When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going, When the Going Gets Rough, the Tough Get Rough.
Spotlight: Hardhead. Revelation Part 2. July 16th 2008.
It’s not just a name, y’know.
This is the issue where the problem of having to focus on the characters the story is not about because of the format really begins to sink in. This chapter effectively focuses on concluding Nightbeat’s story and how his investigation into his amnesia pays off badly. But, because he already had a Spotlight, the titular character is not him, but the guy hanging around with him. The Charley Boorman to Nightbeat’s Ewan McGregor.
One plus though, is that Hardhead is at least a unique lead for this series, being taciturn and direct and not using two words when one will do. Or one when a grunt will do. And thankfully, Furman remembers this and the amount of ponderous narration is drastically reduced this issue.
Not that there isn’t a degree of pondering, but it’s not from the internal monologue.
This is best summed up by the opening page before the two set out. Nightbeat spells out his amnesia, the affects on him and his worries and that, push comes to shove, if he is the victim of some sort of brainwashing and it kicks in, he wants Hardhead to go from bodyguard to sharpshooter and to kill him.
To which the response is simply “Sure”.
It’s not just a name, y’know.
This is the issue where the problem of having to focus on the characters the story is not about because of the format really begins to sink in. This chapter effectively focuses on concluding Nightbeat’s story and how his investigation into his amnesia pays off badly. But, because he already had a Spotlight, the titular character is not him, but the guy hanging around with him. The Charley Boorman to Nightbeat’s Ewan McGregor.
One plus though, is that Hardhead is at least a unique lead for this series, being taciturn and direct and not using two words when one will do. Or one when a grunt will do. And thankfully, Furman remembers this and the amount of ponderous narration is drastically reduced this issue.
Not that there isn’t a degree of pondering, but it’s not from the internal monologue.
This is best summed up by the opening page before the two set out. Nightbeat spells out his amnesia, the affects on him and his worries and that, push comes to shove, if he is the victim of some sort of brainwashing and it kicks in, he wants Hardhead to go from bodyguard to sharpshooter and to kill him.
To which the response is simply “Sure”.
Paid to kill the boss? Every employees dream.
Which is refreshing, funny, slightly macabre (if you assume they’re friends despite not having seen much of them interact) and not something that most readers would take seriously at this point. After all, we’re just coming off the back of a miniseries called Devastation where there was almost no Devastation, it would be incredibly unlikely to go into this expecting Furman to off one of his favourite characters in an arbitrary and brutal way.
Over the page and we’ve arrived on Gorlam Prime. Which emphasises one problem this series has. We’re dealing with a Universal threat spread over multiple planets, but there’s never any sense of it taking time to travel anywhere. Either the Universe is very small, or it will turn out Prime and Prowl really haven’t done very much in the days it must be taking people to get from place to place. Future galaxy-spanning stories will generally either clarify how people get about so unusually quickly, or emphasise that it takes time to get between worlds.
On the planet, the inhabitants that Nightbeat had noted were embracing technological enhancement last time, are now frozen in place. Evolving from organic, to techno-organic. Which, tantalisingly (and an idea that will never be mentioned again), Hardhead says would make them like the Transformers. As with the Nightbeat Spotlight, Furman is clearly teasing something new about the origin of the Cybertronians that will never get picked up on.
Over the page and we’ve arrived on Gorlam Prime. Which emphasises one problem this series has. We’re dealing with a Universal threat spread over multiple planets, but there’s never any sense of it taking time to travel anywhere. Either the Universe is very small, or it will turn out Prime and Prowl really haven’t done very much in the days it must be taking people to get from place to place. Future galaxy-spanning stories will generally either clarify how people get about so unusually quickly, or emphasise that it takes time to get between worlds.
On the planet, the inhabitants that Nightbeat had noted were embracing technological enhancement last time, are now frozen in place. Evolving from organic, to techno-organic. Which, tantalisingly (and an idea that will never be mentioned again), Hardhead says would make them like the Transformers. As with the Nightbeat Spotlight, Furman is clearly teasing something new about the origin of the Cybertronians that will never get picked up on.
Pour one out for Kris Carter having to colour all this.
What actually is going on at Gorlam Prime is going to be made much, much more confusing by following authors, so what is actually going on here and its relevance to the main plot can be a little muddled if you come to it after reading the later comics.
Plus side though, this initially makes it look like the trip to the dig and the big hole will be nice and easy with no one to interfere as the natives go through their chrysalis. Until that is, the Micromasters appear. Not just the relatively small number Nightbeat wouldn’t remember running into last time, but just about every single Micromaster released in the West. It’s not spelt out here, but presumably these are meant to be already evolved Gorlamites.
The following chase and street fight is perfectly fine, you can’t really go wrong with Nick Roche on art, but as with Cyclonus’ attack on Team Hound, it’s blatant padding. The two of them going straight to the dig and only running into the Micromasters once underground would have cut a fair few pages out.
This does give us time to see how the two team leaders are doing. On Garrus 9, Prime is watching a video feed of the Wreckers (with, chronologically, Whirl for the last time) failing to make any headway with Thunderwing as Prowl bemoans that they’re basically getting nowhere fast. Though at least Omega Supreme is able to phone in and give Cyclonus a name. And also Galvatron, because apparently no one thought to ask him after that Spotlight. With the connection to Nova Prime and Ark 1, Prime decides someone needs to have a look at the intended destination of that ship, the Benzuli Expanse.
Plus side though, this initially makes it look like the trip to the dig and the big hole will be nice and easy with no one to interfere as the natives go through their chrysalis. Until that is, the Micromasters appear. Not just the relatively small number Nightbeat wouldn’t remember running into last time, but just about every single Micromaster released in the West. It’s not spelt out here, but presumably these are meant to be already evolved Gorlamites.
The following chase and street fight is perfectly fine, you can’t really go wrong with Nick Roche on art, but as with Cyclonus’ attack on Team Hound, it’s blatant padding. The two of them going straight to the dig and only running into the Micromasters once underground would have cut a fair few pages out.
This does give us time to see how the two team leaders are doing. On Garrus 9, Prime is watching a video feed of the Wreckers (with, chronologically, Whirl for the last time) failing to make any headway with Thunderwing as Prowl bemoans that they’re basically getting nowhere fast. Though at least Omega Supreme is able to phone in and give Cyclonus a name. And also Galvatron, because apparently no one thought to ask him after that Spotlight. With the connection to Nova Prime and Ark 1, Prime decides someone needs to have a look at the intended destination of that ship, the Benzuli Expanse.
Prime was actually more proactive in the first issue of All Hail Megatron.
Suggesting no one has ever actually bothered to look for the famous missing ship where it was supposed to go before this.
Within the Dead Universe, Nemesis Prime has decided to revisit Ark 1 for a nostalgia tour before the big day where, thanks to Jhiaxus, they will finally go home and conquer. In a nice nod from Roche to the Ark design from Beast Wars, he bases the bridge on the Defiant from Deep Space Nice, with Nemesis using his death touch to dissolve one of those free-standing consoles that Sisko had by his Captain’s chair.
And he does that when in a good mood, so you can imagine how pissed he is learning from Jhiaxus the double whammy of Cyclonus having messed up and led the Autobots to one of the three Nega-Cores, and also that Nightbeat has made it back to Gorlam Prime. Which could ruin their plans and force Nemesis to step into events personally and do a direct action he’d hoped to avoid at all costs.
Amidst all this, it’s easy to miss that a throwaway mention of The Darkness is not just melodrama, but introducing a key concept of the series.
Within the Dead Universe, Nemesis Prime has decided to revisit Ark 1 for a nostalgia tour before the big day where, thanks to Jhiaxus, they will finally go home and conquer. In a nice nod from Roche to the Ark design from Beast Wars, he bases the bridge on the Defiant from Deep Space Nice, with Nemesis using his death touch to dissolve one of those free-standing consoles that Sisko had by his Captain’s chair.
And he does that when in a good mood, so you can imagine how pissed he is learning from Jhiaxus the double whammy of Cyclonus having messed up and led the Autobots to one of the three Nega-Cores, and also that Nightbeat has made it back to Gorlam Prime. Which could ruin their plans and force Nemesis to step into events personally and do a direct action he’d hoped to avoid at all costs.
Amidst all this, it’s easy to miss that a throwaway mention of The Darkness is not just melodrama, but introducing a key concept of the series.
Night-Beaten.
Back on Gorlam Prime, the two Autobots battle their way underground and, just as Nightbeat feels like he’s getting somewhere, his one eye flickers and suddenly he’s pointing a gun at Hardhead. The brainwashing has kicked in and he’s cheerfully explaining how the two Universes are going to be fused, with only the new Gorlamites in a position to survive it. The rulers of this new domain will be the Cybertronian elite, which Hardhead isn’t, so it’s time to say goodbye as he pulls the trigger...
Which is where we cutaway to Arcee, who has found the Decepticon Secret Service base Monstructor was taken to. But someone (Galvatron? Banzaitron says there were two attackers, so take your pick for the other out of Straxus or Grindcore) got there first, beat up everyone and ran off with the combiner. The just about still alive Banzaitron points out each of the prisoners had been tagged by his people, so why not do a team-up, his ability to find them coupled with Arcee’s ability to still stand up. Something that delights her if it leads to Jhiaxus.
And again, just writing Arcee as a character rather than obsessing on her backstory (even if it informs her actions) makes for a much closer take to the better remembered John Barber version than might be expected.
On Gorlam Prime, we get one of the greatest scenes Furman ever wrote for IDW. Possibly his last really great moment. Starting with Hardhead being shot in the head at point-blank range and shrugging it off, because he’s called Hardhead for a reason. Everything about this is perfect, from his disgruntled “Ow” through to the fact that this entire grand plan is undone because a grunt none of the villains have ever heard of has a dense skull. The most simple of overlooked details becomes the pin that pricks the balloon. With how involved this arc has become, that’s a very welcome simplicity as well.
Which is where we cutaway to Arcee, who has found the Decepticon Secret Service base Monstructor was taken to. But someone (Galvatron? Banzaitron says there were two attackers, so take your pick for the other out of Straxus or Grindcore) got there first, beat up everyone and ran off with the combiner. The just about still alive Banzaitron points out each of the prisoners had been tagged by his people, so why not do a team-up, his ability to find them coupled with Arcee’s ability to still stand up. Something that delights her if it leads to Jhiaxus.
And again, just writing Arcee as a character rather than obsessing on her backstory (even if it informs her actions) makes for a much closer take to the better remembered John Barber version than might be expected.
On Gorlam Prime, we get one of the greatest scenes Furman ever wrote for IDW. Possibly his last really great moment. Starting with Hardhead being shot in the head at point-blank range and shrugging it off, because he’s called Hardhead for a reason. Everything about this is perfect, from his disgruntled “Ow” through to the fact that this entire grand plan is undone because a grunt none of the villains have ever heard of has a dense skull. The most simple of overlooked details becomes the pin that pricks the balloon. With how involved this arc has become, that’s a very welcome simplicity as well.
The start of a beautiful friendship.
That’s nothing compared to what comes next though. As he beats of Micromasters and muses on how he has two modes—brutal and direct—you might expect the typical solution to a good guy being mind-controlled, most recently seen in Spotlight: Blaster. Lots of “You’re still in there, fight!” stuff, with perhaps the idea that Hardhead isn’t much of a motivational speaker adding some risk. But, with it ultimately working out.
But Hardhead is a problem solver, and is fully prepared to solve them in an ugly way. So, as he makes it to “The hole in the world” pool and is again given exposition by Nightbeat about the Dead Universe and its origins (which are basically, “No one knows”), he does exactly what he was asked on the first page and shoots Nightbeat in the head.
And as Nightbeat does not have a name suggesting cranial invulnerability, it goes right through and kills him instantly. It’s shocking, brutal and makes it hit home that Nightbeat really died a few pages earlier when the eyes flickered and he became someone else.
It also completely opens up what could happen in the next two issues, if Furman will kill Nightbeat, no one and nothing is safe (as long as you don’t remember he casually killed Nightbeat in Generation 2 because he’d forgotten Nightbeat was a favourite of his).
But Hardhead is a problem solver, and is fully prepared to solve them in an ugly way. So, as he makes it to “The hole in the world” pool and is again given exposition by Nightbeat about the Dead Universe and its origins (which are basically, “No one knows”), he does exactly what he was asked on the first page and shoots Nightbeat in the head.
And as Nightbeat does not have a name suggesting cranial invulnerability, it goes right through and kills him instantly. It’s shocking, brutal and makes it hit home that Nightbeat really died a few pages earlier when the eyes flickered and he became someone else.
It also completely opens up what could happen in the next two issues, if Furman will kill Nightbeat, no one and nothing is safe (as long as you don’t remember he casually killed Nightbeat in Generation 2 because he’d forgotten Nightbeat was a favourite of his).
If they live up to their names, no wonder they had to change Slag.
It’s one of the most powerful moments in this era, perfectly capped by Hardhead being forced backwards into the pool fighting Micromasters, but fully ready to meet his destiny...
“Head on”.
OK, the forcing in of the Headmasters catchphrase is odd in an entirely serious sequence, but what a sequence. And there’s nothing to suggest this isn’t the end for Hardhead as well. Something the next part will emphasise with what happens to its titular character.
What is unfortunate is, and spoiler for a long way off here, that Nightbeat will get better from being dead once he has a new toy to promote. And even further off, he’ll die again in a really annoying, pointless, and mean-spirited way. That frankly makes it not hard to wish this had stood as his real last moment, because it’s superior in every way.
In the Dead Universe, it’s made clear that for the last few pages, Nightbeat was actually Jhiaxus as the breaking of their mental link causes him a great deal of pain. And with the loss of their pawn, Nemesis Prime himself (opening his chest to reveal a mysterious glowing light) will have to take on the job Nightbeat was meant for, and is going to have to kill Optimus Prime himself!
“Head on”.
OK, the forcing in of the Headmasters catchphrase is odd in an entirely serious sequence, but what a sequence. And there’s nothing to suggest this isn’t the end for Hardhead as well. Something the next part will emphasise with what happens to its titular character.
What is unfortunate is, and spoiler for a long way off here, that Nightbeat will get better from being dead once he has a new toy to promote. And even further off, he’ll die again in a really annoying, pointless, and mean-spirited way. That frankly makes it not hard to wish this had stood as his real last moment, because it’s superior in every way.
In the Dead Universe, it’s made clear that for the last few pages, Nightbeat was actually Jhiaxus as the breaking of their mental link causes him a great deal of pain. And with the loss of their pawn, Nemesis Prime himself (opening his chest to reveal a mysterious glowing light) will have to take on the job Nightbeat was meant for, and is going to have to kill Optimus Prime himself!
Pictured on the right: Me, asking Hasbro when there's going to be a good Nightbeat toy.
Look, even ignoring the good luck required for Prime having called in wandering investigator Nightbeat to join his team, Jhiaxbeat couldn’t even kill Hardhead. I think they were overestimating how well he’d have done against a guy who makes a career of coming back from the dead within five minutes.
Having achieved a real high, the end of the issue dealing with plot housekeeping can only disappoint. First, an Autobot ship crewed by Cloudburst, Landmine, Groundbreaker and Waverider, have arrived at the Expanse and found a big gaping empty black void. Which lets Jetfire decide they need protection in there that can be provided by a process Prime isn’t sure of, but Jetfire thinks he’s refined. And if you know what gimmick those four toys came with, you know what’s coming.
The actual cliff-hanger into the third part is a phone call from Dealer, who cheerfully suggests what they really need is the Magnificence. I guess he didn’t get the memo that the Decepticon Secret Service and the Autobots are working together now.
This is an issue very much carried by the strength of the key central scene, with the death of Nightbeat being outstanding.
Having achieved a real high, the end of the issue dealing with plot housekeeping can only disappoint. First, an Autobot ship crewed by Cloudburst, Landmine, Groundbreaker and Waverider, have arrived at the Expanse and found a big gaping empty black void. Which lets Jetfire decide they need protection in there that can be provided by a process Prime isn’t sure of, but Jetfire thinks he’s refined. And if you know what gimmick those four toys came with, you know what’s coming.
The actual cliff-hanger into the third part is a phone call from Dealer, who cheerfully suggests what they really need is the Magnificence. I guess he didn’t get the memo that the Decepticon Secret Service and the Autobots are working together now.
This is an issue very much carried by the strength of the key central scene, with the death of Nightbeat being outstanding.
People will keep trying that.
Other than that, it does kind of meander with the format again meaning that the characters not directly in Hardhead’s orbit don’t actually do very much (except for Arcee, again), with seriously plot advancement only being possible on the last three pages when he’s dragged kicking and screaming out of the story.
The strength of that sequence does carry a lot of weight though, and when you throw in the casual brilliance of Nick Roche (love his big, dumb and square jawed Hardhead) that just about brings it in as above average. But it’s a very close thing and shooting beloved characters in the head is a surprise that can only be pulled off once. So, the third part will need a whole new trick. Whether it will manage it, we’ll see next week.
ALL HAIL MEGATRON ISSUE 1
2008
COMMENT
KO-FI
The strength of that sequence does carry a lot of weight though, and when you throw in the casual brilliance of Nick Roche (love his big, dumb and square jawed Hardhead) that just about brings it in as above average. But it’s a very close thing and shooting beloved characters in the head is a surprise that can only be pulled off once. So, the third part will need a whole new trick. Whether it will manage it, we’ll see next week.
ALL HAIL MEGATRON ISSUE 1
2008
COMMENT
KO-FI
