Foundation issue 2

As Optimus Prime continues his trek towards Megatron's citadel, Ironhide tries to call him back, only for Elita-One to tell him what they both already know: there is no stopping Optimus, even though it's obvious he's being led into a trap. Unable to let him go alone, Ironhide joins him on his mission...

Thousands of years ago, Optimus turns down Sentinel Prime's offer to make him leader of the new, unified Cybertron, unable to accept that he is truly a descendant of the Dynasty of Primes as Sentinel Prime says he is. He cannot view himself as someone who is better than or different to his friends, but at the same time, he accepts Sentinel's analysis of his attitude that he requires tangible proof to believe in something. To this end, he decides to dedicate him to archaeology, investigating the history of Cybertron, hoping to learn more of the Primes and by extension, truly believe in their legend. Neither Autobot knows, however, that their conversation has been overheard by Megatron...

The next morning, Megatron relates the events of Optimus and Sentinel's meeting to an incredulous Shockwave, grumbling over how he would have reacted much differently if informed power was his destiny. Just then, a scream from below alerts them to a group of hatchlings on a field trip, who have been attacked by a tentacled monster from the depths of the planet. The two powerful warriors easily defeat the creature and save hatchlings, much to the chagrin of the group's emasculated guardian, Starscream. Megatron likes Starscream's "feisty" attitude, and sees a place for him in the future of Cybertron he hopes to shape.

Three solar cycles later, a huge crowd turns out at Cybertron's new capital of Trypticon to hear Sentinel Prime's unification speech, during which he announces that the planet will now be governed by two ruling bodies: Optimus's Science Division and Megatron's Defense Force. Among the crowd is Elita-One, along with her sisters Arcee and Chromia, who she introduces to Optimus after the speech. Chromia has already decided to join the Defense Force, but Arcee is intrigued by Optimus's mission to investigate the Primes, and he happily accepts her request to join his Science Division.

A substantial amount of time later, as the new order of Cybertron settles in, malcontents emerge that challenge Optimus and Megatron's dual-pronged rule. A Defense Force strike team consisting of Shockwave, Fracture, Brawl, Barricade and Astrotrain brutally massacres a contingent of these dissenters, but one escapes, rushing into the sights of Ironhide, Chromia and Starscream. Starscream slaughters the runner despite his surrender. This latest strike prompts Megatron to speak with Optimus, and so he sends Ironhide to Optimus's latest archaeological dig, where he is shocked to see they have unearthed some strange ruins that they believe may be connected to the Primes. Though momentarily distracted by this, Ironhide delivers his message, and Optimus soon appears before Megatron to receive a startling proclamation: continuing increase in malcontent activity means that Megatron's force will need to assume supremacy in the rule of the planet. Optimus opens his mouth to oppose the idea, but when Megatron simply challenges Optimus to stop him, Prime silently acquiesces.

Reflecting on those events of the distant past, Optimus wonders if power corrupted Megatron, or if his former brother-in-arms was merely trying to convince him that his methods were the true way to the future. Although it may have take some time, Optimus realizes, he has now come to believe Megatron was right, and as he arrives at the foot of the Decepticon's tower, he vows he will kill him no matter what...

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Elita-One (1) Ironhide (2) Optimus (3) Sentinel Prime (6) Ratchet (10) Wheeljack (11) Prowl (13) Arcee (14) Chromia (15)	The Fallen (4) Megatron (7) Shockwave (8) Starscream (9) Soundwave (12) Fracture (16) Brawl (17) Barricade (18) Astrotrain (19)	Dynasty of Primes (flashback) (5)

Quotes

"You, Megatron...you always believed, didn't you? Even when Sentinel uncovered the Allspark, and drew a sun to Cybertron...even faced with that literal truth...why couldn't I believe?"

– Optimus Prime

"If I was given such a chance...to be told power was my birthright..."
"Yes Megatron? What would you do?"
"Well, I wouldn't speak of science and history."

– Megatron and Shockwave discuss Optimus's choice.

"This is not a monster, but rather...a magnificent creature."
"Spare me your admiration, and keep shooting it!"

– Shockwave and Megatron

"My, but you're a feisty one. I was beginning to think the planet belonged to those who rhyme words and sing melodies. What do they call you?"
"I am Starscream."

– Megatron and Starscream are properly introduced.

Errors

During Optimus's monologue early on this issue, he seems to be aware of The Fallen and his betrayal, but in Revenge of the Fallen and its adaptations, Optimus has no idea on what the Fallen is early in the movie.
In the French edition of the comic, Ironhide's name is misspelled "Ironside" twice when he joins Optimus and Elita-One at the archaeological dig.

Notes

In an unusual twist on the standard for the character, Primus is here claimed to be the first creation of the AllSpark, from whom the Dynasty of Primes are descended. It is, mind you, presented only as a legend, what the Transformers believe, so there remains plenty of wiggle-room for the typical multiversal origin of Primus to hold true. More to the point, this telling of events appears to be a crafty way to reconcile the Dynasty's claim from Tales of the Fallen #4 that they were the "children of Primus" without discounting the much more widely related origin story of all Transformers being spawned by the AllSpark.
Optimus refers to being "hidden and alone" when Sentinel Prime found him; although he doesn't know it himself, he's alluding to his being hidden away to hide him from The Fallen, something left out of the Revenge of the Fallen film, but mentioned in issue #3 of IDW's comic book adaptation.
A lot of this issue compliments and informs IDW's previous prequel comic, Defiance, working hard to work the new Dark of the Moon-specific backstory elements in to the setting of that series while simultaneously doing a lot of world-building. Elements built upon from Defiance include the establishment of the dual-pronged leadership of Cybertron shared by Optimus and Megatron that was in place with the series began, complete with the broken-down relationship between the two former brothers and Megatron having authority, Arcee being part of Optimus's science division, and Ironhide being one of Megatron's warriors.
Ironhide and Chromia having been soldiers together on Cybertron was originally mentioned in Chromia's toy bio.
Ironhide refers to Arcee's fondness for hunting turbofoxes, mentioned in her Movie toy bio.
The specific use of the word "malcontents" to describe the dissenting Transformers is drawn from the Robotech franchise, of which author John Barber is a big fan, where it was the formal name used to describe aliens rebelling against a new order. Furthermore, "Battlecry!"—a word closely associated with Robotech, having been the title of an episode, a novel, an ominbus and a video game—is used as a tagline for the next issue, but this was the work of one of the book's editors, and a complete coincidence that really tickled Barber when he made the connection.