The page that started 13 years.
When IDW relaunched the Transformers comics in late 2005 with Infiltration Issue 0, no one, least of all IDW themselves, could have guessed that Universe would continue across hundreds of issues for 13 years, running the full gauntlet of styles, from the influence of The Ultimates to Community.
Yes, the previous and destroyed by dodgy financial dealings run by Dreamwave that started in 2002 had been hugely successful, but such success for a nostalgic property is rarely sustainable in the long term once fans now in their late teens and early twenties have sated their desire to recapture that taste of childhood.
And indeed, IDW’s run would outpace any comparable franchise by a considerable margin. The likes of He-Man, Thundercats and even G.I. Joe have all ebbed, flowed, rebooted, and relaunched (and in extreme cases, vanished altogether) in a continual loop whilst the robots in disguise just kept chugging along cheerfully.
Second main author Shane McCarthy, bringing the boom.
Thanks to multiple creative teams, wildly varying levels of interest from Hasbro and the simple fact 2005 and 2018 were vastly different places, the original IDW continuity is both the largest single body of consistent work ever achieved by Transformers and, simultaneously, the most varied. Both in content and quality. With two to three series running at the same time (occasionally more), you could have the best and worst of Transformers sitting side by side on the comic shelf at the same time. And occasionally, just the plain weirdest as well.
I was there in 2005, just as I had been for Dreamwave. In those pre-digital days, I bought from the town’s local toy and comic shop, that seemed more a place to store a vast array of badly stacked health and safety violating cardboard boxes whilst the owner smoked (in a shop. In 2005) and passed mysterious unmarked DVDs to other customers.
However, I was not there consistently, like those other properties, my interest ebbed and flowed. But, after every time I thought I’d given up entirely, something exceptional would pop up that would suck me back in and ensure I’d be franticly catching up on what I missed.
I was there in 2005, just as I had been for Dreamwave. In those pre-digital days, I bought from the town’s local toy and comic shop, that seemed more a place to store a vast array of badly stacked health and safety violating cardboard boxes whilst the owner smoked (in a shop. In 2005) and passed mysterious unmarked DVDs to other customers.
However, I was not there consistently, like those other properties, my interest ebbed and flowed. But, after every time I thought I’d given up entirely, something exceptional would pop up that would suck me back in and ensure I’d be franticly catching up on what I missed.
What was the Mike Costa run?
In 2012, I began an extremely long project looking at each issue of the Marvel UK Transformers comic in sequence, once a week, examining how it stood up in its original context (Transformation can be read here if you haven’t seen it). I was lucky enough for it to be well received enough for it to cover every single UK Transformers comic, into Bay and Prime, before wrapping up in the Summer of 2020.
Which, after a bit of a break, left me looking for a similar fun long-term writing task. Because if nothing else, I found it good mental discipline. Inevitably, this led me to the original, only recently ended, IDW take on the franchise.
The first thing to do was to work out the exact publication order for the issues. Which was harder than it might seem to achieve, everywhere you look online only presents recommended reading orders. Even IDW’s oversized hardbacks seem to be admitting the order the comics were originally presented in is the way no sane person would read them now.
Which, after a bit of a break, left me looking for a similar fun long-term writing task. Because if nothing else, I found it good mental discipline. Inevitably, this led me to the original, only recently ended, IDW take on the franchise.
The first thing to do was to work out the exact publication order for the issues. Which was harder than it might seem to achieve, everywhere you look online only presents recommended reading orders. Even IDW’s oversized hardbacks seem to be admitting the order the comics were originally presented in is the way no sane person would read them now.
James Roberts was one of three main writers for the second decade of the century.
However, no one is going to accuse me of being sane. And once I’d gone through the dull and painstaking task of going through issue by issue on the Wiki and writing out the publication date and putting it all in order, I realised there was very much the potential for something interesting here, talking about the issues in the context readers at the time originally experienced them. Even looking at the list threw up random memories I’d completely forgotten. Going through each issue in-depth should hopefully be just as fresh and interesting as I hope many readers found Transformation to be.
As when I wrote my introduction to that in 2012, here, before I’ve even began on the first issue, I don’t know what form this will ultimately take. But it will be different (hence the different name, inspired by the titling of each miniseries during Furman’s run). Rather than a weekly community portal, the IDW comics don’t have much in the way of secondary material and embrace a wide range of formats.
As when I wrote my introduction to that in 2012, here, before I’ve even began on the first issue, I don’t know what form this will ultimately take. But it will be different (hence the different name, inspired by the titling of each miniseries during Furman’s run). Rather than a weekly community portal, the IDW comics don’t have much in the way of secondary material and embrace a wide range of formats.
Mairghread Scott brought the comics' attitudes on women Transformers out of the 1980's.
And as I’ll be sticking to one issue covered weekly (your guess is as good as mine as to how I’ll decide what goes first when issues were published on the same day as each other), it won’t be even attempting to cover things in real time.
One other difference is that even if the continuity has ended, IDW still do Transformers, with their relaunched effort to take the franchise into the Twenties. Many of the people I’m going to talk about still work for them on a regular basis, including on other properties. There’s not quite as much honesty about the behind the scenes stuff as has been the case with Marvel (have a drink every time a clearly insane and obviously forced on them by Hasbro decision is described as “A choice we arrived at organically as part of the process” and you’ll be dead). That means my speculation, though hopefully with a degree of logic behind it, is going to be a lot more speculative and should be taken as such.
What it will very firmly continue to be is fun and positive (and entirely subjective). I certainly don’t want to commit to eight years (possibly longer, I’ve not counted but there must be at least 450 distinct IDW1 issues. Possibly closer to 500. Or more) of moaning, so even though there are going to be issues and even whole runs I have a lot of problems with, I’m always going to be my best to find something to celebrate and be enthusiastic about.
One other difference is that even if the continuity has ended, IDW still do Transformers, with their relaunched effort to take the franchise into the Twenties. Many of the people I’m going to talk about still work for them on a regular basis, including on other properties. There’s not quite as much honesty about the behind the scenes stuff as has been the case with Marvel (have a drink every time a clearly insane and obviously forced on them by Hasbro decision is described as “A choice we arrived at organically as part of the process” and you’ll be dead). That means my speculation, though hopefully with a degree of logic behind it, is going to be a lot more speculative and should be taken as such.
What it will very firmly continue to be is fun and positive (and entirely subjective). I certainly don’t want to commit to eight years (possibly longer, I’ve not counted but there must be at least 450 distinct IDW1 issues. Possibly closer to 500. Or more) of moaning, so even though there are going to be issues and even whole runs I have a lot of problems with, I’m always going to be my best to find something to celebrate and be enthusiastic about.
John Barber oversaw the creative direction of the series for much of the run, and gave us Transformers with dogs.
And there is a huge amount to celebrate here, the best of IDW isn’t just amongst the best in Transformers comics, its frequently great comics' full stop. Including the first Transformers series to win actual awards.
And the stuff that was at the further away end of winning awards is at least frequently entertainingly dumb.
So, please do join me here once a week, usually on a Friday, as I journey from Verity Carlo to Unicron.
With thanks to Tom B. Long for the Revisitation logo; Llama God for the name suggestion and Stuart Denyer for general support.
(Note: on each page, clicking on the teaser image I’ve chose for the next issue will take you there. Assuming I’ve gotten that far...)
And the stuff that was at the further away end of winning awards is at least frequently entertainingly dumb.
So, please do join me here once a week, usually on a Friday, as I journey from Verity Carlo to Unicron.
With thanks to Tom B. Long for the Revisitation logo; Llama God for the name suggestion and Stuart Denyer for general support.
(Note: on each page, clicking on the teaser image I’ve chose for the next issue will take you there. Assuming I’ve gotten that far...)
