Transformers Comic issue 14



'''The Reign of Starscream begins! (No, not that one.)'''

Transformers #14 was published by Titan Magazines in July 2008.

Magazine Credits
Editor: Steve White Art Editor: Danny Preston Deputy Editor: Den Patrick Publishing Manager: Darryl Curtis

Aftermath Part 1

 * Script: Simon Furman
 * Art: Gary Erskine
 * Colours: Kris Carter
 * Lettering: Jimmy Betancourt/Comicraft

Savannah, Georgia: the Autobots survey the big smoking crater where the All Spark used to be. While rebuking Strongarm for inopportune jokes, Optimus Prime points out that the crisis is still ongoing. The Decepticon occupation of Earth has done too much damage to the planet and its people, and humanity is now frightened and paranoid. Arcee points out the Autobots saved Earth — but Optimus points out they brought the war here. The humans won't distinguish between the two factions...

Meanwhile, Starscream and Dreadwing are off doing a Bludgeon: any attempt by the humans to rebuild the infrastructure in America is going to be bombed flat, starting with a refinery in Providence. The humans need to realise the Decepticons are here to stay!

Over in a still-devastated Washington, D.C., Tom Banachek is arguing with the Vice-President that they should engage in dialogue with the Autobots. The VP refuses: to America and the world, all Transformers are the enemy, and he intends to take back the initiative.

In the Savannah medical shelter, Mikaela Banes is shown that dozens of people, previously healthy, have fallen drastically ill for no reason. The only answer the doctor can give is that the Transformers have done something to the planet, and the illnesses are just a symptom. Outside the shelter, Mikaela meets up with Bumblebee, a source of fear and terror for the doctor. She tells Bumblebee that people just need time to adjust to the Transformers, but she doesn't know about the large build-up of American tanks nearby...

Meanwhile, Skyblast has found a tiny fragment of the All Spark that survived the explosion — a fragment that could concievably possess all of the original's power. Optimus decides to isolate it, out of concern it may have been corrupted by exposure to Megatron, and Ratchet is made its guardian.

That night, Armorhide and Elita-One stand on sentry duty: however, the idea of looking in more than one direction is a strange concept, and they don't notice the Decepticon attack force until it's flying past them. The jets begin blitzing the Savannah Shelter, and the Autobots scramble to protect it while Mikaela helps evacuate the patients. But this is all playing into Starscream's hands — via an implant, he controls the mind of a tank regiment commander and is having him lead the regiment into Savannah to kill every Transformer there...

Articles & features

 * Top Gear: adverts for and a chance to win Classics Cliffjumper, a Thundercats DVD boxset and, impressively, a Japanese re-release of the original 1984 Jazz.
 * Character Profile: Grimlock (circa the Beast Wars strips). "The dinosaur king of the Autobots proves why he's such a big hit with the girls."
 * Artobots: Fan art section.
 * Star Screams: Letters, art and photos from readers, answered by Starscream.
 * Two posters the cover image and Animated Bumblebee.

Free Gift

 * "Free Robot Blaster!" — a disk-shooting toy gun.

Reprints
Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.
 * Megatron Origin, part 1a (7 pages)
 * Beast Wars: The Ascending part 1a (7 pages)

Errors

 * Page 5: "the ''Decpeticon's".
 * Mikaela stopped wearing her spy clothes.

Strip
"The damage done by Megatron and his Decepticons to this world is vast, the wounds are too deep to ever properly heal. The very foundations upon which this society was built have been undermined, excavated. Everything now, from the ground beneath their feet to the sun that warms them... is alien, unknown! Including us."
 * Optimus Prime

"We owe Optimus Prime and the other Autobots our lives and liberty. If it weren't for them, we'd all be dead or slave labour. They saved us all." "Did they? Or were they just saving themselves? ...they came to our planet in secret, disguised! That's a covert invasion in my book."
 * Tom Banachek versus the Vice President of the United States

"Sentry duty I can handle. Listening to you bitch about it day in, day out is blowing my primary cerebral fuse!"
 * Elita-One hates Amorhide

"Oh god — it never ends!"
 * Random civilian

Star Screams
"I approve, Thomas, only a thoughtless general squanders resources — and so it goes with your planet. Perhaps when you pitiful apes realise you can't eat toxic waste and breathe smog you'll sort your act out!"

"As for why the Decepticons had to lose [in the film], that's a relative term. I survived, so it was in one vital sense a complete victory for the Decepticons..."

"We're pleased to inform you that your name has been added to the Decepticon Extermination list. Your filthy Stone Age sympathy for Autobots and Maximals has left be with no further option than to render you down into coolant. We will visit you shortly."

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh come on — there's always room for a MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Items of note

 * While alternate universe's showing Decepticon dominance and Decepticon rampages across Earth have been done before in the comics, this is the first to show a long-term rebuilding process and the after-effects: cities are still damaged, infrastructure is being rebuilt, medical shelters are in major urban areas.
 * Quite rapidly between issues, a provisional US government has been formed in Washington and infrastructure is being gradually rebuilt.
 * Tom and Mikaela are well-known, presumably due to their resistance activities: Tom is part of the government, while Mikaela's in a position of authority at the Savannah Shelter.
 * The Decepticon base is six miles north-east of Marathon in the Florida Keys.
 * You think you know about the Transformers, kids? Think again! This Generation One thing is a "whole different version of the mythos you've come to know and love!", and everything you know about Transformers will be turned on its head! I hope this shocking new take doesn't ruin the franchise!