Series: War Within Volume Two: The Dark Ages
Issue Number: 6 of 6
Cover Date: April 2004
Published by: Dreamwave Productions
Writer: Simon Furman
Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Erik Sander, Rob Armstrong
Colours: Alan Wang
Letters: Ben Lee
Cover: Don Figueroa

Summary: Shockwave’s Decepticons attack Bludgeon’s men as they guard the Fallen’s den. Swoop and the LSC arrive on-scene, transmitting data on the battle to Prowl. Prowl promises to send help, while Swoop and the LSC move in. When Bugly is blasted by the ‘Cons, Bludgeon flees, leaving Mindwipe to be shot point-blank by Shockwave. Bludgeon flees underground, only to be dropped by a teleporting Skywarp. The combined group heads into the Well.

The Fallen attempts to use Spark energy from his four prisoners to crack open the Well of All Sparks. Jetfire and Grimlock awaken and discuss what is going on. Jetfire attempts to talk Grimlock into damping his power, but Grim would rather use his energy to break free of his bonds. Jets convinces Grimlock to escape with Blitzwing and Hot Spot. With help from Prowl, Jetfire uses a containment field to contain the Fallen and the spark energy. Before the field is up, Primus somehow appears and obliterates the Fallen.

Shockwave and Prowl arrive, and they agree to seal up the Well until ‘all are one’. Grimlock tells Jetfire that he might have misjudged him, which I guess is as close to an apology as Jetfire’s ever going to get. While Jetfire muses about a possible bigger threat, Unicron appears off in the distance.

Characters Featured: Bugly, Mindwipe, Shockwave, Bludgeon, Trypticon, Ravage, Soundwave, Shrapnel, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Thrust, the Fallen, Jetfire, Grimlock, Swoop, Prowl, Hound, Bumblebee, Trailbreaker, Sideswipe, Snarl, Slag, Sludge, Hot Spot, Blitzwing, Primus, Unicron

Errors: How does Shockwave know where Bludgeon & co. are? What ‘crimes against the planet’ is he talking about? Surely he can’t know what the Fallen is up to?

Shockwave and Bludgeon’s men are fighting in Protihex, but Prowl calls it Altihex.

Prowl says he’ll send backup to the fight, but we never see any evidence that he did.

Who is Slag decking as Skywarp teleports back? Why is he hitting him? Why don’t the Decepticons notice or care? Why is Slag white instead of dark grey?

Review: This was not what I was expecting, I’ll say that. I’d thought we’d see the Fallen win, cracking open the Well and starting Unicron’s four-million year long journey towards Cybertron, but what we got was significantly different. In many ways, it was worse, in others it was better.

First off, the start of the issue confused the hell out of me. Since Simon didn’t bother to let us know how Shockwave found Bludgeon, I can only assume that Shockers followed the Trinity to the Protectobots base, then back to the Well. Then he must have gone back to his base and gathered troops, then he came back and attacked. But I shouldn’t have to extrapolate that much of the plot; that’s Furman’s job, dammit!

Wildman’s pencils are about a million times better here than in issue five, but the colouring has taken a turn for the worst. Everyone looks way too ‘gritty’, while several characters (like the proto-Dinobots and that guy Slag smacks) are nearly unrecognisable because of incorrect colouring at some points. Very few panels look sloppy, and all of the characters have very expressive faces (save for Shockwave, which is understandable for several reasons).

I also have to ask how Jetfire knew that a containment field would do anything. It could be a Primus-granted hunch or at totally desperate and probably futile act of self-sacrifice, but to me it reads as another of Furman’s ‘happening for the sake of happening’ plot conveniences. Also, it’s incredibly unbelievable that the Autobase can project a containment field that far away. If they can, why not just contain the Decepticons whenever they come out to play?

On a different tack, the factions agreeing to seal up the Well, combined with Shockwave’s actions in the second G1 miniseries, makes me wonder whether ol’ one-eye managed to find his way into the Well during his reign. It could potentially account for some of his actions then, I suppose.

When Jetfire was raving at about a ‘far bigger war’ the end, Unicron makes an appearance at the end, among the stars behind Jets. I guess DW doesn’t trust us to figure out what Jets was talking about on our own…

On a totally unrelated note, giving the letters page to Megatron, (ala the old UK comics and their habit of having characters do the letters) was a master stroke. It was a nice nod to the old series, while also being a humorous break from the blithering fanboy love letters that DW publish in their letters columns. Similarly, the little ‘From the Desk of Megatron’ blurb on the Wavelengths page was one of the funniest things DW’s ever done…well, aside from telling us that Pat Lee has talent, anyway…

Overall, this is a bit above average for Furman’s end stories. No one was too out of character, and the plot avoided spinning totally out of control. Even though bits of it were implausible, it still all made sense, which is more than I can say for many of his endings (see: Time Wars, Target: 2006, Marvel US#80, etc…). Combined with Wildman’s return to form, this is an enjoyable but mediocre end to an enjoyable but mediocre series, albeit one that contained a few flares of brilliance (in issues two and three, mostly).

Story: 5/10
Dialogue: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

review by Warcry