I Scream and Echoes Will Remain, what a Life Man, When You’re Strange.

Drift Issue 1. September 22nd 2010.
The gutters. The smell. The smell that would never leave.
Now here is a strange one. Drift as a character was introduced with a great deal of fanfare, but that was nearly two years ago at this point and his actual role in the comics has been fairly minimal, one Spotlight, a few grandstanding fights and some dirty looks aimed at him. Indeed, the mention of him in the most recent issue of the ongoing was the first direct acknowledgement of him in quite a while, making me wonder if that was added by editorial to try and make this seem less jarring.
Added to that, we have in a writer, Shane McCarthy who hasn’t worked on the comic in close to a year either, apparently being bought back just because he was Drift’s creator. Indeed, long time readers will remember I’d actually forgotten he’d done any main continuity stuff after All Hail Megatron issue 14, which doesn’t sound too promising for all the Drift content he did indeed do after.
So, we’ve a character IDW seem to have lost all enthusiasm for coupled with a writer who had already been moved on. That makes for a very odd choice of four issue miniseries. Though perhaps one that makes more sense if you remember that the long delayed, and by this point assumed by many not be happening, Drift toy finally appeared in 2010. So, what we seem to have here is the long hand of Hasbro poking IDW into doing a book to sell the toy.
The gutters. The smell. The smell that would never leave.
Now here is a strange one. Drift as a character was introduced with a great deal of fanfare, but that was nearly two years ago at this point and his actual role in the comics has been fairly minimal, one Spotlight, a few grandstanding fights and some dirty looks aimed at him. Indeed, the mention of him in the most recent issue of the ongoing was the first direct acknowledgement of him in quite a while, making me wonder if that was added by editorial to try and make this seem less jarring.
Added to that, we have in a writer, Shane McCarthy who hasn’t worked on the comic in close to a year either, apparently being bought back just because he was Drift’s creator. Indeed, long time readers will remember I’d actually forgotten he’d done any main continuity stuff after All Hail Megatron issue 14, which doesn’t sound too promising for all the Drift content he did indeed do after.
So, we’ve a character IDW seem to have lost all enthusiasm for coupled with a writer who had already been moved on. That makes for a very odd choice of four issue miniseries. Though perhaps one that makes more sense if you remember that the long delayed, and by this point assumed by many not be happening, Drift toy finally appeared in 2010. So, what we seem to have here is the long hand of Hasbro poking IDW into doing a book to sell the toy.

A feeling emphasised by the accelerated release schedule, this comic was put out (roughly) fortnightly instead on monthly, suggesting someone wanted the trade out pretty damn quickly.
Which doesn’t sound hugely promising does it? But, after the last few months, I’m actually going into this feeling nostalgic for McCarthy. Let’s see how that goes…
As with the Drift Spotlight, we open with a scene that feels more like a self-insert fanfic character than anything All Hail Megatron gave us, as we open on a battle in the unspecified past as purple and black (handy for repaints of the toy) Drift, erm, sorry, Deadlock, leads a battalion of troops into battle with such force and vigour even Sunstreaker, commanding the Autobots, has to retreat.
Alex Milne is the artist here, and overall, he has really grown into himself at this point. Though this opening battle is best remembered for an odd editorial spat where various characters Milne drew, such as Carnivac, being recoloured to fit with “canon.” And editor Denton J. Tipton making a grandiose statement about how artists don’t get to make those sorts of decisions, and fans are too obsessed with this sort of thing anyway.
At least Metalhawk’s appearance got left as it was, because it’s unlikely a character like that will ever appear in anything Western again anyway.
Which doesn’t sound hugely promising does it? But, after the last few months, I’m actually going into this feeling nostalgic for McCarthy. Let’s see how that goes…
As with the Drift Spotlight, we open with a scene that feels more like a self-insert fanfic character than anything All Hail Megatron gave us, as we open on a battle in the unspecified past as purple and black (handy for repaints of the toy) Drift, erm, sorry, Deadlock, leads a battalion of troops into battle with such force and vigour even Sunstreaker, commanding the Autobots, has to retreat.
Alex Milne is the artist here, and overall, he has really grown into himself at this point. Though this opening battle is best remembered for an odd editorial spat where various characters Milne drew, such as Carnivac, being recoloured to fit with “canon.” And editor Denton J. Tipton making a grandiose statement about how artists don’t get to make those sorts of decisions, and fans are too obsessed with this sort of thing anyway.
At least Metalhawk’s appearance got left as it was, because it’s unlikely a character like that will ever appear in anything Western again anyway.

What follows is a scene that suggests McCarthy has seen the fan reaction to Last Stand of the Wreckers and thought “I’ll have a bit of that,” as we effectively get a rerun of the Overlord and Skyquake sequence from the first issue of that book. Some of the Predators even turn up amongst the cons here, so they must have had some déjà vu the second, chronological, time round.
This sees An Underling (the Carnivac one) tell Deadlock off for breaking Turmoil’s orders and, no, he doesn’t care how scary Deadlock is, if he’s staging a coup, Underling is going to go tell the boss…
Which gets him shot in the head before Deadlock asks everyone else “Who’s with me?” in his desire to take over.
And to be fair on McCarthy, if there is an intentional Wreckers homage, he immediately subverts it, as it turns out no one is with him, and he cut immediately to Deadlock tied to a wall in front of a disappointed Turmoil.
This sees An Underling (the Carnivac one) tell Deadlock off for breaking Turmoil’s orders and, no, he doesn’t care how scary Deadlock is, if he’s staging a coup, Underling is going to go tell the boss…
Which gets him shot in the head before Deadlock asks everyone else “Who’s with me?” in his desire to take over.
And to be fair on McCarthy, if there is an intentional Wreckers homage, he immediately subverts it, as it turns out no one is with him, and he cut immediately to Deadlock tied to a wall in front of a disappointed Turmoil.

You can’t keep an OC down for long though, and Deadlock is able to use just his legs being free to escape, first from his chains and then, after fighting through an entire army to an escape pod, the ship.
What a guy.
Though Turmoil is less impressed, declaring that his former second in command is now an exile, to be shot on sight.
As anyone who’s seen Star Wars knows, the done thing when using an escape pod is to crash into a desert. Which Deadlock dutifully does, morosely walking across it, thinking about the bad old days when he was a homeless bum on the streets. I can’t quite remember where this series will go with these flashbacks, but it’s certainly got a different tone now to see Tramp Drift after James Roberts rather sent it up in the later Shadowplay story.
What a guy.
Though Turmoil is less impressed, declaring that his former second in command is now an exile, to be shot on sight.
As anyone who’s seen Star Wars knows, the done thing when using an escape pod is to crash into a desert. Which Deadlock dutifully does, morosely walking across it, thinking about the bad old days when he was a homeless bum on the streets. I can’t quite remember where this series will go with these flashbacks, but it’s certainly got a different tone now to see Tramp Drift after James Roberts rather sent it up in the later Shadowplay story.

These reminisces of the days of terrible smells and how no one will save him this time are cut short by two things. First by finding a sinister looking outpost he feels me might be able to steal a ship from, the second by an attack from behind, from a mysterious cloaked figure.
A brief fight ensues before the cloaked one claims to be a friend (though being an emo, Deadlock replies “You don’t know me”) called Wing, and that those below are slavers with a lot of prisoners. If Deadlock helps him free them and promises to take them with him (as the stranger can’t leave the planet), he can have a ship in return.
Which makes Drift decide he’ll need two guns for this (that’s character development, no swords yet), even if he thinks that makes Wing sound like an Autobot. To which, when Wing plays dumb about not knowing what an Autobot is, he clarifies as “Weak.”
Oh, the irony.
A brief fight ensues before the cloaked one claims to be a friend (though being an emo, Deadlock replies “You don’t know me”) called Wing, and that those below are slavers with a lot of prisoners. If Deadlock helps him free them and promises to take them with him (as the stranger can’t leave the planet), he can have a ship in return.
Which makes Drift decide he’ll need two guns for this (that’s character development, no swords yet), even if he thinks that makes Wing sound like an Autobot. To which, when Wing plays dumb about not knowing what an Autobot is, he clarifies as “Weak.”
Oh, the irony.

They initially do well in the fight against the slavers, but during it, Wing’s cloak is burnt off and, to the surprise of no reader who remembers Drift’s later but seen earlier disguise in his Spotlight, reveals they were the worst thing Ironhide could imagine: A Transformer in clothes.
After some back and forth about whether the revealed robot is Autobot or not, they decide to stick to the plan, but when Deadlock is asked his name, he goes for one from the “Past,” Drift.
Which is an interesting choice, he’s already made it clear he’s a Decepticon, and is wearing the badge. He’d not look especially worse to any do-gooder if he gave his current name. So maybe there is already more going on underneath the surface even before the character changing events of the series kick in.
After some back and forth about whether the revealed robot is Autobot or not, they decide to stick to the plan, but when Deadlock is asked his name, he goes for one from the “Past,” Drift.
Which is an interesting choice, he’s already made it clear he’s a Decepticon, and is wearing the badge. He’d not look especially worse to any do-gooder if he gave his current name. So maybe there is already more going on underneath the surface even before the character changing events of the series kick in.

The fight then resumes, but this time Drift gets his ass handed to him after trying to be too clever by himself, being savagely beaten and passing out as one of the slavers looms over him, very interested in having found a Decepticon.
Which becomes a mystery for another day, as Drift wakes up on a hospital bed, finding Drift’s earlier claims to have been alone to be a lie, as two other Cybertronians are clearly not very happy Wing has bought the guy in for treatment.
The surprise then doubles as Wing takes him outside the room to reveal it’s not just one Transformer, as they are underground in the new Crystal City!
A place so secret and hidden, it has a huge beam of light shining out of it.
Now, maybe it’s just the aftereffect of so many straight weeks of Costa, but I quite enjoyed that. There’s no depth here before some very surface level stock villain turning good stuff, but as a straightforward action heavy issue, it does a better job of it than anything we’ve seen recently.
Which becomes a mystery for another day, as Drift wakes up on a hospital bed, finding Drift’s earlier claims to have been alone to be a lie, as two other Cybertronians are clearly not very happy Wing has bought the guy in for treatment.
The surprise then doubles as Wing takes him outside the room to reveal it’s not just one Transformer, as they are underground in the new Crystal City!
A place so secret and hidden, it has a huge beam of light shining out of it.
Now, maybe it’s just the aftereffect of so many straight weeks of Costa, but I quite enjoyed that. There’s no depth here before some very surface level stock villain turning good stuff, but as a straightforward action heavy issue, it does a better job of it than anything we’ve seen recently.

That doesn’t leave a huge amount to say, but sometimes a Big Mac is all you need, especially after weeks of having human faeces rubbed into your teeth.
We also get Milne’s best art yet by a mile, he’s definitely gotten into a groove here that will only, erm, groove more over the next year.
So overall, look, I’m posting this on New Year’s Day. Let’s be generous and call it a win and a good start to the New Year, with the only proviso being that it feels like every plot beat we’re about to get is very obvious. But then, I’ve not read this in a while, so maybe I’ll be wrong about that?
With this newfound spirit of generosity in my heart, come back next week to see how far that spreads into the next Costa issue as new forces head to Korea.
THE TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 10
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI
We also get Milne’s best art yet by a mile, he’s definitely gotten into a groove here that will only, erm, groove more over the next year.
So overall, look, I’m posting this on New Year’s Day. Let’s be generous and call it a win and a good start to the New Year, with the only proviso being that it feels like every plot beat we’re about to get is very obvious. But then, I’ve not read this in a while, so maybe I’ll be wrong about that?
With this newfound spirit of generosity in my heart, come back next week to see how far that spreads into the next Costa issue as new forces head to Korea.
THE TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 10
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI