Escalation # 3
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by EJ Su
Colors by Zac Atkinson

Summary:

In the breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya, a man named Georgi Koska prepares to depart an encampment in a jeep.  He is the leader of an armed separatist faction that opposes the current Russian government.  Just as Koska is about to leave, a comrade runs up to him, asking where he is headed to at this crucial time in their military operations.  Koska reassures his friend that he has things under control and that the time for action will soon come.  With that he departs, headed for a main fuel supply line for the enemy that lies miles away.  When Koska arrives there, he is greeted by Megatron, Blitzwing, and Skywarp.  Megatron greets Koska, revealing the human to be one of the Decepticons’ many facsimile constructs, and thusly subject to the will of the Decepticon commander.  Telling his troops to back off, Megatron transforms to pistol mode, undergoing a mass-displacement process that causes energy to crackle and split the air around him as he shrinks.  Now a size that the Koska facsimile can easily wield, Megatron orders his pawn to fire upon the Russian fuel pipe.  The facsimile aims and an enormous blast rips forth from the Decepticon commander, destroying the fuel lines.  Megatron knows that this action will cause military action in this area to escalate and orders Koska to gather his rebel forces to prepare for a Russian counterattack.  Skywarp transforms and takes off, and Blitzwing transforms to tank mode and engages a stealth device; both Decepticons will remain in standby positions while Megatron orchestrates the situation, all in pistol mode from Koska’s hand.  Meanwhile at Ark-19 in Lake Michigan, Optimus Prime has revealed to the others that he has called for Autobot reinforcements to come to Earth.  Prowl doesn’t exactly see how that is necessary, feeling that Prime himself being here is enough to handle the problems that have arisen.  Optimus tersely explains that Earth is now too pivotal to risk any missteps, and he did not decide to order reinforcements in lightly.  Prowl acquiesce to his commanding officer’s reasoning, and Ironhide speaks up, requesting that he be assigned to following up on Hunter and Sunstreaker’s abduction.  Prime regards his subordinate for a moment, and then denies the request, ordering Ironhide to continue monitoring the Earth for Decepticon-related hotspots.  As Optimus dismisses the meeting, Prowl hands out other assignments for the others, then pulls Ironhide aside for a talk.  Back in Brasnya, a Russian military unit arrives to inspect the destroyed fuel lines, and realizes that it was an act of sabotage.  On cue, Koska and his rebel force ambush the Russians and fire upon their position.  Wielding Megatron’s gun mode, Koska makes quick work of the Russian tanks and jeeps.  Megatron knows that this attack will force the Russians to send more tanks to the Brasnya border, making the situation much more volatile, just as he planned.  Meanwhile back at Ark-19, Ratchet returns to the medical bay only to find Jimmy and Verity inspecting the remains of the Sunstreaker mock-up.  Ratchet isn’t sure what the humans hope to accomplish, but Jimmy shows his automotive expertise in identifying the type of material the decoy was constructed out of.  He also knows that only three domestic manufacturers produce such an ultra-lite alloy, which gets Ratchet thinking.  Verity points out that the Autobots’ advanced technology should be able to access the backlogs of these manufacturers and hopefully discover a clue as to who was behind the ambush in Lebanon.  Ratchet knows he should probably let Prowl know about this, but decides to stick his neck out again for the kids and help them.  But while Ratchet agrees to aid Jimmy and Verity, a security camera in the medical bay watches the entire conversation.  Back in Brasnya, Koska and Megatron watch the Russian cavalry arrive.  The Koska facsimile wonders if a diplomatic solution will instead be sought, but Megatron states that there are more facsimiles in play and military force WILL be utilized here and the fact that Blitzwing is waiting in cloaked tank mode nearby assures this will happen.  Meanwhile back at Ark-19, Prowl shows Prime a report of the activity occurring in Brasnya and concludes that this is where the Decepticons are getting involved.  Prowl confirms this for Prime by showing satellite footage of the Koska facsimile firing Megatron in gun mode.  Recognizes the energy signature from the blast, Prime knows that they have found where Megatron is implementing phase two of infiltration.  Prowl indicates the Koska facsimile and notes that the gun is likely Megatron’s new alt-mode.  Optimus Prime realizes Megatron is using mass-displacement, and Prowl figures that Ore-13 has something to do with such an energy-costly process.  Prowl suggests engaging to both put a stop to the escalating conflict and to capture the facsimile construct, to which Prime agrees.  Back at the Brasnya border, a new fleet of Russian tanks arrive, as the captain of this military force surveys the landscape from a jeep.  He assures his nervous lieutenant that nothing will happen here; in the sixteen years that he’s been an officer he’s barely had to fire a shot and this situation will end in a stalemate like always.  Suddenly, the tank next to them is struck by a blast of enormous power and explodes, flipping the captain’s jeep over and sending its passengers flying.  The shot came from Blitzwing, who is waiting in tank mode up ahead.  The captain, now lying in the snow, urgently radios for permission to return fire.  After confirming the target, the permission is given and the Russian tanks open fire on Blitzwing.  Somewhere due east of this position, Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jazz, and Wheeljack arrive via orbital bounce and transform to vehicle modes.  Optimus orders Prowl and the others to establish a perimeter and wait for him to draw Megatron out, then they are to secure the facsimile.  Prime reminds his troops that obtaining the facsimile alive and unharmed is the key to locating all of the other facsimiles that the Decepticons have in play on Earth.  With that, the three other Autobots drive off and Prime begins moving towards the conflict at the border.  Said-border conflict continues as the Russian tanks shoot it out with Blitzwing.  On a nearby overlooking slope, Megatron informs the Koska facsimile that this part of the operation is over and the facsimile is to be “decommissioned”.  Blitzwing radios Megatron at that moment to inform him that he sees Optimus Prime approaching in vehicle mode.  Not missing a beat, Megatron orders his soldier to wait until Prime is in range, then fire.  Megatron then radios Skywarp and tells him to be on the lookout for more Autobots, knowing that Prime wouldn’t have come alone.  Megatron adds in that Skywarp should bring Astrotrain in as well.  Meanwhile high in Earth orbit aboard the newly-arrived Ark-32, the reinforcements that Prime ordered in are revealed as Nightbeat, Hot Rod, and Hardhead.  Nightbeat wants to sit tight and look the situation over before leaping in, but Hot Rod and Hardhead have no such compunctions.  Back at the Ark-19, Jimmy, Verity, and Ratchet examine the backlogs of the alloy manufacturers and narrow their suspects down to two possible businesses.  The three prepare to leave to investigate these businesses when a shadowy figure speaks up from behind a stunned Ratchet.  “I hope you weren’t thinking of going anywhere…without me.” says a stern-looking Ironhide.  TO BE CONTINUED!


Slagged!:

-Tiny gun mode Megatron is packing some serious firepower, able to destroy Soviet tanks with a single shot.


Sightings:

-Blitzwing is apparently reconfigured as a Russian-style tank now, to better suit the mission parameters.

-Optimus Prime’s trailer is sent down in a separate orbital bounce when the Autobots arrive in Brasnya.  As the Autobots drive away, we can see it open up and reveal its inner “command base” and even Prime’s little drone-scout Roller.

-Nightbeat and Hot Rod appear to have the same designs as they did in their respective Spotlight issues, and Hardhead seems to look the same as he’s always looked in previous continuities.


Hearings:

-The whole alt-mode shrinking process is addressed for the first time in a Transformers comic story, being termed mass-displacement.  Apparently it is quite the energy-consumptive process, based on Prime and Prowl’s discussion and the fact that Megatron must being using Ore-13 to utilize it.  Optimus makes the comment “-haven’t seen that in a LONG time” in regards to the process; perhaps a subtle nod to the fact that subsequent Transformers series have shied away from using alt-modes that needed to change size.

-The Georgi Koska facsimile behaves much like a normal human being, albeit one slave to Megatron’s every command.  He even asks questions and carries on a conversation with the gun-mode Megatron.  This is all in line with what Ironhide explained to Verity and Jimmy about facsimiles last issue.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Where to start?  Let’s praise Mr. EJ Su first, for an awesome issue art-wise.  He’s quite the master of perspective; that second page splash of Koska looking up at Megatron is amazing.  Other great bits of work include Megatron’s transformation sequence, some great close-ups of Optimus as he confers with Prowl, and the Autobots’ transformation sequences once they arrive in Brasnya.  Oh, and that first glimpse of Hot Rod and Hardhead is quite a solid impression as well.  “Hoo-HAH!” indeed.

-Mr. Furman also shines this issue, advancing the plot with barely a page wasted and setting up an explosive second half to this story arc.  His characterization and interplay is quite top-notch as usual, with Prowl, Ironhide, Jazz, and Megatron in particular getting time to shine.  Optimus Prime comes off a little sterner and pragmatic than we usually think of him, which makes sense considering he’s at the forefront of a galaxy-spanning conflict.  And hey, Jimmy and Verity contribute in their own little way too; no one can say these humans are useless.

-Much as he’s done for Pretender tech, Furman fleshes out the concept of mass-displacement as something that is actually useful to the Transformers and a technology that isn’t used lightly.  Aside from an entry in Dreamwave’s More Than Meets the Eye profile series, this concept has never really been thoroughly addressed in any fiction and it is a welcome surprise.

-I’m glad to see Nightbeat and Hot Rod being added to the cast; with a whole Spotlight issue already under their respective belts, Furman doesn’t need to spend time establishing them and can seamlessly insert them into the situation on Earth.  Using Hardhead is a unique choice, as he’s somewhat of an underutilized character.  Hopefully he’ll get to do something more memorable than just being known for being stepped on by Unicron in US Marvel # 75.


Wreck and ROT!:

-Throughout the entire issue, Skywarp is mistakenly colored as Thundercracker.  D’oh!  Hopefully this noticeable gaff will be rectified in the collected trade.

-If Blitzwing can recognize alt-mode Optimus Prime in Brasnya from afar, despite not even having seen the Autobot leader’s truck mode before, how come Ironhide and the others couldn’t immediately tell from afar that Sunstreaker had been replaced with a decoy in previous issues?


Final Judgment:

Good stuff, this.  Furman has built everything up and it’s about to come crashing down starting next issue.  I think we’ll really start to see Escalation live up to its name.  EJ Su’s art has never been better, and the colorist’s mistake with Skywarp doesn’t detract from a great issue.  There’s nothing else I can say other than buy this issue.  If you were turned off by the slow pace of Infiltration, rest assured that Escalation is quickly proving that it was worth waiting for.  Peace.

A Thunderwing review, hoo-HAH!