Transformers: The Movie Prequel #2

Credits

Story - Chris Ryall and Simon Furman / Art - Don Figueroa / Letters - Robbie Robbins / Colors - Josh Burcham and Mark Bristow

Story

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...

Notes and Comments

• The text of the inside front cover reads:
  

  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.