Black Sunshine

« Transformers: Generation One #2 »
And this... IS MY BOOMSTICK!
"Black Sunshine"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	February 25, 2004
Cover date	February, 2004
Story	Brad Mick
Pencils	Don Figueroa
Inks	Elaine To
Colors	Espen Grundetjern, Rob Ruffolo
Letters	Ben Lee
Continuity	Dreamwave continuity
Chronology	Modern era

Sunstorm trashes everybody.

Synopsis

Fresh from their escape from the now-destroyed Ark, the Decepticons open fire upon Sunstorm. Their attacks have no effect, as Sunstorm barely notices the blaster fire while preaching his dogma. Uninterested in Sunstorm's proclamations of salvation, the Combaticons reassemble into Bruticus. Sunstorm even laughs at the monstrous combiner, when, out of nowhere, Bruticus is blasted in the head by the Autobot Supply Vessel Orion. Seeking more prey and pissed that they interfered with his affairs, Sunstorm attacks the Orion as it descends. Seeing even the Orion crippled by Sunstorm, Starscream characteristically decides to retreat and Sunstorm chases him, leaving the Orion to make an extremely rough landing into the terrain below.

On Cybertron, Prowl and Ironhide monitor some unsuccessful training exercises in which a team of new Autobot recruits were bested in combat by a trio of training droids. The two check up on Optimus Prime, who Hoist has in a CR chamber to undergo repairs after having the Matrix of Leadership torn out of him by Shockwave. Ultra Magnus walks in, fully functional and back in his armor. Prowl then receives a communication from the Protectobots, who have discovered the ruins of Shockwave's lab.

Sunstorm chases Starscream beneath the surface of the ocean to the Nemesis, where Starscream readies one of his contingency plans. For safety, he has the ship's computer do a security scan for any intruders, and the scan returns negative. But despite this scan, Starscream is ambushed by Sunstorm, who reveals that the two are actually siblings.

Brawn beats into a fallen Bruticus, while Ratchet expresses some regret over having had to destroy the Ark. Bumblebee tries to get Ratchet to look on the upside—the Orion is here and the Powerdashers will be able to repair it, so that it will function as the Earth-Autobots' new base. Cliffjumper and Brawn remind everybody how suspicious it is that the human element to the conflict has remained uncharacteristically quiet—but they're unaware that their very conversation happens to be monitored by a black helicopter from a human military.

Starscream recounts to Sunstorm how his crew of Decepticons was able to take control of Sky Lynx and scan new alternate modes for the Combaticons. Things were going fairly well until Sunstorm arrived and threw a monkey wrench into Starscream's plans. Sunstorm justifies his actions by explaining how he's on a holy quest from the Oracle to lead all Transformers to Heaven. Starscream mocks Sunstorm's gospel, and when Sunstorm gets angry, he notices the larger figure standing behind him.

Hours later, the Powerdashers board back on the Orion, having repaired much of the damage done in the crash. Bumblebee and Ratchet get ready to board the ship after activating its stealth mode, when they're attacked by Starscream and his new bodyguard.

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I am your savior, brother. And it is I who shall aid you in achieving your true destiny. We are two wings that must unite. So that we may carry the rest to the heavens. We shall guide them.
We shall guide them into the light."

—Sunstorm

Notes

• The training droids are of a similar design to the auto-combatant Hot Rod fought against briefly in The Transformers: The Movie.
• Starscream seems able to access the Nemesis fine, while last issue he was disappointed that he would be unable to access the Nemesis without the Ark remaining functional. It's later clarified that he needed the Ark for harvesting components to use in repairing the Nemesis.
• The story introduces a Decepticon version of the previously Autobot-only Sky Spy technology.
• Optimus Prime is drawn differently than in War and Peace. His design holds more similarities to the (then recently released) 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime. However this could just be attributed to the different (and arguably better) artist.
• The "Wavelengths" page has an article from the desk of John Ney Rieber.
• Reader mail was answered in the "Prime Transmissions" section by Roger Lee and also included a piece of fan-art from Hal Laren.

Covers (1)

• Art by Don Figueroa

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