« The Transformers: Stormbringer #1 »
Thunderwing—that's hot!
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 19,2006
Cover date	July 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

An unidentified energy source is discovered on a long abandoned world... Cybertron.

Synopsis

Optimus Prime is a 'bot haunted by millennia of war: even now, centuries later, he's unable to forget the horrific images of an apocalyptic figure rising from the flames—a monster, he remembers, that they were responsible for creating.

In the present day, the crew of theAutobot science vesselCalabi-Yau arrive over a dead, lifeless planet: their home world ofCybertron.Nosecone reveals to his captainJetfire that theCalabi-Yau has detected something completely unexpected: an energy source, 700 years after their world was declared uninhabitable.Afterburner confirms his shipmate's theory, and the crew assemble to analyze these findings. Nosecone confirms that this anomalous energy source is, in fact,energon, a pocket of leftover fuel, he postulates, that's been contaminated by exotic material from somewhere else in the galaxy after the destruction of Cybertron's atmosphere. Jetfire is intrigued by the idea that Cybertron could be gradually healing itself from "what was done," and decides to take some crew members to investigate further.

TheCalabi-Yau touches down over a rubble-strewn canyon as Jetfire,Strafe,Scattershot, andLightspeed disembark. The four Autobots are glad to have returned to Cybertron after centuries away, but their home has changed greatly in their absence: radiation storms scour the planet, and the Autobots are forced to adjust their personal shield harmonics just to stay alive in the wasteland. The radiation plays havoc with their instrument readouts, making it impossible to track the energon signature from the surface; Jetfire radios theCalabi-Yau, back in orbit, so Afterburner can track it from above. As he does so, however, the group comes to a massive ravine:Thunderhead Pass, the place where it "all fell apart..."

On Cybertron, many years ago,Megatron pulls Optimus Prime out of the rubble. Their mutual adversary has breached their siege walls, and Megatron tells his old enemy to get up and fight, because it's now or never for the both of them.

At theAutobot Orbital Command Hub, Optimus Prime receives a message fromProwl's unit onEarth. It informs him that theDecepticoninfiltration unit has enactedsiege mode prematurely (as seen inInfiltration #3). Prime ordersSearchlight to keep him informed of the situation while, despite his misgivings, he thinks back to that "adversary..."

As the Autobot explorers deploy their scientific equipment and set up a probe,Scattershot grows concerned about the possible effects their snooping will have. Jetfire has his own doubts about the situation, but he's adamant that they must do all they can do to prevent any similar disaster from happening again. Indeed, Jetfire thinks back to how he and the others ignored all the warnings...

In a holographic conference,Decepticon scientistThunderwing has messaged Cybertron's top minds, both Autobot and Decepticon, to discuss the future. TheGreat War and its need for resources has taken its toll on the planet, and the lack of energon, contraction of the planet's core, and the dissolution of its atmosphere has ledBludgeon to conclude that their homeworld is, in effect, dying.Soundwave rejects Thunderwing's hypothesis, and Thunderwing tells him that he can either follow his lead or die when Cybertron can no longer support life.

Comin' out of nowhere, drivin' like rain; Stormbringer dance on the thunder again!

The Autobot survey team launches a probe into the depths of Thunderhead Pass; as they prepare to move out in advance of an oncoming particle storm, Lightspeed is blasted by an unseen attacker and taken out of commission, and the other three Autobots try to get their bearings before Scattershot realizes the truth: their enemies are invisible! In orbit, Nosecone and Afterburner try to restore contact with their comrades, until a missile volley launched from Cybertron destroys theCalabi-Yau as the two Autobots scramble for an emergency escape pod.

During the Cybertronian apocalypse, Autobot and Decepticon are united against a mysterious, flame-wreathed figure: the avatar of the catastrophe. The combined might of the Transformers is ineffectual against it; in the end, the planet itself seems to swallow up the figure. From his position aboard the command hub, Optimus wonders if their sin can stay buried... and Jetfire, waking up deep beneath the surface of Cybertron, gets the answer, as he discovers a group of strange mechanoids worshiping a massive, inert winged figure—a figure they call "Thunderwing!"

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"We'll need to rotate personal shield harmonics just to maintain the mostbasic epidermal integrity.Hardly what I'd call a pleasant stroll down Memory Lane."

—Strafe

"I seethe end. But the shuddering, lurching instant brings scant comfort. For I know, deep down... itnever ends."

—Optimus Prime

Notes

Continuity notes

• Our first look at Cybertron—it is a dark, hellish wasteland with enormous killer storms, constant lightning, and an utterly ruined surface.
• Optimus Prime is seen here receivingIronhide's secret transmission, which was beamed to the Autobot leader duringInfiltration #3.
• The Matrix makes its first blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in IDW continuity during Optimus Prime's first flashback to the past; the way it's depicted inside Prime's chest panel is possibly a visual homage to Furman and Figueroa's work inThe War Within.

Transformers references

• Cybertron being an energy-starved wasteland hearkens back to theoriginal Generation 1 cartoon; here, however, Cybertron is reimagined as being so inhospitable that it's fundamentally incapable of supporting Transformer life. A similar backstory found its way into the development of the laterAligned continuity family.
• When Jetfire, who normally uses his cartoon-and-comic-accurate humanoid face, sets foot on Cybertron, the visored, masked appearance of his toy is reimagined as a protective helmet. Jetfire's design here would be the first glimpse at the design for what would becomeClassics Jetfire. The fans rejoiced... and complained.
• While IDW's debutInfiltration mini-series had a reader-friendly 1984-based cast,Stormbringer does a deeper dive into the franchise's history. Cast members include characters drawn from the ranks ofPretenders,Omnibots,Action Masters,Throttlebots, and more.
• Furman reuses a lot of elements from "Another Time & Place" in this issue, including:
  • Prime reflecting on a great evil from the past, with a dollop of"it never ends!" sprinkled throughout
  • Autobots ambushed and kidnapped by a team led by Bludgeon
  • An Autobot awakening to the chant of the resuscitated great evil.

Errors

Twincast? Twinblast? Whatever.

• On the cover, Jetfire sports Autobot symbols from a fan-made font, one that erroneously gives the symbol three hashes on each side of the forehead instead of two.
• The placement of symbols is particularly bad in this issue, with the contours rarely conforming to the contours of the surface they're placed on. In fact, the symbols on Jetfire are so badly photoshopped in they actually erase some of Don Figueroa's pencilling near the edges of the symbols.
• Blaster can be seen aboard the Autobot Orbital Command Hub; while not an error at the time of printing, the laterSpotlight: Blaster would establish a history that's irreconcilable with this cameo. AuthorSimon Furman, tongue firmly in cheek, would later "fix" this mistake by declaring that this 'bot here is Blaster'stwin brother,Bluster.
• In the flashback on page 7, Megatron's chest is missing the "squiggle" design seen in all the other flashbacks featuring him.
• On page 19, all three word balloons are attributed to Afterburner, though they read like they should be attributed to Afterburner, Nosecone, and then Afterburner again. This error was corrected when the issue was published in trade paperback.
• Optimus's narration on page 20 is missing a "we", reading "There is no hiding from it, from what did - and didn't - do."

Other trivia

• The Matrix appearing in Optimus Prime's chest was something of an error at the time ofStormbringer's initial publication;Simon Furman's original pitch for the Matrix was that it had vanished into history withNova Prime. Utimately,later writers would overrule this pitch, while Phase Two of the IDW comics introduced a definitive history of the artifact, so it's all good now.
• The first few pages of this story were reprinted as part of aFree Comic Book Day issue byIDW Publishing onMay 6,2006.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Jetfire and the Technobots byDon Figueroa andJosh Burcham. This cover can be combined with similar ones from the other three issues to form a giant battle scene.
• Cover B: Thunderwing in flames by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham.
• Cover RI-A: Cover A uncolored

• 

  Jetfire ready to kick tailpipe and take names

• 
• 

  Cover RI-A

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Reprints

In addition tocollections of the full series.

• N/A