Secret Raiders: A Revolution Prelude

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"Secret Raiders: A Revolution Prelude"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Published in	Part 1: Till All Are One #2 The Transformers #55 More than Meets the Eye #55 Part 2: Till All Are One #3 The Transformers #56 More than Meets the Eye #56 Complete story: Revolution: Prelude #0 Titans Return one-shot Revolution #1
First published	July 6, 2016 (Part 1) August 17, 2016 (Part 2) July 21, 2016 (complete story)
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Fico Ossio
Colors by	Sebastian Cheng
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Hedgecock
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

Joe Colton brings some of his closest associates together to discuss the danger that Cybertronians pose to Earth.

Synopsis

In a mothballed government facility, General Joe Colton brings together his old Adventure Team comrade Miles Manheim and Scarlett from the now-defunct special mission force that bore his name, G.I. Joe. Colton and Manheim reminisce about their old adventuring days and the time they met British hero Action Man, from before their team was shut down and replaced with G.I. Joe, but Manheim is eager to get the point of their meeting: discussion of the Transformers, and their years-long presence on Earth. Colton recounts how the Autobots and Decepticons initially hid from humanity during their search for Earth's super-powerful Ore-13, then bitterly recalls how Optimus Prime abandoned the planet, allowing it to be conquered by Megatron and leading to massive loss of life. Manheim points out that the Autobots did eventually return to rout the Decepticons and ally with humanity to help them rebuild, but Colton merely grumbles that they never shared their technology.

Scarlett notes that by the time the Transformers eventually left Earth, G.I. Joe was occupied battling the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra, but Colton reminds her that that the war between the two groups resulted in the nuclear devastation of the country of Nanzhao, a destructive act second only to the Decepticon invasion in all of Earth history. Scarlett laments the disaster, and how it spelled the beginning of the end for G.I. Joe; as Manheim is quick to point out, America no longer had any trust in the Joes and they were soon shut down. Manheim is interrupted by a weak voice from an unseen speaker, begging to be released, but he pays it no heed and continues talking. He describes how he was present when Galvatron recently arrived on Earth and forged an alliance with the Earth Defense Command, prompting Scarlett to angrily remember how Galvatron proceeded to betray them. Worse yet, Optimus Prime soon after unilaterally annexed Earth into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds and raised a Titan from beneath the planet's surface, enshrining himself as what Colton calls a "robot messiah".

Manheim begins to realize the reason Colton has called on him, remarking that the world is getting stranger every day. He has heard about Ian Noble, the new inheritor of the "Action Man" code-name, and about a supposedly top-secret situation involving a strange silver alien in California. Colton doubts this alien activity is random, but Scarlett's worries are more focused on the threats they are not yet aware of, like the many alien eyes that are now focused on Earth thanks to Prime's actions. As if all that wasn't bad enough, Colton reveals one final problem when he opens his briefcase to show Manheim a chunk of Ore-13. Scarlett explains that the ore deposits around Earth are becoming unstable, apparently as a result of the Autobots' recent activity, and will detonate within a matter of weeks, consuming the Earth in nuclear fire. This is why Colton has brought Manheim in and given him "the asset" recovered from the Decepticons' recent defeat: the unseen speaker in the room, the Triple Changer Blitzwing, who now hangs suspended from the ceiling, partially disassembled, begging to be killed. Colton hopes Manheim can use Blitzwing to reverse-engineer something to disrupt the Autobots' activities, thereby stopping Ore-13's degradation. Disruption, Manheim remarks with a grin, is his specialty... after all, that's why Colton nicknamed him "Miles Mayhem".

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	G.I. Joe	Cobra	Others
Ratchet (17) Prowl (21) Ironhide (22) Optimus Prime (23) Hot Rod (24) Bumblebee (25) Air Raid (54) Powerglide (55) Skydive (56) Silverbolt (57)	Runabout (13) Runamuck (18) Blitzwing (19) Starscream (20) Thundercracker (26) Skywarp (27) Megatron (28) Soundwave (29) Devastator (30) Galvatron (40)	Stalker (4, see 'Errors') Hawk (7) Duke (8) Heavy Duty (9) Scarlett (10) Rock 'n Roll (11) Snake Eyes (12) Agent Helix (39)	Tomax Paoli (31) Storm Shadow (32) Major Bludd (33) Baroness (34) Cobra Commander (35) Destro (36) Krake (37) Firefly (38)	Atomic Man (1) Bulletman (2) Miles Mayhem (3) Joe Colton (5) 1980s Action Man (6) Verity Carlo (14) Hunter O'Nion (15) Jimmy Pink (16) Daniel Witwicky (41) Marissa Faireborn (42) Metrotitan (43) Ian Noble (44) Dire Wraiths (45) Rom (46) Biotron (47) Phenolo-Phi (48) Larissa (49) Acroyear (50) Microtron (51) Oziron Rael (52) Baron Karza (53)

Quotes

"Optimus Prime and his so-called 'heroic' Autobots. They said they were here to defend us against Megatron and his 'evil' Decepticons. But Optimus Prime didn't come as an ally. He's never considered us equal."

—Colton

"Too bad America is done with G.I. Joe."

—Miles Manheim has seen the sales figures

Notes

This eight-page story is the prequel to September's Revolution event, a crossover between the Transformers and multiple other Hasbro-brand IDW comic books, establishing a shared universe between them. It was serialized in two four-page segments included as back-up strips in IDW's July and August 2016 titles, with the first part debuting in Till All Are One #2. Before the second serialized part was released, the complete story was published in both a free Revolution: Prelude #0 issue given away by IDW at San Diego Comic-Con (in which it was first given its title), and as a back-up in the Titans Return one-shot. Finally, it was reprinted in its entirety in Revolution #1.

IDW continuity notes

• The flashback to G.I. Joe's founding includes a guy who looks like Roadblock, but thanks to some continuity funny-business, it's actually his cousin Heavy Duty. In the early G.I. Joe: Origins series, which the panel hearkens back to, Roadblock was referred to as "Heavy Duty" (a codename belonging to another Joe) because "Roadblock" was, according to editor Andy Schmidt, "off the table" at the time. In later years, the character was quietly restored to his original name, with no comment passed on it in-universe. However, an even later issue would then go on to depict Heavy Duty as an early member of G.I. Joe whose cousin Roadblock later also joined the team, essentially retconning Roadblock's early appearances under that alternate name into being a separate individual. It's weird, we know.
• Colton's recap of Cybertronian history on Earth goes right back to the very first IDW Transformers comics, Infiltration, with flashbacks showing Ratchet battling the Battlechargers and Starscream powering himself up with Ore-13, the superfuel at the heart of the story. Art for these sequences faithfully renders the characters in their E. J. Su-designed "-ations" era bodies, though the "team line-up" shots are figurative, rather than literal—Ironhide and Hot Rod were not active side by side on Earth, nor was Soundwave part of Megatron's unit at the time.
• Colton also mentions the Autobots' disappearance from Earth, prior to All Hail Megatron. Scenes are included showing the Decepticons' attack on New York from issue #1, and Optimus Prime defeating Megatron in battle from issue #12.
• Manheim brings up how the Autobots worked with humanity and helped them rebuild, during the 2009-2011 ongoing series. Another flashback shows an Autobot shuttle taking off to illustrate the Transformers leaving Earth after all this was over; taken as literal, this must logically be the departure of Prowl, Bumblebee, and the handful of other Transformers who remained on Earth for the "Police Action" storyline at the tail end of the series, by which time the other Autobots had returned to Cybertron aboard Omega Supreme to take part in the "Chaos" event.
• IDW's G.I. Joe and Transformers series were never written with the intent that they existed in the same universe. Indeed, 2010's Infestation crossover event explicitly stated that both worlds existed in separate timelines. As such, reconciling the irrevocably-world-altering history of IDW's Transformers books—including the deaths of a billion people in the Decepticon invasion of Earth—with the Joe storyline requires a... ceeeertain amount of squinting and looking the other way. The answer this story apparently offers is that all of IDW's Joe output has taken place after the events of All Hail Megatron. Those stories took place over a ~7 year span in total, which just about fits into the time that's passed for the Transformers books since All Hail.
• The devastation of the country of Nanzhao occurred during the "Cobra Command" storyline that took place in IDW's Joe books in early 2012. As Scarlett summarizes, the story concluded with the until-then secret G.I. Joe being revealed to the public. Two more attempts by IDW to relaunch their G.I. Joe books followed the end of this volume, but neither achieved much success, as alluded to by Scarlett's remark that Joe "tried to carry on..." (Volume four was cancelled at #8 of a twelve issue story, with the kill order coming in when writer Karen Traviss had already finished #7). Volume 4 had run a plot that G.I. Joe were in danger of being shut down as unnecessary and while it ended with the implication it wouldn't happen, evidently the U.S. government stuck to its guns.
• The Adventure Team were introduced as the Joes' forerunners (and famous enough that Colton had action figures!) in the short-lived third volume.
• Manheim reveals he was present when Galvatron and Soundwave approached the Earth Defense Command with an offer of alliance, as seen in flashback in Robots in Disguise #29, which is recreated in this issue—whether by coincidence or design, the original scene did feature a man with a gray mustache as part of General Witwicky's retinue. Scarlett notes that the Decepticons would subsequently betray the EDC, as seen in the "Conquerors" story arc that ran in issues #46-#49 of the series, culminating in Optimus Prime's annexation of the planet.
• Colton recounts how the Autobots have aided humanity recently by bringing food to famine-stricken deserts; this occurred in The Transformers #51.
• Blitzwing was captured by the EDC/G.I. Joe in The Transformers #57, which had yet to be released when this story first came out.

Transformers references

• The ship that is shown taking the Autobots off of Earth is an all-grey version of the Autobot shuttle design from The Transformers: The Movie.
• Joe Colton briefly wonders what might have been had G.I. Joe teamed up with the Transformers, seemingly referencing the many, many, prior crossovers between the two franchises.

G.I. Joe references

• Joe Colton has appeared in several Transformers crossover stories at this point, but hey, this ain't a Joe wiki, so we'll tell you again that he's a character based on the original 1960s 12-inch G.I. Joe action figure, for whom the G.I. Joe team is named in-universe.
• Seen in the single flashback panel that opens the story is Joe Colton's Adventure Team, the 1970s range of G.I. Joe figures from after military dolls went out of fashion, but before A Real American Hero revitalized the brand. Members include the cyborg Mike Power, the Atomic Man (who previously appeared in Transformers fiction before in the Devil's Due Press crossover, Black Horizon), Bulletman, the Human Bullet, and an African-American member based on the unnamed "Adventurer" figure from the Adventure Team toy range (while the 70s Adventurer figure was named "Tom Stone", Revolutionaries #3 would later establish that in this continuity, he is a younger version of the G.I. Joe Stalker). Manheim, meanwhile, is based on the "Sea Adventurer" figure, sporting a blue uniform and red hair—though he has only a mustache, rather than the figure's full beard, to make him match better with Manheim's more well-known appearance (see below).
• In that same flashback, the team are driving real vehicles from the toyline: Colton is at the wheel of the "Adventure Team Vehicle", while the rest of the group are in the "Big Trapper".
• Colton remarks that the Adventure Team used to "fight intruders", an allusion to the enemy characters from the Adventure Team toyline, "The Intruders, strongmen from another world."
• An "Agent Dubosky" reported to Colton about the alien goings-on in California – this is the G.I. Joe Countdown, currently appearing in the ROM comic (see below). Unaddressed here is the fact that Countdown has been replaced by one of the Dire Wraiths, Rom's shape-shifting enemies.

Other franchise references

• Kept in shadow and referred to only by his surname until the end of the story, Miles "Mayhem" Manheim is the mustachioed chief villain of the 1980s Kenner toyline, M.A.S.K.. This series became a Hasbro property following the company's purchase of Kenner in 1991; Hasbro explored some potential ways of relaunching it in the early 2010s via the Transformers: Prime cartoon and Unit:E crossover project, but these didn't amount to anything until Revolution came along. Mayhem has always worn a decorated military uniform, so his portrayal as a member of Colton's Adventure Team here fits with that. It's logical that a Triple Changer like Blitzwing should be the source of the technology that will lead to the creation of M.A.S.K.'s vehicles, as they could switch between two vehicular forms just like him. The story's title, "Secret Raiders", is a reference to a lyric from the opening theme of the M.A.S.K. cartoon, which referred to the team as such.
• Action Man (the greatest hero of them all!) was the United Kingdom's counterpart to G.I. Joe back in the 1960s. His franchise evolved in a different way over the years, enjoying significant popularity as an extreme-sports-style action adventurer in the late 1990s and early 2000s (indeed, Mainframe Entertainment produced a CG cartoon based on the concept that aired alongside Beast Machines on the Fox Kids lineup), but the version seen in Colton and Manheim's flashback is based on the original military incarnation of the figure, while the current holder of the name, Ian Noble, is the star of IDW's newly launched Action Man comic book.
• As Manheim tries to recall Action Man's name, he initially thinks he might have been named "Captain..." something. This seems to be a reference to the Ideal Toy Company action figure Captain Action, another 1960s counterpart to G.I. Joe, lacking Joe's military theme. It's just a cute outside reference, though—Dynamite Entertainment owns the comics license to Captain Action, so don't expect him to show up in Revolution!
• The "situation in northern California" is not expanded on by any of the characters; it shows a scene from ROM #0, given away a few months earlier on Free Comic Book Day 2016, in which the titular Space Knight confronts two Dire Wraiths. An electronic action figure from Parker Brothers who preceded the boom of toys-to-cartoons that Transformers, Joe, and M.A.S.K. were part of, Rom would have been forgotten by history had he not been the star of a successful and fondly-remembered series by Marvel Comics. Marvel's ownership of most elements of Rom's story has kept him from returning to new media until IDW's launch of their own new ROM series, released in July 2016.
• The characters used to illustrate the "alien eyes" now on Earth are the Micronauts, from a toyline produced by the Mego toy company in the 1970s. Like Rom, they too preceded toys-to-cartoons era and gained their popularity from their successful Marvel series, and have recently been revived by IDW. The Micronauts are actually one of the indirect ancestors of the Transformers; their toyline was an American import version of Takara's Microman series, which ultimately birthed the Micro Change sub-line and many of the transforming robot toys who would be imported by Hasbro to become the earliest Transformers.

Errors

Whitewashing history?

• The group shot of the early G.I. Joe team draws the Joes exactly as they appeared in the debut arc of the G.I. Joe: Origins series, making it apparent that the man with a mustache and beret must be Stalker, miscolored with a Caucasian skin tone, since he's the only person in that story with those features. The colors were corrected when "Secret Raiders" was reprinted in the back of Revolution #1, but the collected editions of Revolution (and the timeline in Revolutionaries #1) use the miscolored original.
• Starscream's jet mode appears mostly red in the All Hail Megatron flashback.

Other notes

• When initially released, the digital version of Till All Are One #2 included a five-page preview of the first issue of ROM instead of the first part of this story, but this was corrected within the day.

Reprints

Note: The initial printing in two parts as backup strips is not considered a first printing. The stand-alone Comic-Con version and the backup strip in the Titans Return comic will be considered the first printings of this issue.

Other than full or partial collections of Revolution.

• N/A