Stormbringer issue 2

« The Transformers: Stormbringer #2 »
Um, is this The War Within?
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 9, 2006
Cover date	August 2006
Story by	Simon Furman
Art by	Don Figueroa
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Robbie Robbins
Edits by	Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	2006-7

The avatar of doom awakens.

Synopsis

On the distant organic world of Nebulos, the local inhabitants are going about their daily business until a gigantic shadow looms over the peaceful cityscape...

A few hours before, in the depths of Cybertron, a conscious Jetfire is interrogated by his captor, the Decepticon Bludgeon. Bludgeon has gathered a team of like-minded 'bots to reawaken the dormant Thunderwing and accomplish through mysticism what science could not: if they destroy enough worlds, Bludgeon reasons, then their sacrifice will appease the "spirit" of Cybertron, allowing their ravaged world to return to its former glory.

Horrified by Bludgeon's mad plan, Jetfire pleads with his captor, reminding him that Thunderwing's rampage was responsible for the devastation of their world in the first place. Bludgeon counters that Jetfire is just as responsible for what happened to their world: Thunderwing foresaw what was coming and was dismissed by his peers, and now Bludgeon and his cadre will finish what Thunderwing started. Bludgeon reveals the next stage of his plan to his prisoner: using the unconscious Technobots as raw material for the Thunderwing's infamous "polydermal grafting process:" the unstable upgrade that drove its creator insane. As Bludgeon's followers gather, their leader, shrugging off Jetfire's protests, proclaims that, soon, they'll all be so much more...

In the meantime, Optimus Prime receives a report regarding the disappearance of the Calabi-Yau. When Prime realizes that the vessel crashed near the infamous Thunderhead Pass, he orders his aide Dogfight to call up the toughest group of Autobots on the roster: the Wreckers.

On the embattled world of Varas Centralus, Wrecker leader Springer receives Prime's transmission as the Autobot commandos prepare to dig in and lay siege to the local Decepticon siege armature. The battle is cut short when Springer relays Prime's orders to his unit: they're pulling out and heading back to Cybertron.

Using the energon pocket detected by the Calabi-Yau, Bludgeon commences restoring power to Thunderwing, despite Jetfire's protests. Bludgeon reveals that he's not going to directly control Thunderwing; rather, he'll use an axis cradle to link himself to Thunderwing's blank neural processor. Rather than puppet the comatose Decepticon directly, Bludgeon will give hints and directional prompts to Thunderwing, pointing him toward the sacrificed planets. The rest will be left to Thunderwing's own instincts. Hoping to make one last attempt at stopping Bludgeon, Jetfire easily breaks free of his restraints and overpowers one of his captors, but he's quickly electrocuted by Finback and dragged off to become raw material for Bludgeon's polydermal grafting experiments...

Aboard the Wrecker's starship Xantium, Springer holds a brief meeting with Optimus Prime as the Autobot leader journeys to their staging ground on Luna Two. Springer, doubtful about coming out on top against Thunderwing is adamant that the Autobot leader simply destroy Cybertron entirely. Though hesitant, Prime hesitantly tells the Wrecker commander that he'll consider it... but flashes back to their last battle against Thunderwing, when Megatron advocated the same tactic. Prime's assistant Dogfight is eager to get into the action, but Prime tells him that he'll be lucky to come out the other side feeling that way.

On the surface of Cybertron, Nosecone and Afterburner leave their escape pod and make their way across the surface of Cybertron and take shelter inside a storage bunker, but the cosmic radiation plays havoc with their systems and they are rounded up by a pair of Centurion drones.

On Nebulos, the local Decepticon infiltration unit picks up something big and powerful exiting foldspace. The people of the planet look to the sky and flee in fear, for the apocalypse has arrived—and its name is Thunderwing!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"The polydermal abrasion process is long, painful, and arduous, Jetfire. You'll have plenty of time to reflect... on your general lack of faith."

— Bludgeon doesn't like atheists

"I, ah, just wanted to say what an honor it is to serve alongside you on this mission. I'm very excited by the opportunity."
"Excited? Let us hope, Dogfight... that when, one way or another, this is all over...that sentiment prevails."

— Dogfight and Optimus Prime

Notes

Continuity notes

• The Autobots' vessel is not named here, but will later be identified as the Ark-27.
• Bludgeon's team is made up entirely of the Wave 1 and 2 Decepticon Pretenders... except for Bugly and Submarauder. Bugly would eventually be revealed as a former member of Bludgeon's cult in 2017, when Revolutionaries #5 told his story!
• The siege mode armature was first explained in Infiltration #4, which outlined its significance in the Decepticons' standardized infiltration protocol.
• First appearances: Springer, Roadbuster, Topspin, Broadside, Whirl, Sandstorm, Scoop, and Twin Twist; Sureshot, Dogfight, and Backstreet; Darkwing, Dreadwind, Ruckus, Skullcruncher, Thrust, Roadgrabber and Crankcase.

Transformers references

• The organic planet of Nebulos first appeared in the Marvel comic series, a planet whose inhabitants were responsible for inventing the symbiotic binary bonding process that led to Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters. The native Nebulans are depicted with green skin and yellow eyes, hewing closer to their cartoon depictions that appeared in the truncated Season 4 of the original cartoon.
• Jetfire and Scoop both swear by Primacron, creator of Unicron from the original cartoon. As the author did not want to use Primus nor Unicron in this universe (though later authors would go on a different path), Primacron was subbed in as an alternate being to swear by.
• It shouldn't come as a surprise Thunderwing, Bludgeon, and Bludgeon's followers are all Generation 1 Pretender characters; the "grafting process" that drove Thunderwing to madness is a re-imagining of the "Pretender shells" that was one of the primary gimmicks in 1988. That said, Bludgeon and his crew have received significant makeovers; their robot modes have been redesigned to incorporate features from their Pretender shells, which they have yet to obtain.
• The Wreckers! The Autobots' go-to team for blowing stuff up was originally created for the Marvel UK comics, utilizing various characters and toys that had not been taken up by the US stories. Furman brings his creation back here with virtually the same lineup, adding Scoop as a new addition to the roster.
• The Centurion droids are based off the automated defense mechanisms that appeared in the "The Key to Vector Sigma" two-parter episodes. Here, they are reimagined as a mundane security system rather than the secret guardians of the planet's core that they were in their debut. With their shoulder-mounted cannons, they bear a passing resemblance to the other Centurion from the Marvel comics, which was also a non-sentient war robot.

Errors

• The inside cover of issue #2, solicited for August 2006, shows the publish date of the issue as June 2006, one month before the last issue.
• Springer radios Bluestreak to relay battle orders... but just last issue, Bluestreak was hanging around in the Autobots' command post.
• On page 16, Jetfire's spaceship is misspelled Calibi-Yau. On pages 4 and 5, and on pages 2, 4, and 12 of Stormbringer issue 1 the ship is called the Calabi-Yau, its official name.
• Nosecone's last sentence on page 16 is missing its concluding period.

Other trivia

• Cover A depicts a large number of Autobots and Decepticons in conflict with Thunderwing, likely a literal or figurative representation of the Battle of Thunderhead Pass. In practice, it would actually be several years before some of the depicted Transformers were introduced in IDW continuity.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Prime's Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons vs Thunderwing wraparound cover by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham. This cover can be combined with similar ones from the other three issues to form a giant battle scene. This cover/section of the large image seems to represent the Transformers who tangled with Thunderwing in the past, other than Optimus Prime himself.
• Cover B: Half colored Thunderwing wraparound cover by Don Figueroa and ???
• Cover RI-A: Cover A uncolored

• 

  Thunderwing likes Neon.

• 

  Thunderwing—that's hot! Even without color!

• 

  Cover RI-A

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Reprints

In addition to collections of the full series.

• N/A