Look Who’s Back, Back Again.
Robots in Disguise issue 6: Syndromica [1]. 13th June 2012.
Not my intended result... but answers are answers.
This is an issue that I’ve been a little nervous about reaching because it starts a little storyline that, as anyone who’s read my thoughts on the Dead Universe over the last few years of this project will likely guess, I’m not too fond of. So, unless a drastic revaluation is coming, it’s going to mark the first really serious bone of contention on the relaunch. And one I know is where my opinion diverges from a lot of the IDW fandom.
So, let’s have a brief diversion, by talking about planning. We know this issue, and possibly the entire Jhiaxus/Dead Universe storyline, were a result of Hasbro wanting some Optimus Prime content after the planned Mike Costa Prime focused ongoing went down with all the bridges he burnt.
Which becomes as good a time to ask as any, how thoroughly was Robots in Disguise planned out? Especially in comparison to More Than Meets the Eye?
Well, we don’t have copious notebooks and no filter interviews about his process with Barber. Indeed, I believe the closest he came was a podcast he did a part one of an interview with (where the detail about the lost Costa book came from) in a brief period where he wasn’t working for IDW, for which there was never a part 2 after they hurriedly rehired him after several important people suddenly had to resign with immediate effect.
Not my intended result... but answers are answers.
This is an issue that I’ve been a little nervous about reaching because it starts a little storyline that, as anyone who’s read my thoughts on the Dead Universe over the last few years of this project will likely guess, I’m not too fond of. So, unless a drastic revaluation is coming, it’s going to mark the first really serious bone of contention on the relaunch. And one I know is where my opinion diverges from a lot of the IDW fandom.
So, let’s have a brief diversion, by talking about planning. We know this issue, and possibly the entire Jhiaxus/Dead Universe storyline, were a result of Hasbro wanting some Optimus Prime content after the planned Mike Costa Prime focused ongoing went down with all the bridges he burnt.
Which becomes as good a time to ask as any, how thoroughly was Robots in Disguise planned out? Especially in comparison to More Than Meets the Eye?
Well, we don’t have copious notebooks and no filter interviews about his process with Barber. Indeed, I believe the closest he came was a podcast he did a part one of an interview with (where the detail about the lost Costa book came from) in a brief period where he wasn’t working for IDW, for which there was never a part 2 after they hurriedly rehired him after several important people suddenly had to resign with immediate effect.
Hopefully, with the IDW days far behind him again now, there will be a big sit-down chat with him again at some point that will no doubt disprove some of this speculation, but, for now, my best guess is:
I doubt very much he planned things out as far and as in much detail as Roberts did. Simply because he had far more experience as a professional writer (and was also editing all the books at the same time) and they seem to have only been expecting a run of about a year or so, give or take. Filling up multiple notebooks with stories that would take years to stand a chance of getting through would be wasteful of his already full time.
So, my working theory is: Barber had about a year worked out in detail (along some “wouldn’t be it nice” very rough ideas if it did go longer), with some elasticity to extend or subtract stuff if the book did well or badly.
Notably, that elections are coming has been spelt out, but without any timeframe, effectively, they could be called at any point if needed. So, there’s much more flexibility to do stuff like drop in an entire an entire Optimus Prime plot that will come to dominate the story as the book lasts beyond this first year and the 30th anniversary approaches.
Which brings us back to this issue, which opens with a bait and switch. As narration from “The journal of Orion Pax” (actually the first time one of these voiceovers has had an explanation, but it has to forefront it’s him for said bait and switch to work) plays over a desolate dead planet surrounded by cold icy asteroids is approached by a ship.
I doubt very much he planned things out as far and as in much detail as Roberts did. Simply because he had far more experience as a professional writer (and was also editing all the books at the same time) and they seem to have only been expecting a run of about a year or so, give or take. Filling up multiple notebooks with stories that would take years to stand a chance of getting through would be wasteful of his already full time.
So, my working theory is: Barber had about a year worked out in detail (along some “wouldn’t be it nice” very rough ideas if it did go longer), with some elasticity to extend or subtract stuff if the book did well or badly.
Notably, that elections are coming has been spelt out, but without any timeframe, effectively, they could be called at any point if needed. So, there’s much more flexibility to do stuff like drop in an entire an entire Optimus Prime plot that will come to dominate the story as the book lasts beyond this first year and the 30th anniversary approaches.
Which brings us back to this issue, which opens with a bait and switch. As narration from “The journal of Orion Pax” (actually the first time one of these voiceovers has had an explanation, but it has to forefront it’s him for said bait and switch to work) plays over a desolate dead planet surrounded by cold icy asteroids is approached by a ship.
The narration reminds us Pax has left the life of Prime behind, but no his sense of duty. The planet Arduria was once inhabited by Rocs, a silicon lifeform that was akin to Cybertronains, so naturally they hated each other. But they still didn’t deserve what happened to them…
Which turns out to be the complete heat death of their planet, with desperate survivors huddled around the one remaining source of energy, as one begs the new arrival from the ship for help…
With it turning out to be, in a great reveal from Livio Ramondelli (who will be the artist on all of these “Side-step” Pax issues), a completely disinterested Shockwave. Who only cares about this not being the result he’d expected, but it’s still an answer…
Cut to five hundred thousand years later. Which is a pretty neat opening tease, leading us into the present day and a Star Wars Cantina homage, as Pax has been called in by Hardhead, Wheelie and Garnak for help.
Turns out they’ve taken charge of a “Special cargo” that needs keeping away from Cybertron at all costs, and as they fly about, they’ve picked up a mysterious signal from the desolated Ardurian system.
Which doesn’t immediately seem to concern Pax, but, as he tries to explain he’s no longer Optimus Prime (and Wheelie refuses to accept this, the little shit), Hardhead reveals the actual reason they called him up on the space phone, his name…
Which turns out to be the complete heat death of their planet, with desperate survivors huddled around the one remaining source of energy, as one begs the new arrival from the ship for help…
With it turning out to be, in a great reveal from Livio Ramondelli (who will be the artist on all of these “Side-step” Pax issues), a completely disinterested Shockwave. Who only cares about this not being the result he’d expected, but it’s still an answer…
Cut to five hundred thousand years later. Which is a pretty neat opening tease, leading us into the present day and a Star Wars Cantina homage, as Pax has been called in by Hardhead, Wheelie and Garnak for help.
Turns out they’ve taken charge of a “Special cargo” that needs keeping away from Cybertron at all costs, and as they fly about, they’ve picked up a mysterious signal from the desolated Ardurian system.
Which doesn’t immediately seem to concern Pax, but, as he tries to explain he’s no longer Optimus Prime (and Wheelie refuses to accept this, the little shit), Hardhead reveals the actual reason they called him up on the space phone, his name…
It probably would have been more effective to immediately cut to the cargo, but we do get a quick page establishing that Hardhead and Wheelie have both take on this job because of what they’ve previously gone through meaning they’d not feel comfortable on Cybetron. And Garnak just has nothing better to do and wouldn’t get by there much either.
You have to wonder what new readers brought on by the relaunch would have made of even this much heavy old baggage (even more so than we just had with Fort Max in the other book), and we’re not even into the main use of old business yet. One wonders if the later practice of introducing characters with a box giving their name and a brief overview might actually have been useful here.
It is interesting, as was the case with the Jodie Whittaker era of Doctor Who, how quickly you can go from a fresh new start to “And now we’re explain what Shabogans are,” I guess when you’ve got nerds in charge, they can’t help themselves.
The reveal of the cargo comes with a repeated scream of “PAX PAX PAX,” coming from a strung up like a crucified Jesus, Jhiaxus.
Which is where the idea that this is the most dangerous Cybetronian alive who must be kept away from home at all costs gets a bit silly. Jhiaxus was a goon, a silly little Igor to the actually important villains, and one whose grand inventions usually wound up a bit crap. Of the Decepticons left on Cybertron, he’d not even make the top ten of who should have been gotten off the planet immediately.
You have to wonder what new readers brought on by the relaunch would have made of even this much heavy old baggage (even more so than we just had with Fort Max in the other book), and we’re not even into the main use of old business yet. One wonders if the later practice of introducing characters with a box giving their name and a brief overview might actually have been useful here.
It is interesting, as was the case with the Jodie Whittaker era of Doctor Who, how quickly you can go from a fresh new start to “And now we’re explain what Shabogans are,” I guess when you’ve got nerds in charge, they can’t help themselves.
The reveal of the cargo comes with a repeated scream of “PAX PAX PAX,” coming from a strung up like a crucified Jesus, Jhiaxus.
Which is where the idea that this is the most dangerous Cybetronian alive who must be kept away from home at all costs gets a bit silly. Jhiaxus was a goon, a silly little Igor to the actually important villains, and one whose grand inventions usually wound up a bit crap. Of the Decepticons left on Cybertron, he’d not even make the top ten of who should have been gotten off the planet immediately.
Still, now he rants and screams about Genesis and regenesis and thirteen (there’s a loaded number in this franchise) and talking to “Prime” like they’d been worthy adversaries.
It also brings us back to all the Jhiaxus plots that Furman wrapped up four years ago, and then that Mike Costa had revived and wrapped up again six months earlier. It’s a storyline that’s double dead and was hastily wrapped up the first time because it had proved to be deeply unpopular. Bringing it all back again just feels… why?
It’s also a scene extremely of the early Teens (what do we call the last decade anyway? We don’t have anything as neat as “Noughties” for it), where everyone and their dog was doing a Dark Knight inspired “The villain lets themselves get captured for a mostly bullshit filled chat with the hero before (SPOILER) a dramatic escape” sequence.
The Avengers had done something similar with Loki the previous year, within a few months of this issue, Skyfall would repeat it, and, by the time Star Trek into Darkness also went there with Khan a year later, it was an extremely tired storytelling device. Though you can at least give Barber credit there for getting in there right in the middle.
Pax obviously hasn’t kept up with contemporary cinema though (shame, I hope he finds time for Skyfall, I think he’d like the exploration of a hero who’s had the world move on around them), so it’s off to Arudria. Where, leaving Wheelie and Granak guarding the Most Dangerous Cybertronian, he and Hardhead investigate whilst throwing lots of exposition out to keep those newly arrived readers up to speed.
It also brings us back to all the Jhiaxus plots that Furman wrapped up four years ago, and then that Mike Costa had revived and wrapped up again six months earlier. It’s a storyline that’s double dead and was hastily wrapped up the first time because it had proved to be deeply unpopular. Bringing it all back again just feels… why?
It’s also a scene extremely of the early Teens (what do we call the last decade anyway? We don’t have anything as neat as “Noughties” for it), where everyone and their dog was doing a Dark Knight inspired “The villain lets themselves get captured for a mostly bullshit filled chat with the hero before (SPOILER) a dramatic escape” sequence.
The Avengers had done something similar with Loki the previous year, within a few months of this issue, Skyfall would repeat it, and, by the time Star Trek into Darkness also went there with Khan a year later, it was an extremely tired storytelling device. Though you can at least give Barber credit there for getting in there right in the middle.
Pax obviously hasn’t kept up with contemporary cinema though (shame, I hope he finds time for Skyfall, I think he’d like the exploration of a hero who’s had the world move on around them), so it’s off to Arudria. Where, leaving Wheelie and Granak guarding the Most Dangerous Cybertronian, he and Hardhead investigate whilst throwing lots of exposition out to keep those newly arrived readers up to speed.
First, on what happened the last time we saw Jhiaxus in Chaos, and then, as they find the long dead bodies of the survivors from the prologue, all clearly killed by Shockwave, the purple one eye’d monster’s IDW history.
The best moment though comes, after explaining how he’s still in contact with Bumblebee, Hardhead reveals the deaths of Rodimus and company. Which Pax simply shrugs off because he knows Rodimus far too well to believe he’d die like a punk. It’s a lovely little character beat, because you’d normally expect angst from Optimus Prime over this, so it’s a nice way of showing he is genuinely more relaxed and less stressed as Pax. It has been a change for the better.
All exposition is halted though, when they come across a fantastic (if slightly nonsensical, it’s not needed for the trap) image of a frozen Monstructor, hugging a Decepticon spaceship.
Leading to a bit more breathless exposition about Monstructor’s history as the combiner starts to break free from the ice, with it being a genuinely good “Oh shit” moment when Pax turns out to be the sort of person who remembers the All Hail Megatron Coda issues and he realises the last time the gestalt was seen, they were working with… Bludgeon!
A realisation that comes too late, as Wheelie is already pinned to the wall by a sword, and Garnak doesn’t look too likely to be able to stop the Decepticon rescuing his master.
The best moment though comes, after explaining how he’s still in contact with Bumblebee, Hardhead reveals the deaths of Rodimus and company. Which Pax simply shrugs off because he knows Rodimus far too well to believe he’d die like a punk. It’s a lovely little character beat, because you’d normally expect angst from Optimus Prime over this, so it’s a nice way of showing he is genuinely more relaxed and less stressed as Pax. It has been a change for the better.
All exposition is halted though, when they come across a fantastic (if slightly nonsensical, it’s not needed for the trap) image of a frozen Monstructor, hugging a Decepticon spaceship.
Leading to a bit more breathless exposition about Monstructor’s history as the combiner starts to break free from the ice, with it being a genuinely good “Oh shit” moment when Pax turns out to be the sort of person who remembers the All Hail Megatron Coda issues and he realises the last time the gestalt was seen, they were working with… Bludgeon!
A realisation that comes too late, as Wheelie is already pinned to the wall by a sword, and Garnak doesn’t look too likely to be able to stop the Decepticon rescuing his master.
Outside, the fight goes badly, with the weakness in Monstructor from the Optimus Prime Spotlight no longer working. Though at least Pax gets a good one liner in (“The first step towards our race’s final evolution!”/ “Jhiaxus—the only “First” that matters, is first blood!”).
There’s also a fun moment of Hardhead pointing out there is still a weakness of the combiner being insane, making Jhiaxus scream “THAT IS NOT A WEAKNESS!”
Luckily for them, the plan is escape, so the Pretender Monsters (actually, we still don’t have a subgroup name for them in this continuity where they’re not Pretenders, do we, I guess Monstructor 7 will have to do?) run off as soon as Bludgeon has Jhiaxus aboard their ship.
It initially looks like Wheelie and Garnak might have been killed, but a slight time jump sees them back on their feet, and Pax making the slightly egotistical choice to take this on himself because Bumblebee is too occupied and Rodimus too dead (at least officially). I don’t think it would hurt to ask Bumblebee for a couple of guys at least, Pax.
It turns out there’s 321 systems Bludgeon’s ship could be heading for, but one of them is the Lenocinum Velnero system… location of Spotlight: Wheelie, and where the rhyming bot and Garnak first met.
Pax then jumps to an amazingly large conclusion: That Wheelie and Garnak were left alive as a message, and that’s where Jhiaxus is going.
There’s also a fun moment of Hardhead pointing out there is still a weakness of the combiner being insane, making Jhiaxus scream “THAT IS NOT A WEAKNESS!”
Luckily for them, the plan is escape, so the Pretender Monsters (actually, we still don’t have a subgroup name for them in this continuity where they’re not Pretenders, do we, I guess Monstructor 7 will have to do?) run off as soon as Bludgeon has Jhiaxus aboard their ship.
It initially looks like Wheelie and Garnak might have been killed, but a slight time jump sees them back on their feet, and Pax making the slightly egotistical choice to take this on himself because Bumblebee is too occupied and Rodimus too dead (at least officially). I don’t think it would hurt to ask Bumblebee for a couple of guys at least, Pax.
It turns out there’s 321 systems Bludgeon’s ship could be heading for, but one of them is the Lenocinum Velnero system… location of Spotlight: Wheelie, and where the rhyming bot and Garnak first met.
Pax then jumps to an amazingly large conclusion: That Wheelie and Garnak were left alive as a message, and that’s where Jhiaxus is going.
That might be plausible if there was only one or two possible destinations, but with over 300, that’s far more likely to be a coincidence. There’s also no obvious reason for Bludgeon to be leaving breadcrumbs like that.
As Wheelie whimpers with the as yet unknown memories of what happened to him, Pax also then jumps to the idea that if Shockwave has been to the planet they just visited, he’ll have been to the LV system as well, and planted one of his 13 ores there. Which isn’t quite as big a leap if you assume Shockwave never did anything in his life but plant ores in planets, but it’s still reaching quite hard. Especially Pax doesn’t know there’s anything strange about the planet yet.
Plus, it does feel like Shockwave was, in a trick taken from the Dark of the Moon promotional campaign, only in the issue at all as misdirection. Someone to put on the cover and have in the pages that would make the online preview (an increasing concern from this point) in order to hide who the real main villains of it are.
The issue ends with Pax, having also decided this elaborate lure he’s invented on very flimsy evidence is a trap, firmly saying that, trap or not, they’re still going in. Because he’s tired of walking away…
As Wheelie whimpers with the as yet unknown memories of what happened to him, Pax also then jumps to the idea that if Shockwave has been to the planet they just visited, he’ll have been to the LV system as well, and planted one of his 13 ores there. Which isn’t quite as big a leap if you assume Shockwave never did anything in his life but plant ores in planets, but it’s still reaching quite hard. Especially Pax doesn’t know there’s anything strange about the planet yet.
Plus, it does feel like Shockwave was, in a trick taken from the Dark of the Moon promotional campaign, only in the issue at all as misdirection. Someone to put on the cover and have in the pages that would make the online preview (an increasing concern from this point) in order to hide who the real main villains of it are.
The issue ends with Pax, having also decided this elaborate lure he’s invented on very flimsy evidence is a trap, firmly saying that, trap or not, they’re still going in. Because he’s tired of walking away…
Which will become a bit of a Barber trope (down the line, we’ll even get “It’s not a trap if you know it’s a trap” presented as if it’s an Optimus Prime saying): Him needing characters to go into an obvious trap and getting around them seeming potentially stupid by actively saying they’re walking into an obvious trap.
That was actually a much better issue than I was expecting, possibly because the questions it asks are more interesting that the answers we’ll get, which is where most of my issues with this thread will come up. Or maybe I’ll genuinely warm up to the entire thing this time?
The highlight is Pax’s character, Barber is clearly really enjoying this free of the weight on his shoulders version, actually coming closer to the more confident character of the original cartoon and contemporary movies. After several years of Prime Angst, it’s something of a welcome change.
Livio’s art is very much allowed to play to his strengths as well, strident, widescreen and monstrous. It’s a visual treat of an issue.
That was actually a much better issue than I was expecting, possibly because the questions it asks are more interesting that the answers we’ll get, which is where most of my issues with this thread will come up. Or maybe I’ll genuinely warm up to the entire thing this time?
The highlight is Pax’s character, Barber is clearly really enjoying this free of the weight on his shoulders version, actually coming closer to the more confident character of the original cartoon and contemporary movies. After several years of Prime Angst, it’s something of a welcome change.
Livio’s art is very much allowed to play to his strengths as well, strident, widescreen and monstrous. It’s a visual treat of an issue.
The plotting does feel very forced in places (presumably because it was such a late addition to the overall plans) and I’m still not sure any of this was really a good idea at this point, but, as a starting point, it’s fairly solid.
I’d also love to hear from people who hadn’t read any of the previous comics when they first experienced this, am I being overcautious in thinking relying too much on the older, unpopular, stories could be off-putting?
Next week, finally, mercifully, it’s the end of Autocracy.
AUTOCRACY ISSUE 11
2012
COMMENT
KO-FI
I’d also love to hear from people who hadn’t read any of the previous comics when they first experienced this, am I being overcautious in thinking relying too much on the older, unpopular, stories could be off-putting?
Next week, finally, mercifully, it’s the end of Autocracy.
AUTOCRACY ISSUE 11
2012
COMMENT
KO-FI