Dark of the Moon issue 1

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« Transformers: Dark of the Moon #1 »
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published June 10, 2011
Written by John Barber
Pencils by Jorge Jimenez Moreno
Colors by Romulo Fajardo
Letters by Shawn Lee
Edits by Andy Schmidt
Continuity Movie continuity

A discovery at the heart of Chernobyl reveals to Optimus Prime a secret humanity has long hidden from the Autobots.

Synopsis

As the war waged on Cybertron, Optimus Prime witnessed a ship carrying supplies that could turn the tides in favour of the Autobots shot and left to drift in space by Decepticons. It soon crashed on the Earth’s moon in 1961. On July 20th 1969, the Apollo 11 discovered the crashed alien ship on the moon.

Three years after the events of Revenge of the Fallen, the Autobots have now become fully sanctioned members of the U.S. military and battle various human threats across the globe. Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Mirage and Wheeljack investigate a nuclear facility in the Middle East encountering humans with stolen Cybertronian tech. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Ratchet oversee the deconstruction of the NEST facility in Diego Garcia. With their mission complete in the Middle East, Optimus orders the Autobots to head to their new base in Washington D.C., while he, Ratchet and Captain Lennox leave for Chernobyl following a lead on a recently uncovered Cybertronian artefact.

In Washington D.C. a restless Sam, is now is living with his new girlfriend Carly Spencer, a secretary working for Dylan Gould, a CEO of a major investment company and a car enthusiast. Sam is prying for a new job but having saved the world twice, Sam doesn’t want a job that he knows won’t make a difference in life and complains how the government never bothered to give him a proper job. The pair also lives with decommissioned Autobots; Wheelie and Brains, whose services were turned down by the Autobots. Sam leaves for his job interviews. After some comic relief, Sam gets a job.

Arriving in the inhabitable city of Chernobyl, Optimus, Ratchet and Lennox investigate a dig site where construction workers (who wear special suits) have uncovered a Cybertronian artefact resembling a fuel cell. Suddenly, they are attacked by the huge Decepticon Driller piloted by Shockwave. The Decepticons attempt to retrieve the fuel cell. Some of the construction workers are killed as Optimus orders Ratchet and the humans to retreat while he battles the Decepticons. The Decepticons escape, leaving behind the cell. An incredulous Optimus recovers the cell and realises that it is a part of the Ark; the long lost Autobot ship.

In Africa, Megatron learns of the discovery of the fuel cell by the Autobots. Megatron orders Soundwave to deploy Laserbeak to silence their human allies.

At their base in Washington D.C, U.S Intelligence Director Charlotte Mearing reveals to the Autobots that the space race in 1969 was in response to the Ark crashing on the moon. An angered Optimus demands a mission to the moon with the Autobots on it. Optimus Prime and Ratchet wind up on the moon using a human rocket: the Ares V. Once there, the duo retrieves Sentinel Prime; Optimus Prime’s mentor and predecessor. They also recover five pillars and return to the Earth. Unbeknown to the Autobots, they pick up three stowaway Decepticons called the Dreads (Crankcase, Crowbar and Hatchet).

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

Notes

Differences with movie

As with past IDW movie adaptations, there are some differences between this comic series and the finished film itself. In a unique move for this series, however, they fall into two distinct groups: differences that exist because the comics were written based on an earlier version of the script that was later revised, and deliberately-created differences in the form of additional scenes not in the film, written by John Barber to forge greater continuity links with other IDW movie comics, and to explain away any potential continuity conflicts. See "IDW continuity notes" below for the second type of changes.

  • As with pretty much every other piece of media aside from the film itself, Wheeljack and Mirage are referred to with those names, instead of the last-minute changes used in the movie, "Que" and "Dino".
  • Shockwave has an extended battle with Optimus after he emerges from the Driller.
  • Sam and Carly are living in a ground-level apartment rather than a loft, complete with a yard for Wheelie, Brains and their dog, rather than a balcony. Further, where they have a single mastiff dog in the film, their pets in the comic are the Witwicky family dog Mojo, plus his special friend from Revenge of the Fallen, Frankie.
  • Although they were edited out of the finished movie, Skids and Mudflap can be glimpsed among the assembled Autobots as Prime confronts Mearing.
  • Megatron kills the elephant that bars his way, rather than just scaring it off.
  • Igor is simply a bouncing disembodied head, lacking the stumpy arms and legs he gets around on in the film.
  • While the Autobots use the Xantium to get to the moon in the film, here they use a human rocket, the Ares V.
  • The Dreads are among the Decepticons hidden on the moon, and secretly hitch a ride back to Earth by clinging to the outside of the Ares V, preceding their later role in the story.

IDW continuity notes

  • Walter Simmons oversees the first moon mission.
  • The movie has the Autobots raiding an "illegal nuclear facility" at the start of the story; the comic has them recovering illegally-possessed Cybertronian technology that this country has covertly obtained from the Decepticons, continuing a plot thread from the Transformers: Rising Storm prequel. This makes their actions a bit more personal and justifiable!
  • As this issue begins, NEST are just finishing up the decommissioning of the Diego Garcia base, following its devastation in Rising Storm, explaining why it didn't appear in the film. Makeshift "caskets" (actually shipping crates) are laid out for all the Autobots who died in that series.
  • As he carts Brains off, Sam asks him what he's "done to his head", referring to the addition of a shock of fibre-optic hair Brains sports in the movie that he was lacking in Rising Storm.
  • Shockwave's rampage from Rising Storm is actively referred to when he appears at Chernobyl, and he continues to his talk in his cold, stoic, Generation 1-inspired dialect, rather than the growling non-words of the film.

Covers (2)

  • Cover A: Optimus Prime standing in front of Sam and Carly, by Jorge Jimenez Moreno.

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