“I ordered a widescreen TV! Wide…screen!”
Transformers: Generation One #4
Dreamwave (April, 2004)
WRITER: Brad Mick
LETTERER: Ben Lee
“The Omega Effect”
PENCILER: Don Figueroa
INKER: Elaine To
COLORIST: Espen Grundetjern
“Runnin with The Devil”
PENCILER: James Raiz
INKER: Erik Sander
COLORIST: Elliot Kravchik
When Omega Supreme targets Starscream the Decepticon is forced to release Sunstorm to make his escape. As the two battle Bumblebee’s team finds the nullified Autobots as they being to recover from Starscream’s Null Ray. Meanwhile, Bumper and Warpath find the Autobots Starscream’s Decepticons took out only to be met by an army of humans led by Marissa Fairborne, who claims be from Earth Defense Command and that they’re trespassing on US Soil. Back on Cybertron and unaware of Sunstorm, Prowl is still trying to figure out what happened in Shockwave’s old lab as a distraction from politics, but politics may need to be a distraction from this mystery.
In the backup story, we learn how Megatron ended up in Wreck-Gar’s company. He tricks the Junkion into reviving some of Megatron’s Seeker clones from the unfinished War Within: The Age Of Wrath before killing him. Because he’s Megatron.
What they got right: I actually understand Starscream shooting Sunstorm’s inhibitor. If Omega Supreme hadn’t targeted him, understandable as that is, Sunstorm would still be defeated. Sometimes you have to manipulate Starscream to get what you want from him. We also get the rest of Megatron’s recent history and how he plans to return to the action, and in a rare moment we see him trying to figure how why HE failed instead of blaming Starscream. Also, with no space alliance like in the original cartoon, they found a use for Marissa Fairborne, a fan favorite from Season 3.
What they got wrong: We’re still on “humans hate Autobots”, are we? Let’s not forget that it was humans who mind controlled the Autobots, after they risked their lives for the human race, turned them into human weapons, and sent them to act against their wishes. If anybody should be upset here, it’s the Autobots for what “Lazarus” and General Halo did to them, not the other way around, after all they did for Earth. Also, why is Warpath talking with those “blam, zow, powie” things like he did in the show? This isn’t the show and he doesn’t have to talk like that. It’s annoying to “listen” to him talk and I can’t imagine anyone would want to have a conversation with him.
Recommendation: Still a good story and I remember Fairborne isn’t as anti-Autobot as say RATT from the Marvel run. I think. We’ll find out for sure in the next issue or two but I still recommend this run of the series.
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