Stormbringer issue 2
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 Um, is this The War Within? | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | August 9, 2006 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | August 2006 | ||||||||||||
| Story by | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Don Figueroa | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Josh Burcham | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Robbie Robbins | ||||||||||||
| Edits by | Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2006-7 | ||||||||||||
The avatar of doom awakens.
Synopsis
On the distant organic world of Nebulos, the inhabitants are going about their daily business until a gigantic shadow looms over the advanced cityscape...
A few hours before, in the depths of Cybertron, a conscious Jetfire is interrogated by his captor: the Decepticon Bludgeon, who has gathered a team to reawaken the dormant Thunderwing and accomplish through mysticism what science could not: if they destroy enough worlds, Bludgeon explains, then their sacrifice will appease the "spirit" of Cybertron, allowing their ravaged world to return it to its former glory.
Horrified by Bludgeon's mad plan, Jetfire pleads with his captor, reminding him that Thunderwing's rampage was responsible for the devastation of their world in the first place. Bludgeon counters that Jetfire is just as responsible for what happened to their world: Thunderwing foresaw what was coming and was dismissed by his peers, and now Bludgeon and his cadre will finish what Thunderwing started. Bludgeon reveals the next stage of his plan to his prisoner: using the unconscious Technobots as raw material for the Thunderwing's infamous "polydermal grafting process:" the unstable upgrade that drove its creator insane. As Bludgeon's followers gather, their leader, shrugging off Jetfire's protests, proclaims that, soon, they'll all be so much more...
In the meantime, Optimus Prime receives a report regarding the disappearance of the Calabi-Yau. When Prime realizes that the vessel crashed near the infamous Thunderhead Pass, he orders his aide Dogfight to call up the toughest group of Autobots on the roster: the Wreckers.
On the embattled world of Varas Centralus, Wrecker leader Springer receives Prime's transmission as the Autobot commandos prepare to dig in and lay siege to the local Decepticon siege armature. The battle is cut short when Springer relays Prime's orders to his unit: they're pulling out and heading back to Cybertron.
Using the energon pocket detected by the Calabi-Yau, Bludgeon commences restoring power to Thunderwing, despite Jetfire's protests. Bludgeon reveals that he's not going to directly control Thunderwing; rather, he'll use an axis-cradle to link himself to Thunderwing's blank neural processor. Rather than puppet the comatose Decepticon directly, Bludgeon will give hints and directional prompts to Thunderwing, pointing him toward the sacrificed planets. The rest will be left to Thunderwing's own instincts. Hoping to make one last attempt at stopping Bludgeon, Jetfire easily breaks free of his restraints and overpowers one of his captors, but he's quickly electrocuted by Finback and dragged off to become raw material for Bludgeon's polydermal grafting experiments...
Aboard the Xantium, Springer holds a brief meeting with Optimus Prime as the Autobot leader journeys to their staging ground on Luna Two. Springer, doubtful about coming out on top against Thunderwing is adamant that the Autobot leader simply destroy Cybertron entirely. Though hesitant, Prime hesitantly tells the Wrecker commander that he'll consider it... but flashes back to their last battle against Thunderwing, when Megatron advocated the same tactic. Prime's assistant Dogfight is eager to get into the action, but rime tells him that he'll be lucky to come out the other side feeling that way.
On the surface of Cybertron, Nosecone and Afterburner leave their escape pod and make their way across the surface of Cybertron and take shelter inside a storage bunker, but the cosmic radiation plays havoc with their systems and they are rounded up by a pair of Centurion drones.
On Nebulos, the local Decepticon infiltration unit picks up something big and powerful exiting foldspace. The people of the planet look to the sky and flee in fear, for the apocalypse has arrived—and its name is Thunderwing!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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Notes
Continuity notes
- Jetfire and Scoop both refer to Primacron in almost religious manners.
- The Autobots' vessel will later be identified as the Ark-27.
- First appearances: Springer, Roadbuster, Topspin, Broadside, Whirl, Sandstorm, Scoop, and Twin Twist; Sureshot, Dogfight, and Backstreet; Darkwing, Dreadwind, Ruckus, Skullcruncher, Thrust, Roadgrabber and Crankcase.
Transformers references
- Thunderwing's "grafting process" and the resulting outer shells are the IDW version of the Pretender technology; Bludgeon's group are all from the Generation 1 Pretender line, though they are regular Transformers at this point.
- The series' deep casting continues; the Decepticons on Nebulos include characters from the Headmaster and other -master lines, though binary bonding will not be introduced until the later Devastation series.
- The Wreckers! The Autobots' go-to team for blowing stuff up was originally created for the Marvel UK comics, utilizing various characters/toys that had not been taken up by the US stories. Furman brings his creation back here with virtually the same lineup as the original.
- Bludgeon's group have all been redesigned for the comic, with their robot modes resembling their Pretender shells from the toyline.
Errors
- The inside cover of issue #2, solicited for August 2006, shows the publish date of the issue as June 2006, one month before the last issue.
- Springer radios Bluestreak to relay battle orders... but just last issue, Bluestreak was hanging around in the Autobots' command post.
- Nosecone's last sentence on page 16 is missing its concluding period.
Other trivia
- Cover A depicts a large number of Autobots and Decepticons in conflict with Thunderwing, likely a literal or figurative representation of the Battle of Thunderhead Pass. In practice, it would actually be several years before some of the depicted Transformers were introduced in IDW continuity.
Covers (3)
- Cover A: Prime's Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons vs Thunderwing wraparound cover by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham. This cover can be combined with similar ones from the other three issues to form a giant battle scene. This cover/section of the large image seems to represent the Transformers who tangled with Thunderwing in the past, other than Optimus Prime himself.
- Cover B: Half colored Thunderwing wraparound cover by Don Figueroa and ???
- Cover RI-A: Cover A uncolored
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Thunderwing likes Neon. -
Thunderwing—that's hot! Even without color! -
Cover RI-A
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- None yet identified
Reprints
- The Transformers: Stormbringer TPB (February 28, 2007) ISBN 160010018X / ISBN 978-1600100185
- The Transformers: Stormbringer Manga TPB (April 11, 2007) ISBN 1600100422 / ISBN 978-1600100420
- The Transformers: The Premiere Collection Volume 1 HC (December 5, 2007) ISBN 1600101186 / ISBN 978-1600101182
- The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Two HC (October 6, 2010) ISBN 1600107516 / ISBN 978-1600107511
