The Dead Come Home, Part 1 (of 2)

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"The Dead Come Home"
Part 1 (of 2)
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published November 22, 2017
Cover date November 2017
Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Optimus Prime leads a team into the wilderness to search for the first new life born on Cybertron in four million years, and its guardians, the Dinobots.

Synopsis

Years ago, following their encounter with Sixshot and Metroplex on the planet Salvvatan VIII, the surviving Throttlebots—Goldbug, Chase, Rollbar, and Searchlight—were attempting to depart in the shuttle Metroplex provided them when Sixshot struck back. Though the Throttlebots believe they were able to kill the already-wounded Sixshot in the ensuing battle, he succeeded in crippling their shuttle, and they crashed on a strange plant-world that Searchlight eventually named "Botanica." Attempts to radio for assistance met with failure; the Decepticon uprising known as the Surge was in full effect across the galaxy, sweeping over all Autobot installations and cutting the Throttlebots off from any potential rescue. Left to believe the Autobots had lost the war and that one day the Decepticons would arrive to kill them all, the four have eked out a meager existence on the planet ever since. That all ends today... on the day the attack they have long been expecting finally comes, not from the skies above, but from below, as monstrous animal-form Transformers emerge from within the planet!

On Cybertron, in the wake of Joe Colton's attack on the planet, Optimus Prime presides over Sideswipe's delayed funeral. Afterward, he and Sunstreaker make peace; the recent chaos has led Sunstreaker to understand why Prime could not be there when Sideswipe died. Prime turns introspective, made aware once more of how much suffering those under his command have been through as an indirect consequence of the things he asks of them—yet they remain willing to do those things all the same. He attempts to vocalize these emotions to Arcee and thank her for her service, but she blindsides him with the revelation that Galvatron was her twin brother—a brother she stood by and let Optimus kill, because, once again, it was the "right" thing he had to do. Disarmed by this, and unsettled by the growing crowd of admirers who have come to watch him, Prime attempts to withdraw, but finds his way barred by Garrison Blackrock, who has some troubling news of his own to share. Blackrock explains the half-human/half-Cybertronian Centurion has been reawakened from stasis lock by the recent planetary energy surge caused by the alien wizard Merklynn, and has since disappeared into the wilderness outside Iacon. But Blackrock has just received a transmission from Centurion containing the image of a protoform—something that, to Prime and Arcee's knowledge, has not existed on Cybertron for millions of years. Overhearing their conversation, repentant Decepticon Swift corrects them: she and the Dinobots recently discovered an active hot spot from which such a protoform could have emerged... a hot spot that subsequently vanished, but which Starscream also knows about.

Prime and Blackrock approach Starscream to discuss the matter just as he is getting out of a meeting with the Council of Worlds, during which tempers have flared over the fact Cybertron has suddenly found itself reliant on Earth to provide it with energon, after Merklynn's schemes have left the planet's own fuel supply tainted and unusable. Starscream takes Prime to former Dinobot leader Slug, who has been convalescing in his care after recent injuries, and who agrees to help track down the Dinobots and the protoforms—though none but Starscream are aware that Slug was not merely injured, but killed on Starscream's orders by Sandstorm, then reanimated by Starscream using technology acquired from the captured Bludgeon...

Arcee approaches Pyra Magna, Stormclash, and Skyburst in the middle of the battle-blasted plaza that was ground zero for Colton's attack, inviting them to join the mission into the wilderness. The group politely turn down the offer, their combiner physiology necessitating that they soon return to Earth to be close with their sister Torchbearers again—but the subject of combiners allows Pyra to switch the topic to Prowl, and the need for more robots like him who are willing to act as a check and balance to Optimus Prime. Pyra is not asking Arcee to side with her against Optimus... but suggests that, in her search for a role in a post-war world, perhaps Arcee could serve as the one who keeps both her and Optimus in check.

Presently, Optimus, Arcee, Blackrock, and Slug head out into the wilderness, the trail leading them back to the site of Arcee and the Revolutionaries' recent battle with the Red Shadows. It is there that they are approached by Centurion and his new allies: the Dinobots and Sandstorm. Though the Dinobots made a reluctant peace with Sandstorm after they battled Bludgeon together, the sight of his old comrades allied with his killer sends Slug into a rage, and pandemonium breaks loose... but the chaos is not as random and emotionally-driven as it seems, as it has in fact, been orchestrated from afar by Bludgeon, still Starscream's captive, using his Void Scepter to manipulate the Dinobots' minds and push them into fighting one another. With Starscream nowhere to be seen, the "ghost" of Bumblebee invisibly watches as Bludgeon urges the Dinobots to destroy one another, all in preparation for the coming of his "master"...

Back on "Botanica," Rollbar and Searchlight fall before the beasts, and when Chase tries to carry the wounded Goldbug to safety, he too is cut down. As one of the attackers looms over him, Goldbug tells him to tell "his boss, Megatron" that they fought to the end... but the fact that the mystery 'bot doesn't know who Megatron is suggests these are not the Decepticons Goldbug thought they were. If there are answers to be had, however, they will not come from his attacker, who is suddenly blasted in the back... but from the one one who has just fired the shot, Goldbug's surprise saviour, Prowl, now with a giant cannon in place of his left arm, and accompanied by Wheelie, Garnak, and Stardrive!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Maximals Others

Other Cybertronians

Others

Quotes

"Blackrock! Did no one ever teach you it's dangerous to stand in the middle of a street?"
"Well, seeing as all my memories are data constructs implanted in my neocortex by Onyx Prime, probably not."

—Optimus Prime takes some sass from Blackrock


"It took, what? Forty-seven humans to nearly destroy this planet... imagine what the other six and a half billion of us could do if we put our minds to it."

—Marissa Faireborn shuts down Elita One's talk of aggression against Earth


"A tiny normal person with a flesh face? Appalling."

—Starscream is grossed out by Blackrock


"You've seen more of these than I have. Battlefields, I mean."
"I've killed a lot of people, if that's what you mean. And I think they all deserved what they got, but then... I'd deserve it, too. If the war's really going to end, there's not going to be a place for someone like me."

—Pyra Magna and Arcee

Notes

Continuity notes

* cracks knuckles*

  • The Throttlebots were last seen eight years ago in Spotlight: Metroplex, the events of which Goldbug recaps in narration. It was not explicit in the issue itself, but this story confirms that Freeway and Wideload died as a result of the injuries they sustained on-panel. The issue also contained the last appearance of Sixshot, who, as the stinger ending of that issue indicated, is revealed to have survived the stomping Metroplex gave him. Goldbug believes they were able to kill him when he came after them as they were leaving. As Sixshot made no further appearances prior to the comic's continuity reboot not long after, his ultimate fate is left in question.
  • Goldbug refers to G'th Semane, the Cybertronian spaceport previously mentioned in "Zero Point" and Spotlight: Orion Pax.
  • Rollbar thinks Chase is "going binary", a little-heard Cybertronian insult used to refer to failing mental faculties, previously heard in All Hail Megatron #14 and Robots in Disguise #11.
  • When describing the events of the Surge, Goldbug mentions the fall of Garrus-9, as seen in Last Stand of the Wreckers, and the defeat of the Autobots on Earth, chronicled in All Hail Megatron #7.
  • Given that the creatures who come to attack the Throttlebots are characters from the Beast Wars franchise (see "Transformers references," below), there can be no doubt that these are the beast-hordes of Onyx Prime, who has been shown to have recognizable or implied Beast Wars cast members among his hordes before, in both issue #10 and the 2017 Transformers annual.
  • Sideswipe died in issue #9; his funeral has been delayed by the events of the First Strike crossover, which Cybertron is recuperating from in this issue. Sunstreaker was badly wounded in issue #4 of that story, to the point that it wasn't clear if he was even still alive, but he's already on the mend in this issue, noting that he's "been through worse." He really has, too, including vivisection by the Machination way back in Devastation, and being eaten alive by the Insecticon swarm post-All Hail Megatron.
  • At Sideswipe's funeral, Optimus Prime says that "someone" once said "loss of life is only a tragedy without purpose." That "someone" was Sentinel Prime, who delivered that quote at the funeral of Bumper and Fastback in Megatron Origin #3, the attending crowd of which included an Orion-Pax-lookin' robot that we might now infer was canonically the young Optimus himself. Given Sentinel's recent history, Optimus is wise not to mention him by name.
  • Arcee reveals to Optimus Prime for the first time that Galvatron was her twin brother, a fact we learned in issue #10, and recalls how Optimus killed him in front of her, in The Transformers #55.
  • A murmured voice among the crowd is heard to doubt that Optimus Prime will attend Antagony's funeral, confirming for the first time the identity of the Transformer Shazraella fused with during First Strike, and revealing that she did not survive the experience.
  • Another voice in the crowd hopes Optimus will sign his "Covenant of Primes datapad." This holy book was first mentioned in More than Meets the Eye #23, a sort-of IDW stand-in for the more famous Covenant of Primus.
  • Centurion went into stasis lock in the Transformers: First Strike one-shot, following the events of the ninja battle and Dragon X explosion that Arcee summarizes in this story (Arcee is also relieved to hear that Action Man has returned to Earth, following his romantic advances on her in that issue). Much as it seemed like it was taking the character off the table, it is here revealed that Centurion was brought back on-line very soon after the events of that story, by the "light show" that took place in First Strike #6.
  • Said "light show" was Merklynn seizing control of the planet's energon. Blackrock notes Kup is going to investigate the effects of the wizard's scheme on the planet's core, with a footnote directing readers towards next month's Transformers vs. Visionaries #1 to follow that plotline.
  • Swift and Arcee clash over the Decepticon attack the former was part of against the Ark-7, during which Sideswipe sustained the injuries that ultimately claimed his life, as seen in The Transformers #47-49.
  • Swift and the Dinobots' discovery of a new hot spot took place in the Redemption one-shot, in which the Dinobots also committed the murders for which Starscream notes they are wanted, in order to protect said sparks. Swift told Starscream about the hot spot off-panel, leading into the events of the follow-up one-shot Salvation, in which many of the events that factor into this issue's plot took place, including: Sandstorm killing Slug, then joining with the rest of the other Dinobots; the Dinobots relocating the sparks, which then formed protoforms; and the crippled Bludgeon being captured by Starscream. The story ended with the implication that Starscream was about to reanimate the dead Slug using a mutated Sweep-spark from Bludgeon's lab, and evidently, he went through with it. Slug believes Sandstorm was working for Bludgeon, when in actuality he was employed by Starscream, so that'll be a whole thing...
  • Starscream refers to the Solstar Order's blockade of Cybertron, which took place in First Strike #2. He lets slip, but quickly covers up, his knowledge of the fact they have experience in synthesizing energon, which he learned about during the Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor mini-series.
  • Marissa measures the human population of Earth as "six and a half billion." In the real world, there are seven and a half billion humans on Earth, but Marissa's figure accounts for the billion humans killed during All Hail Megatron, a figure originating in Spotlight: Prowl and reiterated in The Transformers #51.
  • Starscream grumbles that "discovering Earth" was the biggest mistake he ever made; a simplification, since Transformers had been active on the planet at various times in its history, but it was Starscream's Decepticon infiltration team who were the first Transformers to arrive on the planet in the 21st century, kicking off the Transformers' IDW adventures.
  • Starscream refers to the invasion of Cybertron by undead Titans, as seen in Till All Are One issues #5-8.
  • Optimus refers to waking up in the untamed wilderness of Cybertron years prior, referring to the opening of The Death of Optimus Prime.
  • Bludgeon created his Void Scepter in Salvation to control Trypticon. Evidently, the Dinobots' connection to Trypticon—his corrupted energon blood was revealed in Redemption to be what gave them their uncontrollable beast forms in Monstrosity—makes them susceptible to it as well.
  • It's been implied for some time now that the "ghost" of Bumblebee who has been haunting Starscream since before The Transformers #44 is not just a figment of his imagination, most clearly in the 2017 Transformers annual and Till All Are One #11. This issue marks the first time the "ghost" has appeared without Starscream around, furthering that.
  • Prowl was last seen chilling out on Luna-1 in More than Meets the Eye #57. Not looking so chill now.
  • The cannon on Prowl's arm appears to be a vamparc ribbon, part of the arsenal used by Zeta Prime during Autocracy. In the final issue of Autocracy, Optimus Prime ordered Prowl to destroy all the weapons, but as Optimus left the room, the shot lingered on Prowl's face, implying that, true to form, he was going to disobey Prime for the "greater good." Looks like we know whether he went through with it or not...
  • Wheelie and Garnak were last seen during the Dark Cybertron event, left waiting aboard Optimus Prime's ship the Skyroller out in space as Prime himself headed through a portal into the Dead Universe. We had no idea what happened to them, but Prime had the Skyroller back in his possession six months later, as seen in Robots in Disguise #34 and several subsequent issues.
  • And lastly, Stardrive is a Camien Transformer raised by the Solstar Order, introduced in the Shining Armor mini-series, which was still one issue away from concluding when this story was released. She appears in her original blue, purple, and green color scheme seen in Shining Armor #1, having shed her Solstar armour at the series' conclusion.

Transformers references

  • The planet-plant "Botanica" is named after the Beast Machines character of the same name.
  • The creatures who attack the Throttlebots are characters from the Beast Wars franchise. On page 4, Beast Wars Neo sawshark Sharp Edge is easily identifiable, and the silver wings on the pterodactyl in the center peg him as another Neo character, Hydra (rather than his near-identical Beast Wars counterpart Lazorbeak). The claw-handed beastie in the top right of the same panel is Drancron from Neo. Later, on page 19, the 'bot who menaces Goldbug is Beast Wars Cicadacon. The other two beasts on page 4—a spiky green rhino and a clawed red creature—were confirmed by Livio Ramondelli to be filler characters and not based on anyone in particular.

Errors

  • Optimus reacts with shock to the revelation that Arcee and Galvatron are twins yet was told this by Alpha Trion in issue #10. Considering what happened since then, we can forgive him forgetting that detail or he's just putting on an act to respect Arcee's privacy.
  • Windblade appears on the council as a delegate, which doesn't really match up with the sequence of events that would later be expounded on in the 2017 Till All Are One annual.
  • Marissa counters Elita's criticisms by saying: "Rogue humans attacked, which is exactly how every single other colony joined the Council of Worlds." It's... what? No it's not. Each of the other colonies joined when they were individually and peacefully approached by Starscream and Windblade and their teams of representatives. Even if Marissa's not being literal, and just referring to "attacks" as the reason, she's still not right: it was the battle between Optimus Maximus and Devastator that brought the colonies into contact with Cybertron for the first time, during Combiner Wars, but that's the opposite of what Marissa's saying, as it was Cybertron responsible for bringing combat to them, rather than the colonies themselves doing the attacking, as with Earth.

Covers (4)

  • If you don't look at him, he might go away.
    If you don't look at him, he might go away.
  • Now that's just wrong including Freeway and Wideload!
    Now that's just wrong including Freeway and Wideload!
  • Slug's angry — who woulda thought?
    Slug's angry — who woulda thought?
  • "When I'm not whining, I'm really a tough guy!"
    "When I'm not whining, I'm really a tough guy!"

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Reprints

  • Optimus Prime Volume 3 (June 6, 2018) ISBN 168405270X / ISBN 978-1684052707
    • Collects Optimus Prime issues #11–14 & First Strike #1, and Transformers: First Strike #1.
    • Bonus material includes art from most covers.
    • Trade paperback format.
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