First Strike
First Strike is a crossover miniseries by IDW Publishing that debuted in August 2017, focusing on the Transformers, G.I. Joe, and the rise of Baron Ironblood as a new threat to both. A sequel of sorts to Revolution, this crossover begins "year 2" of the Hasbro Universe and serves as a soft relaunch for the line.
When the series concludes, G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. will relaunch as Scarlett's Strike Force. Likewise, ROM and Micronauts end and relaunch as ROM & The Micronauts. The Transformers titles continue as before, with the exception of Till All Are One, which at the choice of Mairghread Scott is set to conclude with an annual rather than undergo its own soft reboot.
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First Strike
First Strike one-shots
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Buildup
First Strike follows on from 2016's Revolution event, which dealt with the fallout of Optimus Prime's decision to annex Earth into Cybertron's Council of Worlds as a means to defend humankind from further extraterrestrial threats. In that series, G.I. Joe founder Joe Colton was apparently revealed as a Dire Wraith imposter and slain by Rom, the Space Knight. Meanwhile, IDW's Action Man ended on a cliffhanger, depicting human supervillian Doctor X working alongside fellow supervillains Storm Shadow and Baron Ironblood in pursuit of an unspecified goal.
Spinning out of Revolution came Revolutionaries which featured a group of characters travelling across the world to discover the secrets of a mysterious Talisman. This storyline would plant most of the seeds of First Strike: in addition to revealing what had happened to the real Joe Colton and his connection to the mysterious Baron Ironblood, the series focused on Ironblood's growing cabal of villains, including Cybertronian tech expert Garrison Kreiger and his Transformer servant Centurion. The final issue of Revolutionaries ended with Ironblood unmasked to the world as Joe Colton; having secured the Talisman — the ultimate weapon against Cybertronian life — Colton and his supervillain team retreated to Kalistan to prepare for a genocidal assault on Cybertron in the name of human sovereignty.
Overview
A year after Optimus Prime's decision to annex Earth into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds, a unified Earth stands ready to join the interplanetary coalition as equals to the Transformers. With Marissa Faireborne now the new ambassador of Earth, human diplomats and dignitaries assemble in Iacon for the occasion — but as Starscream makes his opening remarks, Baron Ironblood and his forces strike, throwing the ceremony into chaos as the villains deploy sophisticated anti-Transformer weaponry against Cybertronians. On Earth, G.I. Joe leader Scarlett races to discover Colton's motivations behind his evil deeds; hoping to save her former mentor from himself, she forges an alliance with Matt Trakker and Soundwave to find a way to Cybertron.
With Iacon in chaos, Colton and his team deploy Dr. Mindbender as a decoy Ironblood while the real Colton leads a team underground, using Lady Shazraella to ferry the Talisman underground to its ultimate destination: the core of Cybertron, where its energies will poison the planet from within. Scarlett and a small team storm Castle Destro and hijack the M.A.S.S. Device to reach the metal planet. On arriving, they are immediately caught up in the volatile politics of the Council and detained. As Ironhide's forces struggle to pin down Colton's team beneath Metroplex, Optimus Prime goes against the law by springing Scarlett and her team from jail as the villains close in on their objective — turning the journey towards the core into a race against time.
Each issue features a backup story, "The Origins of Evil," depicting how Colton assembled his villainous alliance.
Creative team
Mairghread Scott, writer of Windblade and Till All Are One, and David Rodriguez, co-writer of the 2017 M.A.S.K. Annual jointly write First Strike, while Max Dunbar, artist of Micronauts, handles artistic duties.[1] The various one-shots will mostly be handled by each series's creative team.[2]
Collections
- Transformers/G.I. JOE: First Strike TPB (February 20, 2018 **scheduled**) ISBN 1684051223 / ISBN 978-1684051229
- Collects the First Strike issues
- Bonus material UNKNOWN.
- Transformers/G.I. JOE: First Strike: Champions TPB (February 27, 2018 **scheduled**) ISBN 1684051231 / ISBN 978-1684051236
- Collects the individual First Strike one-shot issues
- Bonus material UNKNOWN.
Notes
- The event appears to have originally been named Insurgency, with a variety of early solicitation texts and filenames referring to it under that title.
References
External links
- First Strike at the IDW Hasbro Wiki
