Transformers: The Movie Prequel #1 wraparound cover
In advance of the July 2007 opening of the live-action Transformers movie by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, IDW Publishing, Hasbro, and Paramount collaborated on this four-issue comic book limited series. An official and authorized extension of the movie, this millennia-long story reveals the characters and events leading up to the film. From the crucial battle at Tyger Pax to the first human contact with the Transformers, this limited series is an integral part of the movie's backstory.
Story - Chris Ryall / Writer - Chris Ryall and Simon Furman / Art - Don Figueroa / Letters - Robbie Robbins / Colors - Josh Burcham
From the surface of the planet Cybertron, a fireball erupts into deep space. At its core is a sole Autobot wrapped in a protective carapace, who begins a desperate search across the galaxy for the AllSpark...
In flashback, it is revealed that the AllSpark is the most sacred artifact on the metallic planet of Cybertron. Though its origins are unknown, the AllSpark is both the source of the planet's life-sustaining energy and its robot life forms. Unfortunately, the peaceful reign of Optimus Prime came to an end when Lord High Protector Megatron launched a planet-wide war, seeking to claim the AllSpark for his own ambitions.
As the war progressed, the AllSpark was secretly moved to Tyger Pax, a feint known only to a select few. Unfortunately, the gambit failed, and a Decepticon strikeforce soon attacked the region, resisted only by a squad of six Autobots. The one-sided battle takes a turn for the worse when Megatron himself joins the fray, and a massive explosion sends the last three Autobots underground. There, they draw the Decepticons into a subterranean chamber, just before the Autobots collapse the roof...
The plan fails; the Autobots are eventually awakened by the Decepticons, who torture them for the whereabouts of the AllSpark. Only the squad leader knows the plan: even as they speak, preparations are being completed to jettison the AllSpark into deep space, keeping it away from the Decepticons forever. Sensing that the AllSpark is nearby, Megatron himself interrogates the squad leader, tearing off an arm in the process.
With a thunderous roar, the AllSpark suddenly erupts from the ground! It quickly rockets away from the planet, flying towards a wormhole to send it across the universe. As Megatron prepares to follow, the Autobot squad leader tackles him, knocking the Decepticon down long enough for the artifact to disappear! Sneering at this pyrrhic victory, Megatron crushes the Autobot's voice capacitor, then flies off in pursuit with his interstellar jet form.
Autobot reinforcements eventually arrive and rescue the survivors. The squad leader is lauded for his heroic actions; but while his arm is repaired, Megatron's final wound has left him mute. He eventually joins the search for the AllSpark -- a search he performs while forever wondering if he could have done more...
Cybertron! A wholly metallic planet populated by robotic beings given life and "Spark" by an energized Allspark of unknown origin. These sentient mechanoids existed in a state of peace that was ultimately shattered when one of their own sought to possess the Allspark for his own sinister purposes. As civil war overtook the planet, robots fought passionately on both sides, seeking to either protect or possess the life-giving Allspark. Now, all that stands between the malevolent Megatron and The Allspark is a cadre of six intrepid Autobots...
Story - Chris Ryall and Simon Furman / Art - Don Figueroa / Letters - Robbie Robbins / Colors - Josh Burcham and Mark Bristow
Megatron follows the spoor of the AllSpark across the universe, burning with desire for its power -- and rage at Optimus Prime for ejecting it into deep space. Sensing the AllSpark on a nearby blue-green planet, Megatron dives after it, oblivious to the heat of atmospheric entry. Landing on a frozen block of ice, he glances around for merely a moment,but suddenly falls into the ocean as the ice melts beneath him! He fights against the icy waters, but his energon levels are too low, and he suffers a system-wide shutdown...
In 1897, an icebreaker for the National Arctic Circle expedition pauses when one of the crew notices something indistinctively large beneath the ice. Throwing caution to the wind, Captain Witwicky gives the order to investigate.
A year later, Witwicky is strapped to a bed in an asylum, interrogated by two well-dressed men. They ask him about several sheets' worth of strange heiroglyphs -- sheets he obsessively wrote before being blinded; Witwicky incoherently says he was possessed. Later, the men agree to have Witwicky declared insane, and begin to have the surviving crew members discredited. They are paranormal investigators for the government; legislature has approved unlimited funding for their expedition, and the two prepare for immediate departure on their newest expedition.
Their expedition proceeds for several years, as they slowly excavate and examine the giant "mega-man" found by Captain Witwicky under the ice. In 1902, they receive a radio message from Colorado -- a giant cube has been found. It is covered with the same alien symbols that led to the "mega-man", and it is generating a lot of energy by unknown means...
In 2003, technicians in a military station in Colorado are monitoring data from the Hubble Space telescope. Noticing unexpected activity on Mars, one of the operators uses the Hubble to take some detailed photos, then sends them to the command center. Analysis of the photos reveal an artifact crash-landing on Mars -- before transforming into an alien robot of the same type as the "mega-man".
Satisfied that their decades-long plans have not been in vain, the commanders initiate preparations for its arrival...
Story So Far:
On the distant planet of Cybertron, war threatened to tear the planet asunder. The robotic Autobots fought valiantly to safeguard the life-giving AllSpark cube that birthed them and their Decepticon foes alike. When Decepticon forces led by Megatron drew too close to the AllSpark, a small cadre of Autobots fought valiantly to delay him and his troops until the cube could be jettisoned into space. This last-ditch act of desperation could well doom the planet, but better that than let Megatron get his hands on the cube to bend its power to his will. The battle proved successful, but the Autobot who will come to be known as Bumblebee suffered great personal injury in the fight -- Megatron crushed his voicebox before flying into space in pursuit of the AllSpark.
His relentless pursuit of the AllSpark has led him through deep space toward the planet on which the cube came to rest -- Earth.