Cover Variant for IDW Optimus Prime #19 by Kei Zama / JP Bove
Friday, May 18th, 2018 8:51AM CDT
Category: Comic Book NewsPosted by: Va'al Views: 20,423
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The cover is extremely high in spoiler content if you're waiting for the trades to read the story developments, and features four of the major characters currently part of the narrative knot, including Optimus Prime, Arcee and Starscream, all in Kei Zama and John-Paul Bove's haunting artwork. Check it out below via Previews World!
NOTE: The article previously claimed Josh Burcham to be the colourist. We apologise to John Paul Bove for the mistake (this is why **all creators should be credited all the time, for crying out loud**).
"The Falling," Part 4. Onyx Prime's motivations are clear, and his scheme seems unstoppable. Heroes have fallen, and hope dwindles for the survivors. Cybertron's last chance of salvation is in the hands of... well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?
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Posted by Agent 53 on May 18th, 2018 @ 9:13am CDT
Posted by Randomhero on May 18th, 2018 @ 11:32am CDT
Agent 53 wrote:I still bet the mysterious hero that cybertron's salvation depends on is Bee, we know he's coming back and Shockwave's the one who 'Killed' him, so it'd be fitting, especially as his alligned counterpoint got to beat the big bad in vengeance for Killing him.
Prowl
Posted by Tigertrack on May 18th, 2018 @ 8:44pm CDT
Posted by Randomhero on May 18th, 2018 @ 8:53pm CDT
Tigertrack wrote:Cover looks amazing. Just never liked Shickwave's ears like that. I know they've been that way for awhile now... I think you're both right, and one of you is wrong.
Well they’ve only been that way for oh just 13 years. Not too long. I actually really love his bunny ears. They stand out a good way for me
Posted by Tigertrack on May 19th, 2018 @ 5:41am CDT
Randomhero wrote:Tigertrack wrote:Cover looks amazing. Just never liked Shickwave's ears like that. I know they've been that way for awhile now... I think you're both right, and one of you is wrong.
Well they’ve only been that way for oh just 13 years. Not too long. I actually really love his bunny ears. They stand out a good way for me
I'm glad . I know I'm probably minority in that. Doesn't really matter to me, I guess I always preferred tha more cropped ear look. Just stood out. I think it's because we've had so many headshot focuses on Shockwave lately, and his body is totally different that it just sticks out more to me now.
Posted by WreckerJack on May 24th, 2018 @ 12:06am CDT
“The Falling,” Part 4. Onyx Prime’s motivations are clear, and his scheme seems unstoppable. Heroes have fallen, and hope dwindles for the survivors. Cybertron’s last chance of salvation is in the hands of... well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 24th, 2018 @ 2:41am CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on May 24th, 2018 @ 10:01am CDT
Posted by o.supreme on May 24th, 2018 @ 11:05am CDT
Also I'm glad they acknowledged "Nemesis" BWII reference yo! Poor Metrotitan though...
Posted by Va'al on May 25th, 2018 @ 12:43am CDT
Optimus Prime #19 features the continuation of Onyx Prime's machinations in The Falling story arc, and features art by Sara Pitre Durocher and Josh Burcham. Take a look, and join us next week for a review.
“The Falling,” Part 4. Onyx Prime’s motivations are clear, and his scheme seems unstoppable. Heroes have fallen, and hope dwindles for the survivors. Cybertron’s last chance of salvation is in the hands of… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
Bullet points:
Covers include Kei Zama (a), Casey W. Coller (b), Kei Zama (black-and-white, ri-a)
Optimus Prime #19
Writer: John Barber
Artist: Sara Pitre-Durocher
Color by: Josh Burcham
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Release Date: May 30, 2018
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Posted by ZeroWolf on May 25th, 2018 @ 1:36am CDT
Posted by Randomhero on May 25th, 2018 @ 9:04am CDT
Posted by Va'al on May 30th, 2018 @ 3:17am CDT
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
“The Falling,” Part 4. Onyx Prime’s motivations are clear, and his scheme seems unstoppable. Heroes have fallen, and hope dwindles for the survivors. Cybertron’s last chance of salvation is in the hands of… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?
Story
After a whole issue of backstory, and after one of shocking revelations, we have an aftermath of an issue that tries dealing with the consequences of it all, while trying to handle the seemingly infinite cast that John Barber has been playing with for a long time now - meaning that not all have the space to get the treatment they entirely deserve, but where we do, the highlights are excellent.
The major issue taking place within the story, for me and some of the other staff I consulted with before writing the review, is the unfortunate timing of the solicitations and Unicron FCBD book: they spoil what could've been a fairly well played, if not touching, moment in the pages of this arc, removing some of the subtlety that was attempted since early Till All Are One issues.
That said, seeing Onyx Prime at the height of his threat - notwithstanding his actual identity at this stage; he is indeed still both characters, as they both exist simultaneously in the past and the present - is thrilling, even with the timeline and rhetorical headaches the story itself might be producing. On the other hand, the reveal/truth about the story is still a little.. eh.
Overall, though, and with one more issue to go before the conclusion of this narrative arc, I'm ..strangely not entirely impressed. The build-up in previous issues, including the backstory, exposition filled issue of last month, had felt so much tenser and vibrant than the current unravelling of plot and mythology, and it feels as though too much is happening at the same time for all of it to be actually final or of serious consequence. More on this below.
Art
Sara Pitre Durocher takes over from Kei Zama in this issue, and brings her signature style along to another look at Starscream still hung up on the ending of Till All Are One (for a little while, at least). And after the Ramondelli break last issue, this shift works out really well, even in the stark difference between the heaviness of the lines, and the softer (but clear) direction this month.
Of course, the effect is also helped by Josh Burcham, who does some pretty amazing stuff, bringing the darker, muted tones of his regular colouring style on this series to the cleaner, sleeker art style of Pitre Durocher, without losing the continuity with previous issues or watering the art itself down for the sake of visual coherence.
There are several instances in this issue where the font-mastery and balloon placing of letterer Tom B Long ensures that the humour or pacing of the interaction hits its mark, and by several, I mean a lot. Seriously - a lot. And they all land.
Casey Coller continues to perform excellence, with colourist John Paul Bove, as the variant cover that features all the major players (thumbnail). And as we had already seen previously, but you can do so again in our database entry (warning. there be spoilers) here, Kei Zama and Bove also deliver a fantastically creepy Shockwave-centric main cover too.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
If my opening statement seemed unfair to the script, it's fair to also say that the focus on the characters that are explored is very well.. focused, and explored. There are some misgivings about Devastator and Starscream's behaviours, and my general feelings about the reveal are still not overly positively thrilled, but I'm enjoying the story moving forward even with those speedbumps.
Still, even with all of that, the issue is stunning to look at, and having now had three different art teams for the past three months is working out surprisingly well - which bodes even better for the increased frequency schedule that is supposed to take place after this month, to arrive at the final conclusion of it all alongside Unicron. I'll still shake my fists at IDW's schedules, though.
Posted by AlphaBass on May 30th, 2018 @ 7:48am CDT
Posted by Shot Put on May 30th, 2018 @ 10:08am CDT
Posted by snavej on May 31st, 2018 @ 3:16pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 31st, 2018 @ 4:25pm CDT
snavej wrote:So, in issue 18 Shockwave kills Optimus by throwing him off a building. However, during the hunt for Galvatron, Optimus is shown to have very powerful flight capabilities. What the fudge?!
In the hunt for Galvatron, Optimus had the time to get a jetpack while Arcee and Cosmos chased and distracted Galvatron and Astrotrain.
In issue 18, Optimus is badly wounded and in enemy hands, with no jetpack. And he was absorbed into a small singularity/black hole, not hitting the ground
Posted by Sunstar on May 31st, 2018 @ 8:16pm CDT
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:snavej wrote:So, in issue 18 Shockwave kills Optimus by throwing him off a building. However, during the hunt for Galvatron, Optimus is shown to have very powerful flight capabilities. What the fudge?!
In the hunt for Galvatron, Optimus had the time to get a jetpack while Arcee and Cosmos chased and distracted Galvatron and Astrotrain.
In issue 18, Optimus is badly wounded and in enemy hands, with no jetpack. And he was absorbed into a small singularity/black hole, not hitting the ground
And that is HOW it happened.
It was also seen in G1 where the decepticons fell into the magma, they fell and did not take flight. Chances are Oh shit is the first reaction before jumping into flight, a short distance probably is harder to recover from than a long drop. If Starscream fell 40 feet, he might just fall. But if it was 400 after the inital Oh shit, he probably would fire his thrusters and correct himself.
Also, if you are falling head first, and you've got thruster feet -or any downward facing source of thrust, then you are likely to hit the ground faster if you fired them. If you are falling backward - recovery might be harder due to the abnormal perspective (you may not be aware of where the ground is.) falling feet or belly first chances of recovery are likely higher.
Optimus prime fell backward into a singularity (black-hole.) Black holes are said to be able to alter one's experience to time. the closer to the event horizon, the slower things appear from the outside. Being that this is a small singularity, then the effects might be minimal, but possibly enough that elapsed time for prime may not be enough for him to react to fly. Autobots are inherently non fliers, so even if he had a jetpack in subspace, the time it may take to retrieve it would be too long for such a short distance.
Posted by snavej on June 1st, 2018 @ 6:42am CDT
Posted by Randomhero on June 1st, 2018 @ 10:27am CDT
snavej wrote:How is it a 'black hole' when it doesn't consume the entire planet? It's something else, like a portal. The use of the wrong term is just IDW 'bigging itself up'.
It’s an artificial black hole. It’s not a natural one that doesn’t follow the same physics as a regular black hole.
If megaton can use space bride technology to siphon the dark matter of a black hole to power himself up from his eyes than a small stable black hole can exist on Cybertron.
It’s also a comic book about giant alien robots fighting where prime once opened the matrix and reformatted an entire planet into a primordial state sooooo yeah. Maybe not try to base it too much in reality.
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 1st, 2018 @ 11:42am CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 1st, 2018 @ 1:30pm CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:Hey some scientists can't agree on black holes anyway
They are still gravity based...
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 1st, 2018 @ 1:43pm CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 1st, 2018 @ 4:03pm CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:Plus as randomhero pointed out this isn't a natural black hole but an artificial one so which is all it needs to be otherwise we start picking apart everything.
Scrolling back, I see the issue here. It's language. A "Black Hole" and a "Singularity" are not interchangeable terms. They can in fact refer to different things.
A singularity, in many examples, is the central point of a Black Hole. Within the gravity well, not part of it. Therefore a Singularity can exist without causing calamitous damage to Cybertron itself.
ZeroWolf wrote:What about the ones who don't think they exist?
Most likely the same kind of people that deny evolution and think the Earth is flat...
Posted by BombshellDaBug on June 1st, 2018 @ 7:51pm CDT
AlphaBass wrote:Came in to see Starscream's figuratively smoldering remains after Shockwave roasted him by calling him a fool.
Literally my favorite part of the issue.
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 2nd, 2018 @ 6:23am CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:Plus as randomhero pointed out this isn't a natural black hole but an artificial one so which is all it needs to be otherwise we start picking apart everything.
Scrolling back, I see the issue here. It's language. A "Black Hole" and a "Singularity" are not interchangeable terms. They can in fact refer to different things.
A singularity, in many examples, is the central point of a Black Hole. Within the gravity well, not part of it. Therefore a Singularity can exist without causing calamitous damage to Cybertron itself.ZeroWolf wrote:What about the ones who don't think they exist?
Most likely the same kind of people that deny evolution and think the Earth is flat...
The sad thing is the amount who believe in things like that are on the rise and their theories are getting stupider.
Posted by Sunstar on June 3rd, 2018 @ 10:58pm CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:Plus as randomhero pointed out this isn't a natural black hole but an artificial one so which is all it needs to be otherwise we start picking apart everything.
Scrolling back, I see the issue here. It's language. A "Black Hole" and a "Singularity" are not interchangeable terms. They can in fact refer to different things.
A singularity, in many examples, is the central point of a Black Hole. Within the gravity well, not part of it. Therefore a Singularity can exist without causing calamitous damage to Cybertron itself.ZeroWolf wrote:What about the ones who don't think they exist?
Most likely the same kind of people that deny evolution and think the Earth is flat...
I'll have to re-read up on that. If I am mistaken, then I will be soon corrected.
Posted by KorsO on June 4th, 2018 @ 11:06pm CDT
Quite the long Hiatus. Just manage to catch up and read Optimus issues 17-19. Re-read all 3 copies twice.
Not sure if I'm in the minority here.
But having Shockwave being the big revelation throughout a big significant portion of IDW Cybertron history (the era of the 13 Primes) was really quite a ...
Huge Letdown for me.
When I reached the panels, I was like, what really? All that 'Cybertronian myth yet cool different era history exposition' build up in multiple books is due to the machinations of one bot, Shockwave? I was (waiting for years) expecting more actually. New reveals and different character arcs from that time to play their crucial roles in the makings and consequences of that era... Not Shockwave. I honestly felt that reveal kinda cheapen out the lore.
I was quite content actually of Shockwave's current development, from being Jhiaxus's student, to a rebelious Senator seeding plans for a better Cybertron, getting caught and was subject to direct shadowplay & empurata by the then senate, turned to cold calculative intellect ruled by cold logic, derived from that conducted secret cruel experiments on bots, life and worlds alike in the name of science, conjured up an elaborate plan spanning eons in the making of alternate source of energy ultimately for the use of fulfilling his dark cybertron prophecy deeming life is chaos thus it should not exists, and ultimately at the very last moment saved by Orion Pax/Optimus by overcoming his millions of years shadowplay conditioning, where in the end sacrificing himself to save the universe. That was a beyond Epic character Arc.
This Shockwave being alive transported back in time and taking Onyx's prime mantle orchastrating the bulk of Cybertron history is just feels like an easy cop out of more layered and complex rich new revelations.
At this point, Boo John Barber. Had so much hope.
Hope Roberts will end his run with a bang. Not going half arsed since its ending.
Sorry folks. Just my honest two cents ...
Anyone else is of like impression ?
Posted by Va'al on June 5th, 2018 @ 12:48am CDT
Don't get me wrong, I like how it's being written, but I don't think this was the story that I wanted - nor the one that I cared to see developed. Shockwave (and Bumblebee) were gone. Megatron is still gone. That was fine.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 5th, 2018 @ 7:48am CDT
I know throughout his work, Furman had his favourites that always had their time to shine (Galvatron, Grimlock etc). This is another example of that. Shockwave is clearly one of Robert's biggest favourites, obvious since the overly convoluted Shadowplay.
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 5th, 2018 @ 10:49am CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 5th, 2018 @ 12:05pm CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:...but Roberts doesn't write op, barber does.
And? Barber didn't write Shadowplay or Dark Cybertron, of which this entire characterisation of Shockwave is based on. It's certainly not based on Furman's iteration from Spotlight and Maximum Dinobots.
Posted by ScottyP on June 5th, 2018 @ 1:13pm CDT
Barber and Roberts co-wrote all 12 issues of Dark Cybertron.AllNewSuperRobot wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:...but Roberts doesn't write op, barber does.
And? Barber didn't write Shadowplay or Dark Cybertron, of which this entire characterisation of Shockwave is based on. It's certainly not based on Furman's iteration from Spotlight and Maximum Dinobots.
I think this version of Shockwave is very heavily the Furman/G1 character, with a new wrinkle in his backstory. I would agree that he reads funny now but it's one reason that I hold out hope for the "Shockwave done it" twist really being "Liege Maximo is making it look like Shockwave done it"
Posted by snavej on June 5th, 2018 @ 2:43pm CDT
Randomhero wrote:snavej wrote:How is it a 'black hole' when it doesn't consume the entire planet? It's something else, like a portal. The use of the wrong term is just IDW 'bigging itself up'.
It’s an artificial black hole. It’s not a natural one that doesn’t follow the same physics as a regular black hole.
If megaton can use space bride technology to siphon the dark matter of a black hole to power himself up from his eyes than a small stable black hole can exist on Cybertron.
It’s also a comic book about giant alien robots fighting where prime once opened the matrix and reformatted an entire planet into a primordial state sooooo yeah. Maybe not try to base it too much in reality.
Space brides? Can we order them online?!
'Megaton' should be 'Megatron'. I never really agreed with the MTMTE depiction of that power. Why did he have to siphon antimatter from a black hole when he could get it much more easily from the quantum foam of empty space? It was stupid.
If the stories have little basis in reality, fundamental forces would be screwed. There would be true chaos. The stories would become impossible to understand. They wouldn't be very entertaining and would be rather pointless. There has to be considerable basis in reality for the stories to be meaningful.
The real problem here is arts graduates failing to grasp science but arrogantly trying to style it out.
Posted by snavej on June 5th, 2018 @ 2:53pm CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the Knights of Cybertron are linked to Shockwave and/or Auto-Megatron in the alternate universe. Just makes the scope of IDWverse seem so.. small and unambitious.
I know throughout his work, Furman had his favourites that always had their time to shine (Galvatron, Grimlock etc). This is another example of that. Shockwave is clearly one of Robert's biggest favourites, obvious since the overly convoluted Shadowplay.
Don't forget the cross-dressing Overlord, who was sent into the past and future in 'Requiem for the Wreckers'! As you do.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 5th, 2018 @ 3:07pm CDT
See, when IDWverse first started it was huge, in scale. The Great War was stretched out across the galaxy. Earth was just one of many fronts it was being waged on. The entire cast was spread out as cells waging a war of attrition on seemingly every planet in this universe.
Since then, everyone has more or less been piled back into Earth, Cybertron and the Lost Light. Expansion through the Colony Worlds did overall very little to readdress that, as all of the speaking characters were put on Cybertron anyway.
It's just quite sad really, to see all that promise squandered.
ScottyP wrote:I would agree that he reads funny now
That's just it. In his (brilliant) Spotlight, he seeded a primitive world with Energon for experimentation. Yet in spite of the awesome act of defeating the entire Dynobots single-handedly, was ultimately caught out by a sneak attack from Grimlock. That to me, just doesn't mesh with This infallible Shockwave, that has been planning unbeatable schemes from the shadows for ages.
He went from 'Brainiac' to 'Darkseid'.
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 5th, 2018 @ 3:09pm CDT
Unless of course the story is depicted as a very realistic tale with no fantastical elements, then fire away.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 5th, 2018 @ 3:17pm CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:...Roberts didn't write requiem, and Roberts didn't write op. This isn't hard to understand.
Who was talking about Requiem? Or op for that matter. I was making an observation about Shockwave, his role within op and his characterisation.
ZeroWolf wrote: If you want to argue that the characters are being written in the style of another writer's characterisation, then that makes sense but is still silly as the writer will build on the previous work.
Tying in the Ore thing perhaps, but this is Robert's Shockwave, not Furman's. As noted above ^
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 5th, 2018 @ 3:35pm CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on June 5th, 2018 @ 3:43pm CDT
Posted by Va'al on June 5th, 2018 @ 5:53pm CDT
Take a look below, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub discussion thread!
Transformers: Optimus Prime, Vol. 3
John Barber (w) • Kei Zama, Priscilla Tramontano, Casey Coller (a)
What new future will the Transformers bots face? With Optimus Prime trapped on Cybertron, embroiled in the First Strike event, the Autobots on Earth set off on a mission to find their missing friend, Jazz. But anti-Cybertronian humans are after him as well, and they're armed with Cybertronian weapons! Collects Optimus Prime issues #11–14 and the Optimus Prime: First Strike and Transformers: First Strike one-shots.
TPB • FC • $19.99 • 144 pages • ISBN: 978-1-68405-270-7
Bullet points:
“Engaging and shows that IDW's line of Transformers comics are more than meets the eye.”—Graphic Policy
Posted by steve2275 on June 6th, 2018 @ 8:53am CDT
Posted by Va'al on June 6th, 2018 @ 7:55pm CDT
steve2275 wrote:WHEN does this coming out?
This week, if schedule is correct! You probably need to order it from your local comics shop.
Posted by Va'al on June 13th, 2018 @ 3:09am CDT
And as you can see, we're leaning heavily into Onyx Prime's beastly presence, with a fantastic homage to the Beast Wars continuity, featuring Optimus Primal, Megatron, and the Beast Wars II Nemesis ocular planet-ship used in the series so far. Take a look below, and beware of the ..'spoiler' of sorts in the solicit blurb!
Optimus Prime #20 Retailer Incentive Comic Book Cover
IDW PUBLISHING
APR180353
(W) John Barber (A/CA) Kei Zama
"The Falling," Part 5. Optimus Prime has faced defeat before and come back... but he's never seen anything like this. Beyond life, beyond death-only the wisdom of an old friend can save him. Meanwhile, Victorion battles Devastator... and only one will survive.
The return of Bumblebee! One shall rise, one shall fall, but who will destroy them all?
In Shops: Jul 11, 2018
SRP: PI
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 13th, 2018 @ 5:30am CDT
Posted by Big Grim on June 13th, 2018 @ 7:08am CDT
Posted by ScottyP on June 13th, 2018 @ 12:58pm CDT
Hopefully more than the Spooky Onyx Bodyguards role that they have so far! Don't have a shred of a concrete idea though. Certainly does have me reflecting on how wildly different members of the Beast Wars cast have been handled.ZeroWolf wrote:That's some stellar art there of bw op and megs but do they play any part at all?
Rhinox is ancient, presumably died a long time ago - unless he's Fat Tankor now which would be fine. Rattrap schemes for Prowl. Tigatron and Airazor are on the Council of Worlds. Cheetor and Blackarachnia were introduced but never had their plot or Eukaris' go anywhere and are presumably in Unicron's tummy. Primal, Megatron, and a massive host of others have been in Onyx's entourage. The universe still hates Waspinator, but at least he survived the Visionaries crossover and his temporary Thrustinator reformatting!
Posted by ZeroWolf on June 13th, 2018 @ 2:09pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on June 13th, 2018 @ 8:18pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on June 13th, 2018 @ 9:01pm CDT
Check out the listing above as well as the little bit of the cover we see below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
End of the Road! The Autobots are faced with mutliple threats, one of them a danger not only to Cybertron, but to the whole Universe!
Trapped between Shockwave’s attack and Unicron’s onslaught, Optimus and the Autobots struggle to make sense of what’s left of their world, as Optimus’ colonist soldiers contend with a brutal reality–they have no homes to return to. Plus, Shockwave reveals ancient truths–as an old friend tries to reconnect with Cybertron.
Collects the 2018 Annual and issues #22-25, which conclude the series.