Rising Storm issue 4

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Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
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First published	May 4, 2011}}
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Writer	John Barber}}
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Art	Carlos Magno}}
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Colors	Aburtov and Graphikslava}}
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Letters	Shawn Lee}}
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Editor	Andy Schmidt}}
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Cover	Brian Rood; Carlos Magno}}
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Carlos Magno | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Live-action film series | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: |

{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

Shockwave plays his hand, allies and enemies rise and fall, and if Optimus Prime gets his way... nobody gets out alive!

Synopsis

Mayhem reigns in Philadelphia as Optimus Prime and his Autobots descend from the skies and lay siege to the panicking forces of Starscream's Decepticons. Little moments of relative calm are found on the battlefield: Wheelie welcomes an overwhelmed Brains into the Autobot ranks, while Sam Witwicky and Carly Spencer trade barbs over how well Carly is taking the whole experience. However, there is no such merriment to be found back at NEST's headquarters on Diego Garcia: Jolt tries to radio Prime to let him know that Shockwave has attacked the base, freed Fearswoop and slaughtered all the personnel, both human and Autobot, but his transmission breaks up before Prime can comprehend his meaning, and Shockwave delivers a killing blow.

In upstate New York, Chromia and the wounded Arcee battle with Soundwave and his minions, attempting to buy Elita-One time to reach Prime and tell him that they have all been played for dupes by Shockwave. The fleeing Elita, meanwhile, is pursued into a city by Astrotrain, believing she will be able to elude him in his train-form by scaling buildings and driving over their roofs. Unfortunately, Astrotrain unveils his triple-changing powers and adopts a flight mode, keeping pace with Elita and convincing her that she will have to fight him before she can continue with her mission.

Back in Philadelphia, the battle seems to be going in the Autobots' favor, until Lennox and Ironhide realize that their opponents aren't actually fighting back—they're trying to escape, and the Autobots are just in their way. A suspicious Prime orders Wheeljack to expand his forcefield and hem the Decepticons in so he can get some answers, when suddenly, a battered Elita crests the horizon, fresh from victory over Astrotrain, and screaming a warning that it all a trap. Alas, no sooner has the word "Shockwave" crossed her lips, than the cyclopean Decepticon himself rockets down out of the air, landing with ballistic force square on top of Elita and crushing the life out of her.

In the Adirondacks, Chromia and Arcee scream as they feel their sister die through their spark-bond. Believing that what they have fought for has been meaningless in the face of this outcome, Chromia triggers the explosives they have brought with them, intending to take Soundwave out along with herself and Arcee. At the last moment, though, Arcee overcomes her injuries to transform into motorcycle mode and pull her sister free from the flames, telling her that if all their struggles only bought Elita a few more minutes, then it was still a battle that had been worth fighting if it gave their sister even a little more time to live.

Shockwave's arrival plunges the Philadelphia battlefield into chaos, and Wheeljack and Mirage are quickly downed by the monstrously powerful Decepticon. Fearswoop comes flying in low to share a cruel joke with Shockwave, but is abruptly cut off when he collides with Wheeljack's invisible forcefield and explodes. Shockwave's moment of triumph is suddenly no more with the realization that he is trapped inside the field, with a ferocious, fighting-mad Optimus Prime, who proceeds to brutally pummel Shockwave to within an inch of his life. It is only the sudden arrival of Shockwave's tunnelling, subterranean pet that saves his life, as it emerges to snatch its master from the jaws of death and drag him away to safety underground. Prime bellows into the tunnel in rage, tortured by the death of Elita, but things go from bad to worse as Sam informs him that Ratchet has made contact with Diego Garcia and learned of the massacre there. Wheeljack and Mirage still live and can be rebuilt, at least, and word is soon received from the still-functional Arcee and Chromia, but the battle has shaken everyone. Epps decides its time to retire... Bumblebee and Sam part ways...

...and at Megatron's temporary base in Namibia, Africa, the Decepticon leader quiets Starscream's howls of protest over being used as bait and Shockwave's near-death with the promise that this has only been a rising storm... and that true darkness is about to fall...

Featured characters

{{#if:*Brains (3)

Wheelie (4)
Wheeljack (5)
Skids (8)
Ratchet (9)
Ironhide (10)
Mudflap (11)
Bumblebee (13)
Mirage (14)
Sideswipe (16)
Optimus Prime (17)
Jolt (19)
Chromia (23)
Arcee (25)
Elita-1 (28)|

{{#if:*Brains (3)

Wheelie (4)
Wheeljack (5)
Skids (8)
Ratchet (9)
Ironhide (10)
Mudflap (11)
Bumblebee (13)
Mirage (14)
Sideswipe (16)
Optimus Prime (17)
Jolt (19)
Chromia (23)
Arcee (25)
Elita-1 (28)|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
Brains (3)
Wheelie (4)
Wheeljack (5)
Skids (8)
Ratchet (9)
Ironhide (10)
Mudflap (11)
Bumblebee (13)
Mirage (14)
Sideswipe (16)
Optimus Prime (17)
Jolt (19)
Chromia (23)
Arcee (25)
Elita-1 (28) }}{{#if:*Megatron (1)
Hatchling (2)
Barricade (12)
Bludgeon (15)
Starscream (18)
Shockwave (20)
Fearswoop (21)
Rumble (24)
Ravage (26)
Astrotrain (27)
Ratbat (29)
Soundwave (30)
Beastbox (31)
Blademaster (34)
Sonar (35)
Tankor (36)
Buzzsaw (38)
Driller (39)|

Autobots }}{{#if:*Megatron (1) Hatchling (2) Barricade (12) Bludgeon (15) Starscream (18) Shockwave (20) Fearswoop (21) Rumble (24) Ravage (26) Astrotrain (27) Ratbat (29) Soundwave (30) Beastbox (31) Blademaster (34) Sonar (35) Tankor (36) Buzzsaw (38) Driller (39)\|	Decepticons }}{{#if:*Sam Witwicky (6) Carly Spencer (7) Unnamed NEST soldiers (22) William Lennox (32) Robert Epps (33) Two unnamed humans (37)\|	Humans }}{{#if:\|	Others }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}
Megatron (1) Hatchling (2) Barricade (12) Bludgeon (15) Starscream (18) Shockwave (20) Fearswoop (21) Rumble (24) Ravage (26) Astrotrain (27) Ratbat (29) Soundwave (30) Beastbox (31) Blademaster (34) Sonar (35) Tankor (36) Buzzsaw (38) Driller (39) }}{{#if:*Sam Witwicky (6) Carly Spencer (7) Unnamed NEST soldiers (22) William Lennox (32) Robert Epps (33) Two unnamed humans (37)\|	Sam Witwicky (6) Carly Spencer (7) Unnamed NEST soldiers (22) William Lennox (32) Robert Epps (33) Two unnamed humans (37) }}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}

Quotes

"Shockwave. You killed Elita One. You killed my friends— and now you're trapped in here with me. You should have thought ahead."

—Optimus Prime lets Shockwave know it's face-ripping time.

Notes

Errors

As in issue 3, Elita-1 is drawn with Chromia's alternate mode.
Despite being rather definitively slashed to bits by Mirage issue #2, Sonar appears among the fleeing Decepticons on page 9 of this issue.
The last page mistakenly identifies Soundwave as having been nearly killed instead of Shockwave.

Other notes

Solicitations for the second issue of Rising Storm advertised it as the "final battle" between Bumblebee and Barricade, but in practice, they've actually just spent the past two issues silently grappling in the backgrounds of large panels. On page 9 of this issue, Bumblebee is seen delivering a two-fisted wallop to a robot who is presumably Barricade, but the art is a bit of a tangle and the whole mass is colored yellow like 'Bee, so it's hard to tell. Barricade is not seen again during the issue, so if that was the final strike in their rivalry, it was a more like a slap with a wet fish than a definitive blow-out brawl. Author John Barber would later clarify that Barricade was merely "critically injured" by this attack, and his body was "taken back with the other Decepticons" (whether this means he was taken into custody by the Autobots, or recovered by his fellow Decepticons is unclear). His fate remained unknown until the release of the Dark of the Moon film, wherein he managed to put in an appearance in Chicago, confirming his survival.<ref>{{#if: He was critically injured and his body was taken back with the other Decepticons. Whether he survived that is unknown. |"He was critically injured and his body was taken back with the other Decepticons. Whether he survived that is unknown."—|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192 |John Barber|John Barber}}{{#if: Twitter |, Twitter|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2011 |, 2011{{#if: 06 |/{{#switch:{{#len:06}}|1=006|06}}{{#if: 11|/{{#switch:{{#len:11}}|1=011|11}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/79649961448456192%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>
Much falderal was made by fans about the fact that Shockwave's design in Rising Storm and the concurrently-published Foundation did not match his appearance in the Dark of the Moon film. True to writer John Barber's promise,<ref>{{#if: I don't know why that decision was made exactly in real life, but there's an in-story explanation in issue 4. |"I don't know why that decision was made exactly in real life, but there's an in-story explanation in issue 4."—|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776 |John Barber|John Barber}}{{#if: Twitter |, Twitter|}}{{#if: |, ""|}}{{#if: 2011 |, 2011{{#if: 04 |/{{#switch:{{#len:04}}|1=004|04}}{{#if: 20|/{{#switch:{{#len:20}}|1=020|20}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776 ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://twitter.com/TheJohnBarber/status/60710221739339776%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref> this issue provides the (implicit) explanation, with Shockwave being beaten by Optimus Prime to the extent that his body is going to require an extensive reconstruction.
Similarly, Wheeljack and Mirage are badly damaged in this issue with the promise of being rebuilt with some differences, explaining the differences between their appearances in the film and comics. Not that this was nearly as much of an issue for readers, since at the time of their debut in Rising Storm, we didn't even know for sure that they were going to be in the film!
Although the bodycount of this issue is a high one, and we could be cynical and say it's a deck-clearing exercise to get rid the extraneous cast members before Dark of the Moon, it's not only movie cast members who survive: Skids, Mudflap, Arcee and Chromia are still functional, and multiple Decepticons other than Barricade are not explicitly shown to meet their ends. John Barber has also become known at this point for not treating major damage to characters too seriously, with many characters who had apparently died in early comics still being functional in his stories, so even those who are seen being felled here could turn up again in the future, though that seems unlikely.
- While Ask Vector Prime would find a way to kill off Sonar and since the Twins get slain in the Dark of the Moon adaptations, the chances of Arcee, Chromia, Tankor, Ruination, Mindwipe, and Space Case being slain by shady folks or misguided soldiers is up to one's imagination.

Covers (2)

Cover A: Art by Brian Rood of Optimus Prime.
Cover RI: Art by Carlos Magno, with colors by Aburtov and Graphikslava, of Optimus Prime fighting Bludgeon.

References

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