Good Men

	; There's a saying.; Demons run when a good man goes to war.
	"Good Men"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 28, 2018
Cover date	March 2018
Written by	Magdalene Visaggio
Art by	Fico Ossio
Colors by	David García Cruz
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Sarah Gaydos and David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

The Spectral Knights gain a new comrade and lose another as alliances continue to be forged and broken, as the mission to stop the Talisman reaches a crisis point.

Synopsis

Quickswitch is recruited to transport Wheeljack's counter-wave down to the core of Cybertron using his drill-tank mode, but as Wheeljack and Breakdown squabble with one another while installing the bomb in his chest, he wonders if agreeing to the mission was such a good idea. Ironhide is similarly unsure about the whole plan, given that they don't really know the full extent what the bomb will do, but Leoric assures him that it's bound to be better than the end of Cybertronian life that will result if they don't act. Ironhide's concerns, the Spectral Knight tells him, just means he's taking the burden of leadership seriously—in the same way that Leoric is concerned that they have heard nothing from Arzon's infiltration team...

In New Prysmos, Witterquick and Mortdred have been taken captive and are being tortured by the sadistic Reekon. Mortdred uses his legendary silver tongue to try and convince Reekon to let him go, and it seems like Reekon might be on the verge of being swayed, until Cryotek arrives to begin his shift as prisoner guard and sends Reekon on his way. Witterquick spits in Cryotek's face, disgusted to see his former comrade now on the side of the Darkling Lords, even as Cryotek insists he is just trying to save their civilization. A moment later, Virulina enters the room, and invites Cryotek to walk with her...

Arzon, meanwhile, has not been strung up with his fellow captives, but has instead been brought before Merklynn. As Arzon listens, Merklynn recites the Prysmosian creation myth, which posits that the universe was made by the goddess Heskedor from pieces of her own body, with her heart becoming Prysmos, and her lifeforce becoming the "Arcana Vast," the force of magic that unites the cosmos. Arzon knows this already, of course, having always been devout in his faith—which is exactly why Merklynn has arranged this meeting. The wizard leads Arzon over to his scrying pool, which magically shows a vision of the future where Virulina has fallen. She and the Darking Lords, Merklynn explains, have the fire needed to incite the change he desires, but to sustain it, he requires a more stable leader: a good man of faith who can unite Spectral Knight and Darkling Lord... a man like Arzon.

As Cryotek walks with Virulina, she calmly but firmly reminds him that he must put his old allegiances behind him. Cryotek swears that he is loyal to her, and sought only to end Reekon's cruel behavior. On the spot, Virulina instructs Cryotek draw his weapon; when he falters, she attacks him, demanding that he show her the killer instinct needed to save their people. Cryotek is goaded into fighting back, and as the pair clash, Virulina explains that Reekon's torture of the prisoners was no random act of cruelty. Using a spell provided by Merklynn, she is draining the lifeforces of Mortdred and Witterquick and using them to accelerate the Talisman's progress toward Cybertron's core. Knocking Cryotek to the ground, she informs him that he will have to prove his loyalty to her—by torturing the prisoners himself until the last of their lifeforce is gone.

A little later, Wheeljack has completed the installation of the counter-wave bomb into Quickswitch. Galadria's faith makes her confident the mission will succeed; Leoric wishes he could be so sure, but before he has a chance to voice his uncertainty, he receives a communication via his magical totem. The sender is none other than Cryotek, who, unable to condone what Virulina has done to his once and former brother-in-arms, tells Leoric everything about the spell and the Talisman's acceleration. Hearing what has become of his comrade, and realizing what his leaving New Prysmos has wrought, Leoric appoints Galadria leader of the bomb mission in his place, and leaves to return to the city to help.

Ironhide, Wheeljack, Galadria, and Ectar board Quickswitch, who begins drilling down into the planet. As he nears the core, the effect of the Talisman's energy begins to be felt on his body; knowing that he will not survive it, Quickswitch bravely pushes on anyway, managing to burrow down into a cavern below before his body finally gives up and he dies. Everyone clambers out of his remains, and Wheeljack recovers the bomb and sets it up to detonate. Before he can set it off, however, the group are confronted by a team of three Darkling Lords: Cravex, Lexor... and Arzon, who has been swayed by Merklynn into joining their side! As the other two restrain Ectar, Arzon extends an offer to Galadria to join them, but she refuses. Arzon is sorry that it must be this way... but not sorry enough to stop him from swinging his blade at the counter-wave bomb, cleaving it in two!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Spectral Knights	Darkling Lords	Others
Quickswitch (1) Wheeljack (3) Ironhide (4) Windblade (12)	Leoric (5) Witterquick (8) Cryotek (9) Arzon (11) Galadria (14) Ectar (15)	Mortdred (6) Reekon (7) Virulina (9) Darkstorm (13) Cravex (16) Lexor (17)	Breakdown (2) Merklynn (10)

Quotes

Quickswitch: "Uh, guys?"
Wheeljack: "Hey, Breakdown? Pass me a 3/4's quantum spanner."
Breakdown: "You sure you don't mean 5/8's?"
Quickswitch: "I was kinda wondering-"
Wheeljack: "I know what kind of quantum spanner I need."
Breakdown: "Sure, but I really thinka 5/8's will be a better fit-"
Wheeljack: "Oh, do you now?"
Quickswitch: "GUYS! I'm... having second thoughts about this."
Breakdown: "Me too, Quickswitch. I thought Wheeljack and I were going to be partners on this installation."
Wheeljack: "Listen, bucko. I have seniority."

"Okay Quickswitch. How ya feeling?"
"Like I have a bomb inside me."
"Good! Because that is a very accurate assessment of the way your day is going."

—Wheeljack and Quickswitch

Notes

Transformers references

Quickswitch (making his first—and last—appearance in IDW continuity) is drawn based on his recent Titans Return toy. He is sporting the helmet design seen in promotional renders for the toy, rather than the version used by the actual figure, which was unchanged from the Sixshot figure he was retooled from. It seems that unlike the toy, he isn't a Six Changer in this version, merely indecisive; he only displays use of a drill tank mode (which his original toy has, but the Titans Return toy lacks), and laments not having a space shuttle or train alternate mode.

Visionaries references

With Reekon's appearance, all fourteen of the original Visionaries characters have now been featured in the series.
Though the Prysmosian creation myth Merklynn recites is an original idea created for this series, the name of the goddess involved, "Heskedor" is not; in the Visionaries cartoon series, it was the name of a witch who appeared in the episode "Lion Hunt."
While reminding Arzon of his faith, Merklynn mentions the machines used on Prysmos before the Age of Magic, and creates a magical image that includes one of them, the Skyclaw, which was one of the vehicles from the original Visionaries toyline, piloted by Mortdredd.

Errors

So Mortdred actually did betray Virulina? It wasn't a ruse? So then... why was he standing by her side atop Waspinator when she arrived at the end of last issue?

Other trivia

If you're confused by Merklynn's use of the term "mystery", he is referring to the supernatural religious definition, a usage exceptionally uncommon outside of academic/religious circles in real life.

Covers (3)

Cover A: The images of Leoric and Virulina hang over a Cybertron torn between two states of being, orbited by a ring of Transformer remains, by Fico Ossio
Cover B: Virulina blasts a hole through Ironhide by Luca Pizzari
Retailer incentive cover: Galadria and Wheeljack, by Brendan Cahill and Lauren Bennett