#Chris Ryall

[smashedpages]

Unpublished Machine Man page for Marvel’s Epic line revival by artist Milx and writers Chris Ryall and Steve Niles. More about it here.

[theblackestofsuns]

“Cast Portrait”

ZVRC #2 (April 2022)

Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood

Image Comics

[smashpages]

Out this week: The Colonized: Zombies vs. Aliens (Image, $9.99): 

An off-the-grid community gets caught between a visiting alien and the zombies he accidentally resurrects in this comic by Chris Ryall and Drew Moss.

See what else is coming to a comic shop near you this week.

[downthetubes]

“Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History” book lined up for release later this year

Yes, we know we haven't even had Easter yet, but check out this Christmas treat! The Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History by Chris Ryall drops 17th December into book and comic shops...

After some fine-tuning and additional concept art and prelim work added, the Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History is now officially slated for release in December from Abrams ComicArts. Written by Chris Ryall, edited by Charles Kochman, the book is introduced by Roy Thomas and designed by Shawn Lee. Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History presents seven years of Marvel history in…

[graphicpolicy]

Get ready for two Tales of Syzpense in June

Get ready for two Tales of Syzpense in June #comics #comicbooks

[floridageekscene]

Wayne's Comics Podcast #543: Interview with Chris Ryall

Wayne’s Comics Podcast #543: Interview with Chris Ryall

Episode #543 features a great interview with Chris Ryall from Groom Lake: Grey Skies Above, which was available to support on Zoop.gg! (more…)

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #698 (April 1994)

Superman vs. an army of muscular, exploding Lex Luthors! And also... himself, because his newly enhanced powers are so out of control that he’s officially more dangerous to Metropolis than any clone army.

Last issue ended with LexCorp being attacked by monsters and Lex Luthor Jr. blaming Project Cadmus for it. In truth, this is the work of rogue geneticist Dabney Donovan, one of the scientists who helped clone Luthor a younger, sexier, cancer-free body. Luthor once tried to kill Dabney to leave no evidence that he’s faking being his own Australian son, so Dabney returns the favor by invading LexCorp tower with his genetically-engineered abominations. Dabney’s remote-controlled monsters finally reach Lex at the top of the tower, but... it’s not Lex, it’s a dummy with a wig on. Which is rigged to explode. All CEOs have one.

Meanwhile, despite his various problems with Luthor in the past, Superman is doing his best to defend LexCorp tower from the monsters (after all, Lex isn’t the only one who works there) but he’s hampered by his erratic powers and the fact the his body seems to be growing for no reason, which is always disorienting. Superman is able to knock down one of the monsters and, upon removing his luchador-like mask, is confused to see that it looks just like Luthor. In fact, all the big monsters do, because Dabney has a special sense of humor (and access to Lex’s DNA).

Superman puts down the rest of these mindless Lex-trocities, which spontaneously combust upon being defeated, and he has to turn on his heat vision to stop the last one. Unfortunately, now he’s unable to turn it off -- in fact, Superman’s heat vision is suddenly so potent that he can’t even close his eyes or he’ll burn his super-eyelids off. After accidentally causing some more property damage to the street in front of LexCorp, Superman has to fly into the ocean and cool off underwater for an hour before regaining his ability to blink. But at least his power troubles seem to be over!

NEXT: Superman’s power troubles get even worse.

Plotline-Watch:

The smaller monsters attacking LexCorp are the same “P-Bak” critters that Dabney and Cadmus’ Director Westfield sent after Superboy in Adventures #506. Presumably Dabney was in a rush and didn’t have time to redesign them so they’d have Lex’s face, too.

Lex checks in on poor Dr. Happersen, still recuperating from his Bizarro attack, not because he’s worried about him but to tell him to stop whining and keep working on the Supergirl project (as seen in the Supergirl miniseries). Luthor’s lackeys really need to unionize and get some better health benefits.

Superman’s power woes are actually making him feel nostalgic for the days of Lex Luthor Sr., back when all he had to do to solve his problems was show up at Lex’s office and find out what gizmo to punch (like the last time his powers went out of whack, in Superman #10).

Lois Lane finally finishes the exposé on Lex Luthor “Jr.” she’s been working on for months, but just as she electronically mails it to the Daily Planet, Lex hacks into the system using the secret backdoor included in all LexCorp PCs and rewrites the entire article so that “there won’t be a soul alive who will ever again believe Lois Lane!” See, this is why is “e-mail” thing will never catch on. Anyway, we’ll find out next issue just how good Lex’s creative writing skills are.

Patreon-Watch:

This post was made possible by our patrons Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, who got to read half of it a whole week ago (yes, Don finished his section way before me again). Obligatory link to see if we can trick more people into joining us: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, Don Sparrow’s section, at last liberated for all the world to see!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We begin with the cover, and it’s a good one, by Jackson Guice.  It puts me in the mind of old “X-Ray Specs” ads from inside comics, though I couldn’t find one that was a specific pose match.  Still, a good use of colour to have the bones of Superman’s hand “inked” in solid red.  

Inside the issue, we are first greeted by not one full page splash, but three—Superman outpacing the Whiz Wagon, by land and by air. While I think Cadmus/Kirby stuff can tend to overwhelm the Superman mythology at times, I will never tire of seeing that car! [Max: Same!]

There’s an interesting juxtaposition early on, with Director Westfield observing goings-on from his situation room, followed immediately by Dabney Donovan’s similar, but lower-tech observation station, from which he spies on basically everyone.

We’re given another double page spread on pages 12-13, as Superman decks some of the giant creatures sent by Donovan. Denis Rodier’s chunky ink brush lines resemble Kirby at the best of times, but with all these Cadmus creations about, the connection is made all the more visible.

A little later in the story, both Guardian and Jimmy comment that it appears that Superman is growing, but there’s really no context clues in the artwork to sell this idea.  He isn’t really placed next to anything for a convincing sense of scale, which feels like a missed opportunity. [Max: Agreed, he looked taller in exactly one panel in which he’s looking down on Guardian, then goes back to looking normal in the next.]

Jackson Guice has always excelled at drawing a realistic and beautiful Lois Lane, and his version of casual around-the-apartment Lois is no exception.  Lastly, his depiction of a wizened and ageing Luthor is very well done, and a precursor to the (much later) return of a thin Lex Luthor, which we haven’t seen since the Byrne reboot.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

 My issue has a colouring error on the second page, where Superman’s normally yellow/gold belt buckle appears to be white or silver. [Max: Same in my Spanish reprint!]

I’m sure Dabney’s cameras are well hidden, but it appears as though Guardian is looking straight at it, as Donovan monitors the Whiz-cam.  Also: thank God that’s the only Whiz-cam we’re shown, that could have been much worse. [Max: I think Dabney is just hacking into the feed seen in the previous page. Also, I’m guessing Lex is the only one with the other type of “whiz-cams” in these comics, considering his habit of spying on women’s dressing rooms...]

Groan: yet another addition to the “since Doomsday” file, where Inspector Henderson thinks to himself that he hasn’t “heard such an edge in his voice…since he went up against Doomsday.”  It is an unfortunate (and understandable) habit of this era to liken everything back to Doomsday, in order to elevate whatever is happening in the present story. [Max: We really dropped the ball not having a “Since Doomsday-Watch” section.]

This issue is structured a bit oddly, especially for a comic called “Action”.  The action in this issue all takes place early on, with the rest of the issue making up a very long denouement.

Love the care with which Superman speaks on the telephone, not trusting the line not to be observed.

Interesting that burgeoning internet technology is a major plot point here.   Nowadays we’re used to stories involving hacking or digital trespass, but in 1993, this was incredibly novel. [Max: Lex was the original Zero Cool.]

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Infiltration #4

Read Date: February 19, 2023 Cover Date: April 2006 ● Writer: Simon Furman ● Art: E.J. Su ● Colorist: John Rauch ● Letterer: Tom B. Long ● Editor: Chris Ryall ◦ Dan Taylor ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● (cover) we've got Bumblebee hanging off a tank's cannon--I'm not sure if it's a real tank or a Transformer--with Ratchet looking on in concern. The purple and gray flyer… is that Starscream? (nope, it's Blitzwing) ● pg 1. Three years ago, Akron Ohio, Verity having trouble with placement in foster care. Her caseworker seems amazing. ● pg 2. Now in NW Nebraska, Verity is lowering herself down a shaft of some kind while the boys watch from above. ● pg 3. Ratchet and Bumblebee--or at least their human holoform things--are up there as well ● gah, holo-Bumblebee has a creepy smile as well!

● basically they're running an errand for Prowl to get evidence for something that will warrant an alert status upgrade ● the three humans are so tiny next to the Decepticon equipment. ● pg 9. Verity is about to open something… ● pg 10. uhh skeletal remains of someone in uniform ● pg 11. this really spooks Verity but she pulls up her angry outer shell to deal with her fear--just like her caseworker saw 3 years ago ● pg 12. Ratchet and Bumblebee are so cute

● eep! But Skywarp and Blitzwing come at them from above! ● the flyers are there to destroy the base ● Ratchet and Bumblebee tell Hunter, Jimmy, and Verity to abort stat. Verity wants to check one more thing first… ● aw! Bumblebee has a cannon that pops out of his hood ● Bumblebee wings (heh) Skywarp with his laser, while Ratchet takes on Blitzwing ● Ratchet uses Blitzwing's paranoia/overactive optic sensors to spook him with a well-placed flash that causes the jet to veer into some trees ● Ratchet goes to make sure his opponent is out of the fight, but he takes a huge blast to the chest ● Gah! who's the tank?! (I'm still learning) ● yiiiikes I think Verity just walked in on Megatron ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Three years ago, a young Verity Carlo meets with a social worker after running away from yet another foster home. Her social worker sees right through Verity's tough façade and states that all she sees is a girl "in a world of hurt and pain".

In the present day, Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink watch as Verity rappels into the depths of an abandoned Decepticon fortress in the wilderness of Nebraska. Using their holomatter avatars, Ratchet and Bumblebee watch on; Ratchet is adamant that when this escapade is over, the humans are going home, while Bumblebee warns the trio to watch for booby traps.

As the two boys follow Verity into the shaft and split up to investigate, Bumblebee confides to Ratchet that he thinks that the Autobot medic might be right—but to change Prowl's mind, they'll need hard evidence that something's wrong… and the humans fall into the "acceptable losses" category if it means getting that evidence.

In Dallas, Texas, Drake meets with a group of humans in the Epsilon Holdings building—a front for the shadowy group known as the Machination led by Abraham Dante. Jolly reports on recent events: a series of anomalous vehicle attacks throughout the southwest United States have led the group to conclude that the "visitors" are moving into the next stage of their operations. Having received a homing signal from their deceased operative Stoker, Drake and his team of operatives are dispatched to "accelerate" their "acquisition strategy…"

Deep inside the Decepticon bunker, Verity discovers a strange sight: a jumbled series of glowing green tubes, each one big enough to hold a human. Ignoring Jimmy's warnings, Verity goes ahead and opens one… and is immediately confronted by the gruesome sight of a rotted corpse wearing a military uniform. Despite the shock, Verity manages to compose herself and move on; as she does so, however, she's unaware that, topside, the two Autobots have visitors of their own in the shape of Skywarp and Blitzwing. Paying no heed to the Autobots, the two fliers launch a massive bombing run on the base, forcing the two Autobots to outrun the explosions!

Ratchet yells for the humans to evacuate the base as fast as possible; while Jimmy and Hunter comply, Verity, determined to make up for losing her cool earlier, ignores Ratchet's orders and goes to investigate the last section of the base. As she does so, battle breaks out as the Autobots try to buy time for the humans—Bumblebee pits his superior processor speed against Skywarp's teleportation power and comes out on top, while Ratchet shoots Blitzwing out of the sky. When the medic goes to make sure that his opponent is downed for good, however, he's not so lucky, and is quickly taken out by a volley from his opponent's tank mode…

…and, underground, Verity discovers that she's not the only occupant of the Decepticon fortress as she enters the last room of the base and comes face to face with its other occupant: Megatron!

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Infiltration_issue_4)

Fan Art: TFA Blitzwing by Kath-the-shadow

Accompanying Podcasts: ● Swerve's Bar Podcast - episode 07

[theblackestofsuns]

“On It”

ZVRC #3 (May 2022)

Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood

Image Comics

[smashpages]

From 1975 to 1981, Marvel released some very fun calendars, featuring various Marvel characters, as well as birthdays, fist appearances and other fun tidbits. These calendars will be collected in the Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History, which hits stores in December.

Read more

[adamgorham]

Pleased to share my variant cover to All Against All #3, coming in February 2023 from Image Comics. Thanks to the book’s creators Alex Paknadel, Caspar Wijngaard, and Chris Ryall for having me. 

[bound2happin-blog]

My Legal Battle with my Family and their Co-horts / Co-conspirators (39):

This is an email from my mother, Gloria Sumter, to me, Craig Sumter, on September 25th, 2014 calling me “paranoid, delusional, and hallucinating.”  She then states “If this is not drug related, then you are (meaning me, Craig Sumter) are probably experiencing schizophrenia.”  I have highlighted this in yellow.  

She states that her reason for sending me this nasty email attempting to convince me that I am crazy and mentally ill is because of a post I made to Facebook (when she had been blocked on all my social media accounts since approximately March of 2014 - six months at this point; and that someone who I was at that time ‘friends’ with on Facebook had forwarded her my posts.  I had posted evidence that I obtained from an attorney that showed the fabricated evidence that she and my father, Leonard Sumter Jr., had fabricated and passed off in a deceitful collaboration with the ADA at my Sentence Modification Hearing on June 16, 2009 (where my parents at that time had power-of-attorney for me and asked me not to be present, convincing me that they had my best interest in mind and were attempting to get a reduction in my sentence) to not just prevent my early release from prison but to also hopefully obtain an increase in my sentence.  

She later admits under oath that this person was Chris Fortenberry, someone who I was friends with all throughout highschool and graduated highschool with whom, to my knowledge she had never had any contact with whatsoever.  Someone who also never once contacted me to ask me about my post, what was going on or to obtain any of the facts.

I would also like to state here that this is the very first time I have ever been accused of having any mental illness, any drug problem, or schizophrenia.  I would also like to state that the post I made in 2014 was in no way drug related, and that I suffered from no mental illness, paranoia, have since seen several different psychiatrists and psychologists of my own accord and have never once been diagnosed with schizoprenia whatsoever.  I was told in 2019 that I suffer from General Anxiety Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of / as a result of all of the things my family and their cohorts / co-conspirators have done to me, including sexual abuse, aggravated assault, threatening of my life, attempted murder, being threatened with a gun in 2014, being threatened with a knife in 2014, being told I had to move out of Atlanta, being denied my constiutional rights to petition the goverment for a redress of grievances, being denied / deprived of several other civil rights and also for a plethora of other felonoies committed by this conspiracy.  I will provide evidence of all of this and will prove it.

The other very interesting fact is that my family continues to pass off my attempts to seek justice through the courts both civilly and criminally as me being “mentally ill” and specifically “schizophrenic.”  This includes but is not limited to my parents, my sister, fake facebook accounts made up by my sister, Shalene Sumter Ryall, and also my assailant, Creighton Hussey.  These are the only people who have ever said anything regarding me being schizophrenic, which I am not.  This is there continued attempts to Defame my Character.  O.C.G.A. 51-5-1  defines libel, slander and defamation of character, if anyone is interested.

Just FYI.  I redacted some of the email becuase it had private medical information about my aunt Pam, my mother’s sister, and private medical information about my sister, Shalene Sumter Ryall.

[graphicpolicy]

Discover Onyx by Gabriel Rodriguez, Jay Fotos, and Chris Ryall this September

Discover Onyx by Gabriel Rodriguez, Jay Fotos, and Chris Ryall this September #comics #comicbooks

Locke & Key artist and co-creator Gabriel Rodriguez, colorist Jay Fotos, and writer Chris Ryall bring readers the complete, extra-length tale of a cyborg warrior who calls herself Onyx. The exciting Onyx one-shot story will land on shelves this September and be published by Image Comics and Syzygy. Onyx arrives in a near-future Nigeria beset by overpopulation and food shortages alongside another…

[floridageekscene]

The Complete, Extra-length Tale Of A Cyborg Warrior—Onyx—Hits Shelves This September

The Complete, Extra-length Tale Of A Cyborg Warrior—Onyx—Hits Shelves This September

Locke & Key artist and co-creator Gabriel Rodriguez, colorist Jay Fotos, and writer Chris Ryall bring readers the complete, extra-length tale of a cyborg warrior who calls herself Onyx. The exciting Onyx one-shot story will land on shelves this September and be published by Image Comics/Syzygy. “I’ve made no secret of my lasting loves in comics—armored cyborg warriors and working with the…

[superman86to99]

Superman #88 (April 1994)

Bizarro's World, Finale! The cover above is actually pretty misleading: Bizarro doesn’t punch Superman in this issue, but he does punch... your heart. Lex Luthor Jr. has captured Bizarro and wants to kill and dissect him on the off-chance that his bizarre-o DNA contains the key to cure the affliction that has slowly been turning Lex into Professor X (minus the powers).

Superman and Lois Lane show up at LexCorp to save Bizarro, since they now realize he's just an innocent doofus with a crush on her. While Superman is stalled by some armored Lex-Men, Dr. Sydney Happersen works tirelessly to analyze Bizarro's body in hopes of finding a cure for his beloved boss -- you have to love your boss to continue working despite the fact that a monster burned half your face off like a day ago (in comic book time).

Happersen manages to isolate the key to curing Luthor... just as Superman arrives and clumsily sets fire to Lex’s computers with his recently augmented heat vision.

As Superman tries to contain that fire he started, Happersen orders an armored goon to "get a piece of Bizarro's tissue" -- which the goon takes to mean "stab the bastard." Happersen uses that tissue to finally create a cure for Luthor while Bizarro dies on the arms of his beloved Lois, who finally sees him as Superman, even if for just a second.

It's a beautiful and dignified end for the chara-- oh wait, no, he isn't dead yet. Right before shuffling off for good, Bizarro summons one final bit of strength to destroy the computer containing the cure and screw Lex over. Which, in a way, is an even more dignified end.

They should really start making these computers heat vision-proof. Anyway, that goon who stabbed Bizarro seems to be taking this rather badly and breaks down in front of everyone -- because, to Lois' shock, he's actually a frail and completely bald Lex Jr. in disguise.

Wait, where’s Superman during all this? Oh yeah, he had to fly off into space to get rid of a tank of burning chemicals before it exploded, but just as he’s about to head back to Earth he notices he's somehow getting more... swole?

TO BE CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

Obviously, Lex had everything that happened in this issue coming, but the fact that Happersen had a cure for the Clone Plague and Superman/Bizarro destroyed it kinda sucks for the other clones living in Metropolis. How many more died between this issue and the end of the storyline? Then again, there's a big chance LexCorp would have kept the cure to itself without Superman being able to do anything about it anyway.

Don Sparrow says: "Lex’s sleight of hand, digitally altering his appearance while instructing Team Luthor is quite prescient of today, and the various Instagram filters, which can automatically change a face in real time." That's a good point. Did Lex Luthor invent Snapchat filters in the '90s? Did he ever accidentally press something and make it look like he had dog ears and make-up on?

Among the many examples of Superman's powers going out of control in this issue is a scene where he flies so fast while carrying Lois that she can't breathe. Shouldn't that happen every time they're flying too fast for other people to see, though? I always figured Superman's aura gave her a little pocket of breathable air or something.

Moments after that (and accidentally throwing a Team Luthor goon off a building while trying to push him away), Superman willingly uses his heat vision right next to Lois to break some handcuffs a goon slapped on her. Dude, seriously? You're lucky she didn't burn up like a LexCorp computer. Unless Superman was just casually looking at the handcuffs and did that by accident and tried to play it cool?

Patreon-Watch:

Shout out to Superman ‘86 to ‘99′s Pals, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, without whom we wouldn’t be having two new posts this month (we’re only at the “one post per month” tier, but still). Obligatory link: https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

And now, more from Don Sparrow! Take it (up, up, and) away:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We start as always with the cover, and it’s a pretty good one.  The time-honoured (and rarely seen, during this era, where they’re hard at work at the upcoming Superman/Doomsday mini) team of Jurgens and Breeding showing Bizarro throwing down with Superman, with an emaciated Lex behind them.  The computer screen is a bit confusing in how much of the screen it takes up (it reminds me a bit of Jurgens’ drawings of “entropy” in the upcoming Zero Hour mini-series, but in green).

Inside the book we’re greeted by a full page splash of a sickly Lex (surprisingly ratty blanket for a billionaire!) in our second straight guest issue by Stuart Immonen.  Immonen excels at most things, but technology here looks particularly believable.  A little further into the issue, the facial expressions between Superman and Lois tell the story well, as Superman doesn’t recognize how much his speed has grown over the usual. Immonen’s Superman has more of a mane than we’ve seen in other books up to now. A couple of pages later, the tall thin panel arrangement really gives the sense of height appropriate for a skyscraper.

We’ve mentioned throughout the series how many parallels there are between Bizarro and Frankenstein, and being restrained to a table once again reminds me of the monster.  Immonen’s signature rim lighting is use to good effect on the scenes with Happersen at the computer.

Once Lois and Superman arrive to rescue the guy Superman’s been fighting the last few issues, the desperation and pain in Bizarro’s face is haunting on page 13.  It’s a small detail, but as the lab goes up in flames, the background silhouette of Superman dousing flame with his cape is masterful—lots of motion and gesture, even for a totally darkened figure.  

There never seems to be a shortage of Lois pieta poses in these pages, and this issue is no different—the exchange between them at the end of the issue is particularly affecting.  The effect of the now-dead Bizarro fully crystalizing is a good one as well, as he looks completely stripped of life and colour—though I don’t fully get how his clothes also lightened. [Max: I still don’t understand how they darkened from regular Superman colors in the first place last issue. Let’s go with “unstable molecules.”]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I personally prefer the more Ed-Hannigan-inspired Lex suits, but it’s nice to see consistency, as these ones look a lot like the ones Mxyzptlk played with all the way back in Superman #31 (aside from the purple colour, rather than the stormtrooper white we get here).

I’ve already stated my one-and-only-beef with Stuart Immonen’s Superman is that he’s sometimes not handsome enough, but how youthful he draws the Man of Steel is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Not much for “B” storyline here, the struggle to free Bizarro takes up pretty much this entire story. [Max: True, I guess the only “B” story is Superman’s powers growing out of control... which is about to become the “A” story in the following issues.]

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Infiltration #6

Read Date: February 19, 2023 Cover Date: June 2006 ● Writer: Simon Furman ● Art: E.J. Su ● Colorist: John Rauch (with Simon Bork, Mark Englert, Aaron Myers, Sunder Raj, and Kevin Senft) ● Letterer: Robbie Robbins ● Editor: Chris Ryall ◦ Dan Taylor ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● heheh, my guess is Starscream is juicing to prep for Megatron's arrival ● that's Astrotrain aaaand…. Runabout. Yay for helpful headshots inside the cover! ● Starscream, you look fabulous, dah-ling ● Ratchet, in beat-up ambulance form, is heading eastbound to The Ark with Jimmy, Verity, and Hunter because Prowl wants them out of harm's way. ● Verity isn't happy about this, but Hunter and Jimmy recognize they are lucky to be alive ● GAH A WHOLE ROW OF CREEPY HOLOMATTER SMILES

● the guy on the far right is Prowl but I'm not familiar enough with the others yet to know their vehicle modes off the top of my head ● ok, the cute little Porsche-looking one, white with a thick blue stripe down the center, is Jazz ● Bumblebee radios to Prowl that Megatron has just arrived at the Oregon bunker ● Starscream is in trouble…

● Runabout, Runamuck, Thundercracker, and Astrotrain come out first. Megatron warns them to stand down, that if they fight, they will die ● they stand down

● juiced-up Starscream comes out, calling them cowards ● Ore-13 is what Starscream is souped-up on ● Megatron is… strong ● aww, Astrotrain, Thundercracker, Runamok, and Runabout are trembling as they watch the battle ● the Autobots arrive and they all agree to just watch the battle ● Starscream is starting to realize his mistake ● oof… ● oh yeah, I forgot The Ark was under Lake Michigan ● some Spcial Ops types witnessed the Autobots jumping into the lake. "The Machination wants one of these 'Transformers.' Let's go get 'em one!" ● Prowl admits Ratchet was right and it's time to call in Optimus Prime ● Hunter points out, though, that he's already here ● "Phase 1 Concluded" ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: In the Decepticon Command Bunker in Oregon, Starscream is on the receiving end of a mega-cycle long "hit" of Ore-13. As they wait, Astrotrain and Runabout worry about what they've just heard regarding Megatron recently arriving on Earth and dispatching both Blitzwing and Skywarp in a fight. But when Starscream finally emerges from the energon chamber, he tells them both that, thanks to the Ore-13, they'll be more than ready to take him on when he comes.

Over in Iowa, Ratchet is busy taking Hunter O'Nion, Jimmy Pink, and Verity Carlo back to Ark-19 after their traumatic scouting mission in the abandoned Nebraska Decepticon Bunker. Verity is angry at not being able to help the Autobots investigate the information they brought back, but Hunter and Jimmy tell her that they are more than happy to stay out of it. Verity eventually relents at their words and gives in to joining the post-traumatic stressing out.

Meanwhile, the other Autobots, who are busy investigating, are speeding their way towards the Oregon Decepticon bunker. Bumblebee is already there, quietly monitoring the area, though nothing is happening… yet. Eventually, though, he sees Megatron bounce in just outside the bunker and call for Starscream.

It is Astrotrain, the Battlechargers, and Thundercracker who come out to greet him first, however. Megatron warns them that if they fight him they will die, and gives them the choice of standing down instead, which they accept. Starscream flies out of the bunker at that point, declares them all "strutless cowards", and lays into Megatron with his now super-powered weaponry.

Bumblebee ends up getting tossed around by the backwash and flung off to the side. Prowl tells him to hang on, as his squad is almost there, but Bumblebee tries to warn them off, saying he thinks they'll be bystanders at best, collateral damage at worst.

Megatron retaliates with his fusion cannon, clipping Starscream's wings and causing him to decide to transform and continue his attack in robot mode. He divebombs straight onto Megatron, throws him into the side of a cliff, and opens fire with everything he's got. Starscream starts crowing about how long he's been wanting to defeat Megatron… then reacts in horror as Megatron emerges from the cliff, very much not as deactivated as he was expecting.

Bumblebee finally gets spotted by the other Decepticons who have been watching the fight, but the other Autobots arrive just in the nick of time to bail him out of an attack. Prowl tells everyone they should all stand down and be content to watch the duel play itself out.

And play out it does, as Megatron berates Starscream for his actions and blows a hole straight through him using his fusion cannon. He tells the gathered Decepticons to take Starscream's remains inside, and answers Runamuck's question about what to do about the Autobots present with two words: "Phase… Two."

Dramatic entrances are the right of all sentient beings. Sunstreaker asks Prowl if they're just going to let the Decepticons get away with going back into the bunker. Prowl says, "Yep," and Sunstreaker reacts with relief. They all head back to Lake Michigan and down into the water to return to Ark-19… where it turns out that they're being watched by Machination agents, who are ready to enact the plan to kidnap one of the Autobots now that they've confirmed their location.

As they get inside, Prowl states that he thinks it's finally time to contact Optimus Prime… but as he says so, Hunter points to the door: Prime has already arrived!

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Infiltration_issue_6)

Fan Art: Megatron vs Starscream by davidnery