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IDW Senior Editor Andy Schmidt at IDW Publishing took a few moments to set up what is coming in the next half year for Transformers Ongoing fans--you know that big summer event--the one that leads us to believe there will be some action, intrigue, and possibly destruction--what was that word for the event??? Hold on, it'll come to me.

Just yesterday we were introduced to some samples of the new artists work that are involved in the series, and now we get some background, and behind-the-scenes knowledge of what we'll be reading and why that will be of interest to us as TRANSFORMERS ONGOING goes bi-monthly this summer to tell the story that is... 'CHAOS'.

"Q: So, what is the current state of the Transformers Universe right now in the IDW-verse? Are we on Earth, Cybertron, in space?

Actually, we're on both. In the TRANSFORMERS ongoing series, we've kept the focus on Earth for the most part of the last two years. There, the Autobots have teamed up with the human-forces called SKYWATCH. The Autobots are led by Bumblebee, who replaced Optimus Prime after he stepped down and SKYWATCH is led by Spike. As it turns out, the humans and Transformers may not be completely honest with each other--and that growing distrust is about to come to an explosive head during CHAOS.

Meanwhile, off of Earth, GALVATRON has been gathering soldiers on a strange mission. That's being explored in the HEART OF DARKNESS mini-series currently coming out. And Rodimus has found the Matrix of Leadership on yet another world. All of these storylines are also going to come to a head during the CHAOS event.

Q: What would you say have been the top 2 events to occur in the continuity since the end of All Hail Megatron?

That's tough. Optimus Prime stepping down was big. His time on Earth made him realize that Transformers as a race have been stuck--stagnant. And the only way to get out of it, was to force change. I think that was pretty big--and as it turned out, controversial as well. Same with Bumblebee being elected leader, which has been really interesting because, as a character, that's not really where he should be, so that's been a big stuggle.

Off in space, Rodimus has retrieved the Matrix, so that's going to lead to some interesting things. We all know where that led in 1986, but it'll be fun to see how that plays out here.

And Megatron has been rebuilt and is remarkably more powerful than he was before--and has a cool new look, too. His mission is really to prove that Optimus Prime has wrongfully put his trust in humanity. That conflict, too, is coming to a head very soon.

I'd say all three of those are pretty big.


Q: Have we been introduced to any new characters in recent series that will play a role in upcoming storylines?

We've had some folks return, but we haven't put any major new player in place. Megatron, as I said, has recently returned. Galvatron has returned over in INFESTATION: TRANSFORMERS and in HEART OF DARKNESS. That's big. We're going to see an old character appear again in TRANSFORMERS #19 that I think is going to get people talking. So we're pulling some characters from pre-All Hail Megatron back into play.

Q: Has anyone died since ongoing started?

Ironhide died in issue #1, but we've seen him since then in his own mini-series. He's back, but he does not have memories from the last millennium or so. And Scrapper, one of the Constructicons who forms Devastator was killed by Spike. And that DEFINITELY has major repercussions coming up.

Q: Anything else we should know before jumping into CHAOS?

Man, I think that about covers it. The fun thing about putting the CHAOS event together was that it's very much what many of us--myself and Carlos on editorial, Mike Costa, James Roberts, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning on the writing side--have been building to since the first issue of the ongoing series. That said, we've also made sure to construct it in such a way that a new reader or a returning reader shouldn't have any trouble jumping in."

'Chaos' launches in July with 'A Prelude to Chaos'(Ongoing #21) and 'Chaos Theory' (Ongoing #22 and #23). More updates sure to come!

$50 that CHAOS has something to do with the chaos-bringer Unicron.....

I'm assuming Sunstreaker may be coming back to Earth after being reactivated on Cybertron (somehow come back to Earth anyway, I know he's busy with Ironhide cleaning up the rest of the Swarm).

GEEWUN wrote:$50 that CHAOS has something to do with the chaos-bringer Unicron.....

I'll raise you $75 that Drift will do something lame, and Cliffjumper will feel sorry for himself for not doing it first.

EDIT: In fairness to IDW, this event sounds like a good time. Hopefully it'll bring some of the naysayers back to the books, which have been fantastic since Costa took the reigns. Seriously. Great stuff. He's our Geoff Johns.

I'm pretty stoked for the event. Can't wait to see what the repercussions are for Scrapper's death.

It Is Him wrote:EDIT: In fairness to IDW, this event sounds like a good time. Hopefully it'll bring some of the naysayers back to the books, which have been fantastic since Costa took the reigns. Seriously. Great stuff. He's our Geoff Johns.

Are you really serious? I feel completely different about Costa. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but to me his writing is atrocious. And I mean every bit of it: the stories themselves have been boring, the pacing has been terrible (nothing happened in two years, he only managed to spent a lot of time on superSpike), his dialogue has lots of text but says nothing and is empty and hollow, and his characterisation is way off: Optimus stepping down? Prowl doing rash actions without thought? Onslaught dumb as hell? Hot Rod an arrogant ass? Etcetera etcetera.

The G1 ongoing so far has been a huge waste of money and paper. IMO. I'm cautiously optimistic now that James Roberts is about to help him out storywise, it's very much needed. But the fact that fans are now begging for a return of Simon Furman through online petitions and such (1000 autographs and counting. Enter Cybertstrike with an anti-Furman rant... he's a one man army with a stuck needle... ) says it all, I think.

It Is Him wrote:Hopefully it'll bring some of the naysayers back to the books, which have been fantastic since Costa took the reigns. Seriously. Great stuff. He's our Geoff Johns.

Sweet baby Jesus!!! Are you serious???

Hans wrote:I feel completely different about Costa. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but to me his writing is atrocious. And I mean every bit of it: the stories themselves have been boring, the pacing has been terrible (nothing happened in two years, he only managed to spent a lot of time on superSpike), his dialogue has lots of text but says nothing and is empty and hollow, and his characterisation is way off: Optimus stepping down? Prowl doing rash actions without thought? Onslaught dumb as hell? Hot Rod an arrogant ass? Etcetera etcetera.

Couldn't agree more.

Hans wrote:The G1 ongoing so far has been a huge waste of money and paper. IMO. I'm cautiously optimistic now that James Roberts is about to help him out storywise, it's very much needed.

COULDN'T. AGREE. MORE.



Furman, Roberts, Roche, Mowry.
Any of them, for God's sake.

Hans wrote:

It Is Him wrote:EDIT: In fairness to IDW, this event sounds like a good time. Hopefully it'll bring some of the naysayers back to the books, which have been fantastic since Costa took the reigns. Seriously. Great stuff. He's our Geoff Johns.

Are you really serious? I feel completely different about Costa. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but to me his writing is atrocious. And I mean every bit of it: the stories themselves have been boring, the pacing has been terrible (nothing happened in two years, he only managed to spent a lot of time on superSpike), his dialogue has lots of text but says nothing and is empty and hollow, and his characterisation is way off: Optimus stepping down? Prowl doing rash actions without thought? Onslaught dumb as hell? Hot Rod an arrogant ass? Etcetera etcetera.

Yes, completely serious. Costa is the best thing to happen to Transformers comics since Dreamwave collapsed.

His writing is superb, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way because I've chatted with other writers in the fandom about this. Mike Costa understands that characters can't remain static. The ongoing series is not G1, and if the status quo changes, then good, that's the way it's supposed to be.

His dialogue isn't "off," he's carefully building characters and introducing us to a rich post-AHM Universe. Optimus Prime stepping down is the most refreshing plot twist using Prime since anything in the 1980s, and it makes sense. Prime was trying to be diplomatic with the humans. Prowl was deeply affected by the drawn out war on Earth, as shown later on his Spotlight(, which I'd also be willing to argue wasn't necessary, but let's move on). Onslaught dumb as hell? Were you reading the same book I was when Onslaught shot the Predacons in the back to instigate a border skirmish? Hot Rod's always been wet behind the ears... that's what makes him Hot Rod. Him being easily manipulated by Swindle and developing an ego from it, was spot on. (Unfortunately, I don't know what you mean by lots of text and it being empty and hollow. It sounds like you're missing the point entirely, he's building characters and developing tension which leads us into... Chaos)

Speaking of Swindle: Let's instead change the topic of conversation to how truly great Costa is at using these established characters. Swindle was written wonderfully in the first story arc. All Costa needed to do to emphasize that Swindle was a sleaze-bag was do this:



No dialogue needed.

I really could go on at length and talk about Ironhide, Thundercracker, Brawn and Bumblebee, but I won't. I can't convince you, and it's not worth the effort to try. It's just a shame that so much of the fandom doesn't appreciate the quality of these stories. They're missing out.

It Is Him wrote:Costa is the best thing to happen to Transformers comics since Dreamwave collapsed.

Funny you should mention those two things in the same sentence...

I really could go on at length and talk about Ironhide, Thundercracker, Brawn and Bumblebee, but I won't. I can't convince you, and it's not worth the effort to try. It's just a shame that so much of the fandom doesn't appreciate the quality of these stories. They're missing out.

Well, I'm reading them, so I'm not missing out. But yeah, we have completely different opinions about Costa

Darth Bombshell wrote:

It Is Him wrote:Costa is the best thing to happen to Transformers comics since Dreamwave collapsed.

Funny you should mention those two things in the same sentence...

Hans wrote:

I really could go on at length and talk about Ironhide, Thundercracker, Brawn and Bumblebee, but I won't. I can't convince you, and it's not worth the effort to try. It's just a shame that so much of the fandom doesn't appreciate the quality of these stories. They're missing out.

Well, I'm reading them, so I'm not missing out. But yeah, we have completely different opinions about Costa

At least we can probably agree that Last Stand Of The Wreckers was brutally good, am I right?

It Is Him wrote: At least we can probably agree that Last Stand Of The Wreckers was brutally good, am I right?

Yes we can
(Hence I'm fairly optimistic about James Roberts stepping in to help Costa out).

It Is Him wrote:I really could go on at length and talk about Ironhide, Thundercracker, Brawn and Bumblebee, but I won't. I can't convince you, and it's not worth the effort to try. It's just a shame that so much of the fandom doesn't appreciate the quality of these stories. They're missing out.

I won't deny that Costa's done some good stuff (which, BTW, is pretty much the only time I'll defend him), but it's rather difficult to appreciate the good he's done when he's so well known for his blunders and sheer stupidity.

.... and pacing problems. I mean, I've never read a comic before that literally took me four minutes to read... talk about decompressing a "story".

Hans wrote:.... and pacing problems. I mean, I've never read a comic before that literally took me four minutes to read... talk about decompressing a "story".

Pacing isn't the same thing as decompression. I don't pick up on the "pacing" issues that I know a few others have mentioned, but I agree that sometimes Costa's writing feels too decompressed. The Ironhide mini felt like that story could have been told in two issues. It was fun and a great read, and I don't regret buying it, but issues 2-4 felt seemed like a missed opportunity for even more plot development.

At least the art by Casey Coller was gorgeous

Oh, no doubt about that!