan's arrival. As the colossal Transformer materializes, theOre-2in its body begins to react with theOre-14that lines the cavern walls, and the giant howls in agony.

InIacon,a worriedRattrapinterruptsStarscreamwith some news, while the former Decepticon is busy familiarizing himself with his new body. Before Rattrap can share his fears, though, Starscream sees the source of his concern for himself: the sun, which had apparently risen some time ago, has not moved from its position in the sky since Starscream last saw it. Realizing that dawn is, in fact, hours away, Starscream scans the mysterious ball of light, and with a suspicion that he recognizes its energy signature growing, has Rattrap put in a call to theLost Light.

In the vicinity of Gorlam Prime, Orion Pax and his team aboard Pax's ship theSkyrollerstruggle to escape the gravity well of the collapsing planet as the expanding Ore-2 destroys it. Fortunately, responding to a distress call put out by Pax, theLost Lightquantum jumpsonto the scene directly overhead. TheSkyrollerdocks with the larger ship—which easily outpaces the pull of Gorlam Prime's collapse—and Pax's team are welcomed on board byRodimus,who, it turns out, specifically responded to the distress call because it was warning himaway.As members of the two crews quietly comment on howweirdthe others are, andGarnakhas a happy reunion with his old captain Rodimus,Ultra Magnusinquires if Orion will be taking command of their ship. Orion haltingly confirms that he won't, and asks for a tour of theLost Lightinstead; this takes the group to the bridge just as Starscream's transmission comes through. Studying the readings Starscream provides, Cyclonus confirms his fears: the light in the sky over Cybertron is a portal to the Dead Universe.

Back on Cybertron,Bumblebee,Prowl,Arcee,Ironhide,and theDinobotsventure closer to the mysterious light, in which Arcee can sense Jhiaxus's hand. The Dinobots roar ahead into action despite the presence of no visible enemy to battle, but just as Prowl is starting to come around to their viewpoint, the ground beneath the Autobots' feet quakes... and the Titan emerges, transformed by the fusion of ores into an undead behemoth!

A vision of the future assails Shockwave: he sees Galvatron battlingMegatron... Starscream disintegrating... Rodimus being crushed...Kupin chains...Alpha Trion... theLost Lightcrashing... and Orion Pax staring down... himself? Though he reels from this premonition, Shockwave rights himself as Dreadwing continues to provide updates, informing him that the Titan is functioning as a "conduit", but that a complication has arisen. This seems of little import to Shockwave—as does Dreadwing's disrespectful tone, which Waspinator chides him for—as he turns instead to bow deeply before a viewscreen that delivers a transmission from the other side of the Titan's link: Nova Prime and Galvatron yet survive within the Dead Universe, and soon they will return to conqueralluniverses!

Featured characters

(Characters initalic textappear only in flashbacks or flash-forwards.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Hey Pax—your distress call was soepicI've got it as my ringtone. "

—Swerve


"You remember last year, when Rodimus gave his big speech about a quest to find theKnights of Cybertron?I wasthisclose to signing up. "
"Made-up knights impossible tofind—and so you decided to staybehind."
"No... I made the mistake of looking at thecrew manifest.Rodimus has got somereeeeealweirdos on board... "

—HardheadandWheelie


"...And this is where we spend most of our time, fine-tuning strategy, reflecting on our progress to date... and debating the pedagogical constraints of logic, grammar, and rhetoric."
...
"Has someone beendrawingon the navicomp? "

—Ultra Magnus


"Ironhide,keep yourlunkheadsin line. "
"They ain't lunkheads,Prowl,they're justbrave."
"Most lunkheads are."

—ProwlandIronhideon the Dinobots

Notes

Continuity notes

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  • TheArk's approach to the Benzuli Expanse anomaly was previously seen inSpotlight: Galvatron.That issue gets a bit of a soft retcon here; it implied that Galvatron had sent theArk-1into the anomaly of his own accord, but here we see Nova Prime order him to set their course. The setting is also different—here, Galvatron is shown at the helm surrounded by the bridge officers, but there he was shown alone at a side console.
  • Tailpipe was revealed to be among the crew of theArk-1inThe Transformers: More than Meets the Eye#13.
  • When asked to examine the anomaly, Cyclonus remembers an old legend that mentions "stars burning black". Those words will becomeveryimportantsome way down the line.
  • It wasn't clear if the presence of an Autobot symbol on Blurr's chest was an error when he last appeared inRobots in Disguise#20,but that puzzle seems to have been solved with this issue as it's now gone.
  • The mysterious "sunrise" appeared at the end ofRobots in Disguise#18,#20,and#22.
  • Orion Pax and company are escaping Gorlam Prime directly following on from the end ofRobots in Disguise#19.
  • We join theLost Lightafter the ship's departure fromLuna 1inMore than Meets the Eye#21;Rodimus notes that they're looking forThunderclash,who they met in the earlier-setissue #22- presumably because, with the destruction of their Matrix-half/map in #21, they have no way to search for the Knights of Cybertron.
  • Garnak served under Rodimus in the "Space Opera" storyline that ran from issues#19to#21of the2009-2011 ongoing series.
  • TheLost Lightand Starscream previously made contact with each other in "The Sound of Breaking Glass",the prose back-up story inMore than Meets the Eye#21.
  • Nova Prime last appeared inHeart of Darkness#4,in which he was reanimated by theD-Voidand last seen being forced back through a portal to the Dead Universe. Likewise, Galvatron's last appearance—inissue #30of the ongoing series—saw him disintegrate when a portal to the Dead Universe began to open before him. These two have historically not gotten along too well; Galvatron turned on Nova back in "Revelation",and Nova battled Galvatron at the D-Void's command inHeart of Darkness.With the destruction of the D-Void and itsHeart of Darknessin "Chaos",however, it seems this pair have been freed of the dark lusts that have pit them against each other in the past—perhaps most obviously evinced by the fact that Nova Prime has dropped the" Nemesis Prime "moniker he went by after taking the Darkness into himself and reverted to his original color scheme.

Transformers references

IDW Tailpipe Dark Cybertron.JPG
  • Tailpipe is based on theDark of the Mooncharacter of the same name.
  • Rattrap professes to have a "ninth sense", the way a human would claim to have a sixth. This seems to hearken back to the "standard seven senses" that Transformers are constructed with (according toStreetwise's profile inMarvel'sTransformers Universe), but that would mean there's an eighth going unmentioned. This could be taste, something most Transformers are shown to have nowadays, as it is not listed among the seven. Also Bumblebee claimed to haveninesenses, in Marvel UK'sDinobot Hunt!,perhaps suggesting a degree of variation between individuals.
  • Starscream's new body is, of course, the newTransformers: Generationstoy based onArmadaStarscream.
  • The first panel of page 10 homages panel 2, page 22 ofThe Death of Optimus Prime.

Real-world references

  • Rattrap describes himself as a "stainless steel rat", after the title of the 1961Harry Harrison novel.The same reference was also made in theBeast Warsepisode "The Agenda (Part III)".
  • Whirl describes Cyclonus as "sworn to reject a world that hates and fears him." A very similar turn of phrase, "sworn toprotecta world that hates and fears them, "has been commonly used by Marvel Comics' X-Men books for the past few decades.

Errors

  • The Titan's color scheme has changed from the white, orange, and blue deco it had inRobots in Disguise#19 to a desaturated white, blue, and magenta, as a result of Andrew Griffth's mistaken belief while designing the character that it was supposed to be thesame Titanthat appeared in theRobots in Disguise2012 annual,which had those colors.
  • Back inRobots in Disguise#22,the Metrotitian and Waspinator had been drawn to arrive to an entirely different piece of Shockwave's dialogue not repeated in this issue, making their appearance here confusing at best.
  • Shockwave's vision foreshadows the content of "Dark Cybertron", but as what was presumably the result of late-term changes to the plot, Alpha Trion never appears in the story, nor does the scene of Rodimus being crushed between the Necrotitan's teeth.
  • Between pages 5 and 6, Shockwave switches from having a left hand to having a right hand.

Trivia

  • The inside-front cover of an IDW Transformers comic normally contains a "previously" text blurb, credits, and a list of variant covers, but for this one-shot special, the "previously" section is expanded to two full pages, and is made up of re-used artwork fromRobots in Disguise#17,#18, #19, and#22,andMore than Meets the Eye#21 and #22. The credits and cover list come on page 3.
  • While the Titan's transformation into an undead horror seems like it's a reference to the oldfandommisconception thatZoneMetrotitan was azombie,it's actually a total coincidence.
  • This issue's story is followed by a "Roll Call" page listing off the major players, a checklist of issues for the full "Dark Cybertron" event, and a "Thank You" to the VIP Attendees who visited the IDW studios atBotCon 2013.
  • In the "Roll Call" segment, Slag's name is given as "Slug", the controversy-dodging alternate name given to the character'sAligned continuity family counterpart.Whether this change bleeds over into the story itself remains to be seen...
  • Two weeks after this issue's publication, a stitch-bound "Deluxe Edition" was released. This version omits the "previously on" section, the "Roll Call", the "Thank You" and all adverts, and instead includes a 26-page supplementary section that showcases Phil Jiminez's thumbnail layouts for the issue next to Andrew Griffith's finished lineart, along with design sketches and alternate compositions, complete with commentary from Barber, Roberts, Jiminez, Griffith, Shearer, and Guzman.

Covers (7)

  • Regular cover:Orion Pax, Rodimus, and Bumblebee charge forward, at the fore of a collage of characters from the story with Shockwave looming overall, byPhil JimenezandRomulo Fajardo Jr.
  • Sub cover:Shockwave's shadow is cast across Cybertron in front of a montage of the cast, byCasey CollerandJoana Lafuente.Retailers could order as many of this variant as they wished, with the notional intent that it only be available to customers with in-store subscriptions to the book.
  • Cover RIA:Starscream in his new body, by Jiminez and Fajardo Jr.
  • Cover RIB:Blank white cover for hand-drawn sketches byAndrew Griffith.The example sketch used to illustrate the cover in this issue's checklist is one ofFlatline,drawn for fanJasmine "Jazzfox" SmithatAuto Assembly 2013.
  • Cover RE:Orion Pax in an homage toNew Mutants#87,byRob Liefeld,who drew the original cover being homaged, with colors by Fajardo Jr. Available exclusively atVirginia Comicon2013.
  • Deluxe Edition:Em Boss ed version of the regular cover with a foil-stamped logo
  • Hasbro exclusive cover:Cropped version of cover RIA, exclusively available withGenerationsDeluxe ClassArmada Starscream.
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  • DarkCybertron subcvr.jpg
  • DarkCybertron cvrRIA.jpg
  • DarkCybertron cvrRIB.jpg
  • DarkCybertron cvrRE.jpg
  • DarkCybertron dlxed.jpg
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Reprints

  • The Transformers: Dark Cybertron(February 11,2015)ISBN 163140072X/ISBN 978-1631400728
    • CollectsDark Cybertron#1,More than Meets the Eyeissues #23–27,andRobots in Disguiseissues #23–27,andDark Cybertron Finale.
    • Bonus material includes a 26-page "Behind the Scenes ofTransformers: Dark Cybertron#1 "by John Barber, with additional commentary by James Roberts, Brendan Cahill, Phil Jiminez, Andrew Griffith, and Carlos Guzman. This in-depth page-by-page breakdown includes script extracts, various stages of lineart, character/location/ship designs, and more!
    • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
    • Hardcover format.

External links

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