King of Shadows
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| "King of Shadows" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | February 26, 2014 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | February 2014 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Illustration | John-Paul Bove | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Ravage recounts his survival when the Dark matrix creature and the shadow leeches took over Cybertron
Synopsis
As the shadow leeches and the Dark Matrix creature overtake Cybertron in the Autobots' absence, Ravage clings to the shadows, where he is most at home. Darting and moving from "clean" shadow to "clean" shadow when he detects an undead shadow leech taking over, he occasionally attacks them viciously with his claws and fangs, only to see them instantly start to reform and knit themselves back together. His attacks, however, give him enough time to slip away to the next shadow. Now, the hunter has become the hunted. He is the only living being left on Cybertron, the shadows having completely transformed any other Cybertronian into an undead state.
Even before the Dark Matrix creature took over, Ravage trusted no one. When the creature started whispering in Soundwave's audio receptors, quietly urging him to restart the great war, Ravage could sense the creature looking at him through Soundwave's optics, and he stopped trusting his master. Even now, that Soundwave has been transfigured into a shadow leech, Ravage can occasionally sense him, a resonance from their once symbiotic relationship. However, Ravage cannot spare a moment to lament Soundwave's undeath, otherwise he could be captured and made undead himself.
For just a moment, a splash of light seems to draw the attention of the creatures, and they slink away. Ravage drops his guard, if only for a split second. Yet the instant he does, the shadow leech that was Soundwave creeps from fissures and from cracks in Cybertron's surface. Ravage bares his fangs and claws, and gets ready to fight it, though he knows it it useless- It has come for him, this thing, and inside it, Ravage is disgusted to sense his former fellow minions, Howlback, Slugfest, Squawktalk, Beastbox, Wingthing and Overkill have been absorbed into the thing Soundwave has become. And now, it reaches out for Ravage, the last remaining part of Soundwave that is still living.
Suddenly, the Ark appears overhead, and a blinding light shines down, distracting Soundwave, and Ravage looks up to see a jet rocketing down to Ravage's position. Starscream transforms, grabs Ravage before Soundwave can react, and flies to the safety of the Ark's cargo hold. Ravage is saved.
In the following millennia, the trio of Ravage, Starscream and Shockwave travel the stars together, the last of the Decepticons. However, they are Decepticons in name only now, having lost their lust for war. They now preach tolerance, and instill unity and sharing in other races.
In Ravage, however, the shadows live on- because Ravage IS the shadows, always having been one with them, and more at home and alive in them than any Cybertronian ever will be.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Decepticons | Others |
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Quotes
"Soundwave. After the dark wave, I sensed him still, tiny phantom palpitations from an absent limb. Entombed in his own casket of shadows, gone, but not gone. I spared no moment to rue his passing. Any squandered moment now means death.
Ravage on being permanently cut off from Soundwave's influence.
Notes
King of Shadows is a short prose story contained in issue #100.
Continuity notes
- All the activities Ravage refers to take place off panel in the previous issue, save for his rescue by Starscream and Shockwave, which likely takes place somewhere between Rodimus Prime's defeat of the Dark Matrix creature and the Autobots' final exodus from Cybertron.
- This story marks the first appearance in Marvel continuity of many of Soundwave's cassette minions; Slugfest, Overkill, Howlback, Beastbox and Squawktalk, though they are only seen as parts of the shadow leech that Soundwave has become. Wingthing previously appeared in issue #93.
Errors
- Ravage states he can sense that Howlback is part of the amalgam of Soundwave's shadow leech form, along with Soundwave's other formerly living minions. However, in U.S. Marvel continuity, Transformers have no gender, but Howlback is explicitly female in her toy's bio and in every other fictional appearance. Simon Furman, the writer of this story, and most of the Marvel U.K. stories, did have Arcee appear in U.K. material and #0, so this may not be an out-and-out error.
- Missing from the combined Soundwave/minion shadow leech is Garboil, Howlback's partner in the Decepticon Secret Police.
