Secrets & Lies issue 1

« Transformers '84: Secrets & Lies #1 »
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 15, 2020
Cover date	July 2020
Written by	Simon Furman
Art by	Guido Guidi
Colors by	John-Paul Bove
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and Riley Farmer
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The launch of the Nemesis hides a secret power struggle in the Decepticon ranks—one with far-reaching consequences for Grimlock and the Dynobots.

Synopsis

Counterpunch continues his story...

On a war-stricken Cybertron, the Decepticon advance threatens to overrun the Autobot line. But the Decepticons aren't as unified as the Autobots think: Megatron's growing vendetta against the upstart Optimus Prime has resulted in him diverting resources and manpower away from Shockwave's "Project Dreadnought", which aims to rebuild Cybertron itself into a planet-sized warship, and towards the ongoing war effort. Counterpunch enters Shockwave's project hub as Skyfire grimly contemplates Megatron's increasingly erratic behavior, and wonders if it'd be possible to refocus his mind on his original goal of galactic conquest. His friend Starscream sardonically dismisses this possibility, but Counterpunch cuts the debate short by telling an irritated Shockwave that Megatron needs him immediately at the Decepticon Presidium.

At the Presidium, Megatron has gathered his top confidants as he plans his next attack on Stanix, a move he hopes will push Prime's forces towards Kalis. But although Ratbat points out that their forces are over-committed and stretched thin, Megatron ignores his advice to redevelop their energon manufacturing capabilities instead—if they don't have the energon they need, then they need to take more by force. Shockwave impassively watches from the sidelines, unaware that Counterpunch is observing him...

When a massive explosion shakes Cybertron some time later, the effect it has proves disastrous: already shaken loose from its orbit by the Autobot-Decepticon conflict, the latest detonation diverts its trajectory and sends it hurtling towards the dangerous Stellae Cimeterium. At an emergency Presidium meeting, Skyfire informs Megatron that the explosion was likely the result of a stray missile hitting a fuel storage tank. Shockwave points out that a fully operational planetary turbine array could correct their course, but Megatron declines: better first gauge Prime's response, then decide upon an appropriate course of action. Shockwave returns to his project hub, where he finds an accusing Ratbat with some suspicions of his own. The flier points out that the mystery explosion conveniently took place near one of the half-completed turbines, suggesting that Shockwave deliberately test-fired a turbine to force Megatron's hand. Shockwave refuses to play Ratbat's game, and the cassette-bot takes his leave—but warns Shockwave that although he has no real evidence of the double-cross, he's sure to find some.

Learning of Optimus Prime's plan to clear a path through an oncoming asteroid belt, Megatron commissions the starship Nemesis, to ambush the Autobot's own Ark. But while Megatron and his high-ranking Decepticons board the ship, Shockwave orders Skyfire, the vessel's architect, to stay behind as part of a contingency plan and finish what they started. Though Ratbat can't openly move against Shockwave, and can't prove his suspicions to Megatron, the sneaky fuel auditor devises a scheme to expose Shockwave's treachery—by giving the necessary information to Counterpunch, their deep-cover agent within the Autobots, he ensures that the intel finds its way to Prowl. With the Ark launch pending and Prime preoccupied, Prowl informs Punch that they'll take care of this one quietly, and dispatches Perceptor to investigate. But with the turbines located deep in Decepticon territory, he'll need an escort, comprising the heaviest-hitting Autobots around: the Dynobots!

Behind enemy lines, the six Autobots trek through the ruins to find the turbines, but Grimlock has little patience for Perceptor's technical know-how. Indeed, he questions just how important they could be if they haven't encountered any resistance... unaware that he's tripped a silent proximity alarm that immediately alerts Shockwave, who promptly dispatches Skyfire to deal with the intruders. As Shockwave transforms and blasts off, Megatron, overseeing the boarding of the Nemesis, fumes at the scientist's absence, and dispatches Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge to find him.

At the smoldering rim of the turbine, the five Dynobots observe the landscape while Perceptor collects some samples for analysis. Grimlock can't shake his unease, however, and wonders where the Decepticons might be... but gets the answer to his question when Skyfire strafes their position! While Swoop takes to the skies, Sludge, Slag, and Snarl launch a surface-to-air barrage that Skyfire easily outmaneuvers. Skyfire assume he's got the upper hand as he makes another run on their position... but didn't wager on Grimlock, who charges forward, contemptuously cleaves the Decepticon's wing off, and sends him hurtling to the ground in a fiery wreck. The battle seems won... but as Perceptor peeks out of his hiding place while the Dynobots exchange congratulations, Shockwave arrives and easily annihilates Grimlock and the other Dynobots in a single devastating blast!

Perceptor watches as Shockwave kneels by Skyfire's remains, seemingly in mourning.. only to extract the flier's brain module and promise that, someday, his subordinate will live again. His movements draw Shockwave's attention, but before the Decepticon can blow his hiding place the three Seekers arrive and inform Shockwave that Megatron has ordered him to board the Nemesis. His machinations in shambles, Shockwave grudgingly obliges and takes off with the fliers... but the experience has taught the cold, logical Decepticon that the real threat to the dream of a Decepticon Empire is not the Autobots—it is Megatron. Shockwave keeps his cards close to his chest as he boards the ship and humbly accepts Megatron's furious admonishments, already hatching a new plan to ensure that only one of them will return to Cybertron.

Meanwhile, at the former battle site, a team of Autobots recover the badly injured Dynobots, as the Ark prepares for its own fateful launch...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Punch/Counterpunch (1) Prowl (23) Perceptor (24) Divebomb/Swoop (25) Sludge (26) Slag (27) Grimlock (28) Snarl (29) Ratchet (33) Cliffjumper (34) Red Alert (35) Outback (36) Broadside (37)	Chop Shop (2) Barrage (3) Ransack (4) Blitzwing (5) Octane (6) Runabout (7) Runamuck (8) Venom (9) Hook (10) Skyfire (11) Deluge (12) Starscream (13) Shockwave (14) Thundercracker (15) Megatron (16) Ratbat (17) Soundwave (18) Razorclaw (19) Snaptrap (20) Skywarp (21) Frenzy (22) Dirge (30) Ramjet (31) Thrust (32)

Quotes

"With Cybertron unshackled from its orbit, these turbines would have taken us to other worlds, other advanced civilizations... with technology and resources we could assimilate. The rationalization... of a chaotic universe."

— Skyfire on Project Dreadnought

"Accident... or design? I wonder."
"Ratbat. Perhaps you don't know me as well as you think, otherwise... you'd know I abhor spontaneity. Next time... schedule an appointment."

—Ratbat and Shockwave

"Let me get this straight. The 'Cons want us to know this... but it's intel you'd intended to bring us anyway?"
"It's complicated."
"Tell me about it."

—Prowl and Punch

"Big."
"Deep."
"Am I relieved I brought you boys along for a second opinion."

—The Dynobots do not help Perceptor

"Alas, poor Skyfire. Your mind... is a terrible thing to waste. Soon, old friend, you shall rise again. I will see to it."

—Shockwave

Notes

Continuity notes

• This issue weaves in and around the Cybertron flashbacks from last year's issue #0, and, by extension, the first few pages of the first issue of the Marvel US comic. Notably, Megatron is shown here planning the attack on Stanix which he spearheaded in issue #0, and the comic reveals that Shockwave deliberately sent Cybertron towards Stellae Cimeterium as part of a larger ploy to force Megatron's hand. While Punch narrated the last issue, Counterpunch narrates this one, likely due to the comic's Decepticon-centric plot.
• The very first installment of the the original comic had Megatron pontificate about turning Cybertron into a mighty "cosmic dreadnought" to conquer the universe—a plot thread that never actually resurfaced the US run, although the UK-exclusive story "Meltdown!" revealed that Megatron had commissioned a set of planetary engines in Kalis at some point before the launch of the Nemesis, which we return to here. This issue takes a stab at addressing the discrepancy by explaining that Megatron began the war with the intention of galactic subjugation, until his mounting obsession with Optimus Prime led him down an emotional, less rational path.
• This issue features Shockwave and Ratbat at loggerheads over Shockwave's subterfuge, suggesting an origin point for Ratbat's distaste for Shockwave and his wasteful fuel consumption that will mark Ratbat's tenure as a Decepticon leader on Earth.
• The Presidium previously appeared as a government building in Furman's Regeneration One series. Notably, this slightly deviates from Marvel US #1, where Megatron and his forces operated out of "Castle Decepticon". Perhaps one is an alternate name for the other?
• Skyfire appears as a Decepticon scientist on Cybertron; when Grimlock defeats him in battle, Shockwave plucks his brain module from his lifeless body and promises that he'll one day "rise again". The implication seems to be that, after Shockwave gets his hands on the Creation Matrix in The Transformers #10, he will use this brain module to recreate Skyfire on Earth as "Jetfire", explaining why Jetfire occasionally referenced details of Cybertronian life. In the author's commentary, Furman compares this to Optimus Prime using the Ark's mind bank to resurrect five Autobots from preexisting engrams in Marvel US #14, and suggests that Shockwave might have had access to similar technology.
• Speaking of, Hook (featuring a yellow paint job based on either his European Generation 1 toy or his American Generation 2 toy) makes an appearance as one of the scientists on Project Dreadnought. He and the other five Constructicons were also brought to life by Shockwave in Marvel US #10, so perhaps a similar fate will befall him and his teammates?
• Megatron notes that the Nemesis will launch in one "orn," a unit of time based on Cybertron's lunar day that previously appeared in Marvel #US #60.
• A few characters mistakenly call Swoop "Divebomb", and at one point Grimlock sarcastically addresses him by "whatever you're calling yourself these days". Evidently, this story must not take place long after the events of "What's in a Name?" where Swoop, then Divebomb, lost an aerial battle to a Decepticon who stole his original name.
• The three Decepticon "Coneheads"—Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust—are shown boarding the Nemesis, when, as per Marvel US #17, they explicitly didn't travel to Earth with Megatron, and served under Straxus during his reign over Cybertron. Furman advises us to "watch this space"...
• Counterpunch compares Project Dreadnought to a warworld, Bludgeon's preferred mode of transit during the Generation 2 comics; although while that was just one spaceship, Counterpunch describes them in the plural, evoking the many warworlds used by the Decepticon fleet over in the 2005 IDW continuity.
• As originally presented in Marvel US #4, the Dinobots were just five random 'bots who happened to receive dinosaur alternate modes, but a later retcon in Marvel US #78 established that they were already a tight-knit team back on Cybertron. Here, the five "Dynobots" (see "Transformers references" for more on that) are badly injured in the fight; as the next issue will show, their offline bodies will be loaded into the Ark before it launches from Cybertron, and reactivated to fight Shockwave, as per Marvel US #4. This take on events also explains why Grimlock and company didn't take an active role in the asteroid-clearing mission or the battle between the Ark and Nemesis that precipitated their arrival on Earth.

Transformers references

• This issue takes some inspiration from the Sunbow animated series in its decision to depict Skyfire and Starscream as scientists and coworkers, a backstory established for the pair in the The Transformers episode "Fire in the Sky."
• Counterpunch still turns into an all-blue version of one of the "watchdog" Decepticons from the episode "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3", as seen in the previous issue.
• Deluge, a lesser-known Decepticon scientist, cameos as one of the scientists working on Project Dreadnought.
• Grimlock and the other members of his pre-Earth team go by the "Dynobots", a neologism that originally appeared in Dreamwave's Dark Ages miniseries and reappeared in the 2005 IDW continuity.
• Slag's battlecry, "Dynobots-traumatize!" evokes the Maximal and Predacon activation codes—"maximize" and "terrorize", respectively—in the Beast Wars cartoon.

Real-world references

• In the author's commentary, Furman notes that his instructions to artist Guido Guidi were to model Slag's Cybertronian alternate mode on a Nimr armored jeep, Sludge's on a D9R military bulldozer, and Snarl's on a BMD-1 amphibious vehicle—although the final art buries any direct inspiration beneath a layer of sci-fi Cybertronian detail and various dinosaurian embellishments.
• "Alas, poor Skyfire," muses Shockwave as he eulogizes his fallen friend, evoking the famous monologue from Hamlet.
• While extracting Skyfire's mind from his corpse, Shockwave remarks, "your mind is a terrible thing to waste," a riff on the motto of the UNCF, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." This reference isn't specifically called out in Furman's commentary, but it has become a very common phrase, the origin of which most people aren't aware.

Errors

• On page 20, "Warworld" is erroneously spelled with a hyphen.

Other trivia

• Backmatter for this issue includes a writer's commentary, where miniseries author Simon Furman explains some of the more obscure references or writing choices while also teasing upcoming issues.
• Originally solicited for release on April 29th, the miniseries was deliberately pushed back to July as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Covers (9)

• Cover A: Starscream and Skyfire, by Guido Guidi
• Cover B: Ratbat, Shockwave, and Skyfire overlook the Ark and Nemesis launching from Cybertron, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove
• Retailer incentive cover A: Optimus Prime and Megatron, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover B: Dinobots on the rampage, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham
• Gem City Comic Con exclusive cover A: wrap-around cover with Optimus Prime, by Stuart Sayger
• Gem City Comic Con exclusive cover B: wrap-around cover Soundwave and Megatron, by Stuart Sayger
• East Side Comics exclusive cover A: Optimus Prime, by John Giang
• East Side Comics exclusive cover B: Megatron, by John Giang
• San Diego Comic-Con exclusive: Package art of Optimus Prime's original toy

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