Spotlight: Hot Rod
Script: Simon Furman
Art: Nick Roche
Lettering: Robbie Robbins
Colors: Liam Shalloo
Editor: Dan Taylor
Covers by: Nick Roche and James Raiz
- Major characters (in order of appearance): Hot Rod, Download, Gizmo, Backbeat, Dealer, Gutcruncher, Banzai-Tron
- Originally published: November 8, 2006
Synopsis
Hot Rod hitches a ride on a meteoroid to travel to the cold moon with the Decepticon penal colony Styx. His landing is not smooth, and in unconsciousness, he flashbacks to a mission at Ki-Aleta, with him in charge of a tactical unit, including Download, Gizmo, Backbeat, and Dealer. Their mission was to infiltrate the Omega Bunker to obtain the Magnificence using a drill to create tunnels.
Hot Rod regains consciousness and sneaks into Styx, using a viral carrier wave, a device the produces apparently random, but actually timed gaps in the security system. Gutcruncher reports those issues as they come up. Once inside Styx, Hot Rod flashbacks again. Gizmo uses his holomatter generator to distract the Bunker's Omega Guardians while Hot Rod and Download follow a tunnel into the Bunker. There, they see the Magnificence. However, the holomatter generator malfunctions, and Gizmo is killed shortly after. Without distractions, the Omega guardians aim their sights at Download and destroy him.
In the present, the alarms sound; thanks to the virus, every cell is open. Hot Rod disguises himself as a Decepticon and finds Dealer in a cell. Again, Hot Rod flashbacks to the end of the mission. While escaping with the Magnificence, Dealer says that he has been ambushed by a Decepticon attack squad and requests help. Hot Rod, under orders to put the Magnificence at the highest priority, follows a secret tunnel known only to him. Hot Rod blames himself for the death of his teammates.
Hot Rod, carrying a disguised Dealer along, hijacks a Decepticon ship and returns to an Autobot base. There, Hot Rod tries to apologize to Dealer, but Dealer states he understands and just wants them to be friends. In a conversation with Banzai-Tron, Dealer states that the holomatter generator failure was the result of his sabotage and assures him that Hot Rod will eventually trust him enough to reveal the location of the Magnificence. Banzai-Tron dubs him the name of "Doubledealer".
Errors
- Banzai-Tron's name is misparsed as "Banzaitron."
Items of Note
- These are the first official fictional appearances of Gutcruncher and Banzai-Tron.
- Backbeat's fate is never shown, though a close reading implies (subtly) that he was manning the holo-matter generator with Gizmo.
