Escalation # 4
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by EJ Su
Colors by Zac Atkinson

Summary:

In some unknown location, Hunter lies strapped to a table.  He can’t move or speak and there are people dressed in scrubs looking over him.  One of the men injects a drug into an IV drip plugged into Hunter’s arm and tells the others to “prep him for the surgery”.  Hunter blacks out before he can hear anymore.  Meanwhile in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Verity and Jimmy wait inside of Ironhide’s vehicle mode as the Autobot scans a storefront.  The store is called “Custom Wheels” and appears to be an automobile supply store, but Ironhide’s scans reveal sophisticated security systems, including a “holomatter reader” which can detect the Autobots’ holo-avatars.  Verity figures this is the place that Sunstreaker and Hunter were taken and wonders why they are waiting to go in.  Ironhide answers that they need to use caution, as the people who took Sunstreaker know how to pull a fast fade and leave nothing behind.  At the rear of the building, vehicle-mode Ratchet scopes out a loading dock and radios Ironhide to tell his comrade he can disable most of the security, but if there are more holomatter readers they won’t get too far inside.  Verity and Jimmy pipe up that they should go in, and Ironhide agrees after some prodding, albeit reluctantly.  Meanwhile three hours earlier in the breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya, Optimus Prime’s speeding vehicle mode is dead-center in Blitzwing’s sights.  Megatron gives the order and Blitzwing cloaks and prepares to shoot the Autobot leader when he’s in range.  Approaching the conflict between the Brasnyan rebels and the Soviets, Prime radios Prowl for a status report.  Prowl confirms that he, Jazz, and Wheeljack are in position.  Prime reminds them to obtain the Koska facsimile alive at all costs.  As Prime approaches, Blitzwing prepares to fire, but just when the Autobot leader is in range, the Triple-Changer is blasted into scrap from the side by one of Prime’s secondary autonomous units- Roller.  As he drives past Blitzwing’s wreckage, Prime reveals that his command deck (deployed last issue upon arrival in Brasnya) had already detected the cloaked Decepticon and dispatched Roller to deal with him.  Optimus hopes that there is a reaction from Megatron in response to this attack.  And indeed, Georgi Koska drives up nearby in a jeep and takes aim with gun-mode Megatron at the approaching Optimus.  But the jeep is blasted into bits and Koska and Megatron are sent flying as Prowl and the others attack in vehicle modes from behind.  The three Autobots try to keep Megatron suppressed so they have a shot at capturing the Koska facsimile.  Lying in the snow in gun mode, Megatron orders Koska to begin “self-decommissioning”.  Jazz moves in to try and stun the facsimile before Koska can commit suicide, but at that moment alt-mode Skywarp and Astrotrain emerge from a portal to confound the Autobots’ efforts.  Prowl radios Prime to let him know that Koska is getting away in the chaos.  Nearby, Hardhead and Hot Rod orbital drop to the planet’s surface and take stock of the situation.  Hardhead wants to let the other Autobots know they’ve arrived, but Hot Rod doesn’t think there’s time.  He tells Hardhead to go aid the others against the Decepticons while he tries to secure Koska.  Meanwhile in Indiana, Ironhide and Ratchet monitor Jimmy and Verity’s exploration of Custom Wheels interior from outside.  In the building, the two humans look around for evidence of the “ultralite” material that the Sunstreaker decoy was constructed from.  Verity finds a hidden doorway in a wall behind some shelves and Jimmy manages to finagle it open.  They find a secret passageway that leads below the store and cautiously begin to descend down it.  Back in Brasnya, the Russian military ceases firing upon the Brasnyan rebels upon noticing the new combatants in the area.  The captain spies through his binoculars the vehicle-mode Transformers skirmishing and is rightly confused.  In the battlefield, Jazz tells Prowl that the Decepticons are stalling them so they can’t get to the Koska facsimile.  Prowl decides to make a full-tilt run, attempting to break through and intercept Koska.  Despite Jazz and Wheeljack’s concern, Prowl blazes forward without regard for his own safety.  Astrotrain swoops down in shuttle mode to halt the Autobot’s charge, but is suddenly blasted from below by the newly-arrived Hardhead.  Prowl is momentarily surprised to see Hardhead there, but continues his run, now having a clear path to the retreating Koska.  Unfortunately at that moment, Hot Rod appears on the scene, also rushing for Koska in vehicle mode.  Prowl is forced to swerve out of the way, and Hot Rod flips over him and transforms to robot mode in midair, clumsily crashing into the snowy ground.  This incident is seen through binoculars by the Russian captain, who quickly decides to radio his superiors.  However, his walkie-talkie has suddenly and mysteriously ceased to function.  Nearby, Optimus Prime is radioed by Nightbeat, who has been monitoring the whole situation from the Ark-32 in Earth orbit.  Nightbeat informs Prime that all news feeds and radio transmissions that aren’t Cybertronian in origin have abruptly cut out in the area of the conflict.  Prime knows exactly why this has happened, as right before him, Megatron transforms to robot mode, rapidly increasing to his normal size.  Leveling his fusion cannon at the Autobot commander, Megatron notes that it has been a long time since they’ve fought each other and its past time that they finish things.  Meanwhile at Custom Wheels in Indiana, Jimmy and Verity find a large workshop at the end of the secret passageway.  Jimmy’s impressed with the workings of the room, but Verity just wants to start snooping around in a nearby office.  She checks out a desktop with a computer and some papers on it as Jimmy shuffles through a trash can.  Verity finds a mysterious business card with an “M” emblazoned on it and nothing more.  Suddenly, the entrance to the room closes up and vents in the wall begin releasing some kind of gas into the room.  Before they can react, Jimmy and Verity are knocked out by the gas and the computer on the desk comes to life.  It displays a countdown starting from 10 minutes and begins steadily decreasing.  TO BE CONTINUED!


Slagged!:

-In unquestionably the most unique/humiliating ass-whupping of the issue, Blitzwing gets blown to scrap by cute little Roller.

-Prowl, Wheeljack, and Jazz exchange shots with the airborne Skywarp and Astrotrain for most of the issue, all of them remaining in vehicle modes to maintain some semblance of the “infiltration” protocol that both factions subscribe to.  However, that’s probably gone out the window thanks to Hot Rod at the end of the issue.  Geez, turbo-revin’ young punk!

-Hardhead guts Astrotrain’s cockpit from underneath with an accurate tank-mode cannon blast.


Sightings:

-Both Prime’s open-trailer command deck and Roller components are slightly tweaked by EJ Su, but not enough to make them unrecognizable.  Roller’s packing some SERIOUS heat now, though.  Just ask Blitzwing.

-Hardhead appears to be more or less “toy-accurate” here in terms of design.  Hot Rod maintains the Nick Roche-designed Cybertronian body design from his Spotlight issue.

-Some items behind a counter in Custom Wheels bear the product brand names “Seibertron” and “Binaltech”.  A manual on the desk that Verity looks at on the last page is labeled “Takara”.  And a sign in the window on the second to last page has the date “07/04/07” on it, which is of course the date that the Transformers live action movie is released in theaters.


Hearings:

-Jazz mentions Prime is “watchin’ his own back” in using Roller and his command deck, which isn’t far from the truth.  According to his tech specs, Roller and the command deck are more or less autonomous extensions of Prime’s consciousness, every bit a part of him as an arm or leg.

-Nightbeat mentions all non-Cybertronian transmissions in the area have been cut off at the end of the issue.  The Decepticons or perhaps Megatron himself likely did this in order to salvage what’s left of their infiltration protocol.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Another issue gob-full of cool stuff.  The aforementioned Roller usage by Prime was creative and something that’s fairly under-used in the fiction.  The implications with what the Machination are doing with Hunter garners much speculation.  The Autobots run into a spot of trouble and Prowl shows why he’s the commander of this unit, taking the big risks for the mission goals.  Hot Rod shows he’s still got that reckless, impatient streak in him and Hardhead makes a powerful impression (in Astrotrain).  Plus, we’ve got a good ol’ brawl between Megs and Prime coming up next issue, fourteen issues in the making.

-As for the humans, Verity and Jimmy are being useful, which is always good, plus Furman apportions just enough panel-time to them to keep their little side-plot intriguing.  And over in Brasnya, the Russian captain’s description of the Autobot/Decepticon battle scene he is observing and the reaction from his subordinate is especially hilarious.

-EJ Su’s art remains consistent and downright cool throughout the issue.  His rendering of Nick Roche’s Hot Rod design is pretty sleek and he manages to adapt it right to his style.  Prowl’s near-suicide run is another great sequence, conveying the speed of the combatants quite well.  My favorite shot by far has got to be Megatron towards the end, preparing to throw down with Prime.  EJ just manages to make Megatron look cooler every issue.


Wreck and ROT!:

-You know, I’m trying to find something to nitpick, and I really can’t.  I guess I could say there was a bit of wasted space with the repeating of Megatron’s orders to Blitzwing from last issue, but that only took up a few panels.  All in all, this was a totally solid issue with very few things to complain about.  I guess maybe I was expecting a bit more robot mode action, but that seems to be what next issue is going to be all about.


Final Judgment:

Furman and Su hit us with another enthralling installment of Escalation.  Honestly, this is one of the few comic books that I read in general that leaves me wanting more at the end of the issue, and in a good way!  Everything old is new again, and I can say that I wasn’t this excited about Transformers comics at this point in Dreamwave’s tenure.  You get a real “this is all about to EXPLODE!” feeling at the end of this issue, and personally I can’t wait.  Pick this puppy up, or face the wrath of Roller.  Peace.

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