Transformers Comic Book News on Seibertron.com

IDW Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #4 Full Preview

Date: Tuesday, November 25th 2014 2:52am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 30,898

Plenty of comics news this week from IDW Publishing! Everyone is writing and arting everything, as not only Angry Birds Transformers is out, but so are the new issue of Transformers vs G.I. Joe, MTMTE and the first issue of Drift: Empire of Stone - check out the preview for the cosmic comic by Scioli and Barber below!

Transformers VS G.I. JOE #4
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a & c)
THE WAR AT HOME! But whose home—and whose war?! Interstellar war has never been so cosmic! The G.I. JOE team faces the TRANSFORMERS—on Earth and Cybertron. Plus—just in time for Halloween… meet the OCTOBER GUARD!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The biggest crossover the cosmos has ever faced JUST KEEPS GETTING BIGGER!!!
Ask your retailer about the Tom Scioli connecting variant cover! Connects with the variants for #2 & #3 creating one big piece!

IDW Angry Birds Transformers #1 Full Preview

Date: Monday, November 24th 2014 12:04pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 33,706

If you haven't been following our news coverage recently, you might have missed (hard to, really) the announcements and teasers about the new Angry Birds / Transformers crossover - wich span so wide they include toys, a videogame, soundtrack with Vince DiCola and, of course, IDW comics. Check out below a preview of the first issue, out in shops and digitally this week!

Angry Birds/Transformers #1 (of 4)—SPOTLIGHT
John Barber (w) • Marcelo Ferreira & Livio Ramondelli (a) • Marcelo Ferreira (c)
You got TRANSFORMERS in my Angry Birds! No, you got Angry Birds in my TRANSFORMERS! ERGH, OOF, MPPHH!!! Hey! Waitaminit! This is actually pretty great! That’s right, comic lovers, two of your favorite IDW comics have morphed into one amazing new comic! When the TRANSFORMERS lose their powerful ALLSPARK, it ends up on Piggie Island and the world of Angry Birds turns robotic! Prepare to meet… the AUTOBIRDS and DECEPTIHOGS!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Angry Birds Transformers is the premiere Rovio game launch of 2014. Available for all mobile platforms on October 15th!
Written by John Barber! (TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORMERS vs G.I. JOE)
Special TRANSFORMERS Guest Artist Livio Ramondelli provides a “framing” story in the TRANSFORMERS style!
Variant Cover by Jorge Pachecho!

IDW Continues To Celebrate Transformers 30th Anniversary - Press Release

Date: Monday, November 24th 2014 12:00pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Press Releases, Company News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Curious as to what IDW Publishing are up to recently, in terms of Transformers comics and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of everyone's favourite transforming robots? Look no further than the official press release we received today, mirrored below for your viewing - and keep an optic on Seibertron.com this week to see what the buzz is all about.

IDW Continues To Celebrate Transformers 30th Anniversary
The Celebratory Year Concludes With New Series!

San Diego, CA (November 25, 2014) – 2014 marks the 30th Anniversary of Hasbro’s TRANSFORMERS, which has been celebrated thus far with a blockbuster film and critically acclaimed comic series’ from IDW. But the party isn’t quite over as IDW still has some TRANSFORMERS debuts this year!

The long-running TRANSFORMERS comic, which originally appeared in 1984, came to an epic conclusion as, TRANSFORMERS: Regeneration One by IDW reached its 100th issue! Original series’ writer, Simon Furman and artist Andrew Wildman led the illustrious series to its closing chapter earlier this year.

But as one chapter closed, a new one began during the “Dawn of The Autobots.” After the cataclysmic changes of “Dark Cybertron” the Autobots gained unexpected new allies, of whom the breakout star, WINDBLADE, the first ever fan voted character, ventured out on her own critically-acclaimed mini-series written by Mairghread Scott and stunningly illustrated by Sarah Stone.

The smash-hit new series TRANSFORMERS vs. G.I. JOE by Tom Scioli and John Barber made waves upon its Free Comic Book Day debut. With its stylized over-the-top approach, issue #1 sold out before the first issue even hit the shelves! The epic space-romp has not only been praised by the comic community, but has also struck a cord with fans.

“It’s been an amazing year for TRANSFORMERS comics,” said Barber, IDW Publishing’s Senior Editor. “The fans seem to be digging what we’re making, and it seems like there’s more fans every day. It’s been amazing seeing how fast people have come to love WINDBLADE—and especially gratifying to see kids inspired by her. Add to that the phenomenal response to TRANSFORMERS vs. G.I. JOE and the outstanding level of quality on the other ongoing series, and it’s been a banner year. Wait’ll everybody sees what we’ve got coming in 2015!”

Throughout the year variant homage covers have graced the ongoing series’ More Than Meets The Eye by writer James Roberts and artist Alex Milne and Robots in Disguise by writer John Barber and artist Andrew Griffith. Celebrating the rich history of TRANSFORMERS, these covers highlighted monumental moments throughout the history of Transformers.

This year has also seen a number of premier TRANSFORMERS collections released from IDW; from the 30th Anniversary Collection, with highlights from the many iterations of TRANSFORMERS in comics, to TRANSFORMERS Legacy: The Art of TRANSFORMERS Packaging.

The Cybertronian War has been the explosive topic of the TRANSFORMERS series Autocracy and Monstrosity and the final chapter in this expansive storyline, Primacy debuted this fall! Written by Chris Metzen and Flint Dille with art by Livio Ramondeli this epic conclusion can’t be missed!

DRIFT, who made his debut in the pages of IDW comics was featured in the blockbuster hit film TRANSFORMERS: Age of Extinction, and this month he returns to his comic roots in the new mini-series from creators Shane McCarthy and Guido Guidi! Drift—Empire of Stone sees the fan-favorite character take on a mission to clean up the darkest depths of the galaxy.

As IDW comes up on its tenth year with TRANSFORMERS, it embarks on the wildest and most unexpected of crossovers with ANGRY BIRDS TRANSFORMERS. Written by John Barber the mini-series will be drawn by Marcelo Ferreira, and debuts tomorrow!

It’s been a huge year for TRANSFORMERS in the anniversary year, and IDW is honored to be involved in the celebrations!


About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE and MY LITTLE PONY; Paramount’s Star Trek; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; 2000AD’s Judge Dredd; The Rocketeer; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; V-Wars from New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry; Ragnarök from Eisner Award-winner Walter Simonson; Winterworld, created by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino; and Little Nemo from the award-winning duo of Eric Shanower and Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio, and the multiple award-winning Artist's Edition imprint.

IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot; Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Warner Brothers are producing a film based on Ashley Wood's Lore; Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film, Kurtzman/Orci are producing a movie based on Locke & Key at Universal.

Sneak Peek - IDW Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #35 iTunes Preview

Date: Wednesday, November 19th 2014 4:06pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): iTunes

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In further comics news from IDW Publishing, Mariel Romero has also uploaded some screenshots to iTunes for the upcoming beginning of Days of Deception in the More Than Meets the Eye ongoing series! Check out below the sneak peek mirrored from the site, and look out for the full preview in the coming weeks on Seibertron.com.

Days of Deception begins with… PEACE AND HAPPINESS! To be honest, there's not much we can say about this issue without giving away the life-changing events of last issue. What we can say is this: everything’s fine. There’s no conflict, no sadness, no angst. Why is this a problem?

Sneak Peek - IDW Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #4 iTunes Preview

Date: Wednesday, November 19th 2014 3:36pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): iTunes

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Views: 26,383

They took a break, but the cosmic crossover of Transformers vs G.I. Joe comics is back soon, thanks to a preview up on iTunes. Expect the full preview and release to appear in the next two weeks, and check out the mirrored images from Mariel Romero's screenshots below!

THE WAR AT HOME! But whose home—and whose war?! Interstellar war has never been so cosmic! The G.I. JOE team faces the TRANSFORMERS—on Earth and Cybertron. Plus—just in time for Halloween… meet the OCTOBER GUARD!

IDW Publishing Transformers February 2015 Solicitations: Classics, Combiners, Galvatrons and More,

Date: Wednesday, November 19th 2014 3:28am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Company News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 89,798

Our friends over at IDW Publishing have released the covers and solicitation blurbs for their Transformers comics releases for next February 2015 - and they include some pretty interesting looks at what may or may not be coming in the IDWverse, including RID Galvatron in Drift, more Angry Birds and the Combination Enigma. Read on below!

Angry Birds/Transformers #4 (of 4)
John Barber (w) • Marcelo Ferreira (a & c)
The action heats up as the Eggspark begins to alter the fundamental forces of Piggy Island itself! With the Autobirds and Deceptihogs forming an uneasy alliance, will their combined might be enough to halt inevitable doom?! Find out in the thrilling conclusion to this years’ most mind-bending mash-up!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Angry Birds/Transformers #4 (of 4)—Subscription Variant
John Barber (w) • Marcelo Ferreira (a) • Guido Guidi (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: Drift—Empire of Stone #4 (of 4)
Shane McCarthy (w) • Guido Guidi (a & c)
FINAL FATE! This is it—DRIFT and RATCHET show down against the STONE ARMY! Will DRIFT rejoin the AUTOBOTS—or forge a new fate in the farthest reaches of the galaxy?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
This issue’s fallout will impact TRANSFORMERS comics for years to come!
Ties in directly MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

Transformers: Drift: Empire of Stone #4 (of 4)—Subscription Variant
Shane McCarthy (w) • Guido Guidi (a) • Sarah Stone (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers #38—Days of Deception
John Barber (w) • Andrew Griffith (a & c)
THE ONYX INTERFACE! The AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS face down human forces—and strange battlelines make for strange allies. Who will emerge with the ancient ENIGMA OF COMBINATION… and who will usher in the COMBINER WAR…?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
All-out war in the wilderness!
Will the Decepticons learn of the humans’ treachery?
Wait, wait—did you say “the humans’ treachery”?
YES I DID!
Days of Deception continues!
The stage is set for COMBINER WARS!
Variant Cover by Jeffrey Veregge!

Transformers #38—Days of Deception—Subscription Variant
John Barber (w) • Andrew Griffith (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #38—Days of Deception
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
JOURNEY'S END! Across time, across space, from prewar Messatine to postwar CYBERTRON—it's all been heading towards this—the moment when the fate of the AUTOBOTS and the DECEPTICONS is sealed. At the heart of it all: three killers, two outcomes... and one terrible, terrible choice.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Days of Deception continues!
Variant Cover by Jeffrey Veregge!

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #38—Days of Deception—Subscription Variant
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a) • Nick Roche (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: Primacy
Chris Metzen & Flint Dille (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a & c)
OPTIMUS PRIME vs. MEGATRON. AUTOBOTS vs. DECEPTICONS. At the dawn of the conflict, battle lines are drawn and sides are set… now legends will be made. The war that would define a planet begins in earnest—and its revelations will shake the TRANSFORMERS’ world to the core!
TPB • FC • $17.99 • 104 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-234-0

Bullet points:
“This is a great new story arc for fans of any version of the Transformers.” –Geeked Out Nation

Transformers Classics, Vol. 8
Bob Budiansky, Michael Higgins (w) • Herb Trimpe (a) • Guido Guidi (c)
Volume 8 collects Transformers Universe #1–4, all character biographies from TF issues #47–49, 56–72, and 74–79, plus G.I. JOE and the Transformers #1–4. Also includes issues notes by Mark W. Bellomo.
TPB • FC • $29.99 • 312 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-133-6

Bullet points:
Completely Re-colored!

Transformers vs G.I. JOE #7
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a & c)
THE WORLD AS THEY MAKE IT! Alliances are forged! Enemies are enraged! The war burns on Earth and Cybertron! And now… now the real battle begins.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers vs G.I. Joe #7—Subscription Variant
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a) • Joe Quinones (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
If you’ve ever liked anything, you’ll love this!
If you’ve never liked anything—this will be the first thing you love!
No offence to all the other comics, because they all try really hard, but TRANSFORMERS VS. G.I. JOE is the best thing ever.
Variant Cover by Kody Chamberlain!

IDW Transformers: Primacy #4 Full Preview

Date: Tuesday, November 18th 2014 6:21am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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The last issue of Transformers: Primacy hits the (digital and physical) stands this week, and we have a full preview courtesy of IDW Publishing! Check out the beginning of the end of the end of the beginning for everyone's favourite transforming robots, and head back to Seibertron.com for a review later this week.

Transformers: Primacy #4 (of 4)
Chris Metzen & Flint Dille (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a & c)
END OF THE ROAD! The final secrets of war for CYBERTRON are revealed! Everything has been leading to this—war has engulfed OPTIMUS PRIME’S world, and MEGATRON stands on the verge of triumph! But can any survive the battle of the titans?!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The explosive conclusion!
30th Anniversary Variant cover by Andrew Griffith!

THE ART OF IDW'S TRANSFORMERS: CASEY COLLER EDITION

Date: Thursday, November 13th 2014 3:43pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People News, Collectables, Book News
Posted by: Autobot032 | Credit(s): IDW

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For the über fan among us, IDW has released a special, very limited edition hardcover book featuring the artwork of Transformers artist Casey Coller. How limited, you ask?

Only 15 in the world!

Read below for the full details:

DETAILS
*Limited to 15 copies
*Includes a hand-drawn original piece of artwork from Casey Coller
*Oversized hardcover celebrating IDW's amazing line-up of TRANSFORMERS artists
*Exclusive Black Label Dust Jacket


The Art of IDW's Transformers collects the best, and some of the rarest, artwork from IDW's run of Transformers comic books into one oversized hardcover. Celebrating the achievements of the many artists who have left their mark on the material over the years, The Art of IDW's Transformers collects the most memorable work from series such as Beast Wars, Generations, Infiltration, Spotlight, Escalation, Stormbringer, and Evolutions, and splits it up by artist to give an unprecedented look at the impact of talents like MD Bright, Don Figueroa, Guido Guidi, Bob LeFevre, Marcelo Matere, Ed McGuiness, Alex Milne, Robby Musso, James Raiz, Nick Roche, Rob Ruffolo, Klaus Scherwinski, E.J. Su, Andrew Wildman, and Ashley Wood have had on the ROBOTS IN DISGUISE.

NOTE: The product image shown is an example. Each one of a kind, hand-sketched is completely unique. The artist has sketched a small selection of various characters and poses, each drawn in similar detail to the cover shown in this listing. The cover you receive may vary from this image.

Order here:

http://idwlimited.com/series/transforme ... oller.html

Check out a sampling of images below:













It's available now and would make the perfect Christmas present for the Transformers and comics fan(s) in your life, but you have to act fast!

Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!

Editorial Vision, Shakespearean Power Plays, and Giant Robots with John Barber

Date: Wednesday, November 12th 2014 1:22pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People News, Interviews
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): WCBR

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Wanting more this week in terms of Transformers fiction? Why not take a read at this lengthy interview with John Barber on WeeklyComicBookReview, editor and writer at IDW on at least, oh, all of the current series featuring robots, including those yet to come. Some snippets below, full piece here! [Note: Thumbnail is RI cover for Transformers #35, by Andrew Griffith. Fitting, non?]

Already well respected for his nearly Quixotic attempts to bring sanity to the Transformers movie continuity, John Barber’s tenure over IDW’s mainline Transformers comics has been viewed as something of a renaissance period for the brand.

Besides writing a tense sci-fi political thriller in the form of Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Barber has also served as the editor of the award-winning Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye as well as the Transformers: Windblade mini-series. Since then he’s added even more to his plate by writing Angry Birds Transformers and co-writing the latest Transformers vs. G.I. Joe series.

As the man behind one of my favorite shared universes in comics, I’ve been eager to meet Mr. Barber for some time. Little did I know how deep we’d get into the current Transformers line-up.

Mr. Barber was incredibly gracious with his time and considerable knowledge so please enjoy and, if so inclined, check out the newly renamed The Transformers #35, on sale today!

[...]

N: One thing that I was definitely curious about is that one of the weird figures for IDW in Transformers has been Galvatron, in that you couldn’t fall back on a G1 interpretation.

B: Yeah.

N: But so he was kind of Nova Prime’s Starscream for a while and then he kind of had this very ‘glorious leader against D-Void’ period. What made you settle on ‘Galvatron the Barbarian’ for your take?

B: I was kind of intrigued by the story that Simon [Furman] had set up of these characters being of a different age, y’know? These people that were there, that took off on the original Ark? I just kind of latched onto this idea of, ‘what was society like before they had the Golden Age?’ For me, it went back to doing the Robots in Disguise Annual and I had this idea of like Game of Thrones with Transformers, of this idea of these different tribes. And I played with that actually a bit in the movie universe stuff, but it was different in the main line stuff.

And Galvatron was one of those characters, kind of like Soundwave, where even within the IDW universe different writers had radically different takes on where he was. So, thinking about how you can sort of unify those, what kind of person would do all that stuff? And I came to the idea of ‘what if Galvatron’s kind of Conan’ and you had this guy who’s kind of really a rough guy, really a barbarian, but who becomes king?

“Galvatron was one of those characters where different writers had radically different takes. So, thinking about how you can sort of unify those, what kind of person would do all that stuff?”

I mean the story of Conan isn’t just Conan the Barbarian. There’s all these eras of Conan as he goes on; he eventually is King Conan. And the idea that Galvatron kind of went through all that, so he’s been different places in his life, appealed to me. And, in [issue #34] we’ll get kind of a larger grasp of how those early days with him and Nova functioned. We’ll be seeing some stuff, that I think may be surprising to some people, that we sort of hinted at. There’re definitely some hints that have been going on, but some of the ancient Cybertronian lore and history is gonna come up.

But, in short, it’s kind of the idea of this guy who, in his own mind, he’s noble, but it isn’t the usual nobility you get from a villain because he’s really, really brutal and he’s- he’s- like he’s genuinely not a nice guy, y’know, where, Soundwave, to me, he’s the good guy Decepticon.

N: Yeah.

B: Like he’s the guy that genuinely believes in the Decepticon cause and everything they had to do that was bad was a compromise that he had to make to a greater end goal, where Galvatron isn’t like that. He’s less compromising, but much more brutal and, like, the underlying…like-

N: He doesn’t feel like a guy who’s like thinking very much into the future.

B: Yeah. Like he does in his way. So, there are moments where you’re going to see him kind of doing stuff toward a larger goal, but it’s a very distinct, direct barbarian way of doing it. He’s not doing the Machiavellian playing guys off of each other the way Starscream does. Even when he does like straight up lie, his duplicity is a little more honest.

[...]

Just taking a step aside from Robots in Disguise for a second, I was just curious. You are not only a writer, but you’re an editor for IDW.

B: Yes.

N: As someone with that very unique experience, what do you think that -whether it be professionals, aspiring, anywhere in the process – what do you think that writers need to know about editors and editors need to know about writers? You have seen both sides.

B: That’s a good question. Ideally, everybody’s out to make a good comic. And there are good fits with writers and editors, y’know?

It’s funny because I have friends on both sides of the table. So, every once in a while you’ll sort of hear somebody, a friend of mine, complaining about, y’know, that editor didn’t work out. Then there’ll be people who are having a great relationship with that editor. So it’s like any other relationship in life. There are fits and there are non-fits.

When you’re putting a creative team together for a comic, it’s sort of like putting a band together, y’know? Like everybody has to get along. You have to know what parts everybody’s playing and what everybody’s doing. On the Transformers books we’re really lucky, everybody gets along really well, I think, between James, me, Mairghread, Chris Metzen, Flint Dille, plus like Alex Milne, Andrew, Livio, Sarah, everybody; we all interact really well.

IDW Transformers #35 Review

Date: Wednesday, November 12th 2014 2:12am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: ScottyP | Credit(s): IDW, ScottyP

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Views: 62,284

Synopsis
Days of Deception begins! PROWL and the CONSTRUCTICONS hunt the world's deadliest game-three humans with a history of fighting CYBERTRONIANS! Lines are drawn as human and machine alike are drawn into-the ONYX INTERFACE!



Story

When we last left Robots in Disguise, a history lesson from Alpha Trion had concluded, with Optimus Prime wondering just what, if anything, out of what was learned that he should keep as a secret to the rest of his crew. Transformers #35 drops the subtitle and picks right up where we left off, and we check in with some old human "friends".



Of course, Prime and his crew are keeping a close watch on the humans, given their recent alliances with Galvatron's earthbound Decepticon crew. The interactions between Prime and the various crew members, and between said crew members themselves, continues the subtle but deeper-by-the-issue characterization that's been prevalent in the past several issues of Robots in Disguise that was sorely lacking in the book's earlier days.



Barber's tone indeed keeps up with what we've seen out of the past several months, injecting humor where needed and the right amount of snark (or lack thereof) in certain characters. You may also be surprised to see some returning faces not seen since Dark Cybertron, but then you'd look like a fool. Transformers is, after all, written by John "Continuity" Barber himself, and in his world, characters don't just exist to sell toys. At least, not in the long haul.



By the end of the issue, pieces are in place for verbs to start happening. However, in typical Transformers style, you'll be left hanging for another month to find out just what those verbs are.


Art

This issue features regular Transformers artist Andrew Griffith, colors by Josh Perez, and lettering by Tom Long. Unlike our esteemed comics editor Va'al, I'm not a great art critic, technically speaking. That said, I enjoyed the contrast of styles between the human-focused scenes vs. the scenes with our robotic cast. The sharp lines and vibrant colors of the Cybertronian crew are in distinct contrast to the almost mushy look of the human characters. The monochrome toned clothing featured on them throughout (at least mostly) helps with this as well.



If I had to nitpick one thing with the art, it's that the humans aren't always the most convincing looking. Some of them feel a little rushed. Let's be honest though, if any of us were working on a comic book about Transformers, we'd probably rush through the pencils and ink on the human cast as well. Of course this isn't a blanket statement by any means, as Griffith shows that he can not only convey emotion through our favorite giant alien robots, but through the faces of good 'ol humans as well.


Thoughts
Full blown spoilers ahead

No really, full on spoilers below. This is your last warning.





This issue is very much a case of a fact that impatient readers lament on a regular basis - to play a game of chess, you have to get the board set up correctly first. While this may just be a game that leads to another game, that "another game" being Combiner Wars, it's one that ought to be played. Plot points left dangling at the end of the Costa run, and even by the transition into All Hail Megatron, may finally get addressed. At the very least, we know what's going on with Jimmy Pink and what his motivations are for siding with that darn dastardly Spike.



By the end of the issue, we've got Prime and Soundwave moving into their places, Galvatron setting some of his plans into motion, and human characters doing things. That's really all I can say to that story arc so far, they're just doing stuff. It's very cool to see Prowl and his friends start their pursuit of That One Guy that probably deserves to be stomped by a 'bot boot, but something about this human plot feels like it's been inserted just to wrap up some old plot lines and lead the main characters to their Macguffin for the next trade paperback. I don't actually hope to be wrong on that, which may be part of what frames my opinion there. Earth based stories in Transformers are cool when they focus on Transformers with the humans as a sideshow, character building device, or symbolic element. This succeeds in that so far, so I can forgive simpler details on why said humans are doing what they're doing.



Also, for all the great stuff going on with Prowl, there are some hints that - get this - something's manipulating his mind. If that seems familiar, well, it should. We've seen that movie and we know how it ends. I'm hoping there's some fun and creative end game that these hints are going to lead to. The shades of grey that Prowl demonstrates, along with his foil in More Than Meets The Eye in Megatron, has been a great thing to witness and hopefully this creative team avoids going into full blown Cerebro-shell gimmick land this time. His interactions with Optimus Prime in the past handful of issues have been something to remember and didn't feel cheap, so here's to hoping that they don't end up that way in retrospect.



It'd be hard to give this issue any kind of "right around average" score. Scores are a bit silly anyway on totally subjective reviews such as this. While I certainly have some fears for the future after reading it, these also may be totally unfounded. The actual content is very enjoyable, and if you've been reading Robots in Disguise you can't afford to miss out on Transformers #35 simply due to the amount of set up that happens.

That said, this is part one of something bigger, and it certainly feels that way. It does its job well in that regard, but if you're looking for some pay off, this month is not the time you're going to get that satisfaction. I recommend this as part of a whole, though if you haven't been keeping up and don't intend to, this is a hard one to recommend to a casual Transformers comics reader.