TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE #90

"NATURAL SELECTION, PART 5"
Writer: Simon Furman | Penciler: Andrew Wildman | Inker: Stephen Baskerville
Colorist: John-Paul Bove | Coloring Assist: James Stayte | Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: John Barber | Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

The Plot: The Autobots retake their headquarters, but not before missiles are launched at Ultra Magnus's ship. Grimlock and the Dinobots confront Scorponok, whose plan is thwarted thanks to the revelation that Perceptor has been in on Grimlock's plan all along, only playing at being a Decepticon. In their climactic battle, Grimlock and Scorponok plummet to their apparent deaths.

Beneath Cybertron's surface, Hot Rod takes the Sword and Covenant of Primus, sparing the lives of the proto-Transformer creatures, and departs their tunnels, vowing to return.

On Earth, Shockwave restores Starscream's cognitive functions, and together they plot to take control of the Ark from Galvatron. The ship takes off just as Optimus Prime arrives. Spotting Galvatron standing on the Ark's bridge, Optimus wonders if Megatron has somehow cheated death once again.

IRON MAN #119

"NO S.H.I.E.L.D. TO PROTECT ME!"
Writer/Plot: David Michelinie | Finished Art/Plot: Bob Layton
Pencil Art: John Romita Jr. | Letters: Diana Albers | Colors: Carl Gafford
Editor: Roger Stern | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Iron Man triggers an electromagnetic pulse, creating a diversion which allows him to subdue rogue SHIELD agent Buck Richlen. Immediately after, the Helicarrier comes under assault from Russian fighter jets, and Iron Man realizes that with no one at the helm, the SHIELD craft has drifted into Soviet airspace.

While Iron Man flies out to deal with the jets, the Helicarrier's occupants come around. Nick Fury orders a retreat from the U.S.S.R., and with Iron Man's help, the escape is successful. Back aboard the Helicarrier, Fury has Richlen taken into custody, and assures Iron Man that he and his men were a renegade cell within SHIELD.

Later, at Stark International's Paris branch, Tony decodes data he procured from the Helicarrier's computer system, and learns that SHIELD has been buying up Stark stock, to the point that they practically have a controlling interest in the company. When Stark calls Fury, angrily confronting him with this fact, Fury reveals that although Richlen's unit was acting without orders, they were working in the interest of a SHIELD directive: to acquire Stark International and get the company back into the munitions business.

IRON MAN #118

"AT THE MERCY OF MY FOES FRIENDS!"
Script/Plot: David Michelinie | Finished Art/Plot: Bob Layton
Pencil Art: John Byrne | Letters: Irv Watanabe | Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Roger Stern | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: After repairing his armor following the previous night's encounter with Spymaster, Tony Stark travels to the SHIELD Helicarrier to attend the NATO/SHIELD defense symposium, and -- having discovered that Spymaster was armed with SHIELD weaponry -- to investigate SHIELD's involvement in Spymaster's attacks.

Aboard the Helicarrier, Tony slips away from his escort and begins to hack SHIELD's computers. This spurs the renegade agents who had hired Spymaster to go after Stark themselves. They flood the Helicarrier with gas, knocking everyone out, then toss Tony out of the craft. Coming around as he plummets earthward, Tony dons his armor and returns to the Helicarrier. He takes out most of the rogue agents, but their leader escapes and takes the unconscious Nick Fury hostage, then orders Iron Man to turn his repulsor rays on himself, or Fury will die.

MY TOP TWELVE FAVORITE MARVEL COMICS RUNS - #12 - #6

And away we go:

Art: Alan Davis

12. Excalibur by Alan Davis
    (EXCALIBUR #42 - 67)
    Nostalgia Rating: 1 | Story Quality: 4 | Overall: 2.5
    Reason: I won't waste much time on this one, because I've already written about it at length in my Captain Britain reviews -- but I find Davis's tight plotting and mastery of seemingly unrelated sub-plots which thread back together, sometimes when you least expect them to, to be astounding. The run loses steam after issue #50, but it's never a chore to read, and the characters are all great fun.

TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE #89

"NATURAL SELECTION, PART 4"
Writer: Simon Furman | Penciler: Andrew Wildman | Inker: Stephen Baskerville
Colorist: John-Paul Bove | Letterer: Chris Mowry | Editor: John Barber
Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

The Plot: The Dinobots, hunted by Scorponok's forces and realizing they can't win, resolve to kill Grimlock for his betrayal. They lure Grimlock to the "nursery", where all the Nucleon-infected Autobots are kept. But Scorponok's forces also converge on the area. Grimlock convinces the Dinobots he is still on their side by taking out the Decepticons. The last remaining non-Deceptified Autobots arrive, and Grimlock reveals he has a plan to stop Scorponok.

Beneath the planet, Hot Rod touches the Covenant of Primus and receives a vision, in which he learns the monsters chasing him were prototype Transformers judged a failure by Primus. Primus eliminated them to start over, but some survived. Hot Rod believes his job is to finish them off with Primus's sword.

On Earth, Optimus Prime drives through British Columbia toward the Ark's crash site, where he plans to destroy the starship to prevent it from unleashing any further horrors on the planet.

Meanwhile, Ultra Magnus and the Autobot attack team approach Cybertron. Under orders from Scorponok, they are given an "all-clear" signal, with the intention to shoot them down when they reach Cybertron.

IRON MAN #117

"THE SPY WHO KILLED ME!"
Script/Plot: David Michelinie | Finished Art/Plot: Bob Layton
Pencil Art: John Romita Jr. | Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Ben Sean
Editor: Roger Stern | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Spymaster assassinates Tony Stark's Life Model Decoy and draws Iron Man away from Stark International. After realizing he's been had, Iron Man flashes back to the sequence of events which brought him to this point: In order to draw his would-be assassin out of hiding following last issue's bombing, Tony attended a high profile reception for the Carnelian ambassador, then returned to Stark International for the night.

Following the flashback, Iron Man returns to S.I. to confront Spymaster. After a chase across the company grounds, Iron Man catches and defeats the mercenary, and discovers that he was attempting to steal a tape containing a list of Stark's shareholders. Elsewhere, the men who hired Spymaster reflect upon his failure, as they walk to a NATO/SHIELD meeting presided over by their superior... Nick Fury!