I’m Frightened by the Total Goal, Drawing to the Ragged Hole.
Spotlight: Nightbeat. October 18th 2006.
My curiosity, though outweighs my common sense. Sometimes I wonder if it will be the death of me.
This is an important issue in many ways, starting with the fact it’s the first not to be drawn by someone from the existing Transformers artist community. Though it’s not an unfamiliar name, just one we’ve not seen in a very long time as M.D. Bright produces his first interior work on the franchise, a mere 21 years after his iconic Are All Dead cover to the fifth issue of the Marvel US series (back when he was just simple old Mark).
In theory this is quite a big deal as that is, even in 2021, the most famous image of all Transformers comics, probably as close as Marvel came to producing something taken seriously by Legitimate Comics Fans.
He’s also had a pretty respectable career overall, especially with a notable run on Iron Man, so he’s arguably one of the first “Gets” for IDW on art.
I say arguably because, perhaps surprisingly, I don’t recall much of a fuss being made of this at the time, you almost had to join the dots to his famous cover yourself (when I was discussing this on Twitter, there were people who didn’t know it was the same guy). It’s almost as if they were trying to downplay it rather than promote it, which may be down to the art being quite poorly received at the time.
My curiosity, though outweighs my common sense. Sometimes I wonder if it will be the death of me.
This is an important issue in many ways, starting with the fact it’s the first not to be drawn by someone from the existing Transformers artist community. Though it’s not an unfamiliar name, just one we’ve not seen in a very long time as M.D. Bright produces his first interior work on the franchise, a mere 21 years after his iconic Are All Dead cover to the fifth issue of the Marvel US series (back when he was just simple old Mark).
In theory this is quite a big deal as that is, even in 2021, the most famous image of all Transformers comics, probably as close as Marvel came to producing something taken seriously by Legitimate Comics Fans.
He’s also had a pretty respectable career overall, especially with a notable run on Iron Man, so he’s arguably one of the first “Gets” for IDW on art.
I say arguably because, perhaps surprisingly, I don’t recall much of a fuss being made of this at the time, you almost had to join the dots to his famous cover yourself (when I was discussing this on Twitter, there were people who didn’t know it was the same guy). It’s almost as if they were trying to downplay it rather than promote it, which may be down to the art being quite poorly received at the time.
The world's greatest detective knows a body when he sees one.
Looking at it now, I actually enjoyed it much more than I remembered, but it definitely feels rougher as it goes along (Nightbeat’s second design as he adopts a new alternate mode is nowhere near as good as his first), suggesting Bright was up against a deadline crunch. Comics pro Josh Burcham (currently doing great work on Beast Wars) also made the excellent point that it’s basically old fashioned 80s/90s art in 2006. Not necessarily a bad thing (especially now, when 2006 is nearly as long ago as the 80s was in 2006), but just not what people were used to and could perhaps have done with more sympathetic to the style colouring and inking.
And of course, it’s not as if Bright will be the only old school artist to struggle there (*cough* Wildman).
The second thing to notice about this issue is the choice of character. As I suspect we’re all fans of the comics here and we regard Nightbeat as a major guy, it’s easy to forget that in real terms, he’s the most obscure character in the first wave of Spotlight issues, coming from way after the popular peak of the line and never having been in the cartoon (something even Sixshot managed).
This is clearly a bit of an experimental one, Furman picking a personal favourite character to see how far into the deep cuts the series can go.
And of course, it’s not as if Bright will be the only old school artist to struggle there (*cough* Wildman).
The second thing to notice about this issue is the choice of character. As I suspect we’re all fans of the comics here and we regard Nightbeat as a major guy, it’s easy to forget that in real terms, he’s the most obscure character in the first wave of Spotlight issues, coming from way after the popular peak of the line and never having been in the cartoon (something even Sixshot managed).
This is clearly a bit of an experimental one, Furman picking a personal favourite character to see how far into the deep cuts the series can go.
The famous Ark 1 crew.
On that score, it was a failure as it famously sold rather worse than the big hitter characters either side, meaning that there will only ever be one more Spotlight about a character who was not in the cartoon, Doubledealer, a comic that will happen under rather strange circumstances.
The final, and biggest, thing to note before jumping in (and oh yes, this is another issue with a lot of preamble) is that this is where Furman formally introduces what will be the other great thrust of his run: The Dead Universe. An idea he originally used for his 2003 Dreamewave comic Necrowar, where it was so successful the series got cancelled after three issues. But more on that in a few weeks, but safe to say it’s one of those concepts that neither he (I think aspects of what he’d originally planned made it into ReGeneration One) nor IDW (several writers will keep going back to it) seemed able to accept that the readers really, really hated as it died harder than the Dead Universe itself every time.
Which makes this the first Spotlight that’s hard to talk about in isolation as it isn’t a neat little self-contained character study, it’s trying to write about the first episode of Lost by just talking about that episode in and of itself and not mentioned how badly they ballsed it up.
But, let’s give it a go.
And apologies to anyone who really loved the end of Lost. Never change.
The final, and biggest, thing to note before jumping in (and oh yes, this is another issue with a lot of preamble) is that this is where Furman formally introduces what will be the other great thrust of his run: The Dead Universe. An idea he originally used for his 2003 Dreamewave comic Necrowar, where it was so successful the series got cancelled after three issues. But more on that in a few weeks, but safe to say it’s one of those concepts that neither he (I think aspects of what he’d originally planned made it into ReGeneration One) nor IDW (several writers will keep going back to it) seemed able to accept that the readers really, really hated as it died harder than the Dead Universe itself every time.
Which makes this the first Spotlight that’s hard to talk about in isolation as it isn’t a neat little self-contained character study, it’s trying to write about the first episode of Lost by just talking about that episode in and of itself and not mentioned how badly they ballsed it up.
But, let’s give it a go.
And apologies to anyone who really loved the end of Lost. Never change.
Apparently the main thing about becoming a cyborg is developing grey skin.
As with Shockwave, the issue is entirely narrated by the lead. Which might make people who remember Marvel Nightbeat to expect another full-on fun Philip Marlow homage.
But this is not the case, we get a very different Nightbeat because the twist is going to be that is a very different sort of genre homage. In fact, this may be the most serious Transformers comic to date, there’s not so much as an even a wry line, let alone a joke. Nightbeat’s narration is indeed pretty much the same portentous style as that I was annoyed by in Stormbringer, but here it matches an overall tone that is clearly aiming to be full of foreboding and a growing sense of unease.
Starting with Nightbeat finding the body of a dying mechanoid. One who had lured him, a collector of intrigue and mysteries, to a meeting in orbit of Gorlam Prime with the promise he had part of the flight recorder of the first Ark, something that could give a key glimpse into the daddy of all Cybertronian mysteries.
All Nightbeat actually finds when he gets there is the robot, Krakon (first but by no means the last non-Transformer alien robot in IDW), just managing to get out a cryptic “There is a hole in the world” message before dying of an extreme case of murder.
But this is not the case, we get a very different Nightbeat because the twist is going to be that is a very different sort of genre homage. In fact, this may be the most serious Transformers comic to date, there’s not so much as an even a wry line, let alone a joke. Nightbeat’s narration is indeed pretty much the same portentous style as that I was annoyed by in Stormbringer, but here it matches an overall tone that is clearly aiming to be full of foreboding and a growing sense of unease.
Starting with Nightbeat finding the body of a dying mechanoid. One who had lured him, a collector of intrigue and mysteries, to a meeting in orbit of Gorlam Prime with the promise he had part of the flight recorder of the first Ark, something that could give a key glimpse into the daddy of all Cybertronian mysteries.
All Nightbeat actually finds when he gets there is the robot, Krakon (first but by no means the last non-Transformer alien robot in IDW), just managing to get out a cryptic “There is a hole in the world” message before dying of an extreme case of murder.
That's his crime fighting head.
And an empty space where a salvaged flight recorder used to be.
Now, it’s revealed later in the issue that was all staged as a trap specifically for Nightbeat, to lure him down to the planet to be captured. So, I’m not sure why the as yet still mysterious people who attacked Krakon didn’t wait on the ship and just grab Nightbeat now rather than set an elaborate breadcrumb trail in place. The issue also ends with Optimus Prime calling him in for a mission, if that had happened a couple of hours earlier and he’d had to leave now, that would have been embarrassing for the Dead Universe crew.
Luckily for them, Nightbeat instead has the time to explore the ship and muse on the fate of the Ark 1, a ship that famously disappeared with all hands on its maiden voyage to go explore the Benzuli Expanse.
Which seems to be the lot of ships called Ark in every continuity, but its confirmation here does make it odd that Autobots call all their ships The Ark. It’d be like the Royal Navy having a fleet called Titanic 2, Titanic 3, Titanic 4...
More importantly, his flashbacks give us our first glimpse of the Ark 1 Memorial (which will become an important location in later years) and the Ark 1 command crew who are...
Just generic guys. I’m not sure if that’s deliberate choice to hide the surprise of who was on there, Bright not knowing or just another hint this is rushed.
Now, it’s revealed later in the issue that was all staged as a trap specifically for Nightbeat, to lure him down to the planet to be captured. So, I’m not sure why the as yet still mysterious people who attacked Krakon didn’t wait on the ship and just grab Nightbeat now rather than set an elaborate breadcrumb trail in place. The issue also ends with Optimus Prime calling him in for a mission, if that had happened a couple of hours earlier and he’d had to leave now, that would have been embarrassing for the Dead Universe crew.
Luckily for them, Nightbeat instead has the time to explore the ship and muse on the fate of the Ark 1, a ship that famously disappeared with all hands on its maiden voyage to go explore the Benzuli Expanse.
Which seems to be the lot of ships called Ark in every continuity, but its confirmation here does make it odd that Autobots call all their ships The Ark. It’d be like the Royal Navy having a fleet called Titanic 2, Titanic 3, Titanic 4...
More importantly, his flashbacks give us our first glimpse of the Ark 1 Memorial (which will become an important location in later years) and the Ark 1 command crew who are...
Just generic guys. I’m not sure if that’s deliberate choice to hide the surprise of who was on there, Bright not knowing or just another hint this is rushed.
The Golden Lagoon downgraded to silver by the recession.
Having exhausted his search of the ship, Nightbeat orbital bounces down to Gorlam Prime itself, adopting a local alt-mode in the process. One that for some reason has a different head design for him.
The planet turns out to be populated by organics, but ones slowly becoming Cybermen as they embrace technology and enhancements to their own bodies more and more. Which makes Nightbeat wonder if they’re going to eventually become full robots, and whether this could be the long-lost origin of his own people.
Which is given a huge amount of emphasise, but will become confused and a bit lost as storylines get compressed and then heavily reworked by other writers. As with the gag about Primacron in Stormbringer though, it’s interesting Furman is not leaning into his own previous origin for Transformers and instead is trying to create some mystery about it.
A mystery is also what Nightbeat finds as he follows the clues he found on the ship to an archaeological excavation that has uncovered ancient, technological, tunnels that are much older than civilisation on the planet.
By now Nightbeat is beginning to suspect a trap, so he sends a full recording of his experiences so far back to his own ship (probably the Ark 69) as a just in case he doesn’t make it out. Which is sensible as he’s being followed...
The planet turns out to be populated by organics, but ones slowly becoming Cybermen as they embrace technology and enhancements to their own bodies more and more. Which makes Nightbeat wonder if they’re going to eventually become full robots, and whether this could be the long-lost origin of his own people.
Which is given a huge amount of emphasise, but will become confused and a bit lost as storylines get compressed and then heavily reworked by other writers. As with the gag about Primacron in Stormbringer though, it’s interesting Furman is not leaning into his own previous origin for Transformers and instead is trying to create some mystery about it.
A mystery is also what Nightbeat finds as he follows the clues he found on the ship to an archaeological excavation that has uncovered ancient, technological, tunnels that are much older than civilisation on the planet.
By now Nightbeat is beginning to suspect a trap, so he sends a full recording of his experiences so far back to his own ship (probably the Ark 69) as a just in case he doesn’t make it out. Which is sensible as he’s being followed...
You know it's Galvatron because of his big balls.
Once through the tunnels and behind a door he finds a cavern with a huge, sinister, silver lake.
Or a hole in the world if you will.
One strange silver forms start to emerge from.
Which is where you realise this is not a detective story, it’s a Lovecraft story. Nightbeat is in the wrong genre and things are about to go badly for him as a result.
It’s an incredibly effective sequence, only slightly marred in retrospect by the fact we’ll find out it’s not some ancient horrors from before the dawn of time emerging, but instead three characters from the 1986 Transformers toyline.
Nightbeat turns to run and is confronted by Micromasters! The Micromaster Sports Car Patrol no less.
Yes, it’s the next round of Furman introducing gimmicks he didn’t get to create at Marvel and firmly solidifies the approach the Pretenders took and which will be stuck to with all the others: Transformers gimmicks are awful, evil things full of pain and misery.
Someone really didn’t like advertising toys in the 80s.
Or a hole in the world if you will.
One strange silver forms start to emerge from.
Which is where you realise this is not a detective story, it’s a Lovecraft story. Nightbeat is in the wrong genre and things are about to go badly for him as a result.
It’s an incredibly effective sequence, only slightly marred in retrospect by the fact we’ll find out it’s not some ancient horrors from before the dawn of time emerging, but instead three characters from the 1986 Transformers toyline.
Nightbeat turns to run and is confronted by Micromasters! The Micromaster Sports Car Patrol no less.
Yes, it’s the next round of Furman introducing gimmicks he didn’t get to create at Marvel and firmly solidifies the approach the Pretenders took and which will be stuck to with all the others: Transformers gimmicks are awful, evil things full of pain and misery.
Someone really didn’t like advertising toys in the 80s.
Transformers transforming!
It’s kind of a shame they’ll never be any happiness, joy or excitement at being a Cybertronian with a special power, just suffering. Especially as Furman is going to extend the idea of a gimmick to being a woman.
Where the Micromasters came from or what they are will remain a mystery for now, but they’re clearly weird little fuckers with no personalities, just more dangerous than the full sized Nightbeat and with no mercy.
Making the following chase and fight (which makes nice use of actual transforming as Nightbeat tries to first outrun them before using his vehicle mode weapons) a foregone conclusion.
Which leads to a very effective two page spread as at least two beings (one with a very Galvatron chin. The other is officially Straxus but err... he’s terrifying) slap Nightbeat to a table and perform brain surgery on him to put a “Cerebral Implant” into his head that will let them pull his strings when the time is right.
Where the Micromasters came from or what they are will remain a mystery for now, but they’re clearly weird little fuckers with no personalities, just more dangerous than the full sized Nightbeat and with no mercy.
Making the following chase and fight (which makes nice use of actual transforming as Nightbeat tries to first outrun them before using his vehicle mode weapons) a foregone conclusion.
Which leads to a very effective two page spread as at least two beings (one with a very Galvatron chin. The other is officially Straxus but err... he’s terrifying) slap Nightbeat to a table and perform brain surgery on him to put a “Cerebral Implant” into his head that will let them pull his strings when the time is right.
Straxus knows brains like he knows how to dispense mercy.
From the bathed in red light look to the room, to Nightbeat’s blank expression as he thinks of the unspeakable things being done to him mind and even the intriguing at this stage overheard comments about a “Dead Universe” and “Expansion”, this is creepy and unsettling in a way Transformers rarely aims for.
Or at least it is until you realise Straxus either has very small hands or the cerebral implant is as big as the inside of Nightbeat’s head and they’ll be no room for his brain in there as well.
The issue then ends with Nightbeat back on his own ship, with no memory of what happened and wondering if he should maybe investigate one of the big three Transformers mysteries (don’t do it Nightbeat, that’ll kill you every time) as he’s feeling oddly distracted.
But there’s no time for that as Optimus Prime calls him to Earth, and a still not feeling himself Nightbeat heads off, not realising there’s a message from himself on his ship’s computer, waiting to be played back.
Slightly bad design the answerphone isn’t on the same device as the one that takes the call really, or he’d have found it as soon as Prime buzzed in. I wonder how many unheard voicemails from people offering clues to great mysteries Nightbeat has?
This is a tough one. Cards on the table, though I suspect you’ll already have an idea what my hand is, I am not a fan of how the Dead Universe story will pan out. Maybe that will change on this reread as I’ve enjoyed several of the issues so far more than I was expecting, but it makes it hard to take this issue as an issue.
Or at least it is until you realise Straxus either has very small hands or the cerebral implant is as big as the inside of Nightbeat’s head and they’ll be no room for his brain in there as well.
The issue then ends with Nightbeat back on his own ship, with no memory of what happened and wondering if he should maybe investigate one of the big three Transformers mysteries (don’t do it Nightbeat, that’ll kill you every time) as he’s feeling oddly distracted.
But there’s no time for that as Optimus Prime calls him to Earth, and a still not feeling himself Nightbeat heads off, not realising there’s a message from himself on his ship’s computer, waiting to be played back.
Slightly bad design the answerphone isn’t on the same device as the one that takes the call really, or he’d have found it as soon as Prime buzzed in. I wonder how many unheard voicemails from people offering clues to great mysteries Nightbeat has?
This is a tough one. Cards on the table, though I suspect you’ll already have an idea what my hand is, I am not a fan of how the Dead Universe story will pan out. Maybe that will change on this reread as I’ve enjoyed several of the issues so far more than I was expecting, but it makes it hard to take this issue as an issue.
The evil plan depends entirely on Nightbeat never looking at this large screen.
Which is a shame as the subversion with Nightbeat not being in the story you’d expect is very clever, and the entirely serious tone makes for a nice change and perfectly fits the Lovecraftian atmosphere. The art may be inconsistent, but when it hits, it really adds to that sense of growing menace as well. It’s effectively an extremely well-done pastiche.
It’s just one that will lead to more of a dead end than a dead universe.
But after quite a serious story, next week things start to heat up as one of the most important IDW characters dives into action.
STORMBRINGER ISSUE 4
2005-2006
COMMENT
KO-FI
It’s just one that will lead to more of a dead end than a dead universe.
But after quite a serious story, next week things start to heat up as one of the most important IDW characters dives into action.
STORMBRINGER ISSUE 4
2005-2006
COMMENT
KO-FI
