Police Action Part 2: Only Forward

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...you're saying this wasn't an accident?
"Police Action Part 2: Only Forward"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 5, 2011
Cover date	October 2011
Written by	Mike Costa
Art by	Brendan Cahill
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2011)

Prowl and company continue the investigation, only to have it cut short by Spike...

Synopsis

Prowl futilely attempts to crawl out from underneath the collapsing building, when Streetwise arrives just in time to push him out of harm's way. An artillery shot alerts them that Brawl is firing on their position, and Streetwise goes to confront him. Looking around, Prowl realizes that Brawl has another Transformer assisting him as a spotter, but is unable to identify the mystery 'bot due to unknown high-level technology. Prowl and Streetwise take down Brawl, and slap him with a suppressor to take him back to base.

The next day, Pennington locates Sandra laying low in her mother's house. Pennington attempts to strongarm her into coming back, but she refuses him, telling him that she hasn't done anything wrong and that Skywatch has lost its good relations with the police anyway. She advises Pennington to leave Spike's command like she did.

Back at base, Prowl and Streetwise interrogate an incapacitated Brawl. Brawl initially plays dumb, and before he can reveal anything, he suddenly goes into stasis lock. After conferring with Wheeljack via hologram, they learn that Brawl had been booby-trapped to go into stasis lock if he was subjected to suppressor technology.

Streetwise and Groove arrive at Sandra's house in alt-mode, and trick her into coming with them using Holomatter avatars. At the base, she is confronted by Pennington, who tells her she might have betrayed them for the right reasons, but that he can't forgive her disloyalty and that she's proven she was never one of them. Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee take over, with Magnus telling Sandra that, as far as he's concerned, she's done nothing to apologise for. He only wants to talk to Sandra about one specific thing: Spike.

Prowl continues his analysis of a piece of asphalt from Scrapper's place of death, and comes to the conclusion that Scrapper was killed with something that no Cybertronian would create - giving Prowl "dirt on Spike." Meanwhile, Sandra opens up about Spike, explaining that he acts like the lead in an action movie - reckless, illegal, egotistical and dangerous. Sandra warns the Autobots not to underestimate him, and Spike proves her right: he goes straight to Prowl and admits killing Scrapper...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Prowl (1) Streetwise (2) Wheeljack (6) Groove (7) Ultra Magnus (9) Bumblebee (10)	Brawl (3)	Sandra (4) Kyle Pennington (5) Spike Witwicky (8)

Quotes

"I'm telling you guys... this is just me. There's... no one... else."
"Brawl? You okay?"
"I'm telling... you... AAARRRGH!"

—Brawl succumbs to a booby-trap as Streetwise watches in horror

"You betrayed us all. I know you had your reasons. Maybe they were even the right reasons. But you don't turn on your unit and then run away. You just don't do that."
"We were in violation of a direct order from the President of the United States. What's more, we were involved in an active conspiracy to cover it up. That's not what I joined up for."
"The President didn't fight alongside me. The President didn't save my life a dozen times. I'm loyal to the men and women here. And you were supposed to be too."

—Pennington tears into Sandra for ignoring the genre tropes

"I don't know what anyone else thinks around here, and I don't care. The way I see it, you upheld the law. Despite whatever the consequences, you followed the proper protocol. I would have done the same thing. We aren't in any disagreement there."

—Ultra Magnus has actually heard of military law and chain of command

"That's what's "cool" in a movie. But Spike's life is not a movie. And he doesn't understand that actually behaving like that for real is reckless and, frankly, illegal."

—Sandra prompts a re-read of every Spike scene Costa ever wrote

Notes

Continuity notes

• Sandra tells someone over the phone that Skywatch is "hanging by a thread" and had its funding cut off by "indirect means".
• This is the first use of holomatter since the Simon Furman penned 'tions' series. It is only obvious in one panel as Streetwise drives away with Sandra.
• When he first appeared in All Hail Megatron issue 2, Sparkplug was a colonel and not a four-star general (he was promoted during the war).
• Spike, Joe Henderson (see Errors, below), and Sandra all knew each other at "Annapolis", slang for the United States Naval Academy. This suggests that Spike is a member of the United States Navy, which is supported by his being referred to as "commander", a Navy rank, in All Hail Megatron issue 5... but since dialogue in that issue mentioned him enlisting in the Army, All Hail Megatron #16 would retcon him to be a major instead, which isn't a Navy rank. Spike being a graduate of the prestigious, hard-to-get-into Annnapolis is also rather bizarre, given that Spike's entire stated motivation for entering the military was to be like his Army colonel father — if he was going to attend a service academy, why wouldn't he enroll in West Point instead?

Real-world references

• Continuing Mike Costa's penchant for naming his stories after other works of science fiction, this issue takes its title from Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward.

Errors

• On top of the continuing confusion about Spike's actual military rank and role, Sandra mentions that Henderson attended Annapolis as well. As established in issue 3, Henderson is only a corporal, a low-ranking non-commissioned officer. This is right out.

Trivia

• This issue is listed on the Chaos checklist as "The Last Story on Earth Part 2".

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee; art by Marcelo Matere, colors by Priscilla Tramontano.
• Cover B: Streetwise takes on Brawl; art by Brendan Cahill, colors by Priscilla Tramontano.
• Cover RI: Black & white version of Cover B; art by Cahill.

• 
  Magnus B.E.E.
• 
  Streetwise is a leeetle outmatched.
• 
  RI cover

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Reprints

• The Transformers, Volume 6: Police Action (February 15, 2012) ISBN 1613771649 / ISBN 978-1613771648
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #25, #27 & #29, and Spotlight: Prowl.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus a B&W art page from "Police Action: Part 1".
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Eight (May 7, 2013) ISBN 1613776276 / ISBN 978-1613776278
  • Collects Heart of Darkness issues #1–4, and The Transformers (2009) issues #19–31.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: Chaos Theory (February 28, 2018) ISBN 978-4-86491-370-6
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #19–23, #25, #27 & #29.
  • Japanese reprint. Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 51: Chaos Theory (December 11, 2019)
  • Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #21: "Police Action: Prologue", #22–23, #25, #27 & #29, and Spotlight: Bumblebee.
  • Bonus material includes a one-page article exploring the origins of the "Chaos" arc and beyond, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Volume 6: Police Action – cover art by Brendan Cahill and Priscilla Tramontano
• 
  The IDW Collection Volume Eight – cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  Chaos Theory – cover art by Kazumasa Yasukuni
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 51: Chaos Theory – cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne