Infestation 2
| The name or term "Infestation" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Infestation (disambiguation). |
Dark deception kills the light
Hybrid children watch the sea
Pray for Father, roaming free
Infestation 2 is a 2012 multi-property crossover event from IDW Publishing. It follows on from Infestation, in which the natural order of magic was "reset" worldwide, by seeing fans of H. P. Lovecraft unwittingly fuel an extradimensional Elder God prison break. This results in eldritch creatures invading different worlds, with the returning Transformers and G.I. Joe being joined by other licenses Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dungeons & Dragons, IDW-owned comics like CVO: Covert Vampiric Operations and 30 Days of Night, and a few other surprises.
Unlike its predecessor, Infestation 2 did not feature any crossover characters, with each universe's adventure being pretty self-contained. The framing story again took the form of a pair of issues set in the CVO continuity bookending four two-issue limited series as well as two individual one-shots. An "ashcan" preview titled Dark Secrets of Infestation—containing the first four pages of the first issue–was made available for free from participating comic book stores in November 2011.
Unlike the previous event, which involved the 2005 IDW continuity, the Transformers portion of Infestation 2 continued the story of the 2005 steampunk miniseries, Hearts of Steel, reuniting the creative team of Chuck Dixon and Guido Guidi.
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| « | Infestation 2: The Transformers issues: | » | |
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| IDW Publishing's comic book events | |
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| Inter-company crossovers | |
| Transformers events | |
| Hasbro Universe events | |
Overview
The Elder Gods are held prisoner outside of space and time, but they are able to discreetly influence the human subconscious, including that of H. P. Lovecraft, who translates their whispers into pulp literature. Lovecraft is assassinated by Emanuel Houellebecq of the secret organisation Oblivion to prevent the Elder Gods' plans. By the 21st Century, Lovecraft's work has amassed an enormous following throughout various forms of mass media, and the combined power of fandom imagination and magic technology artillica–and later, artillica's almost complete absence–allows the Elder Gods to break free of their prison and invade infinite planes of existence.
In one such reality, eldritch beings manifest across the United States and gain the attention of Covert Vampiric Operations. At a Lovecraft convention in Rhode Island, Britt fights through enthralled fans, sensing them to be full of artillica. In San Francisco, Bools rescues a woman from a sentient, omnivorous slime, and finds her to be Amanda Houellebecq, the latest leader of Oblivion. And in a small town in Texas, Cross combats an enormous eldritch worm but apparently suffers a heart attack–causing Britt to realise that Cross's artillica-fused heart is the conduit to the Elder Gods' invasion...
In another universe, in the late 19th Century, an Elder God and its fish people servants enthral dormant undersea Decepticons, and the ocean above their sunken city becomes a hotbed for attacks on human ships. Ironhide, travelling in disguise on the USS Miskatonic, escapes to alert the other Autobots of the otherworldly attackers. Bumblebee reunites with his old friend Tobias Muldoon and tasks him with reviving Optimus Prime. Muldoon embarks on a journey to a Canadian glacier with a train of Autobots and his new friend Nikola Tesla. Meanwhile, the mesmerised people (and Transformers) of the coastal town of Port Cenotaph summon the Elder God forth from the deep. Having been energised by a Tesla tower, Optimus Prime turns up and chops the Elder God into pieces with saws.
Back in CVO's universe, Britt tearfully rips the heart from the chest of her oldest friend. Bools and Houellebecq arrive with the Relic–an eldritch parasite removed from Lovecraft's corpse. Houellebecq tosses the combination of the two organs into the Elder Gods' portal, which seals the monsters off from reality, but she is pulled in herself by tentacles. Later, Cross awakens, still alive thanks to a decidedly eldritch-looking "phantom heart"...
Collections
- Contains Infestation 2: Part 1, Infestation 2: Team Up, Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night and Infestation 2: Part 2
- Bonus material includes an art gallery.
- Infestation 2, Volume 2 (July 4, 2012) ISBN 1613772807 / ISBN 978-1613772805
- Contains Infestation 2: Transformers and Infestation 2: G.I. Joe
- Bonus material includes an art gallery.
- Infestation 2, Volume 3 No Transformers content
- Infestation 2 (The Complete Series) (November 28, 2012) ISBN 161377513X / ISBN 978-1613775134
- Hardcover
- Contains Infestation 2: Part 1, Infestation 2: Transformers, Infestation 2: Dungeons and Dragons, Infestation 2: Team Up, Infestation 2: TMNT, Infestation 2: G.I. Joe, Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night and Infestation 2: Part 2
- Bonus material includes an art gallery.
- Contains Infestation: Part 1, Infestation: Transformers, Infestation: G.I. Joe, Infestation: Star Trek, Infestation: Ghostbusters, Infestation: Part 2, Infestation: Pocket God, Infestation 2: Part 1, Infestation 2: Transformers, Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons, Infestation 2: Team-Up, Infestation 2: TMNT, Infestation 2: G.I. Joe, Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night and Infestation 2: Part 2.
- Bonus material includes ???
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Volume 1 cover by Livio Ramondelli -
Volume 2 cover by Livio Ramondelli -
Complete Series cover by Alex Garner -
Omnibus cover by Gabriel Rodríguez
Notes
References
- ↑ "Toho doesn't really want Godzilla to be challenged in his own field, so to speak. That's one of the reasons why, for example, IDW really wanted to get a Godzilla versus Cthulhu going for the Infestation comics series. And Toho didn't want to do it because—and presumably because—they didn't want Godzilla in any way to be overshadowed. They want Godzilla to be the star of what's... whatever's going on." – Matt Frank's Godzilla panel at Albuquerque Comic Expo 2012, archived on YouTube
