Drift - Empire of Stone issue 3

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« The Transformers: Drift - Empire of Stone #3 »
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published January 21, 2015 (UK)
January 28, 2015 (rest of world)
Cover date January 2015
Written by Shane McCarthy
Art by Guido Guidi
Inks by Stephen Baskerville
Colors by John-Paul Bove
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor John Barber
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

With Hellbat's treachery revealed, Drift, Ratchet and Grit must fight their way through the Stone Army to forge an alliance with Gigatron.

Synopsis

With Drift and Ratchet held at gunpoint by his goons, Hellbat explains that he has kept the location of the Stone Army a secret from Gigatron in order to experiment upon them. With the stone monks who used to guard the citadel long dead, the secret of how to revive the army is lost, so Hellbat has been cannibalizing wounded Autobots and Decepticons for parts, splicing Cybertronian biology with the stone beings, converting a small number that he can activate and command. Drift demands to know his reasons, and Hellbat dryly explains that his goal is to kill everything—convinced of the pointlessness of not just the Transformers' war, but the apparent purposelessness of their very existence, he has chosen to fully embrace the only thing he has ever believed his race is good at: killing. Drift rejects this notion, pointing out that he has vowed never to kill again, but Hellbat scoffs, highlighting the small piles of rubble that litter the fortress as proof of Drift's true nature—the remains of the monks, slain by Drift and Turmoil centuries ago.

As Hellbat concludes his rant, one of his goons suddenly explodes, shot from behind by Grit, who has arrived to take his revenge. Battle breaks out, with Grit tackling Hellbat and Drift swordfighting with Hellbat's talented subordinate Vanquish. Unable to wrest himself free of Grit's grip, Hellbat calls out for help, and Vanquish breaks off his fight with Drift to come to his boss's rescue, allowing Hellbat to make a dash for the control console that will allow him to bring the converted stone warriors online. A barrage of fire from Ratchet forces him away from the control, but Vanquish comes to the rescue again: he hurls Grit off the balcony, prompting Drift to dive off after him, in turn forcing Ratchet to break off his attack and save them both with a grappling hook attached to one of Hellbat's fallen minions. With all three 'bots' weight on the grapple-line, the ledge holding the fallen Decepticon's body breaks, but after a tense moment, the trio snag the edge of another ledge below and pull themselves to safety. Unfortunately, the gambit has allowed Hellbat the time to successfully activate the stone army.

Drift, Ratchet and Grit race out of the army's chamber; Ratchet advocates alerting Cybertron of the threat, but Drift insists that they must defeat the army here and now, even if that means allying with Gigatron. The three 'bots make for the Decepticon warlord's throne room, with the stone warriors hot on their heels, and quickly manage to convince Gigatron that Hellbat has betrayed him. The furious Gigatron transforms to dragon mode and reduces the soldiers to pebbles with his flame breath. Drift then faces Gigatron down, and confidently orders him to ally with them, take down the army, and stop Hellbat for good.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Hellbat's crazy, but he's right. I've been running the whole time. Running from who I am, from what I've done. Punishing myself. There's a side of me that scares me. Like you wouldn't believe. I've tried to hide from it... loner one day, spiritualist the next... but it's just eating away at me. Maybe I'll never be forgiven for what I've done, maybe I don't deserve it... but maybe that doesn't matter. I don't know, but maybe what matters is I'm trying to make a difference. Maybe that's enough. It's time to stop running."

—Drift reflects on himself as he leaps to save Grit

Notes

Continuity notes

  • With this issue, Vanquish is finally referred to by name, and furthermore, transforms on his own into a functional jet mode, so it looks like his appearance as a Micromaster Combiner in Windblade #4, which was already incongruous with this story, is being totally ignored here.

Other notes

  • This issue was originally intended for release on January 21, but delays that struck several IDW titles that month caused it to slip to the following week. However, the issue still made it to the United Kingdom on time, where it went on sale a week ahead of the rest of the world.
  • Hellbat becomes the mouthpiece for Shane McCarthy's usual "statement" on the Transformers' ongoing war: that the conflict has descended into pointlessness.

Covers (2)

  • Regular cover: Drift and Gigatron, by Guido Guidi and Josh Burcham
  • Subscription cover: Ratchet by Sarah Stone; links up with the subscription cover to issue #4 to form a larger image

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