Everybody do the Dinosaur.
Spotlight: Shockwave. September 13th 2006.
Find me something with some... bite. Unless the plan is to make Shockwave die laughing.
There’s quite a lot to talk about before we get to the comic itself with this issue, starting with the artist as, after letters page mascots and covers, Nick Roche provides his first interior art.
Which is a massively important and defining moment for IDW. It is incredibly hard to argue that this former member of the TMUK fan group is not the single most important creator in the original continuity. Especially when you factor in the actual amount of content he worked on (which, against the hundreds of issues, is only the tiniest amount) verses its influence.
As an artist, his style (which is great, but doesn’t require the technical drawing skills that being influenced by E.J. Su would take) quickly set the look for the company and was an inspiration to many younger artists who worked on the comics in later years, such as Kei Zama.
Find me something with some... bite. Unless the plan is to make Shockwave die laughing.
There’s quite a lot to talk about before we get to the comic itself with this issue, starting with the artist as, after letters page mascots and covers, Nick Roche provides his first interior art.
Which is a massively important and defining moment for IDW. It is incredibly hard to argue that this former member of the TMUK fan group is not the single most important creator in the original continuity. Especially when you factor in the actual amount of content he worked on (which, against the hundreds of issues, is only the tiniest amount) verses its influence.
As an artist, his style (which is great, but doesn’t require the technical drawing skills that being influenced by E.J. Su would take) quickly set the look for the company and was an inspiration to many younger artists who worked on the comics in later years, such as Kei Zama.
A page that launched a career.
He was also responsible for coming up with designs that lasted. He created the style for More Than Meets the Eye in one issue and the subsequent two lead artists, with their own twists, stuck with it for over 80 issues.
Even here, his “Normal” Dinobot designs that are introduced here very briefly at the end, will be still the same 12 years and numerous artists later. Which is pretty damn impressive for a first-time gig (and they are pretty much the only characters to feature prominently across the entire run that no one felt needed a redesign).
As a writer... Well, as someone who tends to talk more about the writing than the art, I’ll be going very much into depth on that as well go along. But, not only would I argue he has the best hit-rate of any of the IDW writers, he created numerous concepts and ideas that, again, have a massive impact over the years.
He was also something of a kingmaker for UK creators on the series. He championed getting James Roberts aboard and eventually snuck him in as a consultant and co-writer, leading to what will be the first ever award-winning Transformers comic when he went solo. He also put Jack Lawrence’s name forward many times, before getting him a Sins of the Wreckers cover that would, again, lead to a long run as a lead artist.
Even here, his “Normal” Dinobot designs that are introduced here very briefly at the end, will be still the same 12 years and numerous artists later. Which is pretty damn impressive for a first-time gig (and they are pretty much the only characters to feature prominently across the entire run that no one felt needed a redesign).
As a writer... Well, as someone who tends to talk more about the writing than the art, I’ll be going very much into depth on that as well go along. But, not only would I argue he has the best hit-rate of any of the IDW writers, he created numerous concepts and ideas that, again, have a massive impact over the years.
He was also something of a kingmaker for UK creators on the series. He championed getting James Roberts aboard and eventually snuck him in as a consultant and co-writer, leading to what will be the first ever award-winning Transformers comic when he went solo. He also put Jack Lawrence’s name forward many times, before getting him a Sins of the Wreckers cover that would, again, lead to a long run as a lead artist.
Bot in a suitcase.
(Though for clarity, because I have had experience of TMUKers being very defensive of their own, I’m not suggesting anyone wasn’t good enough to earn work on their own merits. But comics are not a meritocracy and there are lots of very good fan writers and artists. Who you know will often be the deciding factor in if you get work, second only to licensed comic companies liking people who’ll work as cheaply and as hard as fans looking for a break)
And the amazing thing about Nick’s first work is how assured it is already. It’s not completely what we will come to expect of him—you can have done all the fan comics in the world, but working on Transformers professionally is still a learning curve (based on chats with a few artists, it’s mainly learning it’s OK to cheat and cut corners rather than completely breaking yourself on every page to meet the punishing schedule)—but it still looks great, with a real energy and passion to it that may not be as immediately striking as Infiltration, or a lot of what we’ll see from Nick in future, but is still incredibly striking stuff.
The second most important thing is we have a new format. A loose miniseries (they’ll basically do enough every year to create a trade) of, in theory, standalone issues, each focused—or giving a “Spotlight” to—on a popular character.
Not an uncommon idea at the time for 80s revivals (I had a couple of Battle of the Planets ones) and it’s a great idea, a way of grabbing floating readers who’ll look at the cover and go “Hey, I remember him” and giving them a done in one story as a taster that can potentially lure them in to trying the more involved miniseries. It should be very hard to fail at it.
And the amazing thing about Nick’s first work is how assured it is already. It’s not completely what we will come to expect of him—you can have done all the fan comics in the world, but working on Transformers professionally is still a learning curve (based on chats with a few artists, it’s mainly learning it’s OK to cheat and cut corners rather than completely breaking yourself on every page to meet the punishing schedule)—but it still looks great, with a real energy and passion to it that may not be as immediately striking as Infiltration, or a lot of what we’ll see from Nick in future, but is still incredibly striking stuff.
The second most important thing is we have a new format. A loose miniseries (they’ll basically do enough every year to create a trade) of, in theory, standalone issues, each focused—or giving a “Spotlight” to—on a popular character.
Not an uncommon idea at the time for 80s revivals (I had a couple of Battle of the Planets ones) and it’s a great idea, a way of grabbing floating readers who’ll look at the cover and go “Hey, I remember him” and giving them a done in one story as a taster that can potentially lure them in to trying the more involved miniseries. It should be very hard to fail at it.
Dynobots. Sigh.
IDW will fail at it. Mainly because they will increasingly not be spotlights on a particular character, but where essential to the main book’s subplots the writers (and it’s not just Furman who’ll be guilty of this) apparently couldn’t be bothered to fit into the main book get dealt with instead. Meaning they are often impenetrable messes to anyone who just likes, say, Galvatron. And can’t be skipped by people reading the main title if they want that to make any sense. The worst of all worlds.
I think this actually wound up having a negative impact on the perception of the ...tions books as well, in particular their pacing. If Furman can’t actually fit the essential plotlines into his six-issue miniseries, then there has to be something going wrong there.
The best Spotlights will be the most standalone. They may lightly use the wider picture or finish on a The End...? caption, but they still work without having the wiki open on your phone to check things.
And, to finally arrive at the comic itself, that’s what Spotlight: Shockwave does in spades.
It’s also a surprising book in context. As I’ve said, Furman is very keen to use the IDW comics to put his definitive “That’s what I’d do” take on Transformers’ lore. And as Grimlock is his signature character and he generally wrote him very differently to Budiansky, you might expect him to be chomping at the bit to produce his own unique backstory to him.
I think this actually wound up having a negative impact on the perception of the ...tions books as well, in particular their pacing. If Furman can’t actually fit the essential plotlines into his six-issue miniseries, then there has to be something going wrong there.
The best Spotlights will be the most standalone. They may lightly use the wider picture or finish on a The End...? caption, but they still work without having the wiki open on your phone to check things.
And, to finally arrive at the comic itself, that’s what Spotlight: Shockwave does in spades.
It’s also a surprising book in context. As I’ve said, Furman is very keen to use the IDW comics to put his definitive “That’s what I’d do” take on Transformers’ lore. And as Grimlock is his signature character and he generally wrote him very differently to Budiansky, you might expect him to be chomping at the bit to produce his own unique backstory to him.
Going into 2021 like a Nick Roche Mammoth.
And there was a little bit of that in Dreamwave’s War Within, where Grimlock was a former Decepticon gladiator (parts of which will seep into the IDW stuff as well). But, in an unexpected twist, this comic throwing Shockwave and the “Dynobots” (sigh) into conflict is not some bold new take, but a fairly reverential reworking of the battle between them in the Savage land that Bob Budiansky produced for Marvel to cover where these characters came from and why they look like dinosaurs. He clearly has genuine affection for that story and decided not to throw the baby out with the bathwater here.
Which is where using the wider plots lightly comes in, they’re generally just substitutes for things that were unique to Marvel and can’t just be ported straight over.
Which results in a fairly straightforward comic, which is lucky as I’m 1000 words in without talking about the plot.
Thousands of years ago, Shockwave turns out to be behind what he calls the “Regenesis” ore (what Starscream has been calling Ore 13), having sneakily seeded it on various planets in order to see what happens when it comes to its full potency.
Which is where using the wider plots lightly comes in, they’re generally just substitutes for things that were unique to Marvel and can’t just be ported straight over.
Which results in a fairly straightforward comic, which is lucky as I’m 1000 words in without talking about the plot.
Thousands of years ago, Shockwave turns out to be behind what he calls the “Regenesis” ore (what Starscream has been calling Ore 13), having sneakily seeded it on various planets in order to see what happens when it comes to its full potency.
Give us Mooselock you cowards.
He does this in an extensive voiceover (which will become the standard format for Spotlights, getting literally into the character’s head), but unlike the similar narration in Stormbringer, its distinct rather than ponderous, you can tell its calm logical Shockwave just from the text.
One of the planets is Earth (I’ll just mention now and then ignore till we get there that John Barber is going to make this very simple idea far more convoluted), and after a degree of time he goes there alone and without anyone knowing in order to check the progress of his experiment.
Which, hilariously because “Shockwave did it” was already a cliché and this is one of the sillier examples, it turns out the environmental changes caused by the super energon is killing the mammoths.
What a bastard.
One of the planets is Earth (I’ll just mention now and then ignore till we get there that John Barber is going to make this very simple idea far more convoluted), and after a degree of time he goes there alone and without anyone knowing in order to check the progress of his experiment.
Which, hilariously because “Shockwave did it” was already a cliché and this is one of the sillier examples, it turns out the environmental changes caused by the super energon is killing the mammoths.
What a bastard.
*Guitar Riff*
Now Shockwave does run the risk of being a bit dry as a lead, so coming into orbit in their own spaceship are the Dynobots (sigh). Who, in probably the most overt sign that Nick isn’t quite as confident as he’ll become, have Cybertonian modes that are near enough exactly the same as they had in War Within.
And their reason for being there is incredibly petty. Prior to this, Shockwave was, as part of a routine mission, responsible for stopping an energon theft of theirs by blowing up the energon. Something so trivial, that when he hacks their private comms during the battle later in the issue and hears the reasons, at first he can barely remember it and then can’t quite believe they’ve ignored order from Optimus Prime to chase him halfway across the galaxy just to settle a score.
In doing so, they’ve stumbled across something much bigger and don’t care, noticing the erratic energon signals on the planet but only being interested in the fact they’ll protection from it.
Which is where Furman brings in an idea from Beast Wars to replace the Savage Land, that adopting an animal form with an organic shell will act as a shield from the energon. And as Grimlock isn’t impressed by the living animals on offer (shame as we’ll never get Moose Grimlock), Snarl instead offers up some fossils.
Though Snarl, mate, dinosaurs aren’t reptilian. I’m not sure you’re qualified to be the organic tech guy with that sort of mistake.
And their reason for being there is incredibly petty. Prior to this, Shockwave was, as part of a routine mission, responsible for stopping an energon theft of theirs by blowing up the energon. Something so trivial, that when he hacks their private comms during the battle later in the issue and hears the reasons, at first he can barely remember it and then can’t quite believe they’ve ignored order from Optimus Prime to chase him halfway across the galaxy just to settle a score.
In doing so, they’ve stumbled across something much bigger and don’t care, noticing the erratic energon signals on the planet but only being interested in the fact they’ll protection from it.
Which is where Furman brings in an idea from Beast Wars to replace the Savage Land, that adopting an animal form with an organic shell will act as a shield from the energon. And as Grimlock isn’t impressed by the living animals on offer (shame as we’ll never get Moose Grimlock), Snarl instead offers up some fossils.
Though Snarl, mate, dinosaurs aren’t reptilian. I’m not sure you’re qualified to be the organic tech guy with that sort of mistake.
Swoop, going for the eye. Smart lad.
Which is basically the preamble to the main event, a huge fight between the organic Dynobots (sigh) and Shockwave. With the fleshy boys looking so good it’s actually a shame they’re only going to be used for this issue.
The fight itself is done brilliantly, with lots of great visual moments. But the smartest thing is a choice of Furman’s that keeps it firmly a Shockwave story rather than a Grimlock one where Shockwave is the McGuffin.
After the aforementioned hacking of their communications, the completely baffled Shockwave, realises he’s losing and it’s time to fight fire with fire. So, he decides to “Evolve” and come up with a simulation of rage that allows him to become as equally pissed off as Grimlock.
And he wipes the floor with them. Helped by their skin gets gradually removed as the fight goes along (though we only get a good look at Grimlock in his final form, meaning I can save me Very Lengthy thoughts on Swoop for another day), meaning their protection also gets removed and everyone goes into stasis lock (another Beast Wars idea). With Grimlock wonderfully trying to reach for Shockwave to throttle him till the very last second.
The simulated emotion idea is a neat one, and gives a new perspective on Shockwave. I’m not sure this is really compatible with what James Roberts will later reveal is the cause of his emotionlessness, but here and now this on and off switch idea works very well.
The fight itself is done brilliantly, with lots of great visual moments. But the smartest thing is a choice of Furman’s that keeps it firmly a Shockwave story rather than a Grimlock one where Shockwave is the McGuffin.
After the aforementioned hacking of their communications, the completely baffled Shockwave, realises he’s losing and it’s time to fight fire with fire. So, he decides to “Evolve” and come up with a simulation of rage that allows him to become as equally pissed off as Grimlock.
And he wipes the floor with them. Helped by their skin gets gradually removed as the fight goes along (though we only get a good look at Grimlock in his final form, meaning I can save me Very Lengthy thoughts on Swoop for another day), meaning their protection also gets removed and everyone goes into stasis lock (another Beast Wars idea). With Grimlock wonderfully trying to reach for Shockwave to throttle him till the very last second.
The simulated emotion idea is a neat one, and gives a new perspective on Shockwave. I’m not sure this is really compatible with what James Roberts will later reveal is the cause of his emotionlessness, but here and now this on and off switch idea works very well.
Avert your eyes, Grimlock is naked.
But turns out Shockwave is not as basic a bitch as Grimlock. Just as he’s experimenting with smugness as a simulated emotion, it turns out that the Dynobot (sigh) leader had a backup plan. He’d set the autopilot on their ship to bomb the entire area if they didn’t come back.
Which it promptly does.
It’s not completely clear from the flashback that the other Dynobots (sigh) are unaware that he’s doing this, which is a shame as that will become a key plot point later on (when he tells Swoop he’s doing one last thing, it’s entirely likely Swoop knows what the thing is), but it’s a great ending where Grimlock wins on a technicality as everyone gets buried in a massive explosion.
Which brings us back round to how the Marvel story ended.
We then get a couple of The End...? codas. The first is Megatron ordering Bludgeon to find out where Shockwave vanished to, and the second in the present day, as archaeologists in Eureka Nevada did up a giant purple hand.
Which it promptly does.
It’s not completely clear from the flashback that the other Dynobots (sigh) are unaware that he’s doing this, which is a shame as that will become a key plot point later on (when he tells Swoop he’s doing one last thing, it’s entirely likely Swoop knows what the thing is), but it’s a great ending where Grimlock wins on a technicality as everyone gets buried in a massive explosion.
Which brings us back round to how the Marvel story ended.
We then get a couple of The End...? codas. The first is Megatron ordering Bludgeon to find out where Shockwave vanished to, and the second in the present day, as archaeologists in Eureka Nevada did up a giant purple hand.
Give him a big hand.
But, neither of those distract from the story working as a standalone.
And the final result is great fun, fast paced and full of strong art from the lad Roche. It’s Furman in his comfort zone, but working it well, with the only real issue being that Bob Budiansky really should have gotten a “Based on a story by” credit and payment.
But that’s licensed property politics for you, and can’t distract from an issue that makes it look like the Spotlight series is going to be nice and straightforward blockbuster entertainment.
Just a shame it won’t last.
What also can’t last is the railway track, as next week I arrive at the terminal for Hearts of Steel.
STORMBRINGER ISSUE 3
2005-2006
COMMENT
KO-FI
And the final result is great fun, fast paced and full of strong art from the lad Roche. It’s Furman in his comfort zone, but working it well, with the only real issue being that Bob Budiansky really should have gotten a “Based on a story by” credit and payment.
But that’s licensed property politics for you, and can’t distract from an issue that makes it look like the Spotlight series is going to be nice and straightforward blockbuster entertainment.
Just a shame it won’t last.
What also can’t last is the railway track, as next week I arrive at the terminal for Hearts of Steel.
STORMBRINGER ISSUE 3
2005-2006
COMMENT
KO-FI
