Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3

Thursday, May 11th, 2017 8:36AM CDT

Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al Views: 21,813

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Transform like an Egyptian
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis

BLAST FROM THE PAST! In the deadly catacombs beneath an ancient pyramid, Joe Colton—the original G.I. Joe—found something far worse than any curse or boobytrap. He found the Decepticon Soundwave... scouring Earth for Cybertron's salvation. Their meeting remained classified—until the Revolutionaries crashed headlong into the modern-day results!

Cameo 1!

Story

This is a very late review indeed, but one that I had promised myself I would get back to once life had stopped being so busy this side of a keyboard, and before the next issue. So apologies, first of all, and I hope you'll forgive the weird scheduling of it all. Call it 'doing an IDW' if you want. Onwards!

Cameo 2!

The third issue of the strangely appealing Revolutionaries series, or, the Adventures of Action Man and Kup in the Hasbro Universe (and I Guess Some Other Characters Too) delves into some very old and obscure Transformers stories, along with some cinematic classics, and actually delivers a decently satisfying book in its long flashback format - with a bit of a pleasing twist or two towards the end.

Cameo 3!

John Barber nicely works in a lot of backstories for teams we'll probably never really encounter, and still make the various universes fit into the very complex timeline of both GI Joe and Transformers comics (in their IDW incarnation, of course), while also fully revelling in the references and easter eggs scattered throughout the book. It's good to see the fun being had, and the results show.

Art

Ron Joseph's art is an interesting take on what is going in the book, as I felt that the style suited the entirety of the characters really well - especially with the flashback work framing of the story - except for the one entirely non-organic character: Soundwave. Or rather, his head. I have no criticisms anywhere else, but the head/face for the Cybertronian just felt a little off.

But you also get these beauties

Colourist Sebastian Cheng, usually working with Fico Ossio on a much glossier look, does some pretty impressive colour works on here, keeping the sandy, dusty, grainy feel of both the setting in space (Egypt) and time (the past) in a significantly different approach to other books he works with. Very pleasing indeed.

also some nice purples

The usual caption devices, both in narration and exposition, work really really well here, and Tom B. Long makes sure of it, along with some crafty sound effects and production. As for the covers, they are all easily accessible via our database page (along with full character roster too, here), but the one highlighted specifically in the thumbnail is another take by Joseph and TF vet JP Bove on the issue's contents.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Once again, I find myself having to say 'if you're not reading the crossover-y titles, it's fine' but with an issue such as this one, and if you've been an IDW reader for Transformers and/or GI Joe - and trust John 'Continuity' Barber, plus Hedgecock and Mariotte both assisting on editing work - you'll probably enjoy it even if just for the hunt the hints games you can play throughout. It's a step out of the current Talisman story, but still about that story.

Confirmed: Kup is a fan of Josh Boyfriend

With MASK not doing too well editorially, Miles Mayhem gets a bit of a shine here; Micronauts have a cameo (see above, second image); Soundwave is at his snappiest; the ending made the whole thing fit into the current Revolutionaries timeframe, and we have some major hints as to what may happen in the next issues too. Seriously, take some time to give it a chance.

½ out of

Credit(s): IDW

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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1881349)
Posted by william-james88 on May 12th, 2017 @ 11:47pm CDT

The G1 Predacons are back and at the forefront of this next issue of Revolutionaries.

Check out the preview, courtesy of Multiversity comics, below full of Predacon goodness!

Written by John Barber
Illustrated by Fico Ossio
Colored by Sebastian Cheng
Lettered by Tom B. Long

Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The secret history of Cybertonians on Earth—but how can it be!
Who is behind the Cobra Commander mask?!
Springing from the fan-favorite Transformers: Hearts of Steel limited series!
Variant cover by John Royle!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1881510)
Posted by YoungPrime on May 14th, 2017 @ 8:13am CDT

Yeah, I don't like these crossover books were humans take center stage. Even Kup isn't getting the respect he deserves from mouthy, iratating humans.

A Predaking one shot or Mini-series would've been nice, not as minions for some lame human terrorist group!

This book is a pass.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1881623)
Posted by Blozor on May 14th, 2017 @ 4:51pm CDT

I love how all thr humans in Hasbro properties have teams divided between good and bad, amd they know the differences between the good guys and the bad guys, and they wear badges to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, but when the Transformers tell them they have good guys and bad guys and there's a way to easily differentiate the good guys from the bad guys, THAT is mind-blowing information.

I mean, you're GI Joe. You fight Cobra. You can handle Autobots and Deceptions.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1881626)
Posted by Kurona on May 14th, 2017 @ 4:55pm CDT

Blozor wrote:I love how all thr humans in Hasbro properties have teams divided between good and bad, amd they know the differences between the good guys and the bad guys, and they wear badges to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, but when the Transformers tell them they have good guys and bad guys and there's a way to easily differentiate the good guys from the bad guys, THAT is mind-blowing information.

I mean, you're GI Joe. You fight Cobra. You can handle Autobots and Deceptions.

Huh? This is the Revolutionaries thread, not Revolution.

GI Joe as a whole isn't in this preview, nor have they been in Revolutionaries at all yet beyond a few members. And none of their appearances have them attacking Transformers indiscriminately since Revolution.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1881687)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 14th, 2017 @ 11:05pm CDT

well, the Predacons attempted to combine, and now I guess they will!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886001)
Posted by Va'al on June 1st, 2017 @ 4:18pm CDT

In other comics news today, we have another iTunes preview for an upcoming IDW Publishing comics: Revolutionaries #5! The full preview and comic will be released in two weeks' time, but for now, enjoy the three pages below, opening with a G1-tastic-but-also-Beast-Wars-esque flashback by (quite probably) Guido Guidi...

M.A.S.K. vs. the ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries uncover the deep, dark secret of Mike Power, the Atomic Man—and enlist the help of M.A.S.K. to bring in the long-lost agent! But there's more to Power's story than anyone imagined, in the oddest story of 2017!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886004)
Posted by Kurona on June 1st, 2017 @ 4:30pm CDT

I am so ready for this.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886195)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 2nd, 2017 @ 8:19am CDT

So the Hearts Of Steel Transformers were in the past and were Beast Transformers taking on names of the Transformers they thought we from Earth?

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886201)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 2nd, 2017 @ 8:27am CDT

As someone who's already seen the profile for Centurion form the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook, trust me, it's even crazier than that.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886203)
Posted by Kurona on June 2nd, 2017 @ 8:28am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:As someone who's already seen the profile for Centurion form the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook, trust me, it's even crazier than that.

I can't wait

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886206)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 2nd, 2017 @ 8:35am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:As someone who's already seen the profile for Centurion form the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook, trust me, it's even crazier than that.

Spoil me please!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886216)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 2nd, 2017 @ 8:52am CDT

Alright. But trust me, it's worth the wait.

Basically, the Axalon crew are servants of Onyx Prime who crash on Earth while looking for the Enigma of Combination. During the crash, the Talisman erases their memories. Shockwave, coming to Earth during the events of his Spotlight issue, discovered their wreckage. The crew were initially confused as to their identities and saw a video transmission bounced from Shockwave's ship of the Autobots and Decepticons. Shockwave decided to use the Axalon crew in a sick experiment, convincing them that they were the Autobots and Decepticons of his era. These ersatz Autobots and Decepticons became the characters that would later wake in the 19th century, becoming the Hearts of Steel Transformers.

So yes, Hearts of Steel (and by extent, Infestation 2) happened in the main IDW universe.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886230)
Posted by Kurona on June 2nd, 2017 @ 9:12am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:Alright. But trust me, it's worth the wait.

Basically, the Axalon crew are servants of Onyx Prime who crash on Earth while looking for the Enigma of Combination. During the crash, the Talisman erases their memories. Shockwave, coming to Earth during the events of his Spotlight issue, discovered their wreckage. The crew were initially confused as to their identities and saw a video transmission bounced from Shockwave's ship of the Autobots and Decepticons. Shockwave decided to use the Axalon crew in a sick experiment, convincing them that they were the Autobots and Decepticons of his era. These ersatz Autobots and Decepticons became the characters that would later wake in the 19th century, becoming the Hearts of Steel Transformers.

So yes, Hearts of Steel (and by extent, Infestation 2) happened in the main IDW universe.

Welp, time to buy Hearts of Steel

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886827)
Posted by o.supreme on June 4th, 2017 @ 12:09pm CDT

ok, so I just got issue #4 (2 months late, but I guess better late than never, don't worry about them trying to connect this to other series, or chronological reading order or anything...) :roll:

But at this rate I cant see this series going much longer. I was so excited to finally see Predaking in IDW, only to have him taken down in like 2 seconds...Like TAAO, I'm betting this title doesn't make it past the 12 issue mark. IDW really needs to figure out what they want, they've created a huge mess with this Hasbroverse. 2 TF titles a month and some occasional one shots or mini-series were ok, and even they couldn't keep up at times.

Sorry for the rant its just frustrating. I go to the comic store once a month, on the last Wednesday to be precise because I know that's when the books come out.

Currently Revolutionaries is 2 months behind, unless we get an unprecedented 3-issues this month, LL is a month behind, and I cant even keep track of some of the other releases... :BANG_HEAD:

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886828)
Posted by Kurona on June 4th, 2017 @ 12:10pm CDT

Revolutionaries is ending rather soon. Deliberately, not by cancellation.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886829)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 4th, 2017 @ 12:11pm CDT

Well, we already know Revolutionaries is ending at issue 8, leading directly into the First Strike event.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1886977)
Posted by Va'al on June 5th, 2017 @ 2:17am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:Well, we already know Revolutionaries is ending at issue 8, leading directly into the First Strike event.

Followed by Action Man and the First Strikers. :saint:

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887427)
Posted by Va'al on June 6th, 2017 @ 3:59pm CDT

Iron Filings
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis
Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!

But actually also none of that

Story

Keeping with my regular lateness on the non-core Transformers titles from IDW - much like IDW itself really, all things considered - this review of Revolutionaries happens a couple of weeks after the book's release, but still worth having here given the arrival of First Strike and a LOT of references to TF lore so far. Also note: the synopsis is, in fact, for issue 5.

Hey Costa run!

In issue 4, there's more Iron than a gym full of anaemia-battling robots, with an array of GI Joe villains showing up to play the part of 'super evil bad guys' working behind the scenes of everything we've seen so far, and to continue some of the storylines from that book in its more recent IDW incarnation.

Iron.. Who?

But what this issue is also brimming with, is allusions and references to some very early TF stories from IDW runs, including International Incident and the personal issues with Kup after his Spotlight and the Coda to All Hail Megatron, and not just in passing, but woven into the fabric of the story from continuity and dialogue perspectives. In John Barber we still trust.

Art

Fico Ossio returns to bring the more dynamic, if not indeed flexible, and softer lineart for the issue - and the Predacons take on some different guises than previously seen. Overall, however, the action scenes can be followed easily, there isn't too much overcrowding, the panels flow, and the only moment things are a little unclear may also be due to the script.

And this is a Good Panel™

Reuniting the dynamic duo, colourist Sebastian Cheng brings the usual gloss to the lineart, but this time round, I was able to appreciate the shading and different use of lighting in some of the panel compositions, thanks to the fire theme brought on by the highly theatrical villains of the week month, too.

Toasty

Instead of the usual caption devices, we have a slight twist to how it's employed allowing Tom B. Long to make the most of it and the multiple soundwords spread across the book during the numerous fights. As for the covers, I have highlighted, in the thumbnail, the Tone Rodriguez and Thomas Teyowisonte Deer variant; all others are easily accessible via our database page (along with full character roster too, here),

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Despite the healthy dose of exposition - and believe me, a lot of it in this issue - the pacing worked well, and all the recapping that takes place actually covers up some holes in various storylines, from Cobra to the Predacons, and follows up on previous characterisations of a number of characters with tact and precision, really.

Movie cameo! Oh, Barber..

This is also probably the clearest the visuals have been in a while, with Ossio and Cheng working together nicely on layouts within the panels too, and reinforcing the feeling that Revolution was indeed too early for its times and the books involved. Plus, Predaking looks great. Different, sure, but good. And as always - the book has humour. Like, actually funny moments. Do not underestimate this part.

out of

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887629)
Posted by ScottyP on June 7th, 2017 @ 9:03am CDT

Agreed on the visuals, definitely avoided the cluttered feel I got from some of their other work.

Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887634)
Posted by Big Grim on June 7th, 2017 @ 9:49am CDT

Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887644)
Posted by o.supreme on June 7th, 2017 @ 10:32am CDT

ScottyP wrote:Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 7 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.

Corrected to be accurate, yes they are THAT far behind. Also its kind of sad...after years of wanting another sourcebook, specific to all the TF characters (more specifically Japanese characters and newly created ones since the DW one came out). We finally get this...

Now I'm not complaining that it is including GI Joe, MASK, Action Man etc.... However, Transformers itself had well over 300 entries in the original DW 8 issue series which covered pretty much every North American toy based character from 1984-1991. GI Joe alone has probably just as many characters. I don't see this sourcebook being as extensive as it should be. Each series should have dedicated sourcebooks so that fans can pick-and choose which ones they like, or all if they so choose. Having this one mish-mash covering only a few of the characters from each series seems quite a wasted effort.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887681)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 7th, 2017 @ 12:54pm CDT

Big Grim wrote:Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!

Yes, Centurion was established as the name of the Hearts of Steel Bumblebee-looking guy who may or may not BE Hearts of Steel Bumblebee. So, not really the same character.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887727)
Posted by Kurona on June 7th, 2017 @ 3:48pm CDT

o.supreme wrote:
ScottyP wrote:Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 7 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.

Corrected to be accurate, yes they are THAT far behind. Also its kind of sad...after years of wanting another sourcebook, specific to all the TF characters (more specifically Japanese characters and newly created ones since the DW one came out). We finally get this...

Now I'm not complaining that it is including GI Joe, MASK, Action Man etc.... However, Transformers itself had well over 300 entries in the original DW 8 issue series which covered pretty much every North American toy based character from 1984-1991. GI Joe alone has probably just as many characters. I don't see this sourcebook being as extensive as it should be. Each series should have dedicated sourcebooks so that fans can pick-and choose which ones they like, or all if they so choose. Having this one mish-mash covering only a few of the characters from each series seems quite a wasted effort.

Except unlike the Dreamwave sourcebook, this one doesn't seek to give bios on the entire universe's character set nor is it centred around Transformers. The entire point is a focus on the expanded Hasbro universe and the characters that have had specific fictional focus within it (aside from the books that haven't had anything to do with the extended Hasbro universe; like Lost Light and Sins of the Wreckers). You are coming at it from a completely different premise and judging it unfairly because it's not what you personally wanted.

For what it is, this Sourcebook is excellent. It gives you a good reminder of major players within the universe, ties everything in in ways you might not have thought of, has a good sense of humour (that DOC, Buster and Bob page is pure beauty), and in general is just a good fact file.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1887904)
Posted by Big Grim on June 8th, 2017 @ 8:20am CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:
Big Grim wrote:Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!

Yes, Centurion was established as the name of the Hearts of Steel Bumblebee-looking guy who may or may not BE Hearts of Steel Bumblebee. So, not really the same character.

Ah, okay. Interesting to hear! Cheers!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888274)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 9th, 2017 @ 1:28pm CDT

http://www.comiccrusaders.com/exclusive ... onaries-5/

The full preview for issue 5 is out.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888286)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 9th, 2017 @ 2:11pm CDT

Daniel Adkins wrote:http://www.comiccrusaders.com/exclusive-preview-revolutionaries-5/

The full preview for issue 5 is out.

THis makes it clear, to anyone who was doubting, that Centurion is Hearts of Steel Bumblebee.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888289)
Posted by Va'al on June 9th, 2017 @ 2:16pm CDT

Fellow Seibertronian Daniel Adkins has spotted the first of several expected full previews on ComicCrusaders for next week's releases from IDW Publishing: Revolutionaries #5! Featuring art by both Fico Ossio / Sebastian Cheng and Guido Guidi, the five pages can be seen below - check them out, and head back for a review on Seibertron.com after the book is released.

M.A.S.K. vs. the ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries uncover the deep, dark secret of Mike Power, the Atomic Man—and enlist the help of M.A.S.K. to bring in the long-lost agent! But there’s more to Power’s story than anyone imagined, in the oddest story of 2017!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888307)
Posted by Lore Keeper on June 9th, 2017 @ 3:28pm CDT

Hearts of Steel and Beast Wars? My inner child is jumping for joy! I have a very strong feeling this is how they're going to introduce Optimus Primal into the story.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888357)
Posted by Silverwing on June 9th, 2017 @ 7:10pm CDT

Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888358)
Posted by Kurona on June 9th, 2017 @ 7:12pm CDT

Silverwing wrote:Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?

Nope - unless the resemblance is intentional; this is in fact the Talisman that has been featured throughout the entire Revolutionaries series.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888448)
Posted by Windsweeper on June 10th, 2017 @ 2:21am CDT

Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888455)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 10th, 2017 @ 3:54am CDT

Windsweeper wrote:Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?

Have you read the miniseries Hearts of Steel?

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888879)
Posted by o.supreme on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:22am CDT

In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888882)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:28am CDT

It would go after Spotlight: Shockwave. Ask PrimusPrime22@gmail.com to share his continuity doc with you.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888883)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:30am CDT

Screenshot_2017-06-12-09-29-23.png

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888884)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:36am CDT

o.supreme wrote:In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.

This list, done by my buddy Primusprime22 places it somettime between Spotlight Wheelie and Spotlight Hot Rod. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888886)
Posted by Kurona on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:49am CDT

Yeah, Hearts of Steel takes place in the year the original story says it was. So it's kind of fun that for once we have an IDW Transformers story that's not set in the modern day, the 1980s or millions and/or thousands of years ago.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1888982)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on June 12th, 2017 @ 6:57pm CDT

Hearts of steel is now canon. I am very happy

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1889291)
Posted by Kurona on June 14th, 2017 @ 3:55am CDT

Steam Wars

Spoiler-ish review of Revolutionaries #5

Synopsis

Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!

Story

Revolutionaries so far has proven to be a greater success in terms of an engaging story and crossing over various franchises than its predecessor and progenitor Revolution. We've gotten an intelligently-written story that uses elements from Transformers, GI Joe, ROM etc. with actual restraint and intent - and now we get Hearts of Steel thrown in the mix; an IDW Transformers mini that was previously its own little thing connected to no other continuity with the pure reason of having the G1 Transformers be steampunk. It was pretty great. So, how does this manage to fit in with the new IDW Hasbroverse?

Pretty cleverly, if a tad cold. As one can garner from the preview, writer John Barber smartly manages to connect the Hearts of Steel Autobots and Decepticons to the ongoing narrative of the original 13 Primes and the Colony Worlds. Bridging the gaps in time with a lovely re-appearance of Shockwave and tying things into the backstories of GI Joe characters, the story manages to seamlessly slot Hearts of Steel into the Hasbroverse with nary a continuity error - though unfortunately, it does rely on much of the emotional motivation and pathos of the Hearts of Steel characters being nullified. If you were emotionally invested in the characters of those stories, you might find yourself disliking how this all works - Primus knows I'd be the same if a story I cared a lot about was treated this way. However, as stated; it is clever and this is only a small knock against the contents of the issue.

Talking of the contents of the issue, how does it fare? Really bloody well. We have the story we've been following with Kup and company continue juxtaposed with the backstory of Hearts of Steel Bumblebee beautifully drawn by Guido Guidi (more on that later). I will admit to being a bit confused by the former - it seems to require a decent amount of knowledge about IDW's GI Joe stories, and as someone who has never read those, it's not entirely clear to me what's going on at the start of the issue with Cobra Commander and why he's being betrayed by his former comrades. Still, the narrative can quite easily be followed without context and what follows when the Revolutionaries arrive is a very lengthy but very fun action sequence, utilising the different abilities and weapons of each member all to take down the former Terrorist organisation leader. Which to some might sound a bit dull if this is mostly action and little story, but remember - Hearts of Steel. Switching back and forth between the past and the present help give this issue a very nice balance of action and story; as a reader I didn't feel starved for either by the last page and both gave me a much better understanding of the universe and characters. All good stuff. Unfortunately, while both the flashback and the ongoing story are good and complement each other so you don't get an over-saturation of either; that doesn't mean they work together terribly well.

As the issue progresses, Blackrock is shown to be conducting on investigation into the Hearts of Steel Transformers. And as his investigation comes to a head, we get panels of his shock and surprise; leading us to believe we're about to see a revelation -- only to realise that he is just discovering something we already knew pages ago. And this is the only real flaw with the flashback: entertaining, well-written and engaging as it may be, it suffers when framed as something Blackrock is finding out. When working with a narrative it is far more advantageous for the reader to discover something at the same time as the character - otherwise the conclusion to the character's investigation just falls flat. Fortunately this is just a minor knock against the story if anything, but it is still rather frustrating when it seems like it could so easily have been done better.

Art

As always, Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng handle the art duties for Revolutionaries on lineart and colours respectively. And if you've liked them on the previous Revolutionaries issues, you'll like them here too! They manage to utilise a colourful cast with a darker atmosphere without dimming said colours, their facial expressions are spot-on, and they just keep getting better at drawing the robotic characters. I have nothing but praise and repetition of phrases to give for these two; they're a great artistic duo.

But what is most likely to grab one's eye in this issue is, naturally, Guido Guidi's lineart and colours for the flashback pages. Waaaaaaay back in 2012's Robots in Disguise annual, we saw him employ a very 80s Marvel-esque art style used for flashback scenes involving the ancient past dealing with characters closely related to the 13 Primes. It worked incredibly well; giving off a mystery, fanciful and otherworldly vibe while paying wonderful homage to Transformers' roots when they started in Marvel back in 1984. The same style is applied for the same reasons here with all the same positives. To be maybe just a little bit unprofessional for a moment, seeing this sort of thing is really friggin' cool and I personally ADORE it! Seeing it return excited me on the previews and I can only hope this indicates it will be used more in the future. It's simply a beautiful homage by people who are clearly very big fans of the franchise.

Final Thoughts

I may have come across as a little bit negative in the review. I speak of how Blackrock's investigation doesn't gel well narratively, I speak of how Hearts of Steel fans may be a bit disheartened by the way the story is now retconned into the main continuity; and I do express confusion on what the deal with Paoli and his former allies is. But I do speak from a place of love, as these do not horribly interfere with the story and they do not prevent Revolutionaries #5 from continuing this series in an entertaining way and being a thrill-ride of continuity engineering and worldbuilding.

Action Man and Kup are enjoyable as always, Hearts of Steel's placement in the continuity is intelligent if not a bit cold, the gunfight between Mayday and Cobra Commander is choreographed very well - though I do question one G.I. Joe soldier being able to take down Cobra's former leader. Was he weak in the IDW G.I. Joe comics?) - and, of course, the art is bloody beautiful. The story moves on, the stakes are being raised; and the plans of Kreiger and Doctor X just keep getting more and more sinister even while each issue including this one manages to be its own individual self-contained story with characters from across all the franchises involved. Like the past four issues, Revolutionaries isn't actually anything revolutionary; but does prove that if you're willing to give the Hasbro Expanded Universe a shot, it can most assuredly deliver. It's just a damn good comic.

1/2 out of :HASBRO:

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1889328)
Posted by Randomhero on June 14th, 2017 @ 7:28am CDT

I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1889335)
Posted by ScottyP on June 14th, 2017 @ 8:22am CDT

Randomhero wrote:I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.

Full credit to John Barber for injecting it with so much soul. It's like he had a high level outline of "things to do to get from Rev to First Strike" and got clearance to just make up the rest as he went. Not anyone could effectively pull that off, but I think it's getting done to tremendous effect.

Cobra Commander's line "...Krieger would." is one that I couldn't help but read in H. Jon Benjamin's voice. Was waiting for an Archer reference (at least implied, maybe?) with that character!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1889346)
Posted by Nexus Knight on June 14th, 2017 @ 8:59am CDT

Y'know, if Hearts of Steel fans want to keep the heart of their story, they could rationalize that it is possible for those story to exist in another timeline. LL has shown that it has happened, so it is isn't beyond the realm of believe it to be possible for the Steel timeline. They can keep the story in IDWverse and as its own.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1889560)
Posted by Randomhero on June 15th, 2017 @ 7:12am CDT

So I did go back and read all of revolutionaries and man that's a fun book. I had a great time catching up

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1892770)
Posted by Va'al on June 27th, 2017 @ 6:42pm CDT

It ain't over yet..! IDW Publishing's Revolutionaries is about to reach its conclusion, as we head into First Strike, but the Hasbro Universe multi-team has some more tricks up its sleeve - such as issue #6's GI Joe centric variant cover from Tone Rodriguez (plus colourist), as seen below courtesy of Previews World!

(W) John Barber (A) Fico Ossio (CA) Tone Rodriguez
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power-a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN-the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"-and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
In Shops: Jul 26, 2017

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1896521)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on July 13th, 2017 @ 2:19pm CDT

We have the iTunes Preview for #6: M.A.S.K. Vs. the Atomic Man! https://twitter.com/hasbroupodcast/stat ... 3474660353

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1896527)
Posted by Kurona on July 13th, 2017 @ 2:35pm CDT

Courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Daniel Adkins, we've got a 3-page preview of Revolutionaries #6 for you straight from iTunes! Featuring Kup and the rest of the squad teaming up with a couple of M.A.S.K. characters, check out the blurb and preview below and join the discussion in the forums if you like!

M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1896554)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on July 13th, 2017 @ 4:45pm CDT

So this happens after the M.A.S.K. Annual, hmm.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1896557)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on July 13th, 2017 @ 4:56pm CDT

Maybe. It's hard to know when the MASK Annual takes place considering the presence of Cliff Dagger. At first I was thinking the same thing and that Stalker called in Matt and Gloria, but then Stalker said Scarlett called them in, so who knows.

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1899463)
Posted by Va'al on July 25th, 2017 @ 3:56am CDT

Directly from IDW Publishing, we have the full preview of this week's comics releases for the Hasbro Universe! First up is the Revolutionaries series, leading into First Strike in the coming months, and setting up a big stage of crossover material, with issue #6 - check it out below!

Revolutionaries #6
John Barber (w) • Fico Ossio (a) • Robert Atkins (c)
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
Bullet points:
Variant cover by Pierre Droal!

Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #3 (1899731)
Posted by ScottyP on July 25th, 2017 @ 7:56pm CDT

Power and Glory and Feelings
A Review of Revolutionaries #6

Primarily Spoiler Free, but you might find your own if you're in a bad mood

A real panel from the book that you will actually take seriously. Buckle up for a trip.

With the yearly mega-event First Strike fast approaching, the book intended to bridge the gap between last year's Revolution and said event hits its sixth installment this week. Originally solicited for a May release, it looks like this series won't quite hit its ultimate eighth issue before First Strike, barring a rapid fire release schedule. After reading Revolutionaries 6, this is an acceptable scenario. Sure, it won't be fun to have plot details spoiled, or other things partially unexplained, but if the seventh and eighth issues of Revolutionaries are anywhere close to as good as this one is then no one's going to care about those other factors.

We now return to The Transformers (feat. Action Force as your backup strip)

While this is an ensemble book, and the ensemble does play around in this issue and do their monthly actioning and adventuring, make no mistake that this issue could also easily be titled Spotlight: Atomic Man. This shouldn't make you turn away if you're a fan of Transformers that doesn't like fun peanut butter in your chocolate. On the contrary, if you fit those qualifications (and even if you don't), Officer Reeses yourself down to the comic shop or over to your digital platform of choice and read this now. The Saturday morning cartoon fun is interlaced by a gripping story of a boy that becomes a hero that becomes a man that becomes lost. In one issue, Atomic Man goes from "one of those Adventure Team guys in the flashbacks in that Revolushunries book" to a fully defined character, and it's hard to put this one down halfway.

"How would G.I. Joe fancy a team-up with M.A.S.K.?"

Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker make the Hasbro Universe "Total Brand Awareness" roster for this one, and they serve their purpose well. Author John Barber shows his chops in making sure things fit together through them, at least in a small degree, by nailing the dynamic that's been built between the two characters in the actual M.A.S.K. series. Add in some interactions between them, Mayday, and Stalker, and you have a nice bit of crossover that helps smooth over the wider narrative of the universe while it's at it.

Seriously though Shark has one purpose and that's it.

They really are just there for fun and to move things along, at least on a high level, because outside of Atomic Man another character absolutely shines in this one, and that's Action Man. Ian Noble continues to be treated more like 007 than A Real American Hero (Imported By Palitoy) and here, it really works. Through a clever twist in one of the Agnes Garbowska drawn "Mikey Powers" scenes, Action Man serves as a linchpin to the issue's plot that takes place through the non-flashback sequences featuring the art and colors of series regulars Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng, respectively.

I love parallelograms

The art throughout varies wildly, but this is for very, very good reasons. As mentioned, Ossio's work takes up the "Main" story and while there are a few of his panels that left things to be desired, with Agnes Garbowska (who many fans may know from IDW's My Little Pony series) lending back up pages in the first half of the issue, his style is balanced out into smaller chunks that I personally find more digestible. Eventually, Ron Joseph takes over for these back up pages and provides his style to these in two different but still effective ways, and it has the same net positive impact on the storytelling. One page even plays around with a real Adventure Team toy advertisement from Marvel Comics' Man Thing #20, published in August of 1975 (This information was retrieved from a blog post at www.ferretpress.com. This ad is ten years older than me, I wasn't going to recognize it on my own!)

There are four covers available for this one, including the primary cover by Robert Atkins with colors by Simon Gough that's shown in the thumbnail for this review. As always, you can find the full list of covers, credits, and characters that appear in this issue in our Vector Sigma Database Entry for Revolutionaries #6.

Verdict

Reaganomics!

I kind of want to check in on John Barber and make sure he's ok, given the dark and almost brutally melancholic nature of this issue and Optimus Prime #9. However, I also kind of don't because he's on an absolute roll and there'd be fear of disrupting his mojo. Mr. Barber continues here with telling gripping, meaningful stories in this Hasbro Universe that take what could be meaningless monthly serial beats and elevate them through genuine emotion. If pressed, one could definitely find parallels between the "Life of Sideswipe" and the life of Atomic Man presented here which is just incredible.

Seibertron's staff of comic book reviewers has been giving out a great deal of very high scores lately, and I promise you we aren't turning into IGN - the output of the past several weeks has just been that darn good. Pick this one up even if you haven't given Revolutionaries a shot, but be prepared to feel feelings.

and ½ out of :HASBRO:

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