Spotlight: Nightbeat

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File:Spotlight Nightbeat a.jpg
Nightbeat, P.I.
"The Transformers: Spotlight #2 Nightbeat"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published October 18, 2006
Cover date October 2006
Written by Simon Furman
Art by MD Bright
Colors by John Rauch
Letters by Sulaco Studios
Edits by Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology late Infiltration

Lured by an ancient relic, Nightbeat discovers something sinister...

Synopsis

Nightbeat is an Autobot officer attracted by mystery and enigmas. When a mercenary named Krakon offers him the flight recorder of the Ark (the first Autobot spaceship, which had disappeared many eons before), he accepts. But when he makes contact, he finds Krakon very dead, his ship intact with all its valuable cargo still there... save the flight recorder. Nightbeat puts himself on the scent, leading him to the remote planet Gorlam Prime, eager to uncover a clue to the mystery of the lost Ark.

After an orbital jump lands him planetside, the detective reformats himself to transform into a local automobile and heads for the nearest city. Oddly, Gorlam's people have a technical development more advanced than the Cybertronians believed them to be; rampant bio-mechanical upgrading of their organic forms and some mysterious excavations, all indicating an external force at work, pushing the society to further evolution.

Upon reaching an excavation site, Nightbeat sends a summary of what he's found so far to his ship as a precaution, then heads in to investigate further. Curiosity and lack of prudence gets the better of him, and he discovers a massive "portal" of an undetermined nature, looking like a sea of silver. Nightbeat is soon surrounded by four smaller Transformers, then some creatures exit from the portal. Nightbeat runs for his freedom, but it's ultimately useless; he is chased down and captured by the tiny Transformers.

Nightbeat flashes in and out of consciousness, strapped on an operating table, while Straxus alters his brain,[1] placing a cerebral implant into him that configures him into a sleeper agent.

Later, Nightbeat is on his ship, in his pre-Gorlam body, sweeping the Durzan Sector, with no memory of the events that happened since Krakon contacted him. At that moment, Optimus Prime calls, needing his services on Earth.

Still, Nightbeat can't shake the feeling that he's missing something...

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Others

Notes

Continuity Notes

  • When seeing the inhabitants turning from organic to mechanical, Nightbeat wonders if Cybertron has a similar origin. Remember that, it becomes important later.
  • How Nightbeat changes his alt-mode is... odd. He transports down to Gorlam Prime with his standard robot mode. He then transforms into a Gorlam Prime-specific vehicle mode. When he transforms back his robot mode is different than it was before. At the end of the issue, after his memory has been wiped, he is back in his original robot mode. Whilst this kind of on-the-go alt-mode switching wouldn't be out of place in some other continuities, where Transformers can quickly trans-scan new vehicle modes, subsequent IDW fiction would cement that in this continuity changes in body require manual reconstruction.
  • As Nightbeat first confronts the Micromasters, three distinct figures can be seen emerging from the void. They never appear on panel after becoming fully formed, but it was likely some combination of Nova Prime, Jhiaxus, Galvatron and, according to the below referenced script, Straxus.
  • Just before the comm signal from Optimus Prime arrives, Nightbeat considers dusting off one of the "Big Three" mysteries. Thanks to MTMTE #29, we know he's referring to the first Ark and the Seething Moon, but the third is unknown. Possibly it involved something to do with the Metrotitans, but given Nightbeat's pragmatism it's unlikely he considered the legendary Knights of Cybertron something tangible enough to investigate.

Trivia

  • This issue was released with four different covers, including a "sketch" version of the MD Bright cover. For BotCon 2006, IDW sold an exclusive version of the comic with all four covers stapled together as a single thick book. This multi-cover issue was sold well before the issue hit comic stores.

Covers (4)

  • Cover A: Nightbeat with flashlight by MD Bright and Josh Burcham (colors).
  • Cover RI-A: Nightbeat with an Ark hologram by James Raiz and Josh Burcham (colors).
  • Cover RI-B: Nightbeat and metal sea by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham (colors).
  • BotCon Exclusive Sketch Cover: Uncolored Cover A (front) and B (back)

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References

  1. ↑ According to the script for "Spotlight: Hardhead".
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