IDW’s last INFESTATION event was popular enough to run a sequel. One that was actually hinted at in the closing moments of that crossover. Only this time, rather than the undead, the multiverse is under attack from the Elder Gods. But if you’re not into Dungeons & Dragons, Transformers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or G.I.Joe, there’s no need to read any of those titles. No one’s a fan of CVO, so make of that what you will.
As with the original event, the characters from each mini never actually meet each other.
It’s worth noting that the Transformers story is set in the Hearts of Steel continuity, first introduced in Transformers: Evolutions – Hearts of Steel #1-4. See the Fallout section for more on this.
Crossover: While this is, in theory, a crossover event, each title can be read entirely separately. The main story really only needs the two-issue mini-series to be understood (in theory, anyway. It’s a messy story with deeply unlikable characters that require you to read the original CVO title as well as te first INFESTATION).
Preview: A one-shot ashcan edition titles Dark Secrets of Infestation 2 was released to provide preview material on the event.
Must-Reads: Issues marked with a ✔are essential to the story; technically, each two-issue story or one-shot can be read as a stand-alone story,
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- INFESTATION (2011) – The first outbreak hits the IDW multiverse
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Infestation 2 #1
- Infestation 2: Transformers 1-2
- Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons 1-2
- Infestation 2: Team-Up #1
- Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1-2
- Infestation 2: G.I.Joe 1-2
- Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night #1
- ✔ Infestation 2 #2
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| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Infestation 2 #1 HP Lovecraft channeled the calls of the Elder Gods into stories that were read by, among others, a clandestine society called Oblivion. They arranged for Lovecraft’s death to prevent the Elder Gods from returning. But, in the present, mass media has spread the concept of the Elder Gods and use of the Artillica (which stepped up during INFESTATION) has enabled their escape into multiple planes of existence. On one plane, Covert Vampiric Operations (CVO) respond to calls about giant worms, amphibious men, demons and more. The vampire Agent Bools stumbles across the descendent of Lovecraft’s assassin – the modern day leader of Oblivion – in San Francisco. Agent Britt realises the Elder Gods are using Agent Cross’s Artillica to make their way into the multiverse… |
| Infestation 2: Transformers #1 On another Earth, in 1888, a creature attacks the USS Miskatonic, marking the arrival of the Elder Gods. The Decepticons have become hybrids,gaining new abilities from the Elder Gods. Nikola Tesla agrees to help supply Tobias Muldoon with an energy source that can reactivate Optimus Prime… | |
| Infestation 2: Transformers #2 Wheeljack, Ratchet, Ironhide and Trailbreaker use up their energy reserves to power Tesla’s machine and restore Optimus Prime. An Elder God rises from the ocean and is taken on by an international fleet of warships. The fallen Ironhide is possessed by the Elder Gods and added to the Decepticon army, until Prime assaults the Elder God and returns him to the depths. | |
| Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #1 Abraxis Wren is the greatest detective in the city of Sharn. While investigating the disappearance of a patient from a locked room in Boldrei Asylum, Abraxis and his assistant Torin escape an assassination attempt. They soon learn more than one patient has ‘escaped’ from a number of asylums and committed suicide. The series of deaths were all signed off by a Captain Kincaid. They find him using the patients to summon Elder Gods. Abraxis knocks Kincaid out and saves a patient. Despite Kincaid’s escape, the case is closed… until a tentacled Elder God erupts from the city! |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #2 200 years ago, a tentacled Elder God was imprisoned beneath Sharn. It recently woke and the guards found they could communicate with it through the those deemed ‘unhinged’. Captain Kincaid was using the information to find and kill those under the Old Ones’ influence. But Abraxis Wren’s recent efforts prevented Kincaid from finding the last of the followers who have now set the Elder God free! Abraxis and Torin commandeer the craft that the wizards of Sharn were leaving on. They collectively cast a spell to send the creature to Daanvi. Abraxis insists on closing the portal to sever the Elder God’s head. | |
| Infestation 2 Team-Up #1 Back on the CVO’s Earth, the alien Archibald is grabbed by an Elder God’s tentacle and hurled into the Amalgam Universe where he meets Bat Boy. They head to a bar where Archibald complains about comic book events. When an Elder God snatches Bat Boy, Archibald sends his friend Blob to consume the creature and free his new drinking buddy. Note: Archibald is from ‘Groom Lake’ and Bat Boy regularly appeared in ‘World Weekly News’, both from IDW Publishing. | |
| Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 A creature is kidnapping people from New York’s city streets and dragging them below. Splinter fears the Turtles may be blamed. They make short work of the creature when it wanders into their lair, though their fight uncovers a tunnel where they discover a disturbing structure built from corpses. They encounter more creatures who grab Leonardo before a cave-in separates him further from the others… | |
| Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 The captive Leonardo meets the Shub Niggurath worshipper who wants to restore his master. Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael find and free Leonardo, behead the ancient worshipper and pin the Elder God Shub Niggurath so it can’t feed. Despite their harrowing experience, Donatello remains obsessed with the Elder Gods… |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| Infestation 2: G.I.Joe #1 The Interrogator, Dr Jacob Mitchell (now calling himself Raptor) and the Baroness all survived the zombie infestation in Cobra’s Pacific outpost (see INFESTATION). Now, Cobra scientist Dr Llund has discovered a doorway to the Elder Gods. Baroness orders for it to be activated after she leaves the Snake Pit, only for it to transform rookie Vipers in Cobra’s underground training base/prison into monsters. Interrogator, Crystal Ball and Storm Shadow are of the few unaffected. G.I.Joe pick up activity in the base and send Scarlett and Snake Eyes to investigate… | |
| Infestation 2: G.I.Joe #2 Crystal Ball has destroyed the exits from the Snake Pit to prevent the evil from escaping to the surface. Now he’s releasing all the insane Cobra agents – Raptor, Gristle and Razor Claw – as their insanity makes them immune to the Elder Gods’ control. On the surface, G.I.Joe operative Dee Jay picks up the Elder God’s music, incapacitating Scarlett’s squad. Snake Eyes is unaffected and he finds a way into the Snake Pit. Crystal Ball makes a deal with the Elder Gods to convince them to leave and he then escapes with the door. With all remaining Joe and Cobra agents released from control, Snake Eyes takes Scarlett to safety. | |
| Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night #1 December 1952. A photographer specialising in extreme conditions accepts a mission to take shots of a Russian installation 200 miles from the North Pole. But she finds it riddled with vampires who kill her pilot, Lt Col Fitch. When an Elder God erupts through the floor and attacks the vampires. The photographer flees to the plane. Soviet jets arrive and blow up the vampires and the Elder God. The photographer prays to the Elder God to protect her and save her from the cold and explosions. When she’s found alive, no one believes her story… | |
| ✔ | Infestation 2 #2 Danger Girl archaeologist Abbey Chase is hunted by an Elder God when she obtains a microdot with information that could shake the foundation of the planet. On the CVO’s Earth, Bools becomes the tumor’s new host. Britt rips Cross’s Artillica heart out and combines it with the tumor. The tumor becomes Cross’s new heart. On Danger Girl’s Earth, the god chasing Abbey explodes, marking the end of their efforts to enter our plane of existence. |
| Must Reads | Issues & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| Cobra #9 (2012) Baroness is next seen, working under the guidance of the new Cobra Commander. | COBRA COMMAND | |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 (2012) The Ninja Turtles’ adventures continue. | ||
| Dungeons & Dragons Annual 2012: Eberron (2012) Abraxis Wren and Torin return, looking to solve another mystery in Eberron. | ||
| G.I.Joe #8 (2013) Crystal Ball returns, though his intentions to summon the Elder Gods are never mentioned again. | ||
| Revolutionaries #5 (2017) It’s revealed that a variation of the ‘Hearts of Steel’ Transformers timeline is is part of regular IDW’s Transformers continuity (2005-2018); ‘Bumblebee’, ‘Optimus Prime’ and others are seen in the present day, having been revealed as Cybertronians who’d been tampered with by the real Shockwave to believe they were the originals. | REVOLUTION | |
| First Strike: MASK #1 (2017) Raptor returns to active duty with Cobra. | FIRST STRIKE |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Infestation 2 Hardcover | Infestation 2 #1-2 Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night #1 Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #1-2 Infestation 2: G.I. Joe #1-2 Infestation 2 Team-Up #1 Infestation 2: The Transformers #1-2 Infestation 2: TMNT #1-2 |
| Infestation 2 vol.1 | Infestation 2 #1-2 Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night #1 Infestation 2 Team-Up #1 |
| Infestation 2 vol.2 | Infestation 2: G.I. Joe #1-2 Infestation 2: The Transformers #1-2 |
| Infestation 2 vol.3 | Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #1-2 Infestation 2: TMNT #1-2 |
| Infestation Omnibus | CVO: Covert Vampiric Operations #1 Ghostbusters: Infestation #1-2 G.I. Joe: Infestation #1-2 Infestation #1-2 Infestation 2 #1-2 Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night #1 Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #1-2 Infestation 2: G.I. Joe #1-2 Infestation 2 Team-Up #1 Infestation 2: The Transformers #1-2 Infestation 2: TMNT #1-2 Infestation: Outbreak #1-4 Pocket God #9 Star Trek: Infestation #1-2 Transformers: Infestation #1-2 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Dungeons & Dragons: Abraxis Wren of Eberron | Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons #1-2 |
Reading Order © Omniverse Comics Guide 2024
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