New Dawn
| |||||||||||||
 Megatron is suddenly cured of his foot fetish. | |||||||||||||
| New Dawn | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | March 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | May 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Artist | Derek Yaniger ("Tales of Earth Part Four") | ||||||||||||
| Penciler | Manny Galan ("New Dawn") | ||||||||||||
| Inker | Jim Amash ("New Dawn") | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Sarra Mossoff | ||||||||||||
| Letterers | Richard Starkings with O'Neil | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Rob Tokar | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Megatron gets his diodes kicked by Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire.
This issue contains a main story, "New Dawn", and a backup story, "Tales of Earth Part Four".
"New Dawn"
Synopsis
On the planet Tykos, Megatron and the Decepticons are staging a raid for the wonder chemical, rheanimum. This is the first field test for the new Rotor Force and Laser Rod Decepticons, as well as the rebuilt Darkwing, and they acquit themselves admirably. Megatron gloats over his success, then orders Starscream and Thundercracker to begin loading the rheanimum for transport to the Warworld. Starscream muses over how it's approaching the day when he'll have to start looking out for number one.
Megatron is contemplating his victory and his plans for conquest, when Soundwave informs him of an incoming message from Skullgrin. Megatron had dispatched him and five other Decepticons to investigate the alleged threat of the Cybertronian Empire. Skullgrin is the only survivor, and he's so badly damaged that he doesn't survive the crash of his shuttle. Megatron is enraged, and whips the Decepticons into a killing frenzy. The Warworld sets out to conquer the Empire.
This goes really badly. The Empire is vicious beyond any foes the Decepticons are used to, and they kill Runamuck and Quake, among others. Megatron confronts Jhiaxus personally, and is thoroughly trounced. Jhiaxus only breaks off the beating when Megatron undergoes orbital reentry, at which point the Decepticons retreat to look for their fallen (literally) leader. Eventually they find a black smoking crater, and most of Megatron... who is nevertheless still alive, and if you thought he was angry before...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Decepticons | Cybertronians | Others |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"Death to the pretenders!"
- —An unspecified Decepticon, referring to the Empire, not his many Pretender teammates
"Bludg — er... beat them into the ground!"
- —Another unspecified Decepticon narrowly avoids mentioning the former Decepticon leader in front of Megatron
Errors
- Ransack's name is spelled "Ransak".
- Powerdive's name is spelled "Powerdrive".
- Drag Strip's name is parsed as "Dragstrip".
- In group shot, what appears to be Bonecrusher is miscolored red and silver.
- When Octopunch is killed, he suddenly is colored partially brown.
Items of note
- Cameos: Astrotrain, Breakdown, Blast Off, Dead End, Blitzwing, Hook, Scavenger, Bonecrusher?, Brawl, Slugslinger?
- Rotor Force briefly stop fighting to re-attach their rotors. The next generation, ladies and gents!
- Darkwing's new body is pretty obviously the Dreadwing toy.
- As Megatron is musing over past events, immediately before receiving the message from Skullgrin, there's a flashback panel showing some mountains surrounded by forest. This appears to be a (cropped, recolored, and squashed) reprint of a panel from issue #5, "The Power and the Glory", depicting a world the Empire was cyberforming in that issue. There's no sensible reason for it to be part of Megatron's flashback, since he has not encountered the Empire yet, wasn't thinking about the Empire during that flashback, and has never been to that world, so far as we know.
- However, here's a theory. Megatron is reminiscing about A) killing Bludgeon, and B) taking the Matrix-force from Optimus. The panel after the "mystery panel" is a reprint from issue #6, showing Megatron ripping off Optimus's chest (event B). Presumably the directions to the artist for panel B were something like "reprint panel 2 from page sixteen of issue #6". If panel A was supposed to be Megs killing Bludgeon (event A), the instructions might have been "reprint panel 1 from page five of 'Tales of Earth' from issue #5" (Megatron decapitating Bludgeon). The mountains-and-trees panel is — wait for it! — panel 1 from page five of issue #5 as a whole, instead of panel 1 from page five of the back-up story in issue #5. Ergo: The writer and artist had an understandable miscommunication, which nobody caught, so instead of a decapitation scene, we got some pretty trees.
- Among Megatron's crew are Runamuck and Quake, both back from the dead. They are also among those killed off. Again.
"Tales of Earth Part Four"
Synopsis
Optimus Prime, having been beaten by Megatron last issue, is recovering from his injuries, and mourning the loss of the Creation Matrix. He quietly thinks back over Megatron's many defeats and resurrections, and wonders if the war will ever end. His reverie is interrupted by the arrival of the hideously damaged Megatron, who ominously declares, "I'm not happy!"
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
|
|
Items of note
- Cameos: All in flashback: Starscream, Grimlock, Ratchet
- Optimus Prime flashes back to "Gone but Not Forgotten!", "Skin Deep", and "The Price of Life!", among others.
Covers (1)
- Jhiaxus smashing Megatron by Derek Yaniger
Advertisements
- None yet identified.
