A Rage in Heaven!

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Prime seriously needs to switch to a different brand of deodorant.
"A Rage in Heaven!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	August 1994
Cover date	October 1994
Writer	Simon Furman
Artist	Geoff Senior (Book Two & Book Four)
Penciler	Manny Galan (Book One & Book Three)
Inker	Jim Amash (Book One & Book Three)
Colorist	Sarra Mossoff
Letterers	Richard Starkings with Comicraft
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Autobot-Decepticon alliance makes its final stand against the Swarm.

Synopsis

Book One: Judgment

Optimus Prime recalls the racial history that has brought the Transformers to this moment. The Starscream-possessed Warworld, the Cybertronian warships, and the Swarm all face off above Earth. Aboard the Warworld, Starscream confesses that he's feeling an irrational urge to fight the Swarm, to protect and do good, against all his native instincts. Prime explains that it's the Matrix's influence, altering him to suit its preferences. Starscream, terrified at the thought of being a hero, and especially a dead one, pleads for help, saying he'll do anything.

On the Twilight, Jhiaxus's troops are baffled by the Swarm, but he dismisses it as some last-ditch trick by the Autobots, and gives the order to attack, figuring that if the substance has mass, it can be destroyed.

Back on the Warworld, Megatron is confused by Starscream's apparent change of heart, thinking it's some trick, but it's merely his treacherous lieutenant wanting to give up the Matrix before it alters his personality further. Starscream prepares to give up the Matrix to Optimus Prime; before doing so, he alerts Prime and Megatron to the Cybertronians' attack, which is likely to provoke the Swarm out of its momentary hesitation. The Swarm easily devours the Cybertronians' finest warships, leaving tens of thousands of troopers dead. With some final reluctance, Starscream returns the Matrix to Prime, making Prime whole again and leaving himself back in his original body.

Jhiaxus orders a full assault on the Swarm, crushing the head of a trooper who suggests they cannot fight it. As Optimus Prime approaches the Twilight on a sky-sled, Jhiaxus gives orders to "Let him come!"

Book Two: Twilight

"Death is too good for you, Starscream! I'm going to put you to work loading cargo!"

In the Warworld, Megatron drags a protesting Starscream along, as the seeker tries to beg off whatever it is Megs wants him for. After all, hasn't he done enough? The Decepticon leader stops and tells him the only reason Megatron isn't tearing him apart with his teeth for what Starscream's done over the last few hours is because he's still of some use, but if he starts being an impediment, Megatron might just decide some repayment is overdue. Starscream wisely declares himself Megatron's, then asks what they're going to do about the Swarm, given it just made mincemeat of Jhiaxus' ships. But Megatron has no intention of defeating the Swarm, just surviving. And part one of that plan involves the rheanimum gas the Decepticons plundered from Tychos. Part two is Starscream loading that gas onto a shuttle.

Optimus Prime makes his way through the chaos of the Twilight, where frantic troopers are scrambling to escape. The chaos gives him an easy path to the bridge, where he hopes to reach Jhiaxus and use the Cybertronian connection to the Swarm to make a rapport with the entity —but when he finds Jhiaxus, the enraged Cybertronian attacks him furiously, blaming Prime for his world coming apart. His first blow takes out Optimus's vocal chords, but he figures Jhiaxus is unreachable anyway, whatever veneer of sanity there was has been stripped from him. Jhiaxus is seconds away from crushing Prime's head, when the Swarm bursts through the ship's shields. Jhiaxus challenges it, and it responds, mimicking his shape, then consuming him. An explosion destroys the Twilight. Prime is blasted free, but the Swarm pursues him.

Megatron observes the ship's demise and reflects that he can no longer help Optimus Prime. Regardless, his responsibility is to the Transformers below, on the planet's surface. He's coated himself with the rheanimum, and hopes that the gas will protect him. To make planetfall, he's going to have to test it the hard way, as the Swarm has surrounded Earth.

Book Three: Siege

On Earth, a group of Autobots and Decepticons under Soundwave and Grimlock's command prepares to make a final stand, fortifying their position, though Kup and Perceptor point out it was never meant to serve as a place for a last stand. The Swarm moves in on them, and they trigger their defenses. As they do, Manta Ray ignores Razorclaw's orders in favor of Grimlock's, prompting Razorclaw to reach breaking point with the new recruit, and brand him a traitor. As he pounces to carry out his death sentence, however, Leadfoot (a Decepticon to this point) chops off Razorclaw's head—Autobots have to stick together, after all. The Swarm breaks down the group's force shields, and they prepare for their final stand.

In space, Optimus Prime wakes to find that he's alive and aboard the Warworld, saved by Starscream. Starscream offers him a shot of rheanimum as the Swarm approaches, but Prime refuses. In his brief contact with the Swarm, Prime realized that the mass is alive, but empty and searching—and he may have the answer to what it wants.

Dirge really wishes his famous last words hadn't been used by Megatron just last issue.

Grimlock's troops try all manner of weapons, but nothing stops the Swarm. Casualties mount, but at last Megatron arrives. Both he and the rheanimum canisters survived the Swarm's touch, but his shuttle did not. The Transformers quickly distribute the rheanimum to protect themselves.

Starscream prepares to leave the Warworld, but tosses a canister to Optimus Prime just in case he changes his mind, as the Matrix's aftereffects still linger within him. Prime resists the temptation—for his plan to work, he must die.

Book Four: Creation

Ow! Ow! OW!

The Swarm devours Optimus Prime, consuming him molecule by molecule. Prime's initial panic gives way to calm acceptance as he's devoured. But when it breaks through to the Matrix chamber, light and life burst forth. In an instant, Prime and the Swarm become one, the Matrix momentarily sustaining Optimus beyond his physical death, before Prime takes all the goodness of Primus and gives it to the Swarm. As the stunned Autobots and Decepticons watch, a light grows, changing the Swarm. Amid the light, which soothes any thoughts of violence from the assembled armies they witness the miracle of creation... as Optimus Prime steps forth, reconstituted as a parting gift from the reborn Swarm. The survivors gather and rally around their newfound unity, but even as the assembled Autobots and Decepticon cheer for peace, Optimus is troubled, recalling the names Jhiaxus dropped in his last moments, and deep down Optimus knows the truth; it never ends.

Sure enough, far away, in a region of space known as the Hub, Rook reports to the titanic entity known as the Liege Maximo. The Liege notes that Megatron does indeed live; he would feel the death of one of his descendants. He is unconcerned by the loss of Jhiaxus and his battalions; they are but a fraction of his empire, and the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance is fragile. The day of reckoning will come!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Prime, what is it? What does it want?"
"For lack of a better term, it's the Swarm. And simply put...it wants us!"

—Starscream and Optimus Prime

"All my innate survival instincts seem to have been buried under an insane urge to save lives! What's happening to me?"

—Starscream doesn't like being a good guy.

"Prime? Are you-?"
"Oh yes! And now, Megatron...it's time to go to work!"

—Megatron and Optimus Prime

"Wonderful! One thing at least, it can't get any..."
"Grimlock!"
"Me and my big mouth."

—Grimlock's sense of despair is made worse by Hot Rod.

"In my heart of hearts I know...it never ends!"

—Optimus Prime says farewell. For now.

Notes

Production

• Furman and Starkings both wrote memorials for the series.
• The demise of the comic is blamed on market forces: the summer of 1994 was most of a year into the notorious direct market crash, caused when speculators abandoned an overheated comic market after realising five holo-foil copies of Robot-Master Extreme Force #1 wasn't actually going to be worth much. Furman says it was launched at the "wrong time", and would later reveal Jhiaxus' very name was an in-joke about how successful he thought G2 might be ("gee, axe us").
• In Furman's afterword, we learned colorist Sarra Mossoff apparently wasn't supposed to colour all the fiddly little idents in the word balloons to match the speakers but this was instead her personal "attention to detail".
• The afterword wraps up with some pinup art. The cancellation of the series meant that several pieces of art all got squeezed onto the very last page, including a Decepticon pinup by Chia-Chi Wang.^[1]

Artwork and technical errors

• Manny Galan neglects to draw the third nose-horn on Slag's triceratops mode while he's being attacked by the Swarm.
• Liege Maximo is spelled both "Leige Maximo" and "Liege Maximo" in the very same speech bubble.

Continuity errors

• In the US continuity, Dirge was killed years ago by G.I. Joe. However, he's far from the first character to be resurrected and then killed again.

Continuity notes

Evil, like my belly, is infinite.

• Leadfoot and Manta Ray's turn, and Razorclaw's distrust of the latter, started two issues ago, though their going to the side of the goody-goods isn't much of a surprise given the two were sold as Autobots in the toyline.
• This is the third time Optimus Prime has died in the Marvel US continuity, and the second time he has sacrificed himself specifically by unleashing the light of the Matrix into a devouring evil.
• Prime's new form is based on his Combat Hero toy, which was then his most recent toy incarnation.
• During Prime's victory speech, Megatron is visible standing at his feet. One would normally expect him to be standing beside Prime as co-leader of the Alliance... but he did seem really impressed by Prime's resurrection...
• The Liege Maximo's speech on the last page states that the he was created as an "evil" balance to the first "good" Prime, and that all Decepticons and Autobots are descendants of the Liege and the first Prime, respectively. The notion that Autobots being good and the Decepticons being evil is down to genetics was raised back in "Still Life!" by Grimlock, but at the time there wasn't really anything to suggest Grimlock wasn't just talking out his aft. This is contradicted by the occasional examples of Transformers changing sides, including the example of Leadfoot and Manta Ray in this very issue. It also removes free will from the equation, and has thus been met with resistance from fans who prefer the war to be ideological, and not mandated by heredity.
• This is nominally the end of the Marvel US continuity, one of the core continuities of the Generation 1 franchise. (Yes, after ninety-plus issues, it ends on a cliffhanger.)
  • However, the plot continues in the non-canon story "Alignment". Also, potential subsequent events involving the Liege and Prime are hinted at in "Covenant".
• Starscream refers to the swarm as Scraplets.

Real-life references

• The title is possibly taken from the 1941 psychological thriller Rage in Heaven.

Transformers references

• The header on the cover states "It's the End Of The Road". This is not the first time this phrase has been used by Simon Furman to mark the end of a series.

Furminated

• The Cybertronians continue to be slaughtered. The Swarm eats a ship with 16,000 of them aboard. Jhiaxus crushes the head of one of them in a fit of rage. Most if not all of the crew of Twilight are devoured by the Swarm.
• Jhiaxus is consumed and sort of exploded by the Swarm.
• Razorclaw gets his lion head sliced off by Leadfoot.
• Ramjet, Slag and Slingshot are all consumed by the Swarm.
• Frenzy is vaporized by his own amplified sonic powers.
• Nightbeat and Dirge self-destruct to avoid being eaten by the Swarm.
• Optimus Prime is slowly and painfully devoured by the Swarm... only to come back to life three pages later.
• Confirmed survivors include Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, Hot Rod, Kup, and possibly Blaster. Numerous other 'bots appear in the final two pages, post-Swarm, but almost none are identifiable.
• The comic only explicitly shows the Swarm attacking Transformers and says nothing about what (if anything) it's doing to the people of Earth. Larry DiTillio personally envisioned this issue as depicting the extinction of humanity at the Swarm's hands, with its purification via the Matrix causing it to eventually evolve into the Vok and try to make amends for the destruction. This is questionable and inconsistent with issue 9, which shows the Swarm ignoring organic life altogether. Still, since none of this has ever been mentioned in canon material, it remains firmly in the realms of Pseudocanon and Authorial intent; but, if one takes it as true, then the entire human race got Furminated and this issue has the single biggest death toll of any TF comic ever. Way to go out on a high note!

Cover

• 

  Optimus Prime is consumed by the Swarm, by Derek Yaniger.

Advertisements

• None yet identified.

Reprints

• Transformers: Rage in Heaven TPB: Optimus Prime, Skydive, Starscream and half of the Liege Maximo, by Andy Wildman.
• Transformers: Rage in Heaven HC: Blast Off, Onslaught and Ramjet, by Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, and Chris Blythe.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 91: Generation 2 Part 2 Silverbolt, by Dreamwave Productions and Jhiaxus smashing Optimus Prime, by Geoff Senior.

• 

  Rage in Heaven TPB
  (Titan Books, 2002)

• 

  Rage in Heaven HC
  (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection Vol. 91: Generation 2 Part 2
  (Hachette Partworks, 2020)

References

1. ↑ Chia-Chi Wang's DeviantArt page: "This artwork was produced for Marvel Comics' TF G2 series. I did when I just started freelancing for Marvel, and my inking skill was pretty poor at the time. It was originally going to be printed as a full page pinup art. But due to the cancellation of the comic, all remaining artwork had to be used in the last issue. So this piece was printed with only half of its intended size."