Transformation 147: Shockwave's Legacy.

6/3/2015

Legacy of Unicron is a story with so many memorable moments, it's hard for one to stand out above all others, but this week's issue contains the one that will have haunted the dreams of every single reader for a very long time.

It's Shockwave Vs. Death's Head to the death, in my look at issue 147!

Come back tomorrow for the interview with James Roberts, it's going to be a big'un.

18 Comments

Harry

6/3/2015 06:10:02 am

As I alluded to last week, I can't explain it, but Furman (and Senior's art) did manage to make the death of such a coldly evil Machiavellian character such as Shockwave, whose toy wasn't even available over here, into a surprisingly poignant moment. It was just as well that that was future Shockwave, and that the future can be rewritten...

Ryan F

6/3/2015 08:57:29 am

I quite like the idea that the Decepticon training room has physical props rather than holograms or virtual reality or whatever. As with the Autobase sewers and trenches in Headhunt, it shows how the war has ground both sides down, reduced to 'grungy' technology rather than a super-clean 'Minority Report' future.

Ralph Burns

6/3/2015 01:29:17 pm

I have never got over the horror of my favourite character having his brain ripped out and crushed. Can you imagine that being done in a kiddy comic today? There would be a 'ban this evil comic' campaign within minutes!

*weeps*

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Alex Smith link

6/3/2015 01:36:01 pm

Yeah, there was and still is a very gritty, 'grown-up' vibe to Furman's future-set stories. While I'm glad that Budiansky is rightfully going through a renaissance recently, it's clear why young British kids were always going to prefer stuff like this. In terms of art and design it's very much in the 2000AD school, and for some reason we love it!

Simon Hall

6/3/2015 11:17:01 pm

I think British comics (outside of humour titles) have always been a bit more raw and energetic by comparison to our US cousins. There's also an undercurrent of cynicism, wit and satire that underpins a lot of our adventure titles which the mainstream American stuff of the time failed to match. It's a shame that there's no comparable UK newsstand title that does this kind of visceral story-telling anymore.

This issue is definitely one of my all-time favourite Transformers stories. Furman at the top of his game and the great Geoff Senior firing on all cylinders. Great stuff - colouring is great here too :)

Looking forward to the Roberts interview!!!

Ralph Burns

7/3/2015 12:28:58 am

At least 2000ad exists. Commando still does new stories which in the context of current UK newsstand comics now seems much more hard-hitting and violent than it when it shared shelf space with Transformers UK!

Andrew Turnbull link

8/3/2015 11:35:07 am

It's a belter of an issue and really shows the freedom he has with the post 20 years setting. He can dispose of characters as he sees fit, and we get a definitive death for Shockwave. It's a very cold way to kill him off, but then that is fitting. I agree it's Geoff kicking ass with his art.

The gritty 2000ad comparisons are valid as aside from the Return to Cybertron arc and Headmasters Issue 1 from Bob, not since Issue 1 did he make the adventures of the Transformers feel like an actual war, which I think the future setting allowed Furman to do really well.

snowkatt

8/3/2015 03:38:20 pm

budiansky didnt start writing untill issue 5 though
he was the editor of the mini series

and the writer of the bio's but didnt start witth the comics untill 5

Andrew Turnbull link

8/3/2015 04:10:30 pm

Neither he did, how did I forget the mighty Mantlo/Macchio tag-team did issue 1? Still the point still stands, it's one of the few times in the US run that the comic felt like it was a war.

Stuart

8/3/2015 02:00:40 pm

Though they're still going, from annecdotal evidence from people who work in newagents, 99.9999999999% of over the counter sales for Commando and 2000AD are to people who started buying them 30/40 years ago when each book was at its peak. Sadly (well, at least in AD's case, Commando feels like it's there for people who miss not being able to hate "Krauts" anymore) they don't sell to kids and when their respective target audiences die of old age they'll be done.

Andrew Turnbull link

8/3/2015 04:12:49 pm

To be fair, I think Tooth has done a good job to bring in more readers via online and directly from it's own webstore. I think it's performance on the newstands is symptomatic of the current problem with comics in the Uk in general in terms of the rather tyrannical distribution controls from WH Smith and the supermarkets.

Though Commando is now available through Comixology!

snowkatt

9/3/2015 01:21:21 pm

dont forget mantlo's amazing uninterrupted run on rom space knight
makes em wonder what he could or would have done with transformers given an oppertunity

Felicity

6/11/2019 07:31:16 am

I guess it’s only people our age and older who still buy physical media including paper publications. :-(

Snowkatt

10/5/2024 04:24:04 am

2000AD's weekly numbers these days, well since the title was bought by Rebellion, have been shocking and skirt around the 20,000 units each week.
That's 80k per month no doubt they keep it going out of force of habit and a refusal to let the title die on their watch.

But I wouldn't be surprised if its the sales of the TPB's that keeps rebellion going.
That and merch.

Andrew Turnbull link

9/3/2015 03:32:46 pm

Oh yes, Mantlo on Transformers would have been grand. Also worth wondering what else could have been done if like Rom, the Transformers had been free to interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe.

snowkatt

13/3/2015 07:44:50 pm

or if he had been given an almost free right by hasbro beyond introducing new toys

im quite sure mantlo would have been up to the task and would have produce something amazing

and the could have and the maybe's make his current situation all the more bitter then it already is

Felicity link

6/11/2019 07:29:40 am

So in order to make Simon Furman’s Mary Sue look cool we have to embarrass several Decepticons and kill a perfectly good character like Shockwave? OK, OK. I’ve got to take my pills and stop getting so emotionally invested in these stories.

Viewed from a more detached perspective it sounds like it was a riveting story to read and I can see why it’s so memorable. Geoff Senior is good as always. That panel of a damaged Shockwave collapsing on the floor was well done.

You know it just occurred to me that in that “Fantastic Four” issue I mentioned in a previous comment where Death’s Head teamed up with the FF to interrogate Kang, he wasn’t Transformer-sized, he was human-sized. I wonder what that’s all about.

Hi Q didn’t start out looking like Patrick Stewart. At first, he owed more to Marlon Brando in appearance. Then later, welcoming the Micromasters to Earth, he looks like Yul Brynner. Finally when he grows his fringe of white hair and tells the Neo-Knights that he is Optimus Prime, he does look like Patrick Stewart.

Costa Gavras. Ha. :-)

LiamKav

19/9/2020 04:16:17 pm

"he wasn’t Transformer-sized, he was human-sized. I wonder what that’s all about."

As part of the Doctor Who crossover where Death's Head moves from the Transformers universe in to the regular Marvel universe, he gets shot by the Master's Tissue Compression gun thingie which shrinks him down to human size.

Transformation 147: Shockwave's Legacy.

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