THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Transformers: Infestation Crossover

| #1 | #2 | |

Note: Infestation is part of IDW's multi-property crossover that involves zombies moving through the multiverse, one of the universes visited being the Transformers'. Only the Transformers Infestation issues are covered here.

Transformers: Infestation #1

2 February 2010 Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Art By: Nick Roche Colours By: Joana Lafuente Letters By: Robbie Robbins Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Bobby Curnow

Synopsis: A Cybertronian Shuttle crash-lands on the Las Vegas strip. Coming out of the shuttle is a swarm of zombiefied humans, giant robots and Sweeps that make short work of the local police. Coming out of the shuttle as well are former Dead Unvierse inhabitants Galvarton, Cyclonus, Scourge and the mysterious Bayonet. Galvatron screams for Optimus Prime and his Autobots to come… and they do, along with Skywatch agents. Galvatron demands that the Autobots surrender command to him, riling Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to attack Galvatron. Bayonet, Cyclonus and Scourge attack the Autobots, telling them that while their primary mission is to destroy the curse of unlife, the Autobots are in their way.

While fighting, Optimus Prime asks Galvatron to explain himself, but Galvatron orders Optimus to bow down before him. Kup leads the Skywatch crash-suits to battle the zombies, but a horrifying memory brings Kup back to the time when he was stranded and was assaulted by monsters, causing him to loose his cool and sanity, and drop his cy-gar. In battle, several of the Skywatch agents were infected and turned into zombies themselves. Bumblebee and several other Skywatch crash-suits manage to latch three inhibitors to Galvatron, forcing him to transform into his alternate mode. Cyclonus surrenders, but tells the Autobots that they are not their enemy this time. Noticing the Infestation as the larger threat, Optimus orders the Autobots to seal the city, and Prowl suggests a force dome. Wheeljack sets it up, sealing Las Vegas, but the dome can only hold for twenty hours.

Prowl and Optimus interrogate Galvatron, who explains that they had found a mass of frozen remains of organics and machines with the telltale energies of the Dead Unvierse, coming out of a distortion in space-time. They had brought it aboard their ship, until the dead mass awoke with unlife. During the ensuing battle, the ship was damaged, causing them to plummet to Earth. Galvatron had then determined that only with Optimus’ help can they end the plague. It was at this point that a crazed Kup stumbles towards them, screaming incoherently that nothing makes sense, that the truth is in disguise, and began to point a finger at Bayonet, asking where she popped out from. Kup screams that the threat is right in front of them… and Bayonet thrusts her hand through Kup’s torso, opening her face mask to reveal an organic face and calling herself ‘Britt’, who gives the Transformers a greeting from the Undermind.

Featured Transformers: Cyclonus, Galvatron, Scourge, Prowl, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Kup, Drift, Ratchet, Wheeljack
Notable Others: Zombies, Zombiefied Sweeps, Bayonet/Britt, Spike Witwicky, Skywatch Agents

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Transformers: Infestation#2

16 February 2010 Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Art By: Nick Roche Colours By: Joana Lafuente Letters By: Robbie Robbins Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Bobby Curnow

Synopsis: Britt has the Autobots and Galvatron’s crew at their knees with her powers, telling them that they cannot fight it, since technology cannot resist what is basically magic. As they begin to succumb to the Infestation, Britt shows Optimus Prime through the binding of thoughts of her origin. On another version of Earth, vampire covert operative Britt was bitten by a zombie while trying to block a zombie outbreak. The Undermind, the gestalt essence of the Infestation, called out to her, recognizing her potential for being doubly undead. The Undermind, able to obtain the abilities of those that had succumbed to the plague, learned of weaponized magic from Britt, and uses Britt to spread to other universes. A version of Britt, alongside the zombified humans and robots from her home dimension, ended up on this universe where they were found by Galvatron’s crew after floating in space for a few centuries. The Undermind’s power caused everyone to think that Britt was Bayonet, a Transformer they had known ever since, keeping up the façade of working with Galvatron to arrive on Earth, a planet ripe for the plucking.

Britt monologues on how foolish Galvatron was, and taunts Kup, whom she still has hanging from her arm. However, the half-mad Kup, driven to terror by seeing what he thinks to be monsters, manages to resist and open fire on Britt. This allows the other Transformers to break free from the mental hold and fight back against the zombie legions. The Autobots are overwhelmed, but Galvatron gloats to Optimus that they should’ve listened to him in the first place. Galvatron lobs the Heart of Darkness to destroy a large chunk of the Infestation, and they regroup with Bumblebee’s group at the other end of Vegas. However, Kup is left behind in the retreat and is zombified. Optimus and Galvatron argue over leadership and stuff, and Bumblebee tries to break them up. Prowl tells them that their technology is compromised since Britt can now hack into Kup’s memories… which she does, transforming into a Transdimensional Gate to open a way to Cybertron’s past, intent to send her zombie army to wipe out all of Transformers.

The Autobots and Galvatron’s crew attack, but Britt is able to copy their force fields as well. Prowl makes use of the protocols he had installed in Kup to bring the older Autobot back to his senses, something the other Autobots are surprised about. Prowl uses Kup’s instability (caused by the loss of his cy-gar) to hack and partition Kup’s brain from the virus. However, Kup remembers the Autobots he had killed during his time of madness, and is babbling in guilt. Prowl tells Optimus that he doesn’t think that Kup can destroy the portal, and Galvatron suggests that they tell Kup to change the coordinates. Kup is racked with guilt, but manages to finally convince himself to do what he has to do. Kup gives Britt new coordinates that Galvatron has supplied—way back to the very beginning of the Dead Unvierse where there is nothing for the Infestation to feed on. Trapped within Britt’s force field, all the zombies and Kup are sucked into the imploding portal. Galvatron offers the Autobots a chance to join him, which Bumblebee rejects without a second thought. Galvatron orders Jhiaxus to teleport them out and tells the Autobots that they stand against each other now.

Featured Transformers: Kup (blown up), Galvatron, Optimus Prime, Prowl, Cyclonus, Scourge (flashback and present), Ratchet (flashback and present), Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Drift, Jhiaxus, Galvatron’s Silhouetted Troops
Notable Others: Britt (blown up), Zombies (flashback and present), The Undermind (flashback), Skywatch Agents, Spike Witwicky

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

 

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