IDW Revolution Crossover: AMA with John Barber at 12 Pacific Today + Image of all Christiansen Covers Combined

So about 8pm British time. Might have to watch in on this.

That is a long-ass cover sequence

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:That is a long-ass cover sequence

it is but they dont feel that connected. Most are connected only because of the colour in the background. Its a far cry from things like this:

True, but still

After reading recent posts, I feel uncomfortable posting my review. Scotty sums up the book much better than I did.

I think we should just news his post with some pictures of the inconsistent art.

Very well written Scotty. I should just quote your whole post and news it!

Tigertrack wrote:After reading recent posts, I feel uncomfortable posting my review. Scotty sums up the book much better than I did.

I think we should just news his post with some pictures of the inconsistent art.

Very well written Scotty. I should just quote your whole post and news it!

Eh, it's me venting an opinion - probably not a fair review! There are well done parts that fall into the "not for me" realm that, from an objective standpoint, would be things that should be pointed out.

Put another way, thanks for the compliment, but eek! That weren't meant to be a review

It’s the end of September, and THE REVOLUTION has started! The multi-issue, multi-brand crossover has officially begun. IDW does its best to meet big boys MARVEL and DC on the big kids playground, to crossover in a way that they hope is as popular as the big uns’ special events. Will it make the cut? And should you care enough to pick this up?

Back Cover Tease:

Explosions rip across Earth—and all sides blame OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS! G.I.JOE refuses to go quietly—and they assemble heroes big enough to stop the invaders! ACTION MAN and M.A.S.K. fight for humanity— but where do ROM and the MICRONAUTS stand?

From New York Times-bestselling writers Cullen Bunn and John Barber—and superstar-in-the-making artist Fico Ossio—comes a collision of worlds, a clash of past and future, unlike anything that has come before.

The Revolution is here— take a stand!

As the resident staff Joe guy (who also collects TFs and vice versa) who has also lived through the earliest iterations of these brands in the 70's and 80's, it fell to me to try to make some sense of this newest comic-based crossover. Well actually, Va’al’s on a sabbatical and D-MACK already handled TAAO, so that’s why it really fell to me. And that nobody else wanted to do it.

Forgive me, I write this after a day of teaching 6th grade.

THE STORY:
Like the tease says, events have happened and they are BIG! Like BIG BEN and DUKE (GI JOE guys for you TF only folks) and ORE-13 BIG. Mount Everest going boom BIG! The supposed ‘melting’ of several Joes (whom most people probably don’t know) big. VICTORION and WINDBLADE… okay, I am not sure what to say. It’s a lot of action, mostly centered around TRANSFORMERS and GI JOE. Humans’ anxiety level is at an all time high over KING PRIME declaring Earth to be a part of the galactic council (I actually believe there is a lot of hard feelings over the no tech sharing thing from OP’s previous visit)—and all the negative attention being considered ‘galactically relevant’ might bring with it (like, oh, a Transformers’ war coming to Earth wasn’t bad enough before this? C’mon Optimus…).



MORE:
There’s lots of human armed military parties running around now, and it’s hard to keep caught up with who’s really on top. ROM’s book has military types showing up to make trouble for him in his series, that seem to be directly or indirectly ordered by General Joe Colton of G.I. JOE fame, but don’t seem to be regular GI JOE. The EDC was supposedly re-made into a new more global version, and now it appears that GI JOE, yes the real GI.JOE, is now the go to gang of military types to become government sanctioned, even after being shut down by that same government previously, it seems (I’m not good at keeping up with IDW GI JOE). The weird thing is, those EDC types, who know a lot about TRANSFORMERS are still around too, but it doesn't matter because their advice and intelligence is almost always totally ignored. And by the tease, it looks like even G.I. JOE will get superseded or at best aligned with ACTION MAN and MASK, eventually.
EDC out!

Sadly, MASK does not appear in this issue, except in the same short preview at the end that we have had in several other TRANSFORMERS issues, giving us background info (and showing us Miles Mayhem and a badly dissected Blitzwing), but it becomes pretty obvious how they will become a part of it.

So that’s this issue in a nut shell. Ore-13 is blowing up. TRANSFORMERS are blamed for it. GI JOE is tasked by the very anxious world leading U.S. President to take on the TRANSFORMERS—instead of the before created EDC military group.

VISUALS:
Fico Ossio on the art, colored by Sebastian Cheng, and lettered by the nigh-infamous Tom B. Long, is much better than average. Characters are recognizable as who they should be (if you know some of these obscure JOE folks) and portray their emotions well, although heads and faces are inconsistent; from really nice on MAIN FRAME and BIG BEN profiles and 3/4 shots, to somewhat misshapen, cartoonish, and elongated SCARLETT and JOE COLTON faces and heads on full body action shots, later on. The bots are well-detailed, but the artist shows a little bit of difficulty with them at times, especially in their faces, heads, and ‘ears’, but overall does a commendable, but uneven, job. There are some truly beautiful character portraits in there, but also some that are less than, making you wonder. Finally, the ROM images generally all feel a little off, which might be intentional if a theory I have holds up.


THE GREAT!


THE GOOD!


THE UGLY


UMM...HMMMmm...

The colors and lighting effects are well done, and work well with the line art to create an overall, visually acceptable product. TRANSFORMERS fans have had to deal with (have learned to appreciate) much ‘worse’ (opinion, of course). Tom B. Long does his normal magic with word bubbles, and sound effects, helping to move us through the action and story well.


SLL-SRRRAK!





DIALOGUE:
Character interactions feel pretty natural and help us to better understand their relationships. You can feel the coolness and calm that Optimus Prime is trying very hard to convey. You can hear Scarlett’s frustration and fury, and the military jargon that the JOEs incorporate feels realistic enough (even if the facial expressions and body language sometimes seem a little odd). There are character labels to help all of us identify the JOES, TFs, and others, if we did not already recognize them.

WRITING:
My opinion on human and TRANSFORMERS current status of interaction, as it has been written, has already been made public and sadly, has not changed after seeing this. This is the story that we’ve seen on Earth since the first early issues in Marvel G1. Humans just cannot understand Autobots versus Decepticons, and believe in the ‘all must be bad, if some are’ over generalization. Now, I do understand that you’re going to be upset if you believe the robots are just there to fight, steal, and destroy without any care for the native inhabitants, or if you’re thinking you are being misled by liars. But members of the EDC were starting to get it--to understand factions, and yet somehow their ideas and intelligence are mostly ignored. Grr… revenge!!!
“That one guy killed several of my good buddies way back when…DESTROY ALL OF THEM!”



I do like the idea of DIRE WRAITHs causing a lot of the misunderstandings, for their own ends that we are not entirely sure about. But ROM just showing up and doing what he did, without a word, where as in his own series, he’s been quite the chatty Cathy, making me and probably others believe that some of the events in ROM (this AXIOM dude that started out as a human in armor before ORE 13 was added to make him a superfreak) are most likely meant to drop clues about what may actually be going on here, with the JOES, and several other humans.


Being a little obvious, aren't we...?

I’m interested to see what part MASK plays, and VENOM of course, even if we know where they get the tech.

In different writing decisions, the GI JOE forces seem ready for immediate action even though they had seemed to be decommissioned (I have to re-read to look for time passage), but don’t seem to know anything about their target. They don’t come equipped with any weapons that do more than annoy the Transformers (except Jazz—why, must everyone always pick on Jazz?). How do you not know what kind of equipment and weapons you will need to even get close to winning a battle with them? Just ignore any EDC intel whatsoever. Now, yes, I do know that Soundwave's Operation Incapacitation took out MAINS’ (GI JOE Main Frame- I actually really dislike that nickname - MAINS- ugh), anti-Soundwave fryer, but before that the JOEs weren't really getting anywhere either. And... they don’t know that ‘the pink one’ uses swords??? What exactly have the GI JOE members been doing lately? And who was in charge of the intel for them? Or was this just sort of a run off half-cocked type mission (which is a bit confusing because Main Frame insists he was working on his Soundwave killing device for months using EDC intel—yes, he was paying attention!)?

OVERALL:

I’m interested, but with the few pieces we have along with this issue, I really, really, really hope that this overly lengthy and perhaps somewhat overused humans vs.TRANSFORMERs is resolved quickly and that everyone moves past it to work together against the DIRE WRAITHS and bad MICRONAUTS (Baron Karza, et al— who do not appear in this issue either), or some such thing like that (maybe it’s UNICRON!!!!!…)

The ORE-13 piece is probably the most interesting thing about the series for me so far, other than the official (finally) admittance/re-imagining that MASK vehicles are TRANSFORMERS based (see the DARK OF THE MOON for the first hints that it was coming, I really liked their Stealth Force attack car/alt modes.). Hasn’t been exactly said…yet, but highly hinted at.

Who should try this?

Casual 80’s childhood guy or gal all grown up: Hell yeah! You’d probably get a kick out of this with Transformers, GI JOE, ROM, ACTION MAN and coming up…Micronauts, and MASK! My childhood hath been brought back alive again! If only VISIONARIES would make an appearance! Ore-13 won't mean anything to you, but you don't need it to.

IDW Transformers Familiars: You may be a bit more hesitant. 'Our guys' are a focus for sure, but we’re not quite sure how they will come out when this all shakes out, and there was a lot of awesome stuff to like going on before this. They are the elder statesman and most successful comics of the bunch, and readers are not interested in losing the awesome ground that we have gained over recent years. There seem to be inconsistencies with current comic continuity, but not so huge that it can't get cleaned up. AND...we do get this ORE-13 thing to finally seem to finally, finally, shake out in full, so there's that!

IDW GI JOE Familiars: You may just feel good that GI JOE is coming back, again, but are probably frustrated that GI JOE is coming back, yet again, seemingly rebooted, yet again (I’m not as good and up on my IDW GI JOE). I feel very badly for hardcore JOE fans. I really hope this helps to get them the great fiction that they deserve (and hopefully more of a toy line too).

OTHERS: Tons of action! Aliens, robots, human elite army operatives, and end of the planet Earth peril, plus some cool new sophisticated TECHIE vehicles. Recognizable big name characters. Sounds like a try out to me! It reads like the big boys crossovers so far, with satisfactory art, I'd give it a go.


The race has begun. The journey and the finish are still in question. When the dust settles, let’s hope we all have the pieces to pick up where our favorites left us wanting more.

Generally, I believe that large crossovers are upsetting to most fandoms--or at least wanting to be mostly ignored or believed to be in another continuity. Especially when new directions are promised and ramifications can wreck what one might have been really enjoying in a separate monthly title prior to said crossover. We shall see.

TRANSFORMERS FAN SCORE out of for this first issue.

It was a good review, but I'd heavily disagree with the assertion that those who aren't familiar with any of these franchises intimately should give this a read. Not because it'd be confusing - it does do a decent job at setting itself up, I must admit - but because this is a terrible, boring, generic story to get people started. Most of my friends aren't into Transformers or G.I. Joe or what have you, but they do know I adore Transformers and more specifically IDW Transformers. If this was the first thing they read they wouldn't have a clue what on earth I see in this series, it's really just a bunch of angry guys shooting things. For people not familiar with IDW's continuity I would much rather give them MTMTE, or even ex-RiD as I'd argue the pre-Dark Cybertron stuff in that is as good as MTMTE. But Revolution? No. Unless there's a massive improvement in the next issue or the issue after that - which, honestly, I am expecting since the humans-hate-robots thing feels more like a necessary evil to get past before the good stuff - this is a terrible way to start out and I honestly think would turn people off. Right now it's not good at all.

my review
good issue

I think that's a well put review, Tigertrack! As a Transformers fan that has followed the comics almost constantly since 2005, this is a tough one to get behind.

I think for new readers and fans of pop-culture or comics in general, it's probably a fun ride and a non-intimidating jumping on point.

Just as a heads up to Transformers fans* - the Micronauts: Revolution one-shot is out next week and, without spoiling anything, you will want to read this issue.


*Disclaimer: There's only a particular segment of TF fan that will appreciate it, but if I say which segment that is it pretty well spoils things!

I'm happy enough with it, but I'm so beyond tired of exactly you noted: Humans attacking the TFs because ALL ARE BAAAAAAD

RNSrobot wrote:I'm happy enough with it, but I'm so beyond tired of exactly you noted: Humans attacking the TFs because ALL ARE BAAAAAAD

OH. I'm sick of it too. I think as others mentioned, it's the necessary evil to get the story moving to the next part....finally, I hope, very soon.

Time and the next issues will tell. Micronauts reveal was a moment I think I literally slapped my head and went, "well why didn't I...?" It's cool.

Next week's MASK Revolution is more for Joe type fans, so far, but looks to be a fun series. Of course, if you liked MASK way back then, that's a no-brainier to try.

(Sorry to tease next week, but our comics staff got review copies in advance, nothing given away, more like a some friendly advice...)


Scotty, thanks for the tweet and kindness. Your review hear and others comments helped me to forge the writing into its final form here. Thank you!

I didn't buy this.

And after this review... I have no desire to even read this.

IMO the only good TF/GI Joe crossover was the G1 episode "Only Human".

With New York Comic Con 2016 just round the corner, we have a press release directly from IDW Publshing with their exclusive releases for the event - but in terms of Transformers, Revolution is the only related title taking the stage! Nonetheless, check out the variant exclusive cover below. And Rom the Spaceknight.

IDW Publishing Announce NYCC 2016 Exclusives & Debuts
IDW Publishing is heading to New York Comic Con with a ton of exclusives you won’t want to miss! See below for a full list of your convention must-haves.

NYCC EXCLUSIVES

Dirk Gently: Salmon of Doubt #1 Metallic Ink Variant
Cover art by Ilias Kyriazis
$10, Limited to 300 copies
*Cast signing at show!*




Jem and the Holograms #19 NYCC B&W Variant
Cover art by Meredith McLaren
$10, Limited to 250 copies
*Meet Meredith McLaren at the show!*




Revolution #1 NYCC B&W Variant
Cover art by Tradd Moore
$10, Limited to 300 copies




ROM: Revolution #1 NYCC Variant
Cover art by Gabriel Rodriguez
$10, Limited to 300 copies
*Meet Gabriel Rodriguez at the show!*




Star Trek 50th Anniversary Cover Celebration NYCC Variant
Cover art by JK Woodward
$10, Limited to 200 copies




Star Trek 50th Anniversary Cover Celebration - Triptych Variant Set
Cover art by JK Woodward
$30, Limited to 50 sets, FREE gift with purchase




Wynonna Earp #8 Photo Edition pre-signed by Katherine Barrell
Katherine Barrell Photo Cover
$20, Limited to 300 copies
*Cast signing at show!*




Bloom County TPB Softcover
Cover art by Berkeley Breathed
$18, Limited to 150 copies
*Meet Berkeley Breathed at the show!*




Crazy Is the New Normal *CONVENTION DEBUT*
Cover art by Tom Tomorrow
$20, Limited to 100 copies
*Meet Tom Tomorrow at the show!*




Locke & Key Master Edition V3 HC Convention Variant
Cover art by Gabriel Rodriguez
$50, Limited to 100 copies
*Meet Gabriel Rodriguez at the show!*




Who Killed Kurt Cobain? *CONVENTION DEBUT*
Cover art by Nicolas Otero
$25, Limited to 100 copies
*Meet Nicolas Otero at the show!*

share on Twitter Send IDW Publishing Announce NYCC 2016 Exclusives & Debuts to friends on Facebook Digg Reddit


About IDW
IDW Media Holdings, Inc. (OTC:IDWM) is a fully integrated media company, which includes publishing, games, entertainment, and the San Diego Comic Art Gallery.

IDW Publishing’s comic book and graphic novel catalog includes some of the world’s most popular entertainment brands, including Transformers, My Little Pony, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, and Disney’s classic characters. At IDW’s core is its commitment to creator-owned comics including 30 Days of Night, Locke & Key, Wormwood, Ragnarök, V-Wars, and Archangel by bestselling sci-fi author William Gibson.

IDW Publishing is also home to the acclaimed and award-winning imprints; Top Shelf, The Library of American Comics, Yoe! Books, and Artist Editions, showcasing the greatest original art ever published in American comic books.

IDW Games’ diverse line-up includes the international phenomenon Machi Koro, as well as hit licensed games such as X-Files, Back to the Future, The Godfather, and TMNT.

IDW Entertainment currently serves as the worldwide distributor of Wynonna Earp airing on the Syfy Channel in the U.S. and is producing BBC America’s Dirk Gently, based the best seller by Douglas Adams starring Elijah Wood and Sam Barnett, and Brooklyn Animal Control for USA Network.

The new IDW Publishing cross-franchise event REVOLUTION is not limited to ROM the Spaceknight, the Transformers and G.I. Joe, though the latter two are probably the biggest players so far and the foundation of the setting, and the former was reintroduced into the IDW universe almost explicitly for and due to the event. Other licensed properties are part of the mix, with M.A.S.K., Micronauts and Action Man taking a little slice of the action for themselves too!

This occasional feature on Seibertron.com is a one-off (three-off?) write-up on those other titles that don't fall under the robots categories, so you may go find more comics if you like what you see. The reviews are brief, with an eye to connecting them to the wider story and what readers might enjoy coming from a Transformers perspective, so please keep that in mind. [For an alternate and more systematic look at how Revolution is currently working out, see ScottyP's comics FAQ here!]

With order then...

Micronauts #1-#6, Revolution #1

Cullen Bunn, whom regular comics readers will undoubtedly recognise from several Marvel and other titles, dives deep into the Microverse, reigniting a spark in a very very old and dormant fire that not many may have remembered. However, he does so with such gusto and charm, even in the obnoxiously 80s patina that most of these properties have, that you can't help but chuckle at the interactions and overt cheese of some of the scenes. The Biounits, Acroyears, names - they just made me giggle so much, reading them in 2016. At the same time, Baron Karza is beautifully nuanced as a villain, and actually has a good characterisation through the Revolution book itself.

Bonus: Direct and unexpectedly good link to Cybertronian lore. Ties up with Transformers franchise in general, with things discussed in Titans Return, and with the covers teasing

Malus (but not really): The cheese. The name Shazraella.






As it hasn't had enough time to go anywhere significant, there's not really too much to say about this one-shot comic - if not that it's probably the most played down and yet the most direct in terms of how G.I. Joe and Earth in general are planning to respond to the Cybertronian contingent and the perceived threat that Optimus's annexation of the planet to the Council of Worlds constitutes for, well, us. Written by Brandon Easton, with visuals from Tony Vargas and Jordi Esquin, the book is a crisp if slightly by the numbers origin story of the Kommando at the hands of Miles Mayhem, building to some interesting dynamics with the Joe envoy Scarlett. And then, it just... stops. Which is a shame. (But will start/continue in November as its own series!)

Bonus: Ego trips all over the place.

Malus: Ego trips all over the place.





Currently running through three issues of its new ongoing series, with Chris Ryall and Christos Gage at the helm, the return of the Solstar system guardian had a very promising beginning, with a bit of a plateau after the second issue hit. With a giant team taking control of the art, there are some really sweet spots visually too, but sometimes the story just doesn't hit the right beats enough to hold it all together.

Bonus: The designs (Wraiths and Rom in particular) are fantastic, and the book is the one that will providing the biggest cohesive for the various threads and titles so far, with its planet/universe wide conspiracies.

Malus: May not be one to follow too closely if it doesn't catch you immediately, and it does have a lot of Ryallisms (compare: Onyx), but that may be your thing!

Why are they called mask if what they are wearing is more along the line of helmets?

william-james88 wrote:Why are they called mask if what they are wearing is more along the line of helmets?

Because,

Heroes
Extinguishing
Life's
Medical
Emergencies
Team

just didn't sound good....

Is that thing on the ROM cover just a xenomorph?

That thing on the ROM cover is just a xenomorph.

Micronauts dumped that big Micronus reveal on us, and it's cool. That, plus the TF57 stuff made for a nice Micronauts into into the wider world

I read the MASK one as was curious (was never a big fan but I had some of the toys and they were kinda neat and as I mentioned some time ago the Human Alliance Transformers reminded me a bit of them in having a lil driver to put inside) but I dunno, I was just left feeling a bit... uncomfortable with it. I'm not sure why.

I didn't really know what to think of MASK, still really don't. I like the concept but the story still feels funky

ViaiTunes we have our latest IDW Revolution update, this time in the form of the sneak peak of Revolution #3! This comic is expected to be out October 12 and features the Micronauts, and for those keeping track, the God of the minicons himself: Micronus Prime! Check it out below.

Before you dip into the preview for IDW's Revolution #3, take a look at the full opening sequence for the second issue of the cross-franchise event, coming out next week in print and digital: as Comics Alliance posts the first seven pages of Revolution #2, plus all of the covers that come with the issue! We will be reviewing this on Wednesday, too, but feel free to join the discussion in the Energon Pub before then!

Revolution #2 (of 5)
Cullen Bunn & John Barber (w) • Fico Ossio (a) • Tradd Moore (c)
ROM—A MURDERER?! That’s what OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS think—and right or wrong, there’s only one outcome: all-out war! Meanwhile, G.I. JOE turns to the one person who can save the world from ultimate destruction—MILES MAYHEM!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

hurry up next week

Jazz liked that arm.

Kurona wrote:Jazz liked that arm.

*nods sagely*

I love how it specifies Jazz liked "that" left arm, like there are others and he just really liked that particular one.

And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

It's basically the plot of the whole issue! *rolls eyes* *still sorta enjoyed it*

Microraptor wrote:I love how it specifies Jazz liked "that" left arm, like there are others and he just really liked that particular one.

It was his special left arm; there is no other like it!

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

It's basically the plot of the whole issue! *rolls eyes* *still sorta enjoyed it*

All things considered, it's probably a wise choice to establish ROM as a potential threat to Cybertronians. They both work on gobbledy-goop sci-fi magic, so there's no real dissonance there. He's a threat to them in the same way that a monkey which could punch with the strength of a buff adult humie would be threatening to us.

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

It's basically the plot of the whole issue! *rolls eyes* *still sorta enjoyed it*

I don't mind it. If it was Death's Head we'd all be saying it was the Best Thing Ever. Which it would be, yes?

ScottyP wrote:I don't mind it. If it was Death's Head we'd all be saying it was the Best Thing Ever. Which it would be, yes?

I miss that Freelance Peacekeeping Agent.

I guess its a good thing that Hasbro/IDW has control of ROM now over as opposed to Marvel. But a while back, when I was looking at concept art for the animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The "season 3" that never came about because of Jeph Loeb . ROM was going to be featured in at least one episode. This was back in 2013, imagine what that small cameo would have done to boost that characters popularity.

o.supreme wrote:I guess its a good thing that Hasbro/IDW has control of ROM now over as opposed to Marvel. But a while back, when I was looking at concept art for the animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The "season 3" that never came about because of Jeph Loeb . ROM was going to be featured in at least one episode. This was back in 2013, imagine what that small cameo would have done to boost that characters popularity.

That was essentially fanart one of the show's character designers made to show what he would have liked to see. Rom would have never shown up in season 3 because Marvel never owned him.

There is a review coming, but due to life outside of the site, it will be later than usual.
Apologies!

Dr Va'al wrote:There is a review coming, but due to life outside of the site, it will be later than usual.
Apologies!

Here's my review: out of

(This means it was also bad, in many of the same ways as #1 but slightly fewer.)

Synopsis
ROM—A MURDERER?! That’s what OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS think—and right or wrong, there’s only one outcome: all-out war! Meanwhile, G.I. JOE turns to the one person who can save the world from ultimate destruction—MILES MAYHEM!



Story

If the first issue of Revolution - reviewed by Tigertrack here - showed where the ubersharedmashup universe crossover event would find its flaws, the second issue in the run is still not able to pick up the good bits for long enough to satisfy a regular reader of Transformers. Bear with me...



As Rom the SpaceKnight provides the catalyst for the event, and even though Micronauts is probably doing a better job at connecting the wider mythology so far, even with just one issue (see my review of the other titles involved here), the insistence on the 'everyone is the bad guy of someone else's story' is really not landing yet. Yes, the Dire Wraiths are creating confusion, and Miles Mayhem is clearly furthering his own goals, but still, something feels very much off.



Where John Barber and Cullen Bunn do have a knack for stories and dialogue - and we know the continuity skills of Barber are second to none, especially with the IDW Transformers-verse, so there is plenty to play around with for the both of them - unfortunately though, there just isn't enough space right now, and where they instead tend to shine is in the other titles that make up the event as a whole, at least at this point in the game.



With that in mind, some of the interactions, especially between human and non-human factions, feel stilted, sometimes even forced - notable example is the MASK introduction, too short, too contrived and underplaying a potentially meaty development, in concept and story; also, the opening dialogue with the Joe team, and the decimate incident - with the best part of the book only coming towards the very very end.

Art

I do not dislike Fico Ossio's work, in any way at all. The designs for humans and robots, robots in particular, are visually stimulating, intriguing, and a new direction which I approve of for something so flashy like a franchise crossover. They're bold. But therein lies a flaw: the emotive aspect of non-organics in particular suffer from the linework of the rest of the character. Arcee and Windblade, and to an extent Kup, particularly feel this.



The colours still fit that 'HEY YOU LOOK AT THIS BOOK AIN'T IT COOL' vibe that IDW has been relying on for the crossover, in its multiple covers and big previews across major entertainment news sites too, and Sebastian Cheng does very good things with the vibrancy chosen - though I can see how some might find it too 'light' in some scenes.



Regular Transformers veteran letter Tom B. Long has a heck of a job keeping the dialogue and sounds at bay - and that last word is actually a totally unintentional pun for the amount of explosive fontwork that we find in the book: the explosions and loudness are very much present all the way through. Commendable indeed that it is this clear!

As for the covers, there are so many variants offered, as is to be expected from such a wide-scale project, that I am not sure I can master up enough words to mention them all. Make sure you do look out for them though, as there are some true gems in there, from Christiansen and Guidi, to Easton and Baltazar, via toy and minimal variants (see thumbnail by James Biggie), there is bound to be something to appeal to everyone.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

I will follow the event through to its end, but what I see so far is not entirely convincing as a way to get older fans of the Joe and Transformers franchises hooked for long enough to warrant the arrival of three new properties. Book-wise at least. Where Bunn and Barber do work well, still, is within the smaller titles that lead into this wider crossover, unfortunately.



That said, the building of the world around Revolution, both through reusing parts of the more cosmically inclined lore of the Transformers, or the making things align in the Microverse parts of the story. Visually, my issues are outlined above, but it is not a bad looking book, at all! And overall, we do have a slight improvement with the wider cast now fully present in the line-up for the event - here's hoping to the next three issues finally able to lift off the ground in the scale of what the premise has promised comics readers.




Bonus Content: A handy reference guide from Tigertrack, which still fully applies two issues in!

Who should try this?

Casual 80’s childhood guy or gal all grown up: Hell yeah! You’d probably get a kick out of this with Transformers, GI JOE, ROM, ACTION MAN and coming up… Micronauts, and MASK! My childhood hath been brought back alive again! If only VISIONARIES would make an appearance! Ore-13 won't mean anything to you, but you don't need it to.

IDW Transformers Familiars: You may be a bit more hesitant. 'Our guys' are a focus for sure, but we’re not quite sure how they will come out when this all shakes out, and there was a lot of awesome stuff to like going on before this. They are the elder statesman and most successful comics of the bunch, and readers are not interested in losing the awesome ground that we have gained over recent years. There seem to be inconsistencies with current comic continuity, but not so huge that it can't get cleaned up. AND... we do get this ORE-13 thing to finally seem to finally, finally, shake out in full, so there's that!

IDW GI JOE Familiars: You may just feel good that GI JOE is coming back, again, but are probably frustrated that GI JOE is coming back, yet again, seemingly rebooted, yet again (I’m not as good and up on my IDW GI JOE). I feel very badly for hardcore JOE fans. I really hope this helps to get them the great fiction that they deserve (and hopefully more of a toy line too).

OTHERS: Tons of action! Aliens, robots, human elite army operatives, and end of the planet Earth peril, plus some cool new sophisticated TECHIE vehicles. Recognizable big name characters. Sounds like a try out to me! It reads like the big boys crossovers so far, with satisfactory art, I'd give it a go.

It's not been a bad story by any means so far, but there is just so much going on that it is hard to stop and get a feel for any of the characters. A major part of that problem is that this series is essentially serving as an introduction to many of them. I know we had the Micronauts and M.A.S.K. one-shots, but both of those were so brief that we barely got to dig into their large casts. We have seen enough of the Transformers cast and ROM for their interactions to feel right, but the M.A.S.K. appearance in this issue totally fell flat.

That said, I'm excited to see where things go once this crossover is finished. Miles Mayhem is shaping up to be an excellent villain, and I have really enjoyed Scarlett in this series. The Micronauts stuff looks pretty interesting as well, if we can ever get to know the characters.

MrBlack wrote:It's not been a bad story by any means so far, but there is just so much going on that it is hard to stop and get a feel for any of the characters. A major part of that problem is that this series is essentially serving as an introduction to many of them. I know we had the Micronauts and M.A.S.K. one-shots, but both of those were so brief that we barely got to dig into their large casts. We have seen enough of the Transformers cast and ROM for their interactions to feel right, but the M.A.S.K. appearance in this issue totally fell flat.

Pretty much, yes. Too much going on, too much trying to show what things are to new people by ignoring the well-established lore of the books preceding this, and just making it all a 'these are your comics now, read us'. Which is, as I said, a shame!

That said, I'm excited to see where things go once this crossover is finished. Miles Mayhem is shaping up to be an excellent villain, and I have really enjoyed Scarlett in this series. The Micronauts stuff looks pretty interesting as well, if we can ever get to know the characters.

The Micronauts series, now on issue 6, is actually really fun! It's where Bunn is shining in terms of making likeable cheese work for the title, and we get some excellent Baron Karza characterisation - which we don't see in Revolution, but most definitely will as of next issue.

As for Mayhem - so far he does nothing for me, but I'm willing to give him a chance.

Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Dr Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Yes. That is what most of my opinion is based on.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Yes. That is what most of my opinion is based on.

Yep, gotcha - just wanted to know if there was a difference after both appearances in the comics. But clearly not.

I not planning to actually read any of these until comixology puts them on sale, so can someone give me one tiny plot detail based on the issue 2 preview? Does optimus prime or any of the transformers let ROM explain himself, or do they just fight with nothing being resolved? That's all I want to know.

ricemazter wrote:I not planning to actually read any of these until comixology puts them on sale, so can someone give me one tiny plot detail based on the issue 2 preview? Does optimus prime or any of the transformers let ROM explain himself, or do they just fight with nothing being resolved? That's all I want to know.

ROM and the Transformers that chased him only showed up in the first part of the story. They didn't do anything with it after like page 6 or 7, and that was just ROM getting knocked down and asked what he was doing

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

ricemazter wrote:I not planning to actually read any of these until comixology puts them on sale, so can someone give me one tiny plot detail based on the issue 2 preview? Does optimus prime or any of the transformers let ROM explain himself, or do they just fight with nothing being resolved? That's all I want to know.

ROM and the Transformers that chased him only showed up in the first part of the story. They didn't do anything with it after like page 6 or 7, and that was just ROM getting knocked down and asked what he was doing

Repeatedly. Back and forth.

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

ricemazter wrote:I not planning to actually read any of these until comixology puts them on sale, so can someone give me one tiny plot detail based on the issue 2 preview? Does optimus prime or any of the transformers let ROM explain himself, or do they just fight with nothing being resolved? That's all I want to know.

ROM and the Transformers that chased him only showed up in the first part of the story. They didn't do anything with it after like page 6 or 7, and that was just ROM getting knocked down and asked what he was doing

Repeatedly. Back and forth.

It was kinda embarrassing. Plus, Jazz really did like that arm

So, to expand on my earlier M.A.S.K. comment, the biggest thing that IDW has dropped the ball on, is making them just another branch of government/military. M.A.S.K. needs to be separate from that.

Part of the fun and enjoyment of the original cartoon, was watching these heroes up and leave their mundane day jobs, and race off to save the day. While some might say this is a silly and ridiculous thing to do, we are talking about a series that has an '80s Camaro that turns into a freaking fighter jet as one of its main drawing points. Realism was never necessary.

See, if M.A.S.K. is just a government branch, then they are no longer good guys fighting the good fight, they are just soldiers going where the government points them. We can hope that is toward the good fight, but sadly, we know that often it is not. M.A.S.K. needs to be run by a fabulously wealthy Trakker. White or black doesn't really matter, it just needs to be a secretive private entity. Doing what IDW is makes them no different than G.I. Joe. The book is still super young, and maybe they will head in the right direction down the road. We can only hope.

As a huge fan, I really want this franchise to make a comeback, and I'm going to cross my fingers and stick with it for the long haul, but my hopes are not high right now.

To say a positive, they are doing Miles Mayhem right. I'm actually very impressed with that part of this. It looks like Vanesa Warfield is heading in the right direction as well.

I guess time will tell.

Ironhidensh wrote:So, to expand on my earlier M.A.S.K. comment, the biggest thing that IDW has dropped the ball on, is making them just another branch of government/military. M.A.S.K. needs to be separate from that.

Part of the fun and enjoyment of the original cartoon, was watching these heroes up and leave their mundane day jobs, and race off to save the day. While some might say this is a silly and ridiculous thing to do, we are talking about a series that has an '80s Camaro that turns into a freaking fighter jet as one of its main drawing points. Realism was never necessary.

See, if M.A.S.K. is just a government branch, then they are no longer good guys fighting the good fight, they are just soldiers going where the government points them. We can hope that is toward the good fight, but sadly, we know that often it is not. M.A.S.K. needs to be run by a fabulously wealthy Trakker. White or black doesn't really matter, it just needs to be a secretive private entity. Doing what IDW is makes them no different than G.I. Joe. The book is still super young, and maybe they will head in the right direction down the road. We can only hope.

As a huge fan, I really want this franchise to make a comeback, and I'm going to cross my fingers and stick with it for the long haul, but my hopes are not high right now.

To say a positive, they are doing Miles Mayhem right. I'm actually very impressed with that part of this. It looks like Vanesa Warfield is heading in the right direction as well.

I guess time will tell.

As someone who's never had any experience with M.A.S.K.; to put it more simply, are you basically saying that IDW turned them from a superhero-esque unit to a government-controlled unit?

Kurona wrote:As someone who's never had any experience with M.A.S.K.; to put it more simply, are you basically saying that IDW turned them from a superhero-esque unit to a government-controlled unit?

It was kinda like Batman formed GI Joe and they could wear helmets that gave them superhero like powers. They were mechanics that sold gasoline fighting kooky villains that sold oil. Or something. But yeah, it has charm and character which so far hasn't been seen in the very little content for this newest iteration. Honestly, it feels like a very weird version of Suicide Squad so far.

The author is the same dude that did TF Deviations though so my hopes of it getting good don't really exist.