Megatron: Origin # 4
Written by Eric Holmes
Penciled by Alex Milne
Colors by Josh Perez and Mark Bristow

Summary:

Starscream is escorted out of the Kaon security HQ, under the hateful glares of the other prisoners.  Soon he is standing in a parliamentary chamber, before the council members who govern Kaon, including the recently rescued Senator Decimus.  The head council member reads off Starscream’s crimes and asks what information he has to share with them.  Starscream simply responds that he has a message for them; they caused this rebellion to happen through their own self-interest and greed.  The councilors order Starscream to be removed from the chamber, but the Seeker deploys hidden rifles from his arms, spraying the room with gunfire.  With Soundwave in the room now, the councilors are unable to call for help and are all killed.  Starscream carves their symbol into the chamber wall and Soundwave orders him to complete the “plan”.  Starscream transforms and flies out of the building, headed back to the Kaon security HQ.  Once there, he disables some guards and opens every cell, as per Megatron’s orders.  Every prisoner breaks out, and soon Soundwave arrives with weapons for them.  Everyone is issued a weapon and Starscream suggests a particular one for Megatron; a fusion cannon.  Pleased with it, Megatron blows a hole in the wall and orders his new army to “burn everything” in Kaon.  The hundreds of Megatron-loyalists storm out of the prison, intent on spreading disorder and destruction.  Thundercracker and Skywarp shoot down a massive luxury shuttle that was flying over Kaon.  It crashes to the ground, as emergency forces are unable to contain the spreading fires.  Sentinel Prime leads his security forces to quell the attack on the city, but it is fast becoming a hopeless situation.  Seeing no options, Prime transforms and heads towards the “Apex facilities” for some extra firepower.  Motormaster gets in his way, but Prime just blasts through him and enters the building.  Meanwhile back at the Kaon council chambers, Soundwave meets with Senator Ratbat.  Ratbat downloads all of Kaon’s databanks and assets into a “data-cube” for transport.  He gleefully informs Soundwave that he’ll probably be relocated to Iacon now and this information will be very useful in establishing a foothold in the capital city of Cybertron.  Outside, the Megatron-loyalists are starting to be pushed back as a particularly powerful unit makes its approach.  As Ratbat finishes up getting the information he needs, Soundwave suddenly blasts him point-blank through the torso.  Stunned, Ratbat asks what Soundwave is doing.  Soundwave simply states that in war, resources are limited and particularly valuable resources should be repurposed to better fit their role.  To that end, Soundwave scoops Ratbat’s spark core out from his damaged form and prepares to transfer it to a smaller “cassette” form.  Back outside, Megatron is trying to find the frontline of the conflict when a group of his troops approaching are obliterated by a massive bombardment of firepower.  Megatron looks to see what is pushing them back and finds Sentinel Prime encased in firepower-enhancing “Apex armor”.  Nearby, Hound scouts potential targets for Prime to take out and locates Megatron for him.  Megatron, refusing to back down, stalks right up to the Apex-equipped Sentinel Prime and demands that he face him “like a gladiator”.  Prime’s only response is to blast Megatron with every weapon he has available.  The rebel leader vanishes in the blast and Sentinel Prime radios all security forces to rally around him.  He then radios Hound for a new target, but there is no response.  Suddenly, Hound’s beaten form crashes into him from above, having been thrown by Megatron.  Scorched and scarred, but still functional, Megatron leaps onto Sentinel Prime’s armor from above.  He punches Prime clear out of the armor with a single blow, but the security forces commander recovers quickly and lands on his feet.  The two scuffle, with Sentinel finally getting the upper hand and knocking Megatron off the side of a cliff.  With Megatron clinging to the edge, Sentinel Prime reaches down to pull him up and take him into custody.  But Megatron sends a strike to his throat and pulls Prime down the cliff with him, shifting in mid-air so the larger Transformer will take the brunt of the impact.  At the bottom, Megatron stands over the downed Prime, claiming that he will make things change on Cybertron.  As Megatron-loyalists gather around, Sentinel Prime chokes out that it won’t matter because others will stop him.  Megatron responds by saying it will matter when they see what’s been done to Prime, and raises his fist.  A short time later, a squad of security forces lead by Prowl desperately try to locate Prime.  A Seeker suddenly zips by, dropping something heavy right near them.  To their horror, they see it is the defeated Sentinel Prime, barely clinging to life.  Prowl orders the complete evacuation of Kaon as they prepare to get Sentinel Prime medical attention.  Some time later, Megatron and Soundwave observe Kaon as the latter reports that the security forces have pulled out and the city is now theirs.  Soundwave inquires what Megatron plans to do now that he has an army and a city of his own.  Using Sentinel Prime’s own description of his ways, Megatron claims that all Cybertronians have a choice to be “Decepticons” or fall before them.  Sitting on a throne made of Sentinel Prime’s ruined Apex armor, Megatron looks at the data-cube that Ratbat had collected, and says he has a few ideas on what to do next.  THE END


Slagged!:

-Starscream murders the governing body of Kaon, including Senator Decimus.

-Thundercracker and Skywarp shoot a luxury cruiser out of the air, which then proceeds to crash into Kaon and cause all manner of headaches for Grapple and Inferno.

-Starscream lifts off as Trailbreaker grabs onto his leg, but Starscream simply gains altitude and drops the Autobot far, far down.

-Sentinel Prime blows Motormaster to pieces for getting in his way.

-Soundwave blasts a hole in Ratbat and scoops his spark core out, with the intent of installing it in the smaller, “cassette” body Ratbat is more known for by the fandom.

-Sentinel Prime shoots the ever-loving slag out of a bunch of Megatron-loyalists with his Apex armor’s weaponry, then unloads on Megatron.  Megatron, however, only suffers superficial damage and beats up Hound on the side for his trouble.

-Megatron punches Sentinel Prime clear out of the Apex armor and the two have a good-ol’ fashioned slugfest.  Sentinel Prime comes out on top, but Megatron wins by forcing the two off a high cliff and making Prime take the impact of the fall.  Megatron then proceeds to beat Prime to within an inch of his life while his followers watch.


Sightings:

-The security guard in the Kaon council chambers bears no small resemblance to Decepticon leader Straxus who first appeared in Marvel # 17.  Never possessing a toy, Straxus is nevertheless well-known by the fandom for his memorable appearance in the comics.  It’s unknown if it’s actually him or a similar-looking bot here, or if he survives Starscream’s shooting spree.

-Along with Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage, Squawkbox is seen among Soundwave’s personal “troops” in this issue for a few scenes.  Megatron’s troops include, well, pretty much everyone who will eventually be a Decepticon.  Runamuck, Dragstrip, Dead End, Blot, and Kickback can all be identified somewhere in this book.

-The troops fighting at Sentinel Prime’s side include Blades, Hound, Prowl, Trailbreaker, and Ironhide.

-Buzzsaw and Ravage stand guard outside while Ratbat and Soundwave have their little meeting.  Outside, Blot is seen fighting, using his secondary “monster” arms to dismember an opponent.  He gets blasted by Sentinel Prime, I think.

-Obviously, Ratbat eventually has to get his usual “cassette” alt-mode, and we see Soundwave personally perform the “operation”.

-The “Apex armor” is a nod to the “Apex Bomber”, which is the western name for the Japanese concept of Godbomber from Transformers Victory.  Godbomber was released as a Toys-R-Us exclusive reissue along with Powermaster Prime some years back, re-dubbed  “Apex Bomber”.  Sentinel Prime’s Apex armor appears to have several similar design cues to Powermaster Optimus Prime’s version, notably the wings.

-The unit that recovers Sentinel Prime’s beaten form is led by Prowl and includes Ironhide, Brawn, Bluestreak, Broadside, and Hubcap.  Notably, this seems to be Hubcap’s first fictional appearance where he’s actually performing his tech specs function of communications.


Hearings:

-Sentinel Prime dubs Megatron’s open acts of treason and rebellion “the worst deception”, or he was gonna until Megatron jabbed him in the throat.  Megatron apparently takes this description to heart and names his faction “Decepticons”.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Eric Holmes is pretty good with dialogue, especially Starscream’s snappy responses to the Kaon council leveling charges at him.  I laughed too about the charge of “misrepresenting himself as a state official”.  Seems Screamer was in trouble long before he met Megatron.  And most of what Megatron says is pretty inspirational (well if you’re into his kinda thing) and cool.

-Couple cool moments here that were only the stuff of speculation before- like Starscream presenting Megatron with his first fusion cannon (bet Screamer will learn to regret that!) and Ratbat being “downgraded”.  Thundercracker’s initial hesitation being overridden by Skywarp’s peer pressure was a nice moment, right before they down the luxury cruiser.   And the appearance of Sentinel Prime in Apex armor was a pretty epic moment, made so by Alex Milne’s pencils.  The final page is also damned cool, with Megatron sitting on his throne, Soundwave at his side, and the future before them.


Wreck and ROT!:

-This is mostly an action issue and there is A LOT of action going down.  Sadly, Alex Milne’s pencils don’t always paint the clearest picture of what is happening in any given scene.  While I can’t put the blame squarely on him, as Holmes definitely wrote far too many things happening on each page, it still is really irritating.  I had to re-read several scenes over again and only interpreted one scene correctly JUST AN HOUR AGO before I started typing this analysis.

-There were no less than three colorists on this issue, which makes some pages look radically different than others.  It is really distracting once you notice it.

-Uh, didn’t anyone like, frisk Starscream, or anything before letting him into the Kaon council chambers?  Did it cross anyone’s mind that maybe the dangerous murderer might dangerously murder people if he still has guns??  And where the hell did Soundwave come from on the bottom of page three??

-So, what happens to Inferno and Grapple??  Does the ship crash on them or what?

-Why the frag would anyone deny Sentinel Prime heavier firepower when the entire city-state is going to hell?  The council seems to deny him authorization to use the Apex armor in their garbled transmission.

-The string of word bubbles meant for Ratbat on page twelve instead emanates from Ravage.

-So, Megatron can be downed by regular security guards in issue # 1, but can withstand a full barrage from Apex armor-equipped Sentinel Prime in this issue with only superficial damage apparent?  Wha?  And how did Megatron get up and to the side of Prime?  How did he know where Hound was?  Why do I have to ask these questions??

-I didn’t even get that Sentinel Prime’s body was dropped off by that Seeker on page twenty-three until shortly before typing this.  And the first time I read this issue, I assumed Prime was dead, because, well, HE LOOKS DEAD.  He’s lying in a pool of mech fluid and has a hole in his torso where his spark should be.  But apparently he’s still barely alive, according to Alex Milne.  Could have fooled me.


Final Judgment:

While a fun, action-packed read, a poor finale to what has been a disappointing series.  Both Eric Holmes and Alex Milne put forth a good effort, but their combined result didn’t especially work.  Bits of fanwank should not be considered plot points, and that was one of the main failings of this series.  The Megatron receiving his fusion cannon scene would have been nice, if the moment hadn’t been dulled by the “energy mace” cameo last issue.  And Ratbat’s downgrade was mostly wasted space as well for the most part; it was just there so we could see it, it didn’t really advance any part of the plot.  And of course, Megatron’s character development was jerky and muddled at best, the whole series through.  Again, good ideas and concepts, but failed in execution.  The colors weren’t especially suited to Milne’s pencils, Milne’s pencils weren’t especially suited to Holmes’ script, and Holmes’ script wasn’t especially suited to a four issue mini-series.  I can’t help but wonder if this series was six issues, if it would have felt better-paced and generally better-plotted out.  Oh well, much room for improvement when Megatron: Origin II inevitably comes out.  Peace.

A “Why does Blot deserve his own page of doing stuff?” Thunderwing review