Stormbringer issue 3

	; Comin' to wreck house in your neighborhood.
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 6, 2006
Cover date	September 2006
Story by	Simon Furman
Art by	Don Figueroa
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Color assist by	grungewerx
Letters by	Robbie Robbins
Edits by	Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Infiltration

Utter destruction...

Synopsis

Thunderwing continues to devastate the surface of Nebulos, while on Cybertron, Bludgeon prepares to submit himself to the polydermal grafting process. On the dead planet's surface, Nosecone and Afterburner are attacked by Centurion drones, but are rescued by the Wreckers, who have arrived with Optimus Prime.

On Nebulos, the Decepticon infiltration unit led by Darkwing decides to attack Thunderwing. However, Darkwing makes an agreement with Dreadwind to flee the scene if it gets too rough.

On Cybertron, the Autobots dig into Bludgeon's bunker and easily overcome his teammates. Iguanus flees to the pressure vat chamber, seeking Bludgeon, only to discover a massive figure wielding a glowing sword.

The Decepticons of Nebulos attempt to attack Thunderwing, but are easily killed one by one. True to their agreement, Dreadwind and Darkwing flee the planet after picking up Thrust.

The Wreckers breach the pressure vat chamber and discover a catatonic Bludgeon within his shell, Iguanus, dying from being cleft in two by Bludgeon's sword, and Jetfire, who tells Optimus Prime to shut down Bludgeon's axis cradle, a request with Springer obliges with his firepower.

Dreadwind and Darkwing send a message to Razorclaw, who in turn contacts the High Command. After being briefed, Megatron authorizes Razorclaw to do what ever is necessary to stop Thunderwing, even if it means destroying Cybertron in the process. There, Jetfire gets to work on the data in Bludgeon's computers, but an orbital warning sounds—with Bludgeon's control system destroyed, Thunderwing is returning home...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Nosecone (7) Afterburner (8) Roadbuster (9) Topspin (10) Whirl (11) Optimus Prime (12) Springer (13) Broadside (14) Sandstorm (15) Scoop (23) Twin Twist (24) Jetfire (25)	Thunderwing (1) Bludgeon (2) Skullgrin (3) Finback (4) Bomb-Burst (5) Iguanus (6) Ruckus (16) Darkwing (17) Dreadwind (18) Skullcruncher (19) Roadgrabber (20) Crankcase (21) Thrust (22) Razorclaw (26) Megatron (27)

Quotes

"Suppose there's no point in asking you to stay up here, out of the firing line."
"No."

—Springer and Optimus Prime.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! It's all gone to Hell!"

—Iguanus is having a bad day.

Notes

Megatron's brief appearance in this issue links directly to the final panels of Infiltration #4.
The Decepticomments section had readers' mail answered by Chris Ryall.
Optimus Prime's hand-held rifles are pretty obviously those from his Powermaster body. This in mind, his arm-mounted twin-cannons could be inspired by the same toy.
Apparently Japanese is a Cybertronian language, as evidenced on the monitor in the last panel.

Errors

Darkwing's speech bubble should probably be given to someone else; otherwise he's replying to his own statement.
Iguanus has a different design for his face during his "death" scene with Prime.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Wreckers wraparound cover by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham. This cover can be combined with similar ones from the other three issues to form a giant battle scene.
Cover B: Cybertron sketch wraparound cover by Don Figueroa; this was later colored for The Best of Simon Furman trade paperback and the Madman Entertainment-exclusive comic.
Cover RI: Cover A uncolored.