Editing The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[Revolutionaries]]'' #3
|prev=Enter The Shadow
|next=
|image=Revolutionaries3 cvrRI.jpg 
|caption=
|title="The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb"<br><small>A tale of the original<br>G.I. Joe Adventure Team!</small>
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[March 15]], [[2017]]
|coverdate=February 2017
|written by=[[John Barber]]
|art by=[[Ron Joseph]]
|colors by=[[Sebastian Cheng]]
|letters by=[[Tom B. Long]]
|editor=[[David Hedgecock]]
|assistant editor=[[David Mariotte]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|1980s]] (main story)<br>Current era (framing sequence)
}}

'''Bulletman relates the story of how the Adventure Team discovered the Talisman, and ran into Soundwave along the way.'''

==Synopsis==
Seeking information on the [[Talisman]], [[Action Man]] takes [[Ayana Jones|Mayday]], [[G.B. Blackrock|Blackrock]], and [[Kup (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Kup]] to meet actor Richard Ruby, aka "[[Bulletman]]," a former member of [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]'s predecessors, the [[Adventure Team (G.I. Joe)|Adventure Team]], who were the ones that located the mysterious relic in the first place decades earlier. Posing as talent scouts seeking material for a new movie, the group meets with Ruby on the set of his latest film, and asks him to tell them the story...

''During [[World War II]], [[Sgt. Savage]] and his unit, the Screaming Eagles, encounter an army of strange, robotic soldiers in [[Kalistan]]. Fascinated by the metal beings, Savage's subordinate [[Garrison Kreiger]] spends the subsequent decades searching for their origin. Eventually, with the help of Egyptologist Doctor [[Elliot Marsh]], he identifies and locates the [[Tomb of Amtoltec]] in Dashur, [[Egypt]], as the potential resting place of the force that created the robots. When the two men enter the tomb, however, the treacherous Kreiger shoots Marsh, intending to take the technological treasure within for himself...''

''Three days later, the Adventure Team arrive in response to an emergency beacon emanating from within the pyramid. [[Joe Colton]] is the first to arrive and heads inside the tomb solo, where he finds himself beset by an army of robotic mummies—robots, he realizes, of similar design to those faced by Savage during the war. While Colton fights his way through them, the robot spill outside the pyramid, where they attack other Adventure Team members [[Stalker (G.I. Joe)|Stalker]] and [[Miles Mayhem|Mayhem]]. Unable to stand up to the automatons, Stalker calls in Bulletman and [[Atomic Man]], the super-powered members of the Adventure Team, who stand more of a chance against these unnatural foes.''

''Venturing deeper into the tomb, Colton finds Marsh's tape player, which is still replaying his old audio notes. Colton picks the device up, but when more mummies appear and attack him, he drops it over a ledge... whereupon it transforms into a giant robot! Unbeknownst to Colton, he is looking at the [[Decepticon]] [[Soundwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Soundwave]], who promptly disposes of the mummies and then moves to head further underground, his "beacon" having actually been a sensor scan that has allowed him to locate the origin point of the robot army. When Colton attempts to question him, Soundwave turns his weapons on the human, blowing a hole in the pyramid as he shoots the tomb floor out from under him. Joe almost plummets to his doom, but is snatched to safety by Mayhem, who had followed him into the pyramid during the battle.''

''Colton and Mayhem pursue Soundwave into the depths of the tomb, catching up to him just as he smashes his way into the core chamber. There, Kreiger is found with the Talisman and a control console for the robot mummies. The rest of the Adventure Team soon arrive through the hole blown open by Soundwave, and together, they annoy the Decepticon ''just'' enough to provoke a response. Soundwave scatters the humans and the mummies with sonic attacks, then opens fire on Atomic Man, searing his cybernetic limbs with energy blasts. Driven by some subconscious urge, the wounded Atomic Man reaches out to the Talisman with his ravaged limbs, and finds himself flooded with its energy. An intrigued Soundwave pauses to scan Atomic Man and the Talisman, which gives Stalker the opening to drive the Adventure Team's truck right into his face. Frustrated by the humans' continued interference and content with what he has learned, Soundwave departs to resume his [[Spotlight: Soundwave|true mission]] on Earth, but his exit brings the pyramid crashing down around the Adventure Team. They are saved by Atomic Man, whose newly-empowered limbs somehow project an energy field that catches all the debris.''

Ruby wraps up his story, lamenting that it marked the beginning of the end for the Adventure Team, as the world only began to get stranger, full of threats that ordinary guys like Colton, Mayhem, and Stalker were not equipped to deal with like he and Atomic Man were. As Ruby is called back in front of the camera, Blackrock maps out the group's next move, detailing how Kreiger went on to establish the [[I.R.O.N. Army|International Robotic Operations Network]] corporation, only to subsequently vanish. His company was then taken over by [[Iron Klaw|Count von Rani]], the ruler of Kalistan, who recently appointed former head of [[Cobra]], [[Tomax and Xamot|Tomax Paoli]], as its current interim CEO.

As such, it's no surprise that [[Baron Ironblood]] and [[Doctor X]] are paying a visit to Tomax to warn him that the heroes will soon be closing in on him, and to urge him to take up the mantle of [[Cobra Commander]]. Tomax is not interested in their help... until their newest, most unexpected ally speaks up: a steampunk [[Transformer]] wearing an [[Autobot]] insignia! 

==Featured characters==
Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks.<br>
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Kup (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Kup]] (13)
*[[G.B. Blackrock|Garrison Blackrock]] (14)
*"''Hearts of Steel'' Bumblebee" (18)

|c2=
*''[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'' (2)

|h3=[[Adventure Team (G.I. Joe)|Adventure Team]]|c3=
*''[[Stalker (G.I. Joe)|Stalker]]'' (4)
*''[[Miles Mayhem]]'' (5)
*[[Bulletman]] (6)
*''[[Atomic Man]]'' (7)
*''[[Joe Colton]]'' (8)

|c4=
*''[[Elliot Marsh]]'' (1)
*''[[Garrison Kreiger]]'' (2)
*''[[Sgt. Savage]]'' (9)
*''[[Grill (G.I. Joe)|Grill]]'' (10)
*[[Action Man]] (11)
*[[Ayana Jones|Mayday]] (12)
*[[Tomax and Xamot|Tomax Paoli]] (15)
*[[Baron Ironblood]] (16)
*[[Doctor X]] (17)
}}

==Quotes==
"Primitive machines."<br>
"Yeah... the laser-eyed robot mummies were '''mighty''' primitive."<br>
"I was speaking of '''your kind''', organic."
:—'''Soundwave''' and '''Colton''' trade sass


"This is gonna sound '''nuts''', but I think that thing changed out of a tape player."<br>
"Like some manner of..."<br>
"'''Alternator''' or—or '''Convertor'''."<br>
"Madness indeed... but this '''has''' been an odd sort of day."
:—'''Colton''' and '''Mayhem'''


"Ugh. '''Millennials.''' Never say '''no,''' but don't have the '''authority''' to say '''yes.'''"
:—'''Richard Ruby'''


"'''Please''', take off the ridiculous '''hat.'''"
:—'''Tomax''' doesn't think much of Baron Ironblood's fashion sense

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*The "meet the cast" feature at the start of this issue establishes that Bulletman had his name as a hero by saving the town of [[Poverty Flat]]. This little town previously appeared in [[Earthfall Part 2: Detonation Boulevard|''Robots in Disguise'' #29]]-[[Earthfall Chapter 3: The Mind Bomb|30]].
*The hieroglyphics seen in the first panel of the story include renderings of [[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]], [[Micronaut]]s [[Acroyear (Micronaut)|Acroyear]] and [[Biotron]]. Shockwave has been entombed on Earth since prehistoric times, as seen in ''[[Spotlight: Shockwave]]'', while there is an as-yet unexplained link between the Micronauts and ancient Egypt that is being explored over in {{i|Micronauts (comic)|their own title}}.
*Soundwave being on Earth in the 1980s, disguised in his period-appropriate cassette player mode, is an established piece of IDW history that originates from 2007's ''[[Spotlight: Soundwave]]''. He makes only a vague allusion to his true purpose on Earth at the end of the story; as detailed in his ''Spotlight'', he has trailed [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] to the planet, and when he faces him at some point after the events of this issue, he will be knocked offline and trapped in his alternate mode for over twenty years.
*Bulletman was previously established to be working in television when he appeared in 2013's {{i|G.I. Joe volume 3 issue 6|''G.I. Joe'' vol. 3 #6}} as a participant in a reality TV series (in a story set some years in the past, before [[Cover Girl]] joined G.I. Joe). That story established his backstory as a pilot and member of Seal Team Six mentioned in this issue, but didn't indicate a previous history as an actor; this issue massages things together by establishing that his pilot days were as a Hollywood stunt flier, post-military.
*Tomax took control of Cobra at some point during the five-year timeskip between volumes 3 and 4 of IDW's ''Joe'' series. Ironblood and Blackrock call him "Cobra Commander," but though he took the job, he never took the title; he expresses dislike of it here. If you're knew to IDW ''Joe'' continuity, we'll tell you here not to expect Tomax's infamous twin brother Xamot to appear; he was killed by [[Chuckles]] back in 2010.
*Doctor X says Cobra has a "thousand-year reign," but Tomax calls "half of it" fiction. The timeline in [[Crisis Intervention|issue #1]] included the story of Dante Alighieri as a Cobra agent 700 years ago, indicating that that part, at least, is accurate, but Tomax's remark indicates that some of the other stories we have been told about the history of Cobra (mostly in ''G.I. Joe'' vol. 3 #12-13) may not be entirely true.
*What in the ''flippin' '''WHAT?!''''' The Autobot who appears on the final page of this issue is the "steampunk" incarnation of [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] seen in the 2006 ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' mini-series, with an added cowcatcher [[mouthplate]]. Even his unique speech bubble design is lifted directly from that series! ''Hearts of Steel'', however, is an ''alternate continuity'' in which the Autobots and Decepticons came to Earth during the Ice Age, and awoke from hibernation in the 1800s. How this works here and now... well, I guess we'll have to keep reading to find out!

===Transformers references===
*Kreiger refers to the robotic technology created by the Talisman as "Binaltech," after the Japanese name for the ''[[Transformers: Alternators]]'' toyline. Later in the story, when trying to come up with a name for Soundwave, Colton calls him an "Alternator." Additionally, this isn't the first time Kreiger and Binaltech have been connected; he was one of the [[Concurrence]] of villains featured in the [[Story of Binaltech|fiction]] associated with the ''Binaltech'' toyine.
*In cassette player mode, Soundwave has been drawn based on a version of his toy with incorrectly-applied stickers. The trapezoids on either side of his alt mode are based on stickers that are supposed to wrap around his weapons, but which are, for whatever reason, quite commonly misapplied to the figure in the position seen here.
*Thinking Soundwave is a piloted mech, Colton wonders if an acquaintance of his named "Hideaki" is in the driver's seat. This is probably a reference to [[Hideaki Yoke]], [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]'s lead ''Transformers'' designer, who has worked on the franchise as far back as ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change]]'' days.

===Hasbro franchise references===
*The title of this story, along with the name "Amtoltec" and the whole conceit of the Adventure Team fighting mummies, is taken from the 1970 ''G.I. Joe'' playset, "The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb," and the comic book with which it came packed. The mummy in ''that'' particular story was just a guy in disguise Scooby-Dooing it up!
*This issue retroactively establishes that the unnamed African-American "Adventurer" figure from the Adventure Team toyline is a younger incarnation of G.I. Joe member Stalker.
*In addition to what's described above, the heirogylphics also contain something that ''doesn't'' exist in IDW continuity yet: the irregular hexagon chestplate design of the [[Visionaries]]!
*Doctor Marsh is a character lifted from the 1980s ''G.I. Joe'' episode "The Gods Below." The episode is alluded to further by this story when "the gods below" are mentioned in Marsh's translation one of the Amtoltec inscriptions.
*Garrison Kreiger,  Grill, and of course Sergeant Savage himself are all characters from the 199 ''G.I. Joe'' spin-off series, ''Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles.'' Kreiger's codename in that series was "General Blitz"; he is just "Blitz" here. The Iron Troopers seen in this issue are inspired by Blitz's "I.R.O.N. Stormtroopers" from the ''Sgt. Savage'' series, though it looks like it might be the other way around in this continuity...
*The backpacks Stalker and Mayhem are wearing are real toys from the Adventure Team series. Stalker is wearing the "Signal Flasher," while Mayhem has the "Life-Line Catapult."
*Joe makes a crack about his "eagle eyes," one of the famous action features of the Adventure Team toyline. 
*Count von Rani, aka "Iron Klaw," was the villain of the 1990s ''G.I. Joe Extreme'' series. They've been linked before; the two were both members of the Concurrence in the ''Binaltech'' storyline. 

===Other real-life references===
*In addition to an "Alternator," Colton calls Soundwave a "Convertor," after the 1980s transforming-robot toyline from Select.

===Other trivia===
*Originally solicited for release in February, this issue arrives a month late halfway through March.

===Covers (4)===
*'''Regular cover:''' Blackrock, Soundwave, and the Adventure Team by [[Tradd Moore]] and [[Felipe Sobreiro]]
*'''Subscription cover A:''' The Adventure Team versus robot mummies, by [[Tone Rodriguez]] and [[Thomas Deer]]
*'''Subscription cover B:''' The Adventure Team unearths Soundwave, by [[Marcelo Ferreira]] and Thomas Deer
*'''Retailer incentive cover:''' Soundwave and the Adventure team face the mummies, by [[Ron Joseph]] and [[John-Paul Bove]]

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===Advertisements===
*''Revolutionaries'' #4
*''Cosmic Scoundrels''
*{{i|The Deathstone|''M.A.S.K.'' Annual 2017}}
*"The Hasbro Tribune" editorial page promoting February's [[Hasbro Universe]] titles, including this issue, [[G.I. Joe vol. 5 issue 3|''G.I. Joe'' #3]], [[Dissolution Part 3: A World Misplaced|''Lost Light'' #3]], [[New Cybertron Part 4: Dance Among the Shadows|''Optimus Prime'' #4]], ''Till All Are One'' #8, and [[Ghost Stories|''Transformers'' Annual 2017]].
*IDW congratulates Top Shelf Publishing on ''March'' winning the National Book Award

==External links==
*[http://www.newsarama.com/33531-the-original-g-i-joe-finds-soundwave-in-revolutionaries-3-preview.html Preview]

[[Category:Revolutionaries issues]]