Rhythms of Darkness!
In an alternate future with Galvatron victorious several Autobots fight in a last ditch attempt to retake Earth.
Marvel US issue #67
(Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #298-301)
Script: Simon Furman
Art: Jose Delbo
Inks: Danny Bulanadi
Lettering: Jim Massara
Colors: Nelson Yomtov
Editor: Don Daley
Cover: Jim Lee
- Major characters (in order of appearance): Galvatron, Jazz, Spike Witwicky, Prowl, Cyclonus
- Originally published: ?
Synopsis
Galvatron and the Pretender Monsters rise from the Atlantic Ocean into a destroyed New York, complete with a deactivated Rodimus Prime strung between the two towers of a fallen World Trade Center.
Elsewhere, a rebel group of surviving Autobots and humans, including Spike Witwicky, race to destroy a Decepticon fortification before the government launches nuclear weapons, which would only have their energy be siphoned and make Galvatron unstoppable. Cyclonus and Scourge are attacked by Getaway. The Autobots then continue their attack, losing on their side Crossblades, Guzzle, Getaway, and Chainclaw with Scourge and Runamuck being casualties of the Decepticon side.
Galvatron enters the fray and destroys Cyclonus for being weak. However Spike claims 'victory' when he scales the Decepticon fortress and erects an American flag, as a signal that America is still fighting. The nuclear launch is aborted at the final second as Galvatron takes aim at the iconic flag. Suddenly Hook, Line, and Sinker attack Galvatron and drag him back through time. The Autobots use this to boost their morale and press on their attack.
Items of note
- This was the only issue in the Marvel US series that dealt with an alternate reality, a subject that would later become commonplace in Transformers lore.
- In the early 2000s, this issue was the object of an infamous eBay auction in which the seller claimed that certain panels of the comic could be seen as prophetic warnings about the 9/11 attacks.
- Galvatron says that Cyclonus is a "being forged in the fires of Unicron himself," which is in line with the animated movie, but in strictly US stories, he and Scourge were first seen on Cybertron serving under Scorponok. The Marvel UK stories explained this using time travel. This is the only time in the US stories that any reference is made to Cyclonus and Scourge being created by Unicron.
- This seems, in many ways, to be a dystopian future that follows the Transformers: The Movie continuity. Prowl, however, is shown as being very much alive. Being one of the casualties of the Great War seems to undermine this theory.
