Full Preview of IDW Optimus Prime #9

I know folks complain about these "filler" issues, but that was one of the best single issues that John Barber has written.

I want to see Barber write a lot more character-focused issues, because if the past three have proven anything, it's that he's really friggin' good at it. It's ironic because MTMTE/LL was considered the character-focused one while ex-RiD/TF/OP was considered the story-focused one... but I'm honestly finding myself liking some of these characters on the same level as if not higher than some of the Lost Lighters. Jazz is certainly fitting in comfortably between Chromedome and Whirl.

I wish we'd gotten more of this during post-Dark Cybertron ex-RiD because the lack of fleshed out characterisation among Prime's crew was probably the biggest problem I had with it; it was a great storyline and there were fantastic characters in Optimus, Prowl, Aileron, Soundwave, Cosmos, Thundercracker etc. but I didn't feel connected to most of what was supposed to be the main protagonists. But now I do. I love Sideswipe, Jetfire and Jazz a hell of a lot more than I used to and Barber deserves any praise he gets for these issues.

MrBlack wrote:I know folks complain about these "filler" issues, but that was one of the best single issues that John Barber has written.

Review incoming, but basically. Yes. That.

Synopsis
THE LIFE OF SIDESWIPE! A Junkion machine finally gives long-injured Sideswipe a new lease on life! But when his brother goes missing, Sideswipe and Arcee return to Cybertron—and nothing will be the same between them ever again.



Story

It's fascinating what we get to read in Transformers comics these days, really. Truly fascinating how we've had so much character development taking over the steady progression of plot for a couple of issues, and how breathers have become such a staple in the major arcs that another 'filler' issue isn't really regarded as such. But it still is. And yes, it fills.



John Barber has shown a sharp increase (which is probably a lot more steady, but since stepping down from editorial, the writer in him has just leapt streets ahead, for me) in his talent for capturing voices, both through the established techniques like the caption narratives, and newly acquired tricks in recent issues and sidelines.



In this case, we mostly see the entire issue through the eyes and voice of Sideswipe, as he is awakened from the stasis he was in for a while now already, and we explore this new world to him - the old world of Cybertron in the new reality - and to some newer readers (if we consider Revolution or OP #1 as their starting point), with some assists from Arcee of course, in one of the best platonic friendships the publisher has to offer right now.



The framing of story is interesting, insofar as it tries to follow up just briefly on the Jazz-centric events of the previous issue, but then fully delves into this second spotlight in two months. It takes a deep breath - and plunges an unexpected blade into several sparks. Hard.


Art

What Kei Zama achieves in the issue is really quite extraordinary, bringing her heavy lines and inks back to Cybertron, making Sideswipe himself essentially look like his G2 incarnation while still keeping in tune with the continuity in design, and adding her twists to the fairly numerous cast of the issue, and with delightful composition cues from RID #33, too.



Josh Burcham ups the amping on the grittyness in all the right spots too, playing with lighting and saturation to achieve some very Sideswipe action sequences, mixed in with more calm, tranquil palette choices for the other scenes around them, in yet more proof that he and Zama can work wonders in thick ink and grainy layers.



Tom B. Long also has more work on his hands, with plenty of captions to place around the page, some very good and in fact very subtle fonting work across the book, and carefulness not to cover up lines of dialogue and panel layouts for the overall effect. The cover we're using in the thumbnail is the variant by Casey Coller (EDIT: also on colours!), which best captures the issue's tone by the end too - all other covers can be seen in our database entry right here!

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

I have not commented, not one bit, on the ending / resolution / twist of this book. I talk about it now in the vaguest of terms, and only really to preface a couple of misgivings that people might have about the art or even the dialogue - both of which might seem too on the nose or to go in circle a bit in spots. There is a reason for that. Keep reading.



Take your time with this one, as it closes a number of plot points that we probably wouldn't have addressed in any other satisfying way, cleverly employs known techniques to original results, and had some very strong reactions on staff - ranging from anger, to sadness, to adoration. We're warning you, and it still won't be enough.

The only anger this issue got from me was when the comic showed... those two. You know who I'm talking about. They're even in the review. *shudder*

Otherwise the score is fully deserved. An excellently well-done issue that proves OP isn't just "that other" IDW Transformers ongoing and is fantastic in its own right.

I hated the revelation of what this whole episode was. Hated it. But it was good storytelling nonetheless.

This issue did not make me sad in the slightest. I finished it and smiled. It was amazing. Best issue of Optimus prime so far. It was a celebration life, not death.

Halfway through I figured it out. Once marissa mentioned wreck-gar was just a head and he wasn't and the whole scene at the warehouse blew over so fast I knew what this was. Not complaining, it was clever and I liked it.

Also I liked skids and Mudflaps cameo. They're characters I've never had a problem with.

Randomhero wrote:This issue did not make me sad in the slightest. I finished it and smiled. It was amazing. Best issue of Optimus prime so far. It was a celebration life, not death.

Also I liked skids and Mudflaps cameo. They're characters I've never had a problem with.

I like your way of thinking there. I started out a little mad because he's always been my favorite Autobot, with Skywarp as my favorite Decepticon and now one is dead and the other is stuck with G I Joe in the IDW-verse. But man, what a very touching and cool way to let him go out.

Plus, now maybe he'll get an updated toy, hell maybe even in wave 6 of TR. TR seems to love putting out dead bots from the IDW-verse (Galvatron, Astrotrain, Ravage, Hardhead, Quake, Topspin, Twintwist, Sky Shadow, Flywheels, anyone else?).

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Randomhero wrote:This issue did not make me sad in the slightest. I finished it and smiled. It was amazing. Best issue of Optimus prime so far. It was a celebration life, not death.

Also I liked skids and Mudflaps cameo. They're characters I've never had a problem with.

I like your way of thinking there. I started out a little mad because he's always been my favorite Autobot, with Skywarp as my favorite Decepticon and now one is dead and the other is stuck with G I Joe in the IDW-verse. But man, what a very touching and cool way to let him go out.

Plus, now maybe he'll get an updated toy, hell maybe even in wave 6 of TR. TR seems to love putting out dead bots from the IDW-verse (Galvatron, Astrotrain, Ravage, Hardhead, Quake, Topspin, Twintwist, Sky Shadow, Flywheels, anyone else?).

Thunderwing! He even started that trend in Generations 2012 before it was cool!

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Randomhero wrote:This issue did not make me sad in the slightest. I finished it and smiled. It was amazing. Best issue of Optimus prime so far. It was a celebration life, not death.

Also I liked skids and Mudflaps cameo. They're characters I've never had a problem with.

I like your way of thinking there. I started out a little mad because he's always been my favorite Autobot, with Skywarp as my favorite Decepticon and now one is dead and the other is stuck with G I Joe in the IDW-verse. But man, what a very touching and cool way to let him go out.

Plus, now maybe he'll get an updated toy, hell maybe even in wave 6 of TR. TR seems to love putting out dead bots from the IDW-verse (Galvatron, Astrotrain, Ravage, Hardhead, Quake, Topspin, Twintwist, Sky Shadow, Flywheels, anyone else?).

Thunderwing! He even started that trend in Generations 2012 before it was cool!

Triggerhappy, off the top of my head. Too lazy to go looking.

Sigma Magnus wrote:

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Randomhero wrote:This issue did not make me sad in the slightest. I finished it and smiled. It was amazing. Best issue of Optimus prime so far. It was a celebration life, not death.

Also I liked skids and Mudflaps cameo. They're characters I've never had a problem with.

I like your way of thinking there. I started out a little mad because he's always been my favorite Autobot, with Skywarp as my favorite Decepticon and now one is dead and the other is stuck with G I Joe in the IDW-verse. But man, what a very touching and cool way to let him go out.

Plus, now maybe he'll get an updated toy, hell maybe even in wave 6 of TR. TR seems to love putting out dead bots from the IDW-verse (Galvatron, Astrotrain, Ravage, Hardhead, Quake, Topspin, Twintwist, Sky Shadow, Flywheels, anyone else?).

Thunderwing! He even started that trend in Generations 2012 before it was cool!

Triggerhappy, off the top of my head. Too lazy to go looking.

Scourge as well! Sentinel Prime died in the TR comic tie-in -- though he died in that, uh, body-was-never-found-I-totally-won't-return comic book villain way.

Then there's Horri-Bull, Nightbeat died before he wasn't dead, Wilder's technically in Titans Return because he's the same as Fangry...

... man, this is depressing.

Did I mention that I hate this art.......

As much whining as I hear about LL's art at least it's legible. But whatever, still haven't read ep. #6 and probably won't bother with this one either.

Revert back to Cybertron....To h3ll with these humans!

Excellent review of an emotional issue. I was one who went through a gamut of emotions. I was angry because I was hoping for the miracle, it was set up as such, and in having my own expectations be thrown back at me in such an extreme manner... Sideswipe's always been a favorite. Mostly because of his alt mode and somewhat brash, but fun attitude, and his interactions with his brother which I could relate too.

Well executed writing and art. I think Optimus Prime has been my most looked forward to reading each month. It's been really well done. I'm converted. I've always been the reader who wanted less to no humans in my comics to finally evolve Transformers fiction to a higher, more enjoyable level. I didn't think it was possible to include humans and for us to reach the level of story that we're at here. I've been proven wrong and it's awesome!

Lambobros forever!

Snare was the first thing that tipped me off to "this isn't really happening" because John Barber wouldn't let a Predator jet in as a background character. They're too famous as being Decepticon cannon fodder in LSotW!

ScottyP wrote:Snare was the first thing that tipped me off to "this isn't really happening" because John Barber wouldn't let a Predator jet in as a background character. They're too famous as being Decepticon cannon fodder in LSotW!

I didn't catch him. Was too wrapped in seeing Lazer Rods! Good catch. Much like the Wreckgar has a body and not just a head. I saw that to start and went, 'huh?', but read in thinking if they could repair the cool McGuffey, they could certainly give him a new body. Where's Ratchet, First Aid, Velocity, or Pharma when you need them?

ScottyP wrote:Snare was the first thing that tipped me off to "this isn't really happening" because John Barber wouldn't let a Predator jet in as a background character. They're too famous as being Decepticon cannon fodder in LSotW!

Didn't Snare die in that anyways?

Chromia being on Cybertron made me wonder what was going on.

YoungPrime wrote:Did I mention that I hate this art.......

As much whining as I hear about LL's art at least it's legible. But whatever, still haven't read ep. #6 and probably won't bother with this one either.

Revert back to Cybertron....To h3ll with these humans!

I'm sorry someone hurt you this bad.

In the pic with RID Fixit and the Movie twins, is that Prime Arcee?

Agreed with so many of these points. Sideswipe is my 2nd favorite behind Trailbreaker (dangit, top 2 dead...) and it made me sad and smile. The ending was amazing, and I agree that this is the best issue of Transformers recently, and maybe ever for Barber.

Windsweeper wrote:In the pic with RID Fixit and the Movie twins, is that Prime Arcee?

I'm not sure who you're referring to specifically, but I can confirm Prime Arcee is not in that panel!

Courtesy of Previews World, we have some variant covers for the upcoming Optimus Prime #10 from IDW Publishing, as we stave off First Strike just a little longer - and we return to Alpha Trion, but also Galvatron the Barbarian, and the early days of the Primes! Variants are by Andrew Griffith and Andrew MacLean

(W) John Barber (A) Kei Zama, Livio Ramondelli (CA) Andrew Griffith
THE RETURN OF GALVATRON THE BARBARIAN! When Optimus Prime of Alpha Trion, the ancient sage reveals a tale of Cybertron's earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world. Optimus Prime meets with Alpha Trion, the ancient sage, who reveals a tale of Cybertron's earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world.

Bullet points:
* Leads directly into this month's First Strike event!

(W) John Barber (A) Kei Zama, Livio Ramondelli (CA) Andrew MacLean
THE RETURN OF GALVATRON THE BARBARIAN! When Optimus Prime of Alpha Trion, the ancient sage reveals a tale of Cybertron's earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world. Optimus Prime meets with Alpha Trion, the ancient sage, who reveals a tale of Cybertron's earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world.

Bullet points:
* Leads directly into this month's First Strike event!

That is one mess of an issue blurb. Someone fell asleep at the keyboard.

Kurona wrote:That is one mess of an issue blurb. Someone fell asleep at the keyboard.

Still better than most MTMTE and lost light blurbs that just try and be witty and uninformative

Via the usual avenue of iTunes, the three-page preview for Optimus Prime #10 has arrived. Along with the usual pages, the "A" cover for this issue has also been revealed at last. The cover by Kei Zama features Onyx Prime and Liege Maximo, two of the original Thirteen Primes, looking both menacing and mightily cool. The interior pages shown are also the familiar Kei Zama and Josh Burcham combo that readers of Optimus Prime are familiar with, however it should be noted the flashback story that Alpha Trion sets up below which will comprise the bulk of this issue is drawn and colored by another fantastic Transformers comics artist, Livio Ramondelli.









With this preview available, it looks like this chronicle of Galvatron the Barbarian's adventures will be available for you to read on August 30th, so be sure to head to your local comic shop and pick it up when it comes out!

That cover is fantastic!

I wish the inside was as nice looking as that cover. I think the colors are what's throwing me. It's personal preference but I prefer bolder colors.

Cover looks good, but is it just me or does the bigger one (who I'm guessing is Onyx Prime) bear a striking resemblance to Deathsaurus?

I miss Alpha Trion being douchey jack sparrow like. And no beard. I liked when it was just lines the evoked a beard.

grimdragon2001 wrote:Cover looks good, but is it just me or does the bigger one (who I'm guessing is Onyx Prime) bear a striking resemblance to Deathsaurus?

I'm guessing it's by design. Flame looks a great deal like Liege Maximo, Mistress of Flame has a strong resemblance to Solus, Nickel to Micronus, and here with Deathsaurus to Onyx. I think they're playing on the tribal split of either or both of the Knights of Cybertron and the Guiding Hand, with the implication that members of those groups fashioned their appearances based on a Prime.

And right now Nickel's allied with Deathsaurus; with Optimus and Alpha Trion being close together with ties to the Mistress of Flame. Something's afoot here...

Or it's a coincidence. Seriously.


Hey he's blue, silver and he gold accents...OMG SOUNDWAVE HAS THOSE COLORS! Mind blown!

Liege Maximo is all green...SO ISMOVIE SKIDS! WHATS THE CONNECTION IDW!?!?!

He's also got a beast mode and his robot mode strikes a silhouette extremely similar to that, so it's really not just colours.

grimdragon2001 wrote:Cover looks good, but is it just me or does the bigger one (who I'm guessing is Onyx Prime) bear a striking resemblance to Deathsaurus?

That's what i thought

I guarantee it's just colors.

Deathsaurus is a warborn cybertronian meaning he's more than likely constructed cold because no hotspots were ever found during the war which means he was born a decepticon. Onyx Prime is a prime and he's 9 million years old and he's being doing his own thing the entire time like making Titan masters and visiting colonies. We've seen him floating around preparing for his return Also it's the damn Aligned design for him. 4 legs and all.

Onyx Prime wants to wipe out all cybertornians and star over where as Deathsaurus cares deeply for his fellow cybertronians. There's no connection other than Burcham felt like coloring them similar. Their are only so many colors you can use especially since the aligned Primes are all one color.

Deathsaurus is Roberts character and he's not giving up him or Nickel. I know some people say Deathsaurus has a role because of a potential toy and he was a runner for Power of the Primes fan vote but so was Hound. Hound! Just because a toy gets made means nothing. Cyclonus got a toy in combiner Wars and had nothing to do with the comic event and look at Titans return's event. Four characters that actually had toys and only two of them were Titan masters while one was a mneumosurgeon and the other highjacked a Titan. IDW does what they want in their toy tie in events.

Randomhero wrote:I guarantee it's just colors.

Deathsaurus is a warborn cybertronian meaning he's more than likely constructed cold because no hotspots were ever found during the war which means he was born a decepticon. Onyx Prime is a prime and he's 9 million years old and he's being doing his own thing the entire time like making Titan masters and visiting colonies. We've seen him floating around preparing for his return Also it's the damn Aligned design for him. 4 legs and all.

Onyx Prime wants to wipe out all cybertornians and star over where as Deathsaurus cares deeply for his fellow cybertronians. There's no connection other than Burcham felt like coloring them similar. Their are only so many colors you can use especially since the aligned Primes are all one color.

Deathsaurus is Roberts character and he's not giving up him or Nickel. I know some people say Deathsaurus has a role because of a potential toy and he was a runner for Power of the Primes fan vote but so was Hound. Hound! Just because a toy gets made means nothing. Cyclonus got a toy in combiner Wars and had nothing to do with the comic event and look at Titans return's event. Four characters that actually had toys and only two of them were Titan masters while one was a mneumosurgeon and the other highjacked a Titan. IDW does what they want in their toy tie in events.

Why do you hate fun so much?

Because Im a realist. Fan theories are just that. Fan theories. And they're neve right.

It's like for the passed year I've been saying Slugslinger is the final titans return figure and everyone would gang up and say "NO HES NOT! WE STILL HAVETHE. REVEAL OF HIS WAVEMATES!" Well they revealed his wave this week or last and yeah it's a bunch of already released figures to fill up thatcase box. Yes there's an Arcee that's "suppose to be released post hascon" but I'll bet right now she and Magnus will be an online retailer figure like groove, slingshot and wild rider.

Anyway what I'm getting at is I'm not hating fun but I'm looking at all sides and I go with the explanation that makes most logic.

a cover with liege Maximo and onyx prime was made and josh was to color it and said "hey there's no real pictures of onyx prime, what colors should I use for him?" And I guarantee john or Guzman said "go ahead and get creative" or "livio colored him blue with gold accents so go with that"

Or there's even this idea: the colorist screwed up. Heres onyx prime from the annual



It's possible Burcham just screwed up and didn't realize that was Onyx Prime and thought it was Deathsaurus or he didn't realize onyx prime had shown up already and just went with whatever he wanted.

That has happened. Perez thought the Necrotitan was metrotitan and kept coloring him like that all throughout Dark Cybertron instead coloring him properly.

Burcham has said that he colored the cover based on Ramondelli's interiors. https://twitter.com/jcburcham/status/898314173091782656

That cover is beautiful. And I look forward to some more background on the Primes, seeing as how that is where everything is heading and we have some rogues on the loose.

Randomhero wrote:Because Im a realist. Fan theories are just that. Fan theories. And they're neve right.

Like when I said two years ago that IDW was going to go there with Unicron.

I snipped out the rest of your post but it had very fair points and was a good read!

A cute little bit of news for fans of IDW's designs today -- artist Andrew Griffith today tweeted some concept art for Soundwave as he appeared in Robots in Diguise - later simply rechristened 'Transformers' - and as he currently appears in the Optimus Prime comic. Specifically, this concept art concerns Soundwave's new alternate mode as a communications truck, and shows how Griffith envisioned Rumble and Frenzy in their new bike forms deploying for him. In another tweet, Griffith also specifies the type of truck Soundwave is supposed to be -- a three-axle communications-heavy Stryker vehicle! Check out the design below and tell us what you think in the forums!

I really like this and I think it would be a cool option for him if there were ever a series where the Decepticons are only military vehicles...cause you know Decepticons and all.


Or maybe just a military Transformers spinoff where all the Transformers are a military vehicle of some type...not necessarily all of them being vehicles with guns but just vehicles used by the military in general.

Also it's pretty clever on how Soundwave's deployment gimmick works here.

Looks like this inspired the design for that upcoming activity book.

Decepticon Stryker wrote:Looks like this inspired the design for that upcoming activity book.

Transformers-My-Busy-Book-001.jpg

That just looks like a regular SUV like Animated Soundwave and some other versions of him are.

Looks like Universe (Classics 2.0) Ultra Class Onslaught.

Here's a larger preview of Optimus Prime #10: https://www.newsarama.com/36121-in-memo ... eview.html

Nik Hero wrote:Here's a larger preview of Optimus Prime #10: https://www.newsarama.com/36121-in-memo ... eview.html

Warning: There are big spoilers to Galvatron's origin in that preview!

Courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Nik Hero, and via Newsarama, we have the full preview for next week's flashback heavy issue of Optimus Prime from IDW Publishing! Check it all out below, and beware of some fairly significant story spoilers for Galvatron, and some of the other characters that immediately show up.

Optimus Prime #10
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli & Kei Zama (a) • Kei Zama (c)
THE RETURN OF GALVATRON THE BARBARIAN! Optimus Prime meets with Alpha Trion, the ancient sage, who reveals a tale of Cybertron's earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world. But even then, the warrior known as Galvatron was a wild card... shaping the future in unexpected ways.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
· Leads directly into this month’s First Strike event!
· Variant cover by Andrew MacLean!

Well there's arcee and Galvatron before the first war. I forgot she mentioned in the last issue she had a brother and he died because she stood there and watch THEM kill him. It's a really cool take on both of them.

Randomhero wrote:Well there's arcee and Galvatron before the first war. I forgot she mentioned in the last issue she had a brother and he died because she stood there and watch THEM killed him. It's a really cool take on both of them.

Yeah that was cool, and there's an interesting piece of history to be revealed and built up. Who knew. #spoilers