Spotlight # 1
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by Nick Roche
Colors by Josh Burcham

SHOCKWAVE

Summary:

A long time ago (six-hundred thousand meta-cycles, whatever those are) on Cybertron, Shockwave correctly predicts that the planet will eventually be devastated and depleted by the Autobot/Decepticon civil war.  He decides to do something about and implements a plan dubbed “Regenesis”.  Shockwave loads warheads with a distilled Energon catalyst and fires them off into space, targeting planets with a specific geological make-up and “seeding” them with this catalyst.  Then he waits (another really long stint of time); until the planets reach a certain maturity and sees to the development personally.  Arriving on the planet that will be eventually known as Earth, Shockwave must regulate the Energon reaction to keep it under control.  He knows that Megatron will brand him a traitor, but Shockwave knows that the Regenesis project will eventually allow him to control the balance of resources in the war; his actions are governed by only pure logic.  Meanwhile in Earth orbit, an Autobot craft carrying the group known as the Dynobots rests, having tracked Shockwave to the planet.  Aboard it, Swoop is puzzled by Shockwave's activities on the surface, but Grimlock only cares about one thing; revenge.  Slag tells Grimlock that the high levels of Energon on the planet make it impossible for them to step foot on the surface without succumbing to stasis lock in moments, but the Dynobot commander is fixated on paying Shockwave back.  Seems that the Dynobots had stolen a cache of Energon cubes from a Decepticon installation back on Cybertron, and Shockwave followed them as they took the cubes back into friendly territory.  Deciding that if the Decepticons couldn't have them, no one would, Shockwave fired on the Energon, causing a detonation that destroyed the entire supply and wounded the Dynobots.  Although Optimus Prime told Grimlock to just forget about it, the Dynobot commander won't let this humiliation slide.  Grimlock and his comrades left Cybertron in a shuttle and have been trying to find Shockwave to get some payback; and now they've found him.  Grimlock orders Slag to find them a way to step foot on the planet safely.  On said planet's surface, Shockwave observes a herd of wooly mammoths, which are slowly dying out thanks to the change in worldwide conditions.  He likens their plight to his own race's troubles, but unlike these beasts, Shockwave has the intellect to adapt and evolve.  Back on the Dynobots' shuttle, Slag suggests to Grimlock that they wrap themselves in pseudo-organic flesh and adopt alt-modes based on creatures native to the planet.  Doing so will allow them to be shielded by the excess Energon radiation on the planet's surface.  Seeing the mammalian specimens that inhabit the planet on Slag's monitor, Grimlock is more than a little apprehensive of this idea.  Slag reminds him that they lack the personal shielding that Shockwave evidently has, so this is the only way they can safely function on the surface.  Grimlock begrudgingly agrees, but orders Slag to find better specimens to emulate for their new alt-modes.  Slag soon finds and scans the fossil of a long-extinct tyrannosaur.  Grimlock is impressed by the creature, and Slag proceeds to find similar ones.  Meanwhile on the planet's surface, Shockwave has finished his seeding process and signals his ship to pick him up.  One problem; his ship doesn't seem to be responding.  Concluding that an attack is imminent, Shockwave whirls around to find five beams of light hitting the planet's surface, and within those beams; the newly reformatted Dynobots!  Grimlock quickly orders his team to convert to beast modes and the battle is on!  The five Dynobots pummel Shockwave, as his logic center attempts to make sense of the attack.  He had expected Megatron or fellow Decepticons to come after him, but not this!  As Shockwave's mind turns inward, he slowly begins to absorb what the Dynobots are saying as they beat him up.  They complain about Shockwave making them look bad, humiliating and wounding them, and how they want retribution.  The fact that the attack is motivated by revenge for the Energon cache incident is soon imprinted on Shockwave's logic center, and he feels it is pathetic that he has come so far only to be halted by something so petty.  Snarl knocks Shockwave over, Slag breathes fire on him, Grimlock and Sludge blast him, and Swoop delivers point-blank missiles to the Decepticon scientist, engulfing him in flame.  The Dynobots stand before the raging inferno, wondering if they have defeated their enemy.  Within the fire, Shockwave decides to disable his higher logic functions and implements a program that creates “a synthetic equivalent of rage”, evolving (or is it “devolving”?) to meet his needs.  Leaping out of the fire as the stunned Dynobots brace for a counterattack, Shockwave grabs Sludge by his long neck.  He uses the largest of the Dynobots to smash the others away, except Swoop, who manages to fly clear of the blow.  Shockwave blasts Swoop out of the sky as Grimlock gets up and tries to attack again.  But Shockwave is faster and punches Grimlock back into the ground.  With his enemies all lying in one place, Shockwave leaps into the air and transforms to space-gun mode.  He fires; an intense radiation blast that sears the pseudo-organic skin coating off the Dynobots and soundly defeats them.  Shockwave transforms and lands, restoring his higher brain functions to their original setting.  He notices a brief feeling of satisfaction at his victory, but decides to file the sensation away for later study.  Suddenly, Grimlock groggily rises and transforms, unwilling to let the battle end here.  Shockwave turns and regards the stubborn Dynobot commander as Grimlock staggers forward in robot mode; the high levels of Energon radiation taking their toll on his now unprotected frame.  Grimlock desperately reaches for Shockwave, but his systems finally fail and he goes into stasis lock on his feet.  Satisfied that the fight is finished, Shockwave turns to go about his business.  We cut to a short flashback aboard the Dynobot shuttle in Earth orbit, just before Grimlock and company dropped in on Shockwave.  Grimlock had set the shuttle's main cannon on an auto-fire setting, presumably as a failsafe, right before they went planet side.  Of course, Shockwave doesn't know this; at present he decides he can try and override the access codes to the Dynobot shuttle to get off the planet.  At that moment, the shuttle goes into auto-fire mode in orbit, firing upon a volcano on the surface that Shockwave and the Dynobots happen to be nearby.  The blast causes the volcano to erupt and the surrounding area to collapse.  The ground splits under Shockwave's feet and he and the Dynobots are swept up by a tidal wave of lava, eventually being buried by it.  Shockwave has considered every variable; except chaos.  A short time later on Cybertron, Shockwave's absence has not gone unnoticed.  Megatron orders an agent to investigate Shockwave's lab and uncover all the experiments and projects the Decepticon scientist was undertaking before his disappearance.  The agent, Bludgeon, eagerly agrees.  Much time passes and it is now the year 2006 on the planet now known as Earth.  An archeological dig in Nevada has unearthed something quite astonishing; we see the hand of Shockwave sticking out of the hardened rock.  THE END


Slagged!:

-The Dynobots want revenge on Shockwave after he detonated a load of Energon cubes they were transporting.  Apparently all were a bit burned up and battered by the explosion, but it was the sting of failure that probably hurt them the most.

-The Dynobots, after having acquired their new beast modes, attack Shockwave in earnest; biting, burning, blasting, and otherwise bashing him around.  Shockers loses one of his “ears” in the process, in addition to being generally banged-up.

-Using Sludge as a giant club, Shockwave manages to knock the other land-based Dynobots down for the count.  He blasts Swoop out of the air and slugs Grimlock again when the Dynobot commander won't stay down.  Then his coup-de-grace is a radiation blast in space-gun mode that burns the synthetic skin off their bodies, leaving them vulnerable to the Energon radiation that permeates the area.  Grimlock tries to transform and attack again, but grinds to a halt right in front of Shockwave, losing color and going into stasis lock on his feet.

-Grimlock isn't one to go into battle without insurance, and rigs his shuttle to fire automatically, presumably after a set amount of time or perhaps if the Dynobots registered on scanners as off-line.  The shuttle's blast is enough to cause a complete deterioration of the entire area, causing volcanoes to erupt and the ground to crack open.  In the end, Shockwave and the Dynobots end up entombed in lava, so I guess you could call the fight a draw.


Sightings:

-This story obviously takes place before Thunderwing's first rampage, which was hinted at in the Stormbringer arc.  Cybertron is still more or less intact.

-Shockwave seeding Earth with Energon deposits is a link both to Infiltration (the Ore-13), and possibly even Beast Wars, although it was said the Earth was seeded by the Vok, that claim was never confirmed by the aliens themselves.  Probably more a link to the former than the latter, as IDW seems to be keeping their Gen 1 and Beast Wars ‘verses separate for now.

-The Dynobots, or D(I)nobots as they are usually called, are drawn initially with their Don Figueroa “War Within” designs, then are later reformatted.  Nick Roche has redesigned their new beast modes into real-looking organic dinosaurs (or in Swoop's case, flying reptile) and their robot modes to match.  They all mostly look like they transform the same as their original Gen 1 bodies, but have Beast Wars-esque styling.  Grimlock and co. needing to wrap themselves in synthetic organic skin to protect from Energon build-up is, of course, a link to Beast Wars Season 1, where Optimus Primal's company must do the same.

-On Slag's monitor screen, we can see what some of the Dynobots alt-modes might have been if they had chosen mammals; a saber-toothed cat, wooly mammoth, rhinoceros, and a moose.

-The way the Dynobots arrive on Earth might be the same deal as Megatron in Infiltration # 6; an orbital “bounce” or drop.

-The Dynobots possess hidden weapons in beast mode, much like their original Gen 1 bodies.  Slag breathes fire, Swoop has under slung missile launchers (that he likes to fire at pointblank range, as per his profile), and Sludge has cannons on his back, possibly similar to the missile launcher his toy came with.  Grimlock can deploy the twin-barreled blaster he usually has carried in robot mode from his tyrannosaur mode's mouth.

-This battle between the Dynobots and Shockwave on prehistoric Earth itself is homage to the original US Marvel issue # 7.  Only there, the Dinobots battled Shockwave in Marvel's “Savage Land”.  In both battles, Shockwave soundly defeated them, only to have the battle end in a draw and all of them winding up entombed thanks to the unpredictable nature of one of his foes.

-Shockwave burns the pseudo-organic covering off the Dynobots, leaving them with metal-skinned dinosaur modes, making them similar to the original Gen 1 Dinobot designs.  Energon radiation begins affecting the Dynobots after their skin has been removed, showing a physical reaction similar to the characters in Beast Wars when they were being overloaded by Energon build-up.

-When Grimlock goes into stasis lock, (also a Beast Wars tie-in) his body loses its color and turns gray.  This is similar to how Optimus Prime turned gray when he died in Transformers the Movie.  Of course, Grimlock isn't dead, but he probably taxed his body to the limit and was forced to go into stasis lock.

-Colorist Josh Burcham keeps it consistent with Megatron's helmet color.  As with in Stormbringer's flashbacks, Megatron previously had a black helmet in the past, but in present time he has a grayish-white helmet.  I must apologize to Mr. Burcham; usually I don't list the colorist for the issue for simplicity's sake, but he does such good work that I will from now on.

-Bludgeon being the one to investigate Shockwave's experiments ties in with Stormbringer in showing how he has so much scientific and technical knowledge.  It's possible that the lair he uses in Stormbringer is actually the remnants of Shockwave's lab from this issue.


Hearings:

-Shockwave's his usual charming self; devoted to a “logical” goal and going behind Megatron's back.  Old “One-Eye” keeps emotion responses limited and he usually pushes them away for “further study”.

-The Dinobots are called the Dynobots here, a term that originated in Simon Furman's Ultimate Guide to Transformers, and was also used in Dreamwave's Age of Wrath series.  The logic behind it is that it would be stupid to call the group DINObots if they didn't have dinosaur forms (And Lightning Strike Coalition is a bit too clunky).  By naming them DYNObots, Furman cleverly covers his bases.  As for what the dyno- prefix stands for, I don't know.  Dynamic or Dynamo maybe- both terms describe Grimlock and company pretty well.

-Grimlock speaks in complete sentences, without his characteristic speech impediment throughout the issue.  The last time he was portrayed like this was the earlier quarter of the Marvel run, mostly written by Bob Budiansky.  It is possible that he will adopt his usual fractured method of speech down the line, but I think it's good that Furman has gone with something different.

-Slag tells Grimlock that they need to use the C-R chambers to reformat themselves into new beast modes, yet another nod to the first season of Beast Wars.  Slag also mentions that Shockwave probably has “resonant field harmonics”, referring to personal energy-shielding designed to protect the user from harsh atmospheric conditions.  This shielding or something similar was also used in Stormbringer # 1 by the Technobots and Jetfire to traverse Cybertron's harsh environment.

-Shockwave mentions he expected Megatron or perhaps the Predacons to come after him.  With Razorclaw's appearance in the third issue of Stormbringer, we can assume the Predacons are one of Megatron's elite squads in IDW continuity.  This is a slight nod to where Dreamwave's Gen 1 continuity was going, and also a bit of turnabout from Marvel continuity, where the Predacons were mostly loyal to Shockwave over Megatron.  It is also ironic, because the original toy commercial for the Predacons billed them as the Decepticons' answer to the Dinobots.


Wreck and RULE!:

-Nick Roche knocked this one out of the park art-wise.  Many new artists on a Transformers book are harshly judged by the fans, but Mr. Roche gives virtually no reason to criticize in his first outing drawing an entire official Transformers comic.  While his style may not be as detailed as Don Figueroa's, he captures action and emotion incredibly well.  I knew his stuff was something special when I actually felt BAD when a wooly mammoth keeled over and died in this issue.  I actually FELT Shockwave's brutal beating of the Dynobots- his using Sludge as a club sequence is especially impressive, as is Shockwave's transformation to space-gun mode.  His redesigns of the Dinobots were jarring at first, but I grew to like them in the space of only a few pages.  His interpretations of Shockwave, Bludgeon, and Megatron were equally cool.  Ryall, you need to put this man on an ongoing book; NOW.  Oh, and special extra credit for actually DRAWING IN the faction symbols, and not leaving them to be sloppily Photoshopped in.

-Furman also turns in an excellent script, making the potentially dull Shockwave interesting and compelling, as usual.  The Dynobots also get a fair bit of the spotlight, and we get the distinct feeling Furman is handling them a tad differently in this continuity, evoking the “loose-cannons” of the early Marvel comic and original cartoon more than the dedicated, but ornery Autobot warriors of later Marvel and most of Dreamwave.

-The plot links to everything that has come beforehand and everything afterwards are also most welcome.  I'm very glad that the entire continuity is in Furman's hands at the moment, because it allows him to keep everything on a very tight leash.  The seeding of Earth, Bludgeon gaining access to Shockwave's lab and experiments, and many other little tidbits tie in to Infiltration, Stormbringer, and even some set-up for Escalation.


Wreck and ROT!:

-I kind of felt it odd that Slag was the one to suggest the beast mode idea; you'd think he'd feel the same as Grimlock about organic creatures, and Slag's just got a bad attitude to begin with.  Then again, Furman has always kind of played-down Slag's murderous rage, except when the story calls for it.  Still, maybe subbing in one of the more good-natured Dinobots in that scene might have been better.

-Shockwave did it!!!  Nah, just kidding.


Final Judgment:

What a great issue!  A stellar debut for Nick Roche and possibly Furman's best script for IDW yet.  He always did good work with done-in-one stories and character pieces for the most part, so I guess it shouldn't be unexpected.  This issue is also rich in continuity-links, which is almost odd since this Gen 1 continuity is so young.  IDW's current plan is to do five Spotlights and then maybe do more later on.  I say; make this an ongoing!  A character-focused book plays to one of Furman's strengths and is generally fan-pleasing all-around, especially if the character focused on is one of the fan's favorites.  And Nick Roche definitely needs more work in Transformers books; if he can keep this level of quality up he'll be eventually ranked among the best Transformers artists with fans.  I've heard very few negative opinions on this issue from fans, and I must say it's hard to disagree with so many.  Pick this puppy up as soon as you can!  Peace.

A Shockwave, uh, I mean Thunderwing review