Infiltration # 3
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by EJ Su

Summary: 

Deep underwater, in the Autobots' spaceship headquarters "Ark-19", Verity, Hunter and Jimmy are being held in a small cell.  Verity keeps talking to the security camera, threatening to erase the data on her palm computer if they aren't released.  In the main command room, the gathered Autobots watch the humans on a monitor, with Sunstreaker commenting on their noisy nature and then hitting the mute button.  Ratchet pleads his case to Prowl about the situation, trying to defend his choice to save Verity and co. and mentioning how one human (the businessman) actually managed to locate the Decepticons' secret base when the Autobots could not.  Prowl won't hear anything of it, however, instead focusing on the violations of the Autobot code that Ratchet broke.  Ratchet admits he went against specific orders and recounts what happened; he arrived in the Arizona desert and found the mysterious businessman dead.  Runabout was waiting to see if anyone came checking and attacked him.  Ratchet managed to elude the Decepticon and that was when he ran into Verity and Hunter, who at the time were on the run from Thundercracker.  Prowl already knows all this and that Verity had possession of the palm computer, but what he is still angry about is how Ratchet broke protocol in the first place.  Ratchet counters that their unit is on Earth currently to save lives, and he takes that to mean one life at a time if necessary.  When he intercepted the Decepticon communiqué that marked the businessman for termination, there was still a chance that the human's life could be saved and Ratchet took that chance.  But Prowl coldly responds that the human was killed anyway and all Ratchet accomplished was putting three more human lives in jeopardy.  Ratchet tries to further defend his actions, but Prowl isn't hearing any more excuses.  He wants Ratchet to retrieve the data on the palm computer, and then get rid of the humans.  Ratchet asks if Prowl is going to alert Optimus Prime of this development, but Prowl doesn't think there's enough evidence yet to warrant the Autobot commander's involvement.  As Prowl leaves the room, Ratchet asks Ironhide for his opinion; pleads that "siege mode" means that Megatron will be taking an active role soon and they have to act, but the older Autobot doesn't respond.  Meanwhile in Arizona, a police officer is showing a picture of the dead businessman they found in the desert to a landowner.  The landowner recognizes the guy, places his name as "Finklerock", and indicates the rundown house he rented out to him.  The police officer is about to look inside, when suddenly a warp gate opens in the sky.  Decepticons Skywarp and Blitzwing fly out in jet modes and send missiles into the house, blowing it to pieces before exiting through another warp gate, leaving the two stunned humans on the ground in shock.  Back in the Ark-19's holding cell, Verity continues her threats to the security camera, but Hunter and Jimmy tell her to quit, as it's obvious no one is listening.  Ratchet's human holo-avatar pops into the cell at that moment, startling Verity.  The cell the humans were residing in expands a bit to give the humans a little more room, but they are still enclosed in a "bigger box", as Verity puts it.  Ratchet stands in his robot mode outside of this box as his holo-avatar interacts with the humans.  He gives them the name Ark-19 as the spaceship they are currently residing in, and reveals that it is currently resting at the bottom of Lake Michigan.  Ratchet asks Verity for the palm computer, and after some initial hesitation, Verity relents.  Ratchet's holo-avatar brings the computer over to a human-sized terminal in the room and promises to return the palm device to Verity once he extracts the information they need.  He plugs the palm computer into the terminal, which Ratchet reveals was built by Wheeljack specifically for this situation, and hopes they can discover something useful in time.  Elsewhere within a darkened room in Ark-19, Ironhide carefully considers his options then decides to send a "pulsewave" communication out alerting Optimus Prime of the situation.  Back at the computer terminal, Hunter inquires of Ratchet what "siege mode" means.  Ratchet explains that Decepticons usually operate under stealth, but siege mode indicates that they have gone into a military operation.  As he scans the data on the palm computer, Ratchet explains to his human friends that it is too early for the Decepticons to engage siege mode at this point.  Plus, the data indicates that there are two Decepticon command bunkers; one in Oregon and one in Nebraska.  The images showing up also indicate that the businessman guy actually got inside the Nebraska base, as there are interior shots.  But the images show that the Nebraska bunker was abandoned by the Decepticons, which does Ratchet little good in proving to Prowl the increased threat level.  Verity brings up the point that if normal Decepticon procedure is to establish a base and secretly carry out their plans, why did they move from one base to another?  Meanwhile in California, at the site of Jimmy's demolished garage (destroyed last issue), the police are trying to determine what exactly destroyed the place.  A news crew is on the scene, as a reporter gives the facts as evidenced.  Suddenly, the ground begins to shake as Blitzwing in tank mode rolls in, narrowly missing the news crew and crushing a bunch of police cars.  His main turret fires into the remains of the garage, destroying it utterly.  The Decepticon then transforms to jet mode and takes off to join jet-mode Skywarp as they warp away once again.  The reporter then frantically turns to ask her cameraman if he managed to record any of it.  Back at Ark-19, Verity, Jimmy, and Hunter volunteer to infiltrate and explore the abandoned Nebraska bunker, but Ratchet is vehemently opposed to putting the humans' lives in danger again.  Hunter and Jimmy bring up the points that the base is abandoned and the businessman who collected these images of the bunker got in and out safely.  But Ratchet knows that nothing can justify his knowingly putting human lives in danger in this fashion.  When Hunter reminds him about "siege mode", Ratchet pulls his holo-avatar out of there and asks for a moment to think.  Outside the humans' cell, robot-mode Ratchet ponders if the risks are worth it.  Bumblebee suddenly reveals himself from the shadows, having been watching Ratchet for a little while.  Bumblebee agrees with the humans' plan, but Ratchet agonizes more about putting Hunter and co.'s lives in danger.  Bumblebee offers the opinion that if Ratchet's right, there could be a lot more danger for the whole human race in the long term.  Ratchet decides to do it, and Bumblebee offers his assistance as backup.  The two transform to vehicle mode and Ratchet lets the humans out of their cell.  Hunter and Jimmy board Ratchet while Verity hops in Bumblebee, who has a female human holo-avatar in his driver's seat.  Meanwhile in Arizona at another repair garage, the bus that was run off the road by the Battlechargers (In issue # 0) is being inspected by a man.  He ascertains that the bus is a heap of junk that can't be repaired and goes inside to call about it.  Suddenly, there is an explosion from outside and when the man looks out his window he sees the bus has been blown up.  Blitzwing and Skywarp have hit their next target!  Skywarp inquires over his radio-link what the next target is as they warp away, and from the Decepticon base, Starscream commands; "The Nebraska bunker- bury it!"  TO BE CONTINUED!


Slagged!:

-Not much this issue, just Skywarp and Blitzwing warping into different locations and blowing up all evidence of Decepticon involvement.


Sightings:

-EJ Su's redesigns of the Autobots are cool and all, and a lot of people have mentioned that their robot modes have a lot of resemblance to Gundams, especially in the leg area.  Don't know if this is intentional or not, but worth noting.

-I'm not sure if Mr. Su "cheated" or not on this, but Blitzwing's redesign really incorporates his Triple-Changer elements well; no really visual elements of a tank in jet mode and no real distinguishing elements of a jet in tank mode.  Nice.

-Skywarp is shown opening warp "portals" here, while he's mostly known for just "displacing" his body outright in the cartoon.  Not the first time though, as Skywarp did this in the first War Within series too, opening a portal so he, Starscream, and Thundercracker could escape a bomb planted by Grimlock.


Hearings:

-The Autobot underwater spaceship/base is called "Ark-19".  That should sound somewhat familiar.

-The (now dead as a doorknob) businessman's name is given as "Finklerock".  Probably just an alias, but it's a name that pays homage to two humans that had prominent roles in the original Marvel US/UK Transformers comic run- Donny Finkleberg (the "Robot-Master") and G.B. Blackrock (frequent Autobot ally and founder of the Neo-Knights).

-Ratchet mentions that Wheeljack set-up the interface for Verity's stolen palm computer at his request.  Both a hint of the working relationship they shared in the original cartoon and Wheeljack's inventing capabilities.


Wreck and RULE!:

-We get our first in-depth look at the Autobots' operation on Earth here; a small unit charged with monitoring Decepticon activity.  I think this makes the most sense, rather than having dozens of Autobots on Earth, there are seven here.  And all beautifully illustrated by EJ Su to boot, I might add.  I also like how Optimus Prime is not involved.yet.  You really get the feeling that he is the big gun (Yes, I am aware how ironic that statement is). 

-The Ironhide contacting Optimus Prime scene is a very dramatic bit that stands out in the manner that the art totally sells the story.  You can see Ironhide's reluctance and consternation in his posture before finally giving in and doing what he feels he should.

-Everyone is completely in character, even with the slightest of actions.  Sunstreaker contemptuously dismisses the humans as "noisy".  Ironhide does what he thinks is right, even if it might be against orders by contacting Optimus Prime.  Ratchet showcases his compassion towards sentient beings, trying to save one life at a time.  Prowl clinically follows the rules by the book, even if he appears unpopular or cold to his troops.  And Bumblebee, ever the espionage agent, hides in the shadows until he decides to help Ratchet out.

-A bit more about characterization; I was afraid that Furman was going to deviate too much from the standard character of Ratchet when this series was announced, but instead Ratchet is indeed easily recognizable and comparable to his portrayal in the classic stuff, albeit a bit more battle-hardened.  It seems the circumstances he's in force him to go against his orders, not that he was already inclined to do so.  Bumblebee seems to be a bit more mature than one would expect so early in the game, which isn't a bad thing.  Prowl is a bit more tightly wound than usual, and one would hope he didn't mean anything permanent when he told Ratchet to "get rid of the humans".

-It kind of a different spin here that, according to Ratchet, the Decepticons are experienced in infiltrating alien societies in this manner.  This means that Earth is not the first and only planet being toyed around with by the Decepticons and opens the stage of the Transformers up beyond just two worlds.


Wreck and ROT!:

-A couple of coloring glitches like last time- Prowl's door colored as part of the ceiling when he turns his back on Ratchet is notable.  Also while some pages are intricately detailed color-wise, like the initial two-page splash of the Autobots, the colors on other pages fall kind of flat in comparison, like the panels showing Skywarp and Blitzwing's attacks.

-I would have liked it if Blitzwing's transformation from tank to jet mode been a little clearer, maybe a bit more dramatic.  After all, if this series is catering to newcomers as well, how would they know that Blitzwing is a Triple-Changer?  The panel where he transforms is too small and potentially confusing.

-While we take a big step forward in characterization for the Autobots this issue, the Decepticons' (or should I say Starscream's) agenda is still unclear.  And the action here is limited to Skywarp and Blitzwing quickly swooping in and blowing buildings up.  I guess Furman's building up to our first grandiose full-tilt robot mode VS robot mode battle, but I'm getting impatient!


Final Judgment:

Another solid installment of Infiltration, although I could have done with some more action, the characterization still is pretty engaging.  I guess I've gotten used to Hunter, Verity, and Jimmy now, as I'm not particularly annoyed by them.  They even seem useful, and are mostly impetus for Ratchet and Bumblebee to go places anyway.  I'm a bit put off with my favorite Autobot character Prowl being something of a dick here, but he has been characterized like that in the past, so I'll put my personal bias away.  As I mentioned earlier, the quality of the coloring and shading seemed a bit uneven in places, but nothing so horrible that I'd condemn it flat-out.  Su still does quality art, and Furman's taking his time with the pacing.  I'm just hoping that with half this arc in the bag now, the action kicks up a bit, because we Transfans like nothing else than some giant robot ass-kickery.  Peace.


A Thunderwing review