Transformers Comic issue 14

« Transformers (Titan) #14 »
Firestart (twisted firestarter!)
Publisher	Titan Magazines
First published	27 July 2008
Editor	Steve White
Deputy editor	Den Patrick
Designer	Danny Preston
Publishing manager	Darryl Curtis

The Reign of Starscream begins! (No, not that one.)

Contents

Aftermath Part 1

« Titan Movie comic »
Aftermath Part 1
Script	Simon Furman
Art	Gary Erskine
Colours	Kris Carter
Lettering	Jimmy Betancourt/Comicraft
Continuity	Twilight's Last Gleaming

Savannah, Georgia: the Autobots survey the big smoking crater where the AllSpark used to be. While rebuking Strongarm for inopportune jokes, Optimus Prime points out that the crisis is still ongoing. The Decepticon occupation of Earth has done too much damage to the planet and its people, and humanity is now frightened and paranoid. Arcee points out the Autobots saved Earth — but Optimus points out they brought the war here. The humans won't distinguish between the two factions...

Meanwhile, Starscream and Dreadwing are off doing a Bludgeon: any attempt by the humans to rebuild the infrastructure in America is going to be bombed flat, starting with a refinery in Providence. The humans need to realise the Decepticons are here to stay!

...whoa, how big is that flag?

Over in a still-devastated Washington, D.C., Tom Banachek is arguing with the Vice-President that they should engage in dialogue with the Autobots. The VP refuses: to America and the world, all Transformers are the enemy, and he intends to take back the initiative.

In the Savannah medical shelter, Mikaela Banes is shown that dozens of people, previously healthy, have fallen drastically ill for no reason. The only answer the doctor can give is that the Transformers have done something to the planet, and the illnesses are just a symptom. Outside the shelter, Mikaela meets up with Bumblebee, a source of fear and terror for the doctor. She tells Bumblebee that people just need time to adjust to the Transformers, but she doesn't know about the large build-up of American tanks nearby...

Meanwhile, Skyblast has found a tiny fragment of the AllSpark that survived the explosion — a fragment that could conceivably possess all of the original's power. Optimus decides to isolate it, out of concern it may have been corrupted by exposure to Megatron, and Ratchet is made its guardian.

That night, Armorhide and Elita-One stand on sentry duty: however, the idea of looking in more than one direction is a strange concept, and they don't notice the Decepticon attack force until it's flying past them. The jets begin blitzing the Savannah Shelter, and the Autobots scramble to protect it while Mikaela helps evacuate the patients. But this is all playing into Starscream's hands — via an implant, he controls the mind of a tank regiment commander and is having him lead the regiment into Savannah to kill every Transformer there...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Bumblebee (1) Strongarm (2) Arcee (3) Optimus Prime (4) Skyblast (5) Ironhide (6) Ratchet (7) Armorhide (16) Elita-One (17)	Starscream (8) Dreadwing (9) Megatron (10) (flashback) Class Alpha drone units (18-21)	Tom Banachek (11) the Vice-President (12) Mikaela Banes (13) Savannah shelter doctor (14) Amelia Cort (15) mind-controlled regiment commander (22) Lieutenant Collins (23)

Articles & features

• Top Gear: adverts for and a chance to win Classics Cliffjumper, a Thundercats DVD boxset and, impressively, a Japanese re-release of the original 1984 Jazz.
• Character Profile: Grimlock (circa the Beast Wars strips). "The dinosaur king of the Autobots proves why he's such a big hit with the girls."
• Artobots: Fan art section.
• Star Screams: Letters, art and photos from readers, answered by Starscream.
• Two posters: the cover image and Animated Bumblebee.

Free Gift

• "Free Robot Blaster!" — a disk-shooting toy gun.

Reprints

Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.

• Megatron Origin, part 1a (7 pages)
• Beast Wars: The Ascending part 1a (7 pages)

Quotes

Strip

"The damage done by Megatron and his Decepticons to this world is vast, the wounds are too deep to ever properly heal. The very foundations upon which this society was built have been undermined, excavated. Everything now, from the ground beneath their feet to the sun that warms them... is alien, unknown! Including us."

—Optimus Prime

"We owe Optimus Prime and the other Autobots our lives and liberty. If it weren't for them, we'd all be dead or slave labour. They saved us all."
"Did they? Or were they just saving themselves? ...they came to our planet in secret, disguised! That's a covert invasion in my book."

—Tom Banachek versus the Vice President of the United States

"Sentry duty I can handle. Listening to you bitch about it day in, day out is blowing my primary cerebral fuse!"

—Elita-One hates Armorhide

"Oh god — it never ends!"

—Random civilian displays his Furman power.

Star Screams

On recycling: "I approve, Thomas, only a thoughtless general squanders resources — and so it goes with your planet. Perhaps when you pitiful apes realise you can't eat toxic waste and breathe smog you'll sort your act out!"

"As for why the Decepticons had to lose [in the film], that's a relative term. I survived, so it was in one vital sense a complete victory for the Decepticons..."

"We're pleased to inform you that your name has been added to the Decepticon Extermination list. Your filthy Stone Age sympathy for Autobots and Maximals has left me with no further option than to render you down into coolant. We will visit you shortly."

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh come on — there's always room for a MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Notes

Continuity notes

• Furman mentioned in his blog comments that "I wouldn’t go as far as to call it permanent, but certainly we’ll be staying in the Twilight’s Last Gleaming continuity at least until issue #26, which as far as I’ve got stories mapped out." They would then "see" when the sequel film came out. This plan for thirteen issues can be seen in how the reprints will ensure their Part 1's take four issues to run, rather than stretch out their endings as happened last year. In the end, everything had to end at #25 and threw this plan out!
• One concern had been that Titan would contradict the IDW movie comics but in the end, Titan wouldn't ever reprint any of them. Around this time, Titan couldn't have as IDW's contemporary comic was an issue too long and featured a lot of toys in roles that clashed with how Furman would be using them. Why Megatron Origin was used is unclear but probably boils down to it having four issues, appealing to older fans, and not stepping on the main strip (or Beast Wars: The Ascending's) toes.
• While alternate universes showing Decepticon dominance and main timeline Decepticon rampages across Earth have been done before in the comics, this was the first to show a long-term rebuilding process and the after-effects: cities are still damaged, infrastructure is being rebuilt, medical shelters are in major urban areas. IDW would later do this but at the time, Titan had actually preempted the aftermath of "All Hail Megatron" and committed more to it than the early post-AHM work (where a coda story had the rebuilding happening fast).

Continuity notes

• You think you know about the Transformers, kids? Think again! This Generation One thing Titan's reprinting is (quoth their summary) a "whole different version of the mythos you've come to know and love!", and everything you know about Transformers will be turned on its head! I hope this shocking new take doesn't ruin the franchise!
• Banachek and Allen talk about the covert nature of the Autobots' arrival in the film.

Alternate-reality notes

• The President was implicitly killed by the Decepticons.
• Quite rapidly between issues, a provisional US government has been formed in Washington and infrastructure is being gradually rebuilt.
• The military forces seen here are not solely US troops but are in fact a NATO force (revealed in #15).
• Mikaela is well-known and in a position of authority at the Savannah shelter, probably down to her rebel work.
• The Decepticon base is six miles north-east of Marathon in the Florida Keys.

Transformers references

• Furman had previously had the Matrix, another sacred lifeforce, get corrupted in "Deathbringer" and the Matrix Quest arc.

Real life references

• The doctor quotes W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming".

Letters page notes

• The Star Letter of the issue was sent by Thomas Ditchfield, a young lad from Warrington, showing a Transformers-based recycling advert he created as part of a school competition; it won and was displayed on the back of a local bus for a year. Starscream approves!

Errors

• Page 5: "the Decpeticon's".
• Titan actually let someone say "bitch" in a kid's comic!