Transformers: Drift #4

Transformers: Drift is a four-issue character spin-off that IDW launched for the former Decepticon Drift, written by Shane McCarthy and drawn by Alex Milne. IDW published it in four issues from October to November 2010, and a collected edition was later brought out in Chinese by Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House as Transformers: Drift. This volume is the fourth issue of the miniseries—the finale of the whole story. The story picks up directly from the first three issues: Drift, a swordsman who has turned his back on the Decepticons and taken a new name, drifts on an alien world, is rescued by Wing of the Circle of Light, and comes to the hidden underground New Crystal City. To avoid leading enemies to this peaceful city, Drift, together with a handful of warriors including Wing and Axe, uses a fake base as bait to confront the army of slavers and the Decepticon bounty hunter Lockdown head-on. In this issue, Wing tells Drift the origin of the Great Sword, Lockdown again provokes him with his old identity, and Drift demonstrates through action that he no longer belongs to the Decepticons. In the melee Wing is killed by the slavers’ leader, and the long-retreating Dai Atlas finally pilots New Crystal City into the sky to join the battle; Drift takes up Wing’s Great Sword and kills the enemy, and Lockdown leaves upon seeing this. After the battle Dai Atlas invites him to stay, but Drift declines, choosing first to fulfill Wing’s unfinished promise to free the slaves, and then sets off alone on a journey to find his own path.