Rhythms of Darkness!

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Galvatron can be any size he wishes!
"Rhythms of Darkness!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	April 24, 1990
On-sale date	May 15, 1990
Cover date	June 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	José Delbo
Inker	Danny Bulanadi
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Massara
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

In an alternate future with Galvatron victorious, several Autobots fight in a last ditch attempt to retake Earth.

Synopsis

A lot of the Bronx already looked like this.

It is 2009, and Unicron has consumed Cybertron and has given the Decepticons Earth to rule.

Galvatron and the Pretender Monsters rise from the Atlantic Ocean into a destroyed New York City, complete with a deactivated Rodimus Prime strung up between the stumps of the shattered World Trade Center towers. Galvatron sends his minions to search the city's ruins for Autobots. Though he has devastated the Autobot army and controls both of the American continents, Galvatron—taken to bellowing about his achievements to himself—wishes even the slightest trace of resistance wiped out. The Pretender Monsters are extremely unhappy about this job, believing it's risking their death and injury for petty reasons, and they're right to as the humans have left booby traps all over the ruins. Galvatron blames the rotting corpse of Rodimus for the tripwire bombs, while Slog worries their leader's victories are only going to leave the Decepticons doomed in the long run.

Elsewhere, a rebel group of surviving Autobots and humans, including Spike Witwicky, race to strike the Decepticon Powerbase. They have only hours before the governments of the remaining free nations launch nuclear weapons. Not only will this annihilate what remains of North America, but Galvatron has already prepared to shield his army and siphon off the blasts' energy, making him even more unstoppable. Worse still, their best chance involves getting there before Galvatron returns from their diversion at New York! The Autobots are demoralised by the loss of their whole species and almost give up on bothering at all, until Lisa berates them into shaping up: they're not the only ones who've lost everyone they knew and it's the Autobots that brought this carnage to Earth in the first place.

At the Decepticon base, the Autobots attack, providing a distraction while Spike carries out the mission's main goal. The Autobots bring down the base's force field and take out a number of Decepticons, but Crossblades, Guzzle, and Getaway soon fall. Chainclaw is seconds away from killing Cyclonus, when Galvatron arrives, destroying first the Autobot, then his "weak" lieutenant. Galvatron and the Pretender Monsters move in to finish the Autobots. Jazz, who'd been willing to just give up on the whole thing before, almost bottles it when he sees Galvatron coming but decides to die fighting to give Spike his great chance.

The watching European Crisis Coalition isn't impressed as the world's already seen futile fighting. However, Spike claims 'victory': he has scaled the Decepticon fortress and erected an American flag, a symbol to the world that America is still alive and fighting. The Coalition aborts the nuclear launch at the final second.

Galvatron is unimpressed, and takes aim at the iconic flag. But suddenly Hook, Line, and Sinker appear and attack Galvatron, dragging him back through time. With their mightiest foe defeated, the remaining Autobots and humans rally, pressing the attack and fighting for their world...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Rodimus Prime (5) Chainclaw (9) Guzzle (10) Jazz (11) Inferno (12) Prowl (15) Kup (16) Blurr (17) Crossblades (20) Getaway (21)	Galvatron (1) Wildfly (2) Icepick (3) Birdbrain (4) Slog (6) Scowl (7) Bristleback (8) Cyclonus (18) Scourge (19) Laserbeak (22) Astrotrain (23) Octane (24) Runamuck (25) Runabout (26)	Lisa (13) Spike Witwicky (14)	Hook, Line, and Sinker (27–29)

Quotes

Galvatron: "The final few fell here, a doomed last stand against an unstoppable enemy! A foe so powerful, so resourceful -- none could stand against him!"
Birdbrain: "Who's he talking about?"
Wildfly: "Himself. Third person delusions of grandeur they call it. Me, I call it a few diodes short of a circuit board--"

End this way all of us. Under the weight of Galvatron's insanity buried. When falls tonight final darkness, another day will any of us see?

—Slog reflects on his leader's madness

"It was so much better before... Earth was ours for the taking, our present from Unicron before he departed. We destroyed, we annihilated -- we had a good time!"

—Cyclonus is slightly less poetic in his reminiscence

"Guzzle, Chainclaw -- help him out!"
"On our way, Prowl! Been nice knowin' you guys!"

—Prowl and Guzzle, who - in an alternate future - isn't just being literarily ironic

"Yesss! Fall, Autobot! Beg for mercy, beg for the sweet release of death! As your life slips away, pray that I decide to finish the job! Pray I decide to kill y-aaah!"
"Your killing days are over, Decepticon!"

— raw carnage brings out Cyclonus's psychotic inner poet, till Chainclaw gets the drop on him

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• As Laserbeak flies off after wounding Crossblades, he's drawn without his head.

Continuity errors

• Icepick thinks they should expand the Decepticon empire outside of the Americas. Why don't they? The closest we get is Cyclonus and Scourge talking like they don't care about conquering the rest of the Earth and just want off.
• Though it seems to follow the events of the movie ("A Savage Circle" gives Galvatron II his animated film origin), Prowl's kinda alive, which either means there was a goof or Prowl didn't die in this timeline's version of the movie events.

Continuity notes

• This was the only issue in the Marvel U.S. series that dealt with an alternate reality, a subject that would later become commonplace in Transformers.
• While we've mentioned Galvatron's big energy-sucking plan in our synopsis, the rebels never actually mention it. It seems they've got no idea Galvatron's planning this and are simply trying to avoid being nuked out as well!
• None of the rank-and-file Decepticons we see are happy about Galvatron's rule and his grand plan, with Icepick (implied to be the Monster boss) actively wishing he could stage a coup. Only Galvatron's fellow Unicronians, Scourge and Cyclonus, have any optimism (and simply don't like letting the humans think they've got a prayer).
• In the flashbacks, you can make out Blurr's head being incinerated by Cyclonus and Scourge.
• Galvatron says that Cyclonus is a "being forged in the fires of Unicron himself," which is in line with the animated movie, but in strictly US stories, he and Scourge were first seen on Cybertron serving under Scorponok. The Marvel UK stories explained this using time travel. This is the only time in the US stories that any reference is made to Cyclonus and Scourge being created by Unicron.
  • With that in mind, Cyclonus and Scourge's deaths here mean they can never be thrown into the past to become Targetmasters under Scorponok, ruling out this story as a possible future.
• The seven Autobot survivors shown are Prowl, Inferno (first US appearance), Jazz, Crossblades (only Marvel appearance), Getaway, Guzzle, and Chainclaw (also first US appearance). By the end of the issue only Prowl, Inferno, and Jazz are still alive. Guess who had new Action Master toys?

Witness the birth of three Furmanisms.

• This issue is notable for its high percentage of Furmanisms. In fact, this issue is the genesis of three of them. "Rhythms of Darkness!" spawned "FIGHT AND DIE," "IT IS OVER — FINISHED," and "WHAT CHANCE DO WE HAVE?"

Real-life references

• The launch is cancelled as a clock reaches one minute to midnight EST, referencing the infamous Doomsday Clock.

Other trivia

• In the credits, which run over the ruins of New York, editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco is listed as "Street Cleaner".
• In the early 2000s, this issue was the object of an infamous eBay auction in which the seller claimed that certain panels of the comic could be seen as prophetic warnings about the 9/11 attacks.
• 25 years later, this timeline was revisited via the Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime. To read about what happens next after this issue's events, see here.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

• Title (1990): "Rytmen av ondska!" ("The Rhythm of Evil!")
• Title (2019): "Ondskans rytm" ("Evil's Rhythm")

UK printing

Issue #298:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Legacy of Unicron!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Divided We Fall" and Combat Colin

Issue #299:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Legacy of Unicron!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Divided We Fall" and Combat Colin
• This issue marked Dreadwind's last ever ever Dread Tidings. However he would stayed holed up in the Marvel offices until #302

Issue #300:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Legacy of Unicron!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Divided We Fall" and Combat Colin
• This issue had a wraparound cover.
• Action Master Blaster took over the letters page with Darn 'n' Blast until the end of the run.

Issue #301:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Legacy of Unicron!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Divided We Fall" and Combat Colin
• The covers for this issue features a U.S. flag with 52 stars. One of the two images in the book itself doesn't feature individual stars, the other has the stars run off into shadow.

Covers (5)

• US issue #67 cover: victorious Galvatron, by Jim Lee.
• UK issue #298 cover: Galvatron emerging in the New York harbor, by Stewart Johnson.
• UK issue #299 cover: Galvatron before a dead Rodimus Prime, by John Marshall and Stewart Johnson.
• UK issue #300 cover: Autobots attack, by John Marshall and Stewart Johnson.
• UK issue #301 cover: Autobots victorious by John Marshall, Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell.

• 
  US issue #67 - ...And so Galvatron turned the Earth into a disco.
• 
  UK issue #298 - Galvatron - too cheap for a boat ticket.
• 
  UK issue #299 - "Can I sing One Million Bottles Of Energon On The Wall?"
• 
  UK issue #300 - C'mon, you know you want this on your bedroom wall.
• 
  UK issue #301 - Brings a tear to my eye...

Advertisements

US

• Milton Bradley Abadox for Nintendo - inside front cover
• Capcom Bionic Commando - between pages 4 & 5
• Capcom Code Name: Viper - between pages 5 & 6
• Taito Wrath of the Black Manta video game - between pages 7 & 8
• Acclaim Double Dragon II: The Revenge for Nintendo - between pages 8 & 9
• Tradewest Super Off-Road for Nintendo - between pages 16 & 17
• Dick Tracy movie - between pages 17 & 18
• Bullpen Bulletins / New York Comic Con - between pages 19 & 20
• Activision Ghostbusters II, Archon, Stealth ATF, and The Three Stooges videos game for Nintendo - between story and Getaway profile
• Transmissions
• Marvel subscription service
• Konami hand-held games: Bottom of the Ninth, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Double Dribble, Top Gun, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gradius, Skate or Die and C - inside back cover
• TSR AD&D (back cover)

UK

????

Reprints

• Transformers: Matrix Quest TPB: Thunderwing, Rodimus Prime, Shockwave, and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: Matrix Quest HC: Thunderwing with the Creation Matrix, by Pat Lee.
• Classic Transformers Volume 5: panels from "Eye of the Storm", "Deadly Obsession" "All Fall Down" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
• The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6: Blitzwing, by Guido Guidi.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 18: Edge of Extinction: Grimlock, above an interior scene (issue #74) of Powermaster Optimus Prime battling the Acolytes of Unicron. Grimlock art by Guido Guidi, Retro art by Andrew Wildman (pencils) and Stephen Baskerville (inks).

• 
  Transformers: Matrix Quest TPB
  (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Transformers: Matrix Quest HC
  (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 5
  (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6
  (IDW Publishing, 2013)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 18: Edge of Extinction
  (Hachette Partworks, 2017)