Secret Raiders: A Revolution Prelude
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Till All Are One #2, The Transformers #55, More than Meets the Eye #55 | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 6, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | John Barber | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Fico Ossio | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Sebastian Cheng | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Tom B. Long | ||||||||||||
| Editor | David Hedgecock | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | IDW Generation 1 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 bears 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. But that wasn't the worst of it...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | G.I. Joe | Cobra | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Notes
This story is the first of a two-part 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. Published as a back-up strip in IDW's July titles (debuting in Till All Are One #2), this chapter is in particular dedicated to aligning the two properties with pre-existing histories at IDW, Transformers and G.I. Joe.
IDW continuity notes
- 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 that was the MacGuffin 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 recaps how the Autobots abandoned Earth in Devastation, leading 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. 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.
- The devastation of the country of Nanazhao 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..."
- Manheim reveals he was present when Galvatron and Soundwave approached the Earth Defense Command with an offer of alliance, as seen in flashback in The Transformers #29. Scarlett notes that the Decepticons would subsequently betray the EDC, as seen in the "Conquerors" storyline that ran in issues #46-#49 of the series.
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.
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 apparently based on the unnamed "Adventurer" figure from the Adventure Team toy range (he was named "Tom Stone" in Action Man range, see below). 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."
Other franchise references
- Though kept in shadow and referred to only by his surname for the duration of the story, "Manheim" is Miles Mayhem, 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.
- 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 here is based on the original military incarnation of the figure. The character shown in this flashback is not the present-day Action Man; in IDW continuity, it is a codename used by a series of highly-trained operatives. The present day Action Man who will appear in the Revolution storyline is a young man named Ian Noble.
- 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!
Errors
- 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 this story, but this was corrected within the day.
