Transformers: The War Within, October 2002, Issue 1 Volume 1. Published by Dreamwave Productions, Ontario Canada and printed in Canada in 2002.

Condition: the comic is in very fine / near mint minus condition (VF/NM-), see photos.

Synopsis: Transformers: The War Within #1 is the opening chapter of Dreamwave’s six-issue pre-Earth Generation One miniseries, written by Simon Furman with artwork by Don Figueroa. Set on Cybertron during the early stages of the Autobot-Decepticon war, the issue begins with the death of Sentinel Prime at the hands of Megatron. With the Autobots in disarray, the Council of Ancients unexpectedly selects Optronix, a relatively unremarkable archivist, to become the new Autobot leader. Upon accepting the Matrix of Leadership, Optronix is transformed into Optimus Prime, but his leadership is immediately tested when Grimlock and other Autobots question whether he is capable of winning the war.

Prime proves himself by defeating a Decepticon assassination squad, only to shock the Autobots by declaring that Cybertron may no longer be worth fighting for and proposing that they abandon the planet. Meanwhile, Megatron is pursuing his own plans for Cybertron and sees the Matrix as the key to achieving them. The issue establishes the early personalities and conflicts of the major G1 characters while presenting a dramatically different, pre-Earth version of Cybertron and Optimus Prime. It serves as the foundation for the larger story of how Optimus grows into the legendary leader familiar from the classic Transformers mythology.