Transformers!

[Newsbot]

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It’s often said that the true measure of a hero is based on the quality of the villain—and TRANSFORMERS has some of the greatest villains in pop culture. But the heroic AUTOBOTS have kept the evil DECEPTICONS in check—until now.

Starting in July, IDW Publishing will unveil a turning point in the TRANSFORMERS saga. TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON, under license from HPG, the licensing division of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). Set one year after the events of TRANSFORMERS: Devastation, TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON launches a new storyline that shows what happens when great heroes aren’t around to defend against their powerful villains. The DECEPTICONS, led by the ruthless MEGATRON, have somehow succeeded in dispatching the AUTOBOTS and their leader, OPTIMUS PRIME, leaving Earth ripe for the plucking. 

The 12-part maxi-series takes TRANSFORMERS in an epic new direction courtesy of writer Shane McCarthy (Detective Comics, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight) and fan-favorite artist Guido Guidi (TRANSFORMERS Spotlight: Galvatron, TRANSFORMERS Beast Wars: The Ascending). Together, they tell the tale of an Earth decimated by the DECEPTICONS. Where are the AUTOBOTS, and how did they come to be exiled from Earth? Who has changed sides, who will live, and who will die? These questions, as well as the introduction of an all-new Transformers character, will be answered in the pages of the series. 

“This thing is going to knock the fans’ socks off,” McCarthy says. “This is exactly the kind of story I’ve always wanted to see done, and I think the fans will be right there with me.”

IDW’s Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall added, “ALL HAIL MEGATRON is what the AUTOBOTS fought so hard to prevent, the ultimate culmination of MEGATRON’s plans. It’s destruction on a grand scale; it’s a story of sacrifice, lost heroism, betrayal, and hopefully at the end, renewal. 

“But this series, more than any other we’ve done, shows that hopes don’t amount to much in the face of unrelenting evil. Shane’s story hearkens back to the greatest stories in TRANSFORMERS history, while still feeling vibrant and excitingly new. And the best part is the accessibility of the tale makes this a perfect jumping-on spot for new fans of good comics, along with long-time followers of TRANSFORMERS.” 

TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON #1 is being solicited for July ’08 release. It will feature a victorious MEGATRON cover by Klaus Scherwinski, as well as a distinctive variant cover by Trevor Hutchison.

[anarky]

Old news, Newsbot.

Some new news for our giant T-Rex friend.

Rollo, now that you've got Spotlight on Decepticons (which I'm probably not going to get, given the lack of new stuff that's not showing up in another book in a couple of months anyway), does All Hail Megatron appear to be in-continuity with the previous series? Something about a 12-issue storyline about Megatron ruling Earth seems, I dunno, just wrong. Like a series about Cobra taking over the world and Cobra Commander killing Billy and a bunch of other deaths for nothing other than shock value.

Furman could pull it off, maybe, but I don't this Shane McCarthy guy from Adam. Hell, Furman did sort of pull it off in the beginning of the Marvel G2 comic, when Bludgeon destroyed New York, causing the already confused Marvel Universe/Transformers Universe/GIJoe Universe to be even more convoluted. (Hmmm.... this story is going to confuse the New Avengers crossover from last year, so I suppose it is following in a tradition of sorts.)

[anarky]

I didn't read this POS crossover, but I did read the Ramjet Spotlight that followed up on it.

Ramjet bore no resemblance to the Ramjet of old. This wasn't minor changes, but an overhaul. I don't think Furman used him at all, so I'm not faulting him. But this Ramjet was shit.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I think the entire point of that issue was to "Shock" readers by killing off a character.

LAME.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

According to Focus on Decepticons, it's in continuity. It takes place one year after the events of Devastation. I can only hope that there will be an Autobot-centric story somewhere down the road that focuses on the off-planet 'Bots for that year. Written by Furman preferably.

[anarky]

I was afraid of that.

Something about the Autobots leaving Earth--or any planet--to the mercies of the Decepticons doesn't ring true. The whole thing smells like IDW brought Furman in knowing that they couldn't handle writing chores (despite what a few vocal fanboys said, Dreamwave had already proven how badly even the Transformers could suck ass without a story), and they were giving him free reign, and then some fanboy "editor because he's the owner's neighbor" said, "Duuuuuude, wouldn't it be cool if the Decepticons were like totally on Earth and the Autobots weren't, and, like, they're totally going, 'Awww, gonna kill some humans,' and then blowing shit up, all BOOM! BOOM! CRASH!! And, like, there's blood and guts everywhere, and Megatron like totally kicks ass and rules the Earth? Furman, make it happen or you're outta here."

I'll be fucking pissed if they do have the Joe license (no one knows!!) and bring in Hama, and then pull some stupid shit like this.

I'm not saying it can't work, but it really concerns me. Especially being a year-long story.

BTW, does it seem a bit odd that Hasbro allows the Joe and Transformers comics to be direct market only and fairly mature when they're still making the toys?

[RoIIo Tomassi]

The four Spotlights wrapping up the Infiltration thru Devestation storyline Revelations are Cyclonus, Hardhead, DoubleDealer...and Wheelie?!? So the Wheelie Spotlight wraps up EVERYTHING? That scares me.

[anarky]

Wheelie's not one of them. It's totally separate (though I'm sure tangentially connected). I can't recall who the fourth Spotlight of Revelation is. I actually want to say Jhiaxus for some reason, but I think that's wrong.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Maybe it's Sideswipe. i think I saw his name on those pics of the slideshow presentation at Botcon.

[anarky]

Sideswipe. That's right.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

And that kinda makes sense considering his brother got his head removed and replaced by a whiny human in a power monkey suit.

[anarky]

I just read Devastation.

So....

I hope the Revelation Spotlights are only wrapping up the Dead Universe subplot. Otherwise, that's a lot of plots to wrap up there in four issues.

DoubleDealer is in parts unknown. Cyclonus hails from the Dead Universe. Sideswipe and Hardhead are en route to the prison world where the Pretender Monsters (what the hell are they called if they're not Pretenders in this universe?) are being held. Which seem to be what Cyclonus, Jhiaxxus, and Prime Nova want. Not too difficult to figure out the Revelation arc will be in space, mostly in and around the prison world.

Which brings us to All Hail Megatron, where my fears are being confirmed and dispelled at the same time.

The ending of Devastation paves the way for a Autobot-free Earth, ripe for the plucking. On Earth, we have Hot Rod (who's gone AWOL), Ironhide (assuming Hot Rod was able to save him from destruction in the moments following Devastation, which is probably a fairly safe bet--fixing him would be another story altogether), Sunstreaker/Hunter (I'm considering him a true hybrid, since the Headmaster thing works differently in this universe than previously), and the Dinobots (who, judging from the preview and likely events of Spotlight Grimlock, will be back to normal). A small band of Autobots fighting an armada of Decepticons seems cool... only, didn't Ryall say there would be NO Autobots in All Hail Megatron? (Of course, Dinobots aren't technically Autobots, if you want to split hairs. And the teasers mention someone(s) switching sides. I could see this version of Hot Rod pretending to go bad if he thought it could suit his purposes to bring down the 'Cons from within. Allegiances not being genetic here, that would be much easier in the IDW-verse.)

Plus, all Sideswipe has to live for at this point is his brother, who's a Headmaster... which is the culmination of a plot to forcibly evolve the Transformers, and, therefore, probably has some involvement from denizens of the Dead Universe, even if unbeknownst to Scorponok. Good chance this might wrap up in Revelation, too, then.

Plus again, Galvatron is sent specifically to defend Earth from the Reapers. Why? What importance does Earth hold to the Dead Universe inhabitants?

Will DoubleDealer be in space for Revelation? It would seem so, but he's "buddies" with Hot Rod, so he could wind up on Earth.

Back to All Hail Megatron....

A year in the future? This is what bugs me. Is Revelation supposed to take an entire year? Or are they just gone on vacation?

Will the main action actually be set within the interceding year, and the frame sequence be in the present, likely ending with the Autobots returning?

Will we at least get to see what the hell happened to Soundwave and his cassettes? It looks like they're back; there'd better be an explanation.

Humanity could put up a fight against the small contingent of Decepticons on Earth. However, by all indications, Megatron is hunkering down due to the Ore-13, and inviting a shitload more Decepticons. The Constructicons feature pretty prominently in the preview. There'll simply be way too fucking many for humans to deal with, even with the small handful of brainwashed Transformers they have.

On the plus side, though the title is All Hail Megatron, it's likely Scorponok will still be there to cause trouble. And this version of Starscream is far more treacherous than previous incarnations. Banzai-Tron is hopping around somewhere, and doesn't seem to entirely be on Meg's side, either. Bludgeon is probably not as "dead" as we thought; if his experiments were due to influence from the Dead Universe and he's no longer obsessed with reviving Thunderwing, he could be a pretty nasty thorn in Meg's side. (If he is obsessed with reviving Thunderwing, that could even be worse.) Soundwave has proven he is loyal to whomever serves his purposes; as goes Soundwave, so go most of the tapes. Plus, most of Megatron's warriors currently on Earth seem to think he's lost it already. This could be interesting, since Megatron looks like he'll have plenty of trouble simply marching in and taking over (especially if the Dinobots and Sunstreaker/Hunter are involved).

Still, my main qualm is that this is the longest series yet (why does IDW insist that people don't want an ongoing, when the truth is they're the ones who don't want it?), and it's by someone I have no idea about.

[anarky]

Got and read Spotlight 3. Aside from the "meh" Mirage story, this one is a strong bunch.

First... QUINTESSONS! Holy fucking shit! Okay, it's only the hieroglyph on a dead world at the end of the Wheelie arc. Is Wheelie on Quintessa, only the Quintessons died out eons ago and no one knows they called this chunk of rock that? Or were they responsible for killing off whoever lived there?

Grimlock is pretty badass here, and I like the origin for his screwy speech. Even if he seems to be able to fix it pretty frigging quickly.

I may be just forgetting, but about how long ago did Stormbringer take place? More than twenty years, that's for sure. Blaster had been floating around, seemingly dead, for quite some time.

I'm glad that it seems Revelations will not be the end of so many story arcs after all.

And my only real concern is the number of characters who wind up with their brains fried. Not dead, but with fried brains. Bludgeon, Kup, and now Beachcomber. Almost an average of one per paperback collection.

[anarky]

Okay, Rollo, here's a question for you, as I assume you've been reading the floppies:

In your opinion, can the IDW-verse be saved after All Hail Megatron?

Every single review I've read, even the positive ones, say it reads like mediocre fanfic and has been painfully slow going. It appears to have several major gaffes with Furman's storyline (notably the characters now having new bodies, and only early G1 characters showing up). And I just saw a preview for an upcoming issue with Kup, Blurr, and Springer on the cover. I thought Kup was brain dead? What's the point of killing characters or permanently incapacitating them if they just come back?

I'm also not too hip on the idea that one Autobot defection wiped out a galaxy-wide army, especially since the Autobots seemed to have several loose cannons in this new series.

So, is this a reboot, or is it actually supposed to follow the "-tion" series, albeit poorly? And will IDW soon realize their mistake and realize there's a reason Transformers fans all suck Simon Furman's dick (metaphorically speaking)? I trust Furman to fix any TF mess (he almost immediately fixed the embarrassment that Budiansky turned the Marvel series into after he lost interest), but I'm not sure about a lesser writer, and this McCarthy fellow sounds like he's definitely a lesser writer.

The big worry I have is how they might handle GIJoe if they're willing to do this with TF. I'm still crossing my fingers that the reportedly poor sales will result in them retconning it into a "What If?"

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I'm still clueless as to whether it's "in continuity" or not. First it was, then it wasn't, then it was. And I didn't get the second issue. They didn't throw it in my pullbox and since they order about two copies for the shelf by the time I got issue three, it was long gone. I don't know if issue four is out or not. So it's hard for me to judge how good the series is. The first issue is all set up so it's not a good gage. I liked the third issue, but I have nothing to compare it to. It's like being dropped in the middle of a movie. Whats going on? I have no idea.

At this point the amount of different TF Universes is so vast, it's hard to think about whats in continuity and what isn't.

Original Marvel Comics
G1 Television
TF Robots in Disguise
TF Armada/Cybertron
Dreamwave
IDW
Live Action Movie
etc, etc

I never felt like the original G1 characters got enough alone time in the first Marvel run. By issue four half of them were smashed and they were already introducing newer characters. I would love a solid year of just the original 16 Autobots vs the 'cons. And then slowly bring in the other characters. If you want to do a second series or limited series on Cybertron that is focusing on everyone's favorite characters that werent OG1, thats fine.