International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads"
From Transformers Wiki
| |||||||||||||
 Bumble in the rubble | |||||||||||||
| International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 14, 2010 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | July 2010 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Mike Costa | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Guido Guidi | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | James Brown | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Chris Mowry | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Carlos Guzman | ||||||||||||
| Associate editor | Andy Schmidt | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 2005 IDW continuity | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | Current era (2010) | ||||||||||||
Strange things are afoot in North Korea.
Contents |
Synopsis
A television news anchor reports that the discovery by spy satellites of energon manufacturing by North Korea, leaving the United States uneasy due to North Korea's history of pursuing nuclear weapons.
In the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Onslaught drives through the fence separating the North and the South and starts to attack South Korean soldiers. He is struck by a shell from a tank, but the tank is vaporized by another tank—who transforms, revealing himself as Brawl. Jet fighters scrambled to attack the invaders are cut down in the air by Vortex, who transforms and joins the others on the ground. Onslaught radios their boss, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Du, and reports that the battle is over. Kim, arriving at the head of a large North Korean military force, is pleased; Seoul will be theirs in hours at this rate.
At Skywatch headquarters, Spike Witwicky reflects that North Korean collaboration with the Decepticons was inevitable. Consulting Joe Henderson about the specifics of the situation, he is unable to learn anything besides the presence of seventeen energon production facilities in North Korea—and evidence of one further Combaticon in play not yet sighted at the border.
Elsewhere in the base, Ratchet explains to a Skywatch engineer the internal workings of Cybertronians, using a relaxed Cliffjumper as an example. Jetfire expresses his hesitancy to Bumblebee about giving their knowledge to the humans, but Bumblebee replies that not only have the humans given them similar access to human information, they've also supplied the Autobots with all the energon they need. Spike enters the room, asking to speak to the leader of the Autobots. Jetfire, Ratchet and Cliffjumper all gesture to Bumblebee, but Spike insists on Optimus Prime.
Spike finds Optimus Prime sitting in the now-open cell where he was previously detained, which he claims helps him to think. He requests Prime's help to deal with the Combaticons, who are more organized and powerful than any Decepticon they've had to bring in before. Bumblebee accepts his request, but before he can assemble a team, Campolongo bursts in to tell them that the President is making a live address.
The President announces the act of aggression from North Korea towards the South, and that Cybertronians were involved on the side of the aggressors. He then declares that any nation collaborating with Cybertronians or using their technology will be considered to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Aware of the problems this causes for him and the Autobots, Spike orders that everyone act as if the base was under communications blackout and no one had heard the address. He then continues preparing for the mission.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Notes
Continuity notes
- The newsreader at the start fills in with some worldbuilding: an international incident between the Koreas was brewing when Megatron invaded, nobody's sure when or how North Korea changed leader, and the lack of noise from North Korea isn't suspicious because "several corners of the globe are still without power or communications" after All Hail Megatron. That last bit is a bit worrying when the Decepticons were kicked off Earth three years ago!
- Of course for that to be the reason why North Korea's silence isn't considered suspicious, North Korea must've been attacked itself.
- Henderson reveals that the North Koreans have been producing enough energon for five Cybertronians to consume, though future issues make it clear that not all five Combaticons are together, only the three featured in this issue and the unknown fourth (later revealed as Swindle). Perhaps they were making extra energon just in case.
Transformers references
- Onslaught's license plate reads "D-64", the Japanese ID number of his original toy.
- Ratchet discusses removing a burr from one of Cliffjumper's rotator nodes, a reference to Kup's line from the 1986 movie.
Real-life references
- The North Korean leader in this issue, Kim Jong Du, while being said to be the son of Kim Jong Il, is clearly based off Il's likeness. The American President, however, looks nothing like Barack Obama.
- The title is a reference to a short story by H.G. Wells.
Errors
- When Henderson is describing Energon to Spike, he says "Our own experiments with the substance has shown that it's too unstable to store for more than a few months". It should be "Our own experiments... have shown".
- Almost all of the Transformers have changed bodies again between issues. For the first time in a very, very long time, they are drawn to the specifications of their original Generation 1 character models, with only slight variations for necessity (Ratchet, for instance, sports electrocardiogram graphics on his shoulders instead of his traditional Red Cross symbols). Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are the exceptions, with the former in a Dery-ized version of his recent Don Figueroa design, and the latter in a cross between his Dodge Challenger body Don Figueroa used in issue #6 and Chee Yang Ong's simplified take of it seen at the conclusion of his mini-series, plus various elements lifted from an unused Don Figueroa design shown on the alternate cover of issue #5 (which is also the design used for Cliffjumper in the first few issues of the ongoing). This was after an artistic error depicted him in his traditional Volkswagen body in his last appearance.
- Just like with issue #8, Guido shared a little info on IDW boards about drawing this issue. He said: "Actually at first I was using Don's designs, then I was asked to do my own thing. Because of that and other reasons almost half of #9 pages have been re-drawn from scratch or heavily patched with changes. This didn't happen with #10–12, you'll see."[1]
Covers (4)
- Cover A: Bumblebee taking cover behind debris under fire from the Combaticons; art by Don Figueroa and colors by .
- Cover B: The Combaticons; art by Guido Guidi and colors by .
- Cover RI: Concept art of Optimus Prime; art by Don Figueroa.
- Auto Assembly 2010 exclusive cover: Swindle auctions a boxed set of Scott McNeil, Derrick J. Wyatt, and Garry Chalk toys to his fellow Combaticons at Auto Assembly 2010; art by Nick Roche, colors by Liam Shalloo.
Hey, why don't you boss Ultra Magnus around some more, 'Bee? I'm sure he'll come running.
We've been hired by Sunbow to take over!
Freaky faces are the right of all sentient beings.
These will not have any resale value.
Advertisements
- The Transformers #10
- Dungeons & Dragons comic
- TBD
Reprints
- The Transformers, Volume 2: International Incident (December 8, 2010) ISBN 1600108040 / ISBN 978-1600108044
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #7–12.
- Bonus material includes art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.
- Trade paperback format.
- The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Seven (October 17, 2012) ISBN 1613774060 / ISBN 978-1613774069
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 47: International Incident (March 3, 2019)
Volume 2: International Incident – cover art by Guido Guidi and James Brown
The IDW Collection Volume Seven – cover art by E. J. Su
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 47: International Incident – cover art by Don Figueroa and Guido Guidi
