General Information
Synopsis: At Iacon, Grimlock orders the Dinobots to head to the central tower while he goes to fight Shockwave. Blitzwing is still there to defend his leader however, and the two cross swords. Meanwhile, Broadside is transporting Ironhide, Prowl, Bluestreak, Gears, Hound, Bumblebee and Mirage to a secret location. Once they arrive, they are introduced to Smokescreen, who has been assigned to take Prowl to yet, another secret location. Prowl agrees and Ironhide insists on going too. As the three walk, they follow tunnels normally used for waste disposal to get to the old Slave Trails. Along the way they see an Autobot symbol burned into a wall, which Smokescreen explains was done by a group of Autobots who helped to "wake up" much of Cybertron's population. Elsewhere, Optimus Prime awakes from stasis lock to find the Sharkticon staring at him! He lashes out but Blurr and Wheelie try to stop him. Hot Rod comes into the room, his blasters pointed at Prime. He explains the Sharkticon is actually an ally. Kup slaps Hot Rod in the back of the head for even pointing his guns at Prime. In Iacon, the Dinobots are making progress until something very big and dangerous stops them! Grimlock loses communication with them but before he can do anything about it, Ultra Magnus downs him with a missile! Grimlock then loses consciousness as Blitzwing stomps on him.
Back at the Resistance HQ, Kup shows Optimus Prime around, introducing him to the other Autobots and even showing him a Decepticon in captivity (Runamuck). He also explains that Wheelie is an orphan and that somehow he and Gnaw, the Sharkticon have formed a bond. He also introduces Hot Rod (formally), arcee and Blaster. Blaster explains that Shockwave has been sending out subliminal Suddenly, Springer arrives with Smokescreen and Ironhide. I presume Prowl is there too, but he is not shown in the panels. Ironhide and Kup share a happy reunion but it has to be cut short. Springer explains that the "Sentinels" have been activated - and that spells trouble for everyone!
Story: Mick must love Ironhide. He writes the character so well. Not just in his speech patterns, but also in the choice of words and actions. We see Ironhide being every bit as protective of Prowl (the "current leader") as he would be of Optimus. It's also a great moment to see Ironhide and Kup being so happy to see each other again (after all, they did fight together in "War Within", so we know they have a history together). Using Gnaw as an ally of the Autobots is a really nice touch. I never thought I'd actually feel sorry for a Sharkticon, but the frightened way he looks up at Prime and the way Wheelie treats him like a pet is just too cute for words. I actually felt bad for Gnaw when Prime hit him. Wow, there's something I never thought I'd write! On a related note, seeing Wheelie trying to bite Prime was hilarious. Hot Rod being overprotective of Arcee was a nice character touch. It was also to see Blaster so enthralled by Earth culture. While I did like Blaster's portrayal in Generation One comic book, he was a rather grim character who didn't have any of the love for Earth culture that was portrayed in the G1 cartoon. This Blaster seems to lean towards the G1 cartoon portrayal. The ending is a chilling one. Massive Guardian Robots (called "Sentinels" here) ready to stop any opposition. Obviously Shockwave's been doing some planning behind the scenes! Artwork: Strong visuals are one of Dreamwave's trademarks, and this issue is no different. A lot of panels here just jumped out of the page including:
Of particular note (although I'm not sure if it's a pencil, ink or color detail) are the scar marks on Grimlock when he faces Shockwave. They look really nice, gritty and real on the Dinobot commander. Another interesting art choice was making Grimlock and Blitzwing's swords both "light saber" type swords that have energy crackling through them. Neat little art tid-bits:
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