Rising Storm issue 2

« Transformers: Rising Storm #2 »
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 30, 2011
Writer	John Barber
Art	Carlos Magno
Colors	Aburtov and Graphikslava
Letters	Chris Mowry
Editor	Andy Schmidt
Cover	Brian Rood Carlos Magno
Continuity	Live-action film series

The history of Shockwave is revealed, and the Decepticons launch an all-out attack on Bumblebee and Sam to reclaim Brains!

Synopsis

After Optimus Prime launched the AllSpark into space, and the elite of Megatron and Prime's forces then set out to recover it, Cybertron was left at the mercy of Megatron's most lethal subordinate: Shockwave. Over the centuries, Shockwave continued to do what he did best, killing Autobots in the war over what little energon the two sides had left. In the early days of the twentieth century, Shockwave and his forces were engaged in a battle against troops under Elita-One's command when everything changed: mere seconds after killing Chromia, a cosmic "scream" resonated throughout Shockwave, a signal from the AllSpark, which had been found buried on Earth by humans. Leaving command to Dreadwing, Shockwave departed for Earth in an impossibly fast ship, streaking towards Earth at a velocity so uncontrollable that he wound up crash-landing in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908.

Knocked into stasis lock by the impact, Shockwave remained offline for years, and his body was eventually found by the Soviet military in 1919. The Soviets kept him on ice for decades, but failed to accomplish anything with the technology his body offered them until a spy of theirs in the United States revealed that the American military had captured Megatron in a similar manner. Eventually, through the machinations of Soundwave (drawn to the planet by the mysterious discovery of something unknown on its moon) and Starscream, Megatron was freed, and he came to deduce that Shockwave was on Earth, still captive at the abandoned Siberian gulag. Liberating his loyal follower, Megatron brought Shockwave to his staging ground in Namibia, Africa, where he was nurturing the hatchlings recovered from the Nemesis.

That was two days ago.

Now, in Philadelphia, Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee have brought the renegade Decepticon brain unit to Sam's college, where Wheelie realizes that this "Brains" is a scrap drone like him. Wheelie aids in getting everyone on the same page by helping Brains to understand the concept of organic life, but just as Brains starts to explain his backstory, Barricade comes smashing through the wall, intent on recovering the little 'bot. Bumblebee holds him off, but as Sam, Wheelie and Brains try to flee, their find their escape cut off by a huge Decepticon attack force led by Starscream. Sam contacts NEST for aid, and the Autobots quickly mobilize: the injured Arcee insists that she come with Prime's strike force, while Jolt's team of much-chagrined rookies are ordered to stay behind on Diego Garcia to guard Fearswoop, and Galloway co-ordinates a cover story (much to Epps and Lennox's relief).

Back in Philadelphia, Sonar gets up close and personal with Bumblebee, but is suddenly felled by the flaming energy-blade of an unseen combatant. From the smoke and flames, Wheeljack emerges to introduce himself to Sam, along with his invisible blade-wielding ally Mirage, who now fades into view and dares the Decepticons to face him!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• The circumstances of Chromia's death are revealed, and her remains are shown being recovered by Flatline, filling in the last missing piece in this comic's re-examination of the sisters and their recreation into their tripartite Revenge of the Fallen form, as seen in Tales of the Fallen.
• The PSP edition of Transformers The Game implied that the Decepticons' numerous one-eyed drones were loyal to Shockwave. That also seems to be the case here, as Shockwave is shown to give Dreadwing "command" while he is absent, explaining how Dreadwing came to be leader of these drones, as he was in The Reign of Starscream.
• The human who hands over the information to the Soviets is Joe Danco from issue #5 of Sector 7, here revealed to have survived his possible death in that issue. Guess things bode well for William Simmons, then!
• In Revenge of the Fallen, a newspaper says that Shockwave was spotted in 2009, but according to this comic Shockwave was not active in 2009 and wasn't released by Megatron till after the events of Nefarious. While the paper was just a doofy easter egg in the film, John Barber would go on to integrate it into the story with Convergence #4, which explains that the newspaper article was based on leaked Russian documents and that the Decepticons found it and used it to track down Shockwave.
• Following on from the events of Sector 7, and in accordance with the Ghosts of Yesterday novel, Megatron is shown to have been successfully moved into Hoover Dam by 1969.
• Wheelie identifies himself as being built north of the docks in Burthov, which was introduced back in Defiance.
• Wheelie also notes that Sam has just broken up with Mikaela Banes. This, of course, is because Megan Fox does not appear in Dark of the Moon, but we guess this doesn't bode well for any kind of thoughtful or meaningful discourse on the nature of her character's absence...
• Recognizable among the squad of Decepticons that attack Sam and company on page 16 are Bludgeon, Brimstone and Tankor (sporting his Carlos Magno redesign from Nefarious); less so are Storm Surge and Sonar, the latter of whom made a virtually-unidentifiable one-panel appearance in Nefarious #5, hilariously miscolored in purple, orange, and red.
• The twin-rotor helicopter arriving on page 18 is Ruination from The Veiled Threat, who briefly appeared in the previous issue; Magno follows through on the book's description of him by making him look very much like Incinerator. The Apache helicopter, meanwhile, is his buddy Blademaster, also from The Veiled Threat, making his first pictorial appearance.

Real-life references

• The blast Shockwave makes when he arrives on Earth is the mysterious real-life Tunguska event; however see "Errors" below.
• Sam's college was unnamed and its location not specified in the finished Revenge of the Fallen movie, but the novelization of the feature and The Veiled Threat identified it as Princeton University, New Jersey, one of the two universities that the scenes were filmed at. This comic, however, places it in Philadelphia (presumably making it the University of Philadelphia)—not a random choice, but based on the facts that the other filming location for the movie's college scenes was the University of Philadelphia, and that the graveyard Sam and Optimus Prime meet in during the film is also in Philadelphia. Makes a bit more sense to us!

Errors

• Elita-One and Chromia are depicted in their Revenge of the Fallen bodies a century ago. While this isn't strictly an error for Chromia, it does stand out as odd for Elita, who appeared in her original first-movie body in The Reign of Starscream, which takes place after this story, implying either an artist error, or the possibility that she switched back and forth between forms.
• In Dark of the Moon, Brains claims Mikaela was mean to them and that he didn't like her, but in this comic Brains meets up with Sam and Wheelie AFTER Mikaela broke up with him.
• Thundercracker is shown to be on Cybertron with Shockwave, but in The Reign of Starscream he is part of Starscream's crew and waiting on Mars during the events of the first movie.
• "Tunguska" is not an actual place or region in Siberia; the historical event was named after the river that it took place near. The area is also a taiga, not a tundra.

Covers (2)

• Cover A: Art by Brian Rood of Bumblebee.
• Cover RI: Art by Carlos Magno, with colors by Aburtov and Graphikslava, of Barricade attacking Bumblebee.

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