Stormbringer # 1
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by Don Figueroa


Note:  This series takes place, more or less parallel to Infiltration, probably starting around issue # 3 of that series.

Summary:

We begin with a flashback of a past cataclysmic event on Cybertron.  This event clearly had a lasting effect on those who were present and is described as a “raging storm”.  All we can see of the event is the image of a living being within the center of an enormous inferno; this creature was the cause of this past near-apocalypse.  Cut to the present; specifically the Autobot science/exploration shuttle “Calabi-Yau”, which is currently in orbit over Cybertron.  Aboard are the Technobots, and the commander of this mission, Jetfire.  Nosecone reports that he has detected an energy reading deep beneath Cybertron's surface.  Jetfire is somewhat dubious of this claim, as Cybertron has apparently been dry of any sort of energy for a long time now.  But Nosecone has been thorough with his analysis and Jetfire orders a closer investigation.  Observing a holographic display, Jetfire and company discover that the strange reading is Energon, only mixed with some foreign elements from space.  Nosecone postulates that comet and space debris impacts on Cybertron probably created this “hybrid” Energon.  Jetfire believes that this is evidence that Cybertron is healing itself on a cosmic scale, as he has long theorized.  Jetfire decides they should go planet-side and take a look.  Despite some nervousness from Strafe, the Calabi-Yau lands on Cybertron's surface.  Jetfire, Scattershot, Strafe, and Lightspeed are to be the exploration crew, while Afterburner and Nosecone stay aboard the shuttle.  Once on Cybertron's shattered landscape, readings of cosmic radiation and an approaching charged-particle storm cause the Autobots to take certain precautions to protect their bodies, including harmonically-shifting energy fields that maintain their personal body integrity.  Jetfire's group begins to walk, noting the poor condition of Cybertron's atmosphere.  Jetfire radios Afterburner aboard the Calabi-Yau for a locator pulse, but the radio-connection is barely workable thanks to radiation levels.  Suddenly Lightspeed speaks up, having apparently recognized the landscape the team now looks upon.  Jetfire confirms that they are looking upon “Thunderhead Pass”, the site of an apparently apocalyptic battle with a destructive being.  Strafe asks Jetfire about the magnitude of this battle, and Jetfire describes it as beyond horrific even on the outskirts; he can't imagine what it was like on the frontline.  Scattershot peers down a giant canyon carved into the planet, asking if they ever found a body, and Jetfire ominously tells him “No”.  We cut to another flashback, this one showing Optimus Prime lying in rubble and debris, badly injured.  Megatron kneels alongside him, coaxing him back on his feet; the “adversary” has breached the siege wall, and the fight is still in full-swing.  Cut back to present day aboard an Autobot command space station orbiting a planet, where Optimus Prime is monitoring several holo-reports at once.  Searchlight approaches and hands him a recent pulsewave message sent from the planet Earth.  Prime recognizes the name as the planet that Prowl's team is stationed on, and reads the message.  It states that the Decepticon infiltration unit has engaged siege mode and the threat level may be increasing ahead of schedule.  Prime orders Searchlight to keep monitoring the situation and keeping him updated.  As the smaller Autobot walks away, Prime drifts to his memories of the battle with the creature that devastated Cybertron and thinks that even this war with the Decepticons doesn't distract him from recalling what he experienced back then.  Meanwhile back on Cybertron's surface, Jetfire's group prepares to launch a sensor probe into the canyon.  Scattershot is wary of this, reasoning that that maybe they should leave this area alone for fear of provoking another near-cataclysm.  But Jetfire knows that the first disaster happened because they didn't ask questions or look too deeply into things; they need to make sure this time around that something new isn't in the works.  Jetfire reflects that only one Transformer saw the first cataclysm coming; a Decepticon scientist.  He flashes back to when this scientist presented his findings to a symposium of Autobot and Decepticon scientists alike.  The Decepticon scientist claims to Jetfire and others that Cybertron is on the brink of total destruction thanks to the careless siphoning of resources by either faction; it is only a matter of time before the planet collapses on itself.  Soundwave speaks up, refusing to believe this outcome, but the Decepticon scientist claims he'll be ready when the “storm” comes and everyone else can either follow his lead or die.  Cut back to the present, Jetfire orders Strafe to launch the probe into the canyon.  As it flies into the depths, Scattershot notes that a particle storm is approaching and they cannot stay here much longer.  Jetfire agrees and orders the others to begin packing up, as they can monitor the probe's findings from aboard the Calabi-Yau.  Lightspeed and Strafe begin gathering their equipment when suddenly Lightspeed thinks he notices something in a nearby cloud of dust.  He dismisses it, only to be brutally stabbed in the chest by an invisible opponent wielding a sharp weapon.  As Lightspeed falls, Jetfire and the others search for enemies, but find none.  Suddenly Strafe notices footprints forming in the soft ground, but it's too late for the jittery Technobot as he receives a similar invisible strike through the chest, knocking him off-line.  Jetfire and Scattershot quickly go back to back; Jetfire realizing that their enemies are using some kind of cloaking armor.  Scattershot wants to know why they are being attacked without reason and knocked offline, but Jetfire just wants suggestions as to how to deal with this threat.  In typical Scattershot fashion, he suggests they shoot everything.  Jetfire initially agrees, as both of them spray the area with gunfire, but then Jetfire realizes that their firepower will attract the charged-particle storm.  The warning comes too late, however, as the storm comes upon them and wreaks havoc on the two Autobots' systems.  Jetfire desperately radios Afterburner and Nosecone for backup, but it's to no avail as Scattershot notices their invisible opponents de-cloaking and surrounding them.  Two electro-pikes to the back later, and Scattershot and Jetfire are also knocked offline.  The leader of the attacking mechanoids orders his followers to take the unconscious Autobots “down” into the depths of the planet.  Aboard the Calabi-Yau, Nosecone and Afterburner try to re-establish contact with their comrades, but to no avail.  Suddenly Nosecone notices a series of missiles approaching the shuttle from planet side.  Knowing they only have moments before impact, Afterburner tells Nosecone that they have to get to an escape pod.  Then he quickly tries to send out a distress buoy so someone will know something happened to the Calabi-Yau.  The missiles strike the exploration vessel, blowing it to bits, but Afterburner and Nosecone's fate is unclear.  We cut to another flashback of a battle where Optimus Prime, Megatron, and others all firing in unison at an unknown enemy.  It is nebulously stated that only when Cybertron itself gave way, was this creature defeated.  The planet itself apparently swallowed the creature into its depths.  Cut back to the present in the Autobot command station, where Optimus Prime still reflects on this past horrific battle, knowing that someday this terrifying enemy will return.  Meanwhile deep within a chamber under Cybertron, a bound Jetfire stirs from unconsciousness upon hearing a chant emanating from his abductors.  To his horror, he sees the mysterious Transformers standing before the recovering body of the creature that ravaged Cybertron long ago; THUNDERWING!  TO BE CONTINUED…


Slagged!:

-Cybertron's in a pretty sorry state; apparently thanks partway to the abuse of its natural resources and partway to the rampage of a certain super-powered Decepticon Pretender.

-Jetfire and most of the Technobots are taken down by a group of Transformers using light-warping armor and some kind of electro stun-pikes.  We don't know what becomes of the remaining two Technobots, Afterburner and Nosecone, when their shuttle is destroyed by surface-to-air missiles in Cybertron's orbit.

-Flashbacks throughout the issue tell of an apocalyptic battle with a creature (that we find out was the Decepticon Thunderwing) that destroyed a good chunk of Cybertron and forced Autobots and Decepticons into alliance to stop it.


Sightings:

-The “creature” that apparently laid waste to Cybertron in the past was the Decepticon Thunderwing, using his Pretender shell.  Where he obtained enough power to become a planetary-level threat is still unclear…

-It's worth mentioning that almost everyone has been redesigned yet again by Don Figueroa.  Some designs are derivatives of Don's old War Within stuff from Dreamwave, while some are completely new.  Obviously no one needs an Earth mode yet, so every bot has a Cybertronian transform at this point.  The Technobots already had Cybertronian modes, so a redesign for them is unnecessary.  Jetfire is slightly tweaked again to better represent both his cartoon “Skyfire” appearance and his toy “Macross” homage appearance.

-Megatron is shown with the same form he had in the Infiltration arc, albeit this time with a darker-colored helmet in robot mode.  This is a little homage to the Marvel comic series, where Megatron's helmet was always colored black, as opposed to the toy and cartoon appearances where his helmet was white or silver. 

-Optimus Prime seems to have just a slight tweak of his War Within design in robot mode.  Also, you can see a glowing light emanating from his cracked chest plate in the flashback scene where he's lying injured- the Matrix, maybe?

-In the scene where Searchlight reports the pulsewave transmission from Earth to Optimus Prime, you can see Blaster (sitting down) and Bluestreak in the background of the room.  Seems an uncharacteristic pose of Bluestreak; all arms-folded, commanding and such, but maybe he's just trying to look important.  I suppose it could also be Smokescreen, who shares a similar body design.

-The Decepticon scientist that initiated the “floating head conference” is obviously Thunderwing, sans his Pretender shell.  Along with Jetfire, Autobots Swerve and Perceptor are there, and Decepticons Soundwave and Mixmaster.  All are scientifically-minded Transformers for the most part.

-In the final flashback scene, we see Optimus Prime, Megatron, Omega Supreme, and Trypticon all firing upon an unknown enemy (likely Thunderwing).  Trypticon is kind of hard to see; he's obscured by dialogue boxes.

-In the last scene that shows Optimus reflecting in the command center, we see several Autobot cameos.  Sitting at the console right in front of Prime is Pincher.  Below that platform from left to right, we see; Overdrive and Downshift walking together, Groundbreaker, Siren looking out the window, Gunrunner and someone I can't ID (it might be Tailgate) looking at a monitor, and Crosshairs all the way to the right looking at another monitor.

-The cloaked Transformers who take out Jetfire and crew are the Decepticons Bludgeon, Finback, Skullgrin, Carnivac, and Bomb-Burst.  All of them don't have their Pretender shells yet.  Instead, Don's redesigns of their robot modes incorporate defining aspects of their Pretender shells, like Finback's blade arm, Bludgeon's helmet, and Bomb-Burst's bat-like facial features.  Thunderwing's shell design seems mostly the same from what we can see, albeit with more demonic, overcast wings.


Hearings:

-The Technobots are all within their established character profiles, and it shows in the dialogue.  Nosecone is overly thorough, Strafe is twitchy and nervous, and Scattershot comes off as a bit sarcastic in terms of the scientific approach Jetfire takes.

-Jetfire theorizes that Cybertron is gradually healing itself; a concept similar to what happened in the old Dreamwave continuity with the “The Great Shutdown” and such.

-For those of you paying attention, the pulsewave transmission that Searchlight presents to Prime in this issue is clearly the one Ironhide sent out in Infiltration # 3.


Wreck and RULE!:

-I hate to beat a dead horse, but DAMN, Don's art is awesome.  Once again he redesigns a bunch of characters and the end result is extremely satisfying.  I especially like his merger of the Pretender shells with the inner robots for Bludgeon and his gang.  Although we can barely see them this issue, they are on the wrap-around cover, and I can't wait to see them in action some more!  Thunderwing's design is a beautiful piece of work as well, taking elements from his Marvel comics look and toy and mixing them into a truly menacing picture of a Transformer.  Hasbro needs to consult with Don more often for toy designs, because that Jetfire is beautiful as well.  Let's hope the upcoming Classics Jetfire toy takes a hint from Don's design here.

-After what some felt was a dull first arc, Stormbringer explodes here with action right off the bat.  The mystery of Thunderwing's first rampage; how it came about and how Cybertron ended up how it did, is nicely seeded through flashbacks in this issue.  Obviously there are many more questions still to be answered, but what we did see so far certainly gets a reader thinking.  No humans to get in the way, cameos galore, all robots all the time; this is what some would call an ideal Transformers storyline.

-I really started to get the feel of something big in the works here, especially compared to Infiltration.  Optimus Prime's almost casual reaction to the pulsewave transmission from Infiltration is almost akin to most fans' reaction to that story arc.  Yet it feels like we are supposed to feel this way; that Earth is only one foxhole in a war that spans countless planets.

-I liked the characterization that Optimus Prime received here; he's obviously been running this war for a long time now, he's weary, yet still dedicated to his goals.  Coupled with the flashbacks to a past alliance with Megatron, there are many shades of Generation 2's storyline here.  And he's clearly haunted by whatever past cataclysm Thunderwing caused on Cybertron, as it was a near-death experience for him.  With only one appearance yet in IDW's continuity, Prime already seems the deep and well-developed character he was in the old Marvel comics.

-I also really liked Jetfire's portrayal here, taking a bit of a lead from James McDonough's Jetfire in Dreamwave's Vol. 3 Gen 1 series.  He's a scientist, but also a capable leader and warrior.

-I'm glad Furman didn't limit his cast to just the popular usual bots in this series.  Seeing the Technobots as Jetfire's crew was welcome, along with the likes of Searchlight and Pincher working under Optimus Prime's command was a refreshing change from the reliance on first and second-year characters. 

-As you might be able to tell, I'm a fan of Thunderwing and I really like this new portrayal Furman has worked out for him.  He starts out as a Decepticon scientist, then apparently progresses to a point where he's gained godlike power and is going destroy Cybertron.  How Thunderwing transitioned to this point and his return to power will be a key part that I'm looking forward to learning about in later issues.  Using Bludgeon and some Decepticon Pretenders as a “cult” trying to apparently revive Thunderwing is also a nice touch.


Wreck and ROT!:

-A word bubble on the second page is misattributed to Afterburner.  The one that starts “I know.  That's why-” should have come from Nosecone, as he is responding to Jetfire's question.

-It's never quite made clear whose flashbacks we are seeing.  They are likely Optimus Prime's as some of the inner dialogue boxes focus him, but we don't find that out until we first see Optimus in the command center.

-“Vertiginous descents into my own personal purgatory”?  “The dark foreboding fracturing of my psyche”?  Geez, a bit heavy with the gothic phrasing there, Furman.


Final Judgment:

Now we're talking!  A strong start to the next storyline in IDW's new Gen 1 continuity.  If you'll notice on the cover, right above the UPC code, there is a number “7” printed.  This is probably indicating that this issue is supposed to be “7” after Infiltration's number 6, meaning we really do have a Transformers ongoing series again!  IDW just decided to rename and repackage each story arc for easier reference.  This is really a “Meanwhile on Cybertron” tale, but it certainly seems more significant thus far than what's happening on Earth!  Don's art is awesome as always and Furman turns in an engaging, yet foreboding script.  The exploration of a much larger part of the Transformer universe starts this issue and I can't wait to see the next part of this.  Peace.

A “Stormbringing” Thunderwing review