The Curtain

Leoric returns to New Prysmos for a tide-turning showdown with Virulina, while Galadria's team races the clock to stop the Talisman and save Cybertron.

1 Synopsis
2 Featured characters
3 Quotes
4 Notes
5 External links

Synopsis

As Leoric makes his way back to New Prysmos, he recalls his first command, leading a platoon of knights against a band of warlocks that were threatening the city of Valorak back on Prysmos. The mission went badly; Leoric underestimated the warlocks, and their magics turned the knights against one another. Though they were able to overcome the magic and defeat the warlocks, the rift that had been opened never healed, and the Visionaries split into the Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords—a schism that Leoric still blames himself for. In fleeing New Prysmos, Leoric has concluded he is failing his people once again, and now returns to set things right. He is met outside the city by the repentant Cryotek, who helps him sneak inside, and into the Darkling Lords' monastery. Leoric forgives Cryotek his transgressions, and with a tap of his totem, restores his comrade's armor colors to Spectral Knight blue.

At Leoric's command, Cryotek goes to gather up the other Spectral Knights who defected to the Darkling Lords, while Leoric himself frees Witterquick. He leaves the simpering Mortdred strung up, but the spell using the pair's lifeforces to accelerate the Talisman's movement is broken, buying the heroes the time they need. Leoric and Witterquick then address the knights Cryotek has gathered, and many are convinced by Cryotek's example to return to Leoric's side. His men back with him, Leoric marches on Virulina's throne room and engages her in battle, only to have her call upon her "chariot," the magically mutated Waspinator, to aid her. Leoric shifts to his lion form to continue the fight, pouncing atop Waspinator and wrestling Virulina to the ground. As they grapple, however, Virulina casts a spell that Merklynn has taught her that begins to drain the life right out of Leoric... only to find that Merklynn has betrayed her, as the spell has the same effect on her as well! Merklynn gloats as the two lay dying; they have played the parts he required of them, reuniting a divided Prysmos, and with their deaths, he will step in and take control, via his newest puppet, Arzon...

At the core of Cybertron, Galadria tackles Arzon to the ground just as he sinks his blade into Wheeljack's counter-wave bomb. As they fight, Wheeljack examines the bomb and finds that only the casing has been damaged by Arzon's strike—the bomb itself is still functional, but without the casing to act as an amplifier, it must now be moved closer to the Talisman in order to have an effect. Risking his own life, Ironhide grabs the bomb and leaps toward the Talisman, but the mysterious artifact's energy begins to rip him apart, and he collapses once he has reached his goal. Doing the only thing she can, Galadria casts a healing spell to try and save Ironhide from death... but unexpectedly, the emerald energy of the spell dances from Ironhide's body to the bomb just as it detonates, triggering an explosion of light that rips up through the ground, through New Prysmos, all the way to the surface of Cybertron, where it is visible from space.

One week later, Leoric and Virulina awaken in an infirmary in New Prysmos, fully healed from the effects of Virulina's spell. Galadria is there to greet Leoric, and explains what has happened: her healing spell somehow interacted with the bomb's carrier-wave and the Talisman, spreading rejuvenating energy across the planet. To Leoric's shock, he discovers that New Prysmos has been raised to the surface of Cybertron, and terrformed a hundred square miles around the city into lush, green wilderness.

Wheeljack and Breakdown finish checking over Waspinator, who has been reverted to normal, but still has some lingering magic in his system, and is holding a grudge. Next, Wheeljack gives Ironhide a clean bill of health, and the old security-bot is quick to get back to work, ascertaining any potential risks the new patch of organic grassland may pose to Cybertron. Tankor asks him if he wants to set up patrols around New Prysmos, but after a moment's reflection, Ironhide decides against the idea; Cybertronians and Prysmosians working together ended the fighting and achieved this unexpected compromise, and he would rather see the peace Kup died for succeed. Tankor decides he's going to try and learn magic, and Ironhide wishes him well with the universal greeting, in memory of Kup.

Back in New Prysmos, Leoric forgives Arzon, and the two men agree to work together to forge ahead. Someone who is not deserving of Leoric's forgiveness, however, is Merklynn, who has been imprisoned, his magicks mostly neutralized by counter-wave generators supplied by the Autobots. Cindarr brings Merklynn a meal, assuring him that secret supporters among the Darkling Lords are working on a plan to free him, but Merklynn dejectedly tells him to forget about it. He has used his little remaining magic to turn a puddle into a scrying pool, and having seen the future Merklynn now knows that there isn't enough time to do anything.

Unicron is coming.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Spectral Knights	Darkling Lords	Others
Wheeljack (9) Ironhide (24)	Waspinator (17) Fat Tankor (19)	Leoric (1) Cryotek (2) Craggor (3) Witterquick (4) Galadria (7) Ectar (8) Slywire (12) Ramak (13) Hydron (14)	Mortdred (5) Arzon (6) Lexor (10) Cravex (11) Virulina (15) Cindarr (20)	Merklynn (16) Breakdown (18) Unicron (21)

Quotes

"It's a new world out there, Wheeljack. I've gotta make sure it's a good one."

—Ironhide

"There is still a chance, my lord. There is still time."
"There isn't any time left. No time left at all. I've heard the call. I've seen the future. I've seen the future die."

—Cindarr and Merklynn

Notes

Transformers references

Unicron approaches! The chaos-bringer was awakened in First Strike #6, the same issue that introduced Merklynn and the Visionaries concepts into the IDW universe, and he is about to strike in the upcoming Transformers: Unicron crossover event, the first issue of which was released on Free Comic Book Day 2018, just a few days after the publication of this issue.

Visionaries references

Leoric refers to a city on Prysmos named "Valorak." The Spectral Knights' city in classic Visionaries media was named "New Valarak."
Among the Spectral-Knights-turned-Darkling-Lords that Leoric convinces to return to the side of good are Ramak, recognizable by his silly giant moose-antler helmet, and Hydron, identifiable by his dolphin totem. Both are characters from the unreleased second wave of Visionaries toys.
In the same panel, in the right-foreground, is a generic (?) Visionary with a totem based on the symbol from Lexor's power staff from classic media, the creature of "invulnerability."
The rhyming incantations Virulina and Galadria recite to perform their spells of sickness and healing, respectively, derive from the short-lived Marvel Comics Visionaries series. Such rhymes were a big part of Visionaries lore; every action figure had one, which was used to either activate their power staff, or if they did not have a staff, their vehicle (Leoric's rhyme was previously heard in IDW continuity being used by Merklynn in First Strike #6). The two female knights, however, did not have toys, and the animated series gave them no special powers, so they were left without rhymes until the fifth issue of the comic book, which belatedly granted them holographic shields with the powers of healing and sickness, and rhymes with which to call upon them. For their use here, they are slightly modified; Galadria's originally referred to "warmth of heart," which she changes to "warmth of spark" for her Cybertronian patient, while Virulina's is changed from "strike down my enemy with disease revile" to "strike down my foe with corruption revile," which seems to have been done purely because it better fits the cadence of the rhyme.

Errors

Wait, hang on... Leoric says he doesn't free Mortdred because he did betray them, like the end of issue #3 implied? So why is he strung up with Witterquick, then?
In page 1, panel 2, "warlocks numbers" is missing a possessive apostrophe after "warlocks".

Other notes

Originally intended for release at the end of April 2018, this issue arrived a week late, at the start of May.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Virulina versus Leoric, by Fico Ossio
Cover B: Virulina, Breakdown, Ironhide, and Wheeljack, by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Retailer incentive cover: Cindarr and Tankor, by Brendan Cahill and Lauren Bennett