This Sunset Reminds Me of You, Does it Make You Think of Me Too?
Issue 25: Revolution Part 3/Megatron Origin Part 12/The Race/Beast Wars: The Ascending Part 12. 21st May 2009.
Prime! What a delightful surprise!
To wrap things up an issue earlier than planned, our final 2007 film comic is actually 15 pages rather than 11. Meaning that, I was wrong two issues ago and in fact this is the comic with the single biggest amount of original UK content in it, at a bumper 26 pages (yes, Animated is the full 11, where that mystery 12th page came from in issue 23 will likely never be solved). With basically an entire American issue in there as well, this is probably the most packed Transformers comic ever, full stop. The free magnets probably wouldn’t help keep it on the fridge.
The scale of the issue is especially interesting when we note the June-December 2008 sales figures (which may have been in previous issues and I only just noticed them) are down again, to a 24,617 average. But there are also signs I’ll talk about later that Titan are very happy with the success of the book still, and it should, in theory, be about to get a big boost.
Prime! What a delightful surprise!
To wrap things up an issue earlier than planned, our final 2007 film comic is actually 15 pages rather than 11. Meaning that, I was wrong two issues ago and in fact this is the comic with the single biggest amount of original UK content in it, at a bumper 26 pages (yes, Animated is the full 11, where that mystery 12th page came from in issue 23 will likely never be solved). With basically an entire American issue in there as well, this is probably the most packed Transformers comic ever, full stop. The free magnets probably wouldn’t help keep it on the fridge.
The scale of the issue is especially interesting when we note the June-December 2008 sales figures (which may have been in previous issues and I only just noticed them) are down again, to a 24,617 average. But there are also signs I’ll talk about later that Titan are very happy with the success of the book still, and it should, in theory, be about to get a big boost.
Lock, Stockade and two smoking fists.
The third part of Revolution begins a 23 consecutive issue run on art from Jon Davis-Hunt, which I believe is a record for Transformers. Which kicks off on a nice spread of Megatron’s body (apparently left on the floor of Sherman dam since the end of Twilight’s Last Gleaming?!) as Starscream approaches and is persuaded by the ghost in his head to thrust his Allspark Interface Module deep within Megatron’s core. Kinky sod. Though there’s one absolutely hilarious bit of comedy as, once Megatron has left him, Starscream gets his own mind back and his horrified.
Which is actually his last major role in the series, as he only shows up again later to make sure we know he’s been tagged.
Outside, we get what is arguably a padding sequence of Stockade taking out Blackout by throwing Scorponok into his face. But frankly, it’s an amazing moment, so I’ll let it pass. The key thing though is him telling Fracture “Maybe, maybe not” when he’s asked about giving America back to the humans after they’ve liberated it.
Which is actually his last major role in the series, as he only shows up again later to make sure we know he’s been tagged.
Outside, we get what is arguably a padding sequence of Stockade taking out Blackout by throwing Scorponok into his face. But frankly, it’s an amazing moment, so I’ll let it pass. The key thing though is him telling Fracture “Maybe, maybe not” when he’s asked about giving America back to the humans after they’ve liberated it.
Fee, Thigh, Foe Thumb,,,
The main reason for the page extension comes as Mikaela meets Tom Banachek (now looking like Paul Robinson from Neighbours Stefan Dennis in the Dr. Karl Kennedy/Alan Fletcher music video for If You Want a Happy Christmas music video. And there’s your obscure reference for the day. This is the last time anyone would remember Tom Banachek exists) at the (Jon) D(avis) H(unt) dinner. Where EXPOSITION comes in hard as he explains Prime was fully aware of all the shit going down and has had him work out who all the mind controlled officials are and now the Autobots are back for the endgame.
Because Whatever It Takes.
To break up the talking, we cut to Stockade arriving in full hands on hips mode at the Decepticon base, only to be confronted by a Megatron that’s 98% thigh and who is incredibly pleased with himself as he boasts about “Your lord and master has returned”.
Back at exposition, Mikaela is pissed at Bumblebee as he explains the elaborate Mission Impossible style ruse to fake their deaths, that probably goes into a bit too much detail with double ships and interrupted signals. Especially as it’s fairly clear how it happened and Dark of the Moon will later just assume you can work it out on your own.
Because Whatever It Takes.
To break up the talking, we cut to Stockade arriving in full hands on hips mode at the Decepticon base, only to be confronted by a Megatron that’s 98% thigh and who is incredibly pleased with himself as he boasts about “Your lord and master has returned”.
Back at exposition, Mikaela is pissed at Bumblebee as he explains the elaborate Mission Impossible style ruse to fake their deaths, that probably goes into a bit too much detail with double ships and interrupted signals. Especially as it’s fairly clear how it happened and Dark of the Moon will later just assume you can work it out on your own.
Those two guys.
There isn’t really a good reason for them not to have taken Mikaela into their confidences either. She thinks it’s to do with having been compromised once already, but Banachek has his means of spotting cerebro shells. So really, it was just for DRAMA. Compared to that, in Megatron’s Master Plan, the Autobots don’t actually fake their deaths (they only just survive a trap by chance) and in Dark of the Moon, Sam is compromised.
The Autobots arrive at the Decepticon heartland just in time to both finish the exposition and see Megatron make a mockery of Stockade’s big bad boast of how great nucleon has made him. Which is where we start to get an idea of what they’ve been up to whilst in hiding.
The plan is actually quite clever, and a neat way of dealing with both the Autobots being badly outnumbered and that the comic apparently can’t be quite as violent as the films.
So in a plot taken from Star Trek Insurrection, the Autobots (including a soulless dead eyed Arcee) fire tags onto all the Decepticons that Evac can then lock onto and use to beam them all away to Cybertron.
The Autobots arrive at the Decepticon heartland just in time to both finish the exposition and see Megatron make a mockery of Stockade’s big bad boast of how great nucleon has made him. Which is where we start to get an idea of what they’ve been up to whilst in hiding.
The plan is actually quite clever, and a neat way of dealing with both the Autobots being badly outnumbered and that the comic apparently can’t be quite as violent as the films.
So in a plot taken from Star Trek Insurrection, the Autobots (including a soulless dead eyed Arcee) fire tags onto all the Decepticons that Evac can then lock onto and use to beam them all away to Cybertron.
"And then you wake up on this flying holodeck..."
This means the cover promised fight between Prime and Megatron is actually a distraction, though it is good fun, with Megatron just absolutely delighted his good day continues to get better as he sees a chance to curb stomp his old enemy again.
And when I say all the Decepticons are tagged, I mean all of them. Even though no one heard Stockade’s uncertainty, they’ve just assumed he’s going to betray them and tag all his boys as well. Which is a final bit of prescience for Dark of the Moon, quickly getting rid of the Decepticon who helped out at the end. And I suspect the couple of lines making it clear Stockade was thinking of turning on the Autobots were added at the last second to make this seem less dickish.
Once everyone is beamed to Cybertron/Unicron (with Megatron getting one last shout of “PRIIIIIME!”), Evac’s team run from the planet and it is teleported away from Earth as well. With it being made clear that without resources or parts, all the Decepticons will quickly die horribly of robot starvation.
So not really that less violent then.
And when I say all the Decepticons are tagged, I mean all of them. Even though no one heard Stockade’s uncertainty, they’ve just assumed he’s going to betray them and tag all his boys as well. Which is a final bit of prescience for Dark of the Moon, quickly getting rid of the Decepticon who helped out at the end. And I suspect the couple of lines making it clear Stockade was thinking of turning on the Autobots were added at the last second to make this seem less dickish.
Once everyone is beamed to Cybertron/Unicron (with Megatron getting one last shout of “PRIIIIIME!”), Evac’s team run from the planet and it is teleported away from Earth as well. With it being made clear that without resources or parts, all the Decepticons will quickly die horribly of robot starvation.
So not really that less violent then.
And we end on the shock twist of Megan Fox drawn with normal breasts.
Which is where we hit the quick wrap-up, establishing the Autobots are going to stick around and Mikaela and Bumblebee riding off into what is, against all odds, not a sunset.
Meaning that, though we can work through the logic of Banachek being able to sort things out, we don’t get an onscreen comeuppance for Allen. Possibly because whatever idea Furman had for the T.F. Allen gag had gone sour from the Fallen being in cinemas soon. So hopefully he’s off hanging around with Jazz somewhere.
Despite there just being enough padding to make it feel like it didn’t need to be a longer issue, this is a very strong climax to what is, if not the end of the second golden age of UK comics (Titan are going to try hard with Revenge of the Fallen for a while), is very much the cap to a fantastic run that shows Furman at his best.
On art, Davis-Hunt is a bit too keen on massive legs, but is really getting the hang of it now, making the (heavily promoted as a result of complaints about the constantly changing designs) promise of him as the regular artist reassuring.
Meaning that, though we can work through the logic of Banachek being able to sort things out, we don’t get an onscreen comeuppance for Allen. Possibly because whatever idea Furman had for the T.F. Allen gag had gone sour from the Fallen being in cinemas soon. So hopefully he’s off hanging around with Jazz somewhere.
Despite there just being enough padding to make it feel like it didn’t need to be a longer issue, this is a very strong climax to what is, if not the end of the second golden age of UK comics (Titan are going to try hard with Revenge of the Fallen for a while), is very much the cap to a fantastic run that shows Furman at his best.
On art, Davis-Hunt is a bit too keen on massive legs, but is really getting the hang of it now, making the (heavily promoted as a result of complaints about the constantly changing designs) promise of him as the regular artist reassuring.
Uneasy lies the buckethead.
Megatron Origin’s conclusion gives an entire page over to the secret origin of Ratbat (Soundwave shoots him and turns him into a cassette for giggles) that is both unintentionally hilarious and the best thing here.
Otherwise, it’s big fight between Megatron and Sentinel Prime that is only really entertaining in hindsight, knowing that IDW are going to do a lot of ridiculous things with Sentinel that makes his slightly dumb thug here seem very out of character. It’s also odd to see him as something other than an orange Astrotrain.
With Prime seemingly killed (he gets better because he’s actually an ancient Headmaster or something) and the Autobots forced to abandon Kaon, we end on Megatron sat upon a throne and plotting for the future. One that will involve a lot more poetry and less going “Ughh”.
It’s been an odd comic, and the art has felt more rushed towards the end. It’s probably best appreciated in the wider context of IDW, where a lot of work has been done to rehabilitate it, rather than read in isolation.
Otherwise, it’s big fight between Megatron and Sentinel Prime that is only really entertaining in hindsight, knowing that IDW are going to do a lot of ridiculous things with Sentinel that makes his slightly dumb thug here seem very out of character. It’s also odd to see him as something other than an orange Astrotrain.
With Prime seemingly killed (he gets better because he’s actually an ancient Headmaster or something) and the Autobots forced to abandon Kaon, we end on Megatron sat upon a throne and plotting for the future. One that will involve a lot more poetry and less going “Ughh”.
It’s been an odd comic, and the art has felt more rushed towards the end. It’s probably best appreciated in the wider context of IDW, where a lot of work has been done to rehabilitate it, rather than read in isolation.
In the middle of the Megatron: Origin reprint we get the final Animated comic, Race, once more from Etherington and McRea. Which gets its own cover again and is entirely stand-alone, being about a... well... race.
After Bumblebee breaks the speed limit and runs more than ten red lights to deliver a pizza to Sari (good lad), Prowl challenges him to a fair race. And Sari knows the best place to hold it, a mountainous old course her dad used to do tests on.
Unfortunately, Black Arachina has put a tracer on Bumblebee, and having realised teamwork is what makes the Autobots tough to beat, she decides to take them out one by one during the race.
After Bumblebee breaks the speed limit and runs more than ten red lights to deliver a pizza to Sari (good lad), Prowl challenges him to a fair race. And Sari knows the best place to hold it, a mountainous old course her dad used to do tests on.
Unfortunately, Black Arachina has put a tracer on Bumblebee, and having realised teamwork is what makes the Autobots tough to beat, she decides to take them out one by one during the race.
Bumblebee thinks he's the fucking narrator.
Once the race starts (with Prime insisting Bulkhead be allowed to participate if he wants regardless of how slow he is), ArArachnianut and Blitzwing grab Prowl, but Bumblebee is able to rescue him after confusing things by putting the tracker on Lugnut’s ass before causing a cave-in.
When they re-join the race, it turns out Bulkhead has won because he’s better than them.
This is the best of the Animated comics, doing nothing more than having slightly daft fun and doing it very well, with some neat lines along the way and giving an indication of what the Prime comic is going to be like.
It’s also fitting we end up on Lugnut’s ass.
When they re-join the race, it turns out Bulkhead has won because he’s better than them.
This is the best of the Animated comics, doing nothing more than having slightly daft fun and doing it very well, with some neat lines along the way and giving an indication of what the Prime comic is going to be like.
It’s also fitting we end up on Lugnut’s ass.
*Ending immediately undone*
If the lead strip shows Furman at his best, Beast Wars concludes with him at his worst. He has a strange obsession with entropy as a threat, despite it never really working. Necrowar was canned three issues in, whatever his plans were for the Dead Universe in the main IDW continuity were scarped by falling sales meaning it had to be wound up quickly and ReGeneration One was terrible. So seeing Cybertron be consumed by some sort of green possessive death is incredibly uninteresting.
The main plot is switched off by Shokaract being sent to Magmatron’s white void, where they’re told they’re only a pawn of Unicron and this so depresses them they immediately commit suicide.
Or something. It certainly feels anticlimactic, especially as I didn’t realise they weren’t aware of the being consumed by Unicron endgame.
It also comes across as kind of pissy. It is very clear by this point that Furman knew sales across the two series had fallen to the point there wasn’t going to be any more, so after The Gathering spent so much time setting up a large cast format that could have run for years, this ruthlessly shuts it down with everyone coming back to Cybertron and previously lead of the series Razorbeast being killed off-page by being shot in the head by a friend in what feels like a “Fine, no fucking more then” statement.
Especially as the whole thing ends on the reveal the series was just a shaggy dog (or dragon) story as, with everyone relieved things are over, Beast Wars Megatron arrives ready to start Beast Machines, meaning something terrible immediately happens to everyone.
The main plot is switched off by Shokaract being sent to Magmatron’s white void, where they’re told they’re only a pawn of Unicron and this so depresses them they immediately commit suicide.
Or something. It certainly feels anticlimactic, especially as I didn’t realise they weren’t aware of the being consumed by Unicron endgame.
It also comes across as kind of pissy. It is very clear by this point that Furman knew sales across the two series had fallen to the point there wasn’t going to be any more, so after The Gathering spent so much time setting up a large cast format that could have run for years, this ruthlessly shuts it down with everyone coming back to Cybertron and previously lead of the series Razorbeast being killed off-page by being shot in the head by a friend in what feels like a “Fine, no fucking more then” statement.
Especially as the whole thing ends on the reveal the series was just a shaggy dog (or dragon) story as, with everyone relieved things are over, Beast Wars Megatron arrives ready to start Beast Machines, meaning something terrible immediately happens to everyone.
Looks like it boldly went into cancellation.
Though there were a variety of other IDW mini-series Titan could have put into service as reprints to keep the three strip format going, it’s unsurprising that they’ll try something a little different for the relaunch. Certainly, after a fairly strong presence in the reader art, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen any mention of Beast Wars in Star Screams....
The comic is so packed, there’s little room for extras beyond a list of prior competition winners and Top Gear, with new competitions for Rhythm Paradise on the DS and TIM: Defender of the Earth by Sam Enthoven and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy and Steven Hawking(!) books. There’s not even a poster of what will be our final original cover for a while.
There are however some interesting adverts. First, is a two page spread that opens the comic before the editorial (which is smug about fooling you over the Autobots’ deaths, but oddly doesn’t mention the big news next issue) promoting H.M. Armed Forces toys. You like robot war? You’ll love real war!
The especially interesting ones though are for two new Titan comics attempting to replicate the success of Transformers. The first the 2009 Star Trek film (reprinting the Countdown comic), the second... Terminator Salvation.
Hmm.
Neither would last long (there’s also a Panini G.I. Joe film comic around this time), but the free robot grabber hand with the Terminator comic is very familiar. I believe painted yellow it was later meant to be Bumblebee’s arm on one of the early Robots in Disguise issues and I’ve seen it stapled to the front of at least one other comic. Not bad for what on the surface seems to be a very distinctive gift.
Starscream ends his tenure on the letters page in a foul mood, most obviously responding to Helen Gould of Cambridgeshire’s perfectly reasonable and well written questions about how Transformers sleep with complete scorn. There’s also a lengthy letter Devoran from the West Country that, considering he claims to be five years old, was clearly entirely written by his overly enthusiastic dad who wants to do toilet jokes.
The comic is so packed, there’s little room for extras beyond a list of prior competition winners and Top Gear, with new competitions for Rhythm Paradise on the DS and TIM: Defender of the Earth by Sam Enthoven and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy and Steven Hawking(!) books. There’s not even a poster of what will be our final original cover for a while.
There are however some interesting adverts. First, is a two page spread that opens the comic before the editorial (which is smug about fooling you over the Autobots’ deaths, but oddly doesn’t mention the big news next issue) promoting H.M. Armed Forces toys. You like robot war? You’ll love real war!
The especially interesting ones though are for two new Titan comics attempting to replicate the success of Transformers. The first the 2009 Star Trek film (reprinting the Countdown comic), the second... Terminator Salvation.
Hmm.
Neither would last long (there’s also a Panini G.I. Joe film comic around this time), but the free robot grabber hand with the Terminator comic is very familiar. I believe painted yellow it was later meant to be Bumblebee’s arm on one of the early Robots in Disguise issues and I’ve seen it stapled to the front of at least one other comic. Not bad for what on the surface seems to be a very distinctive gift.
Starscream ends his tenure on the letters page in a foul mood, most obviously responding to Helen Gould of Cambridgeshire’s perfectly reasonable and well written questions about how Transformers sleep with complete scorn. There’s also a lengthy letter Devoran from the West Country that, considering he claims to be five years old, was clearly entirely written by his overly enthusiastic dad who wants to do toilet jokes.
I guess this didn't... grab audiences.
We do get a final Arcee’s Soulmates, which ends with Natalie from Hartlip looking for someone who loves SF and fantasy. Was this whole overdrawn gag just a long game for Natalie to get a date?
As we end the first volume, it’s worth wondering why this represents the peak of the book. If you look at the sales figures for the Marvel UK comic in Ryan Frost’s excellent Transform and Roll Out book, that comic was at its most successful exactly when you’d expect: in the lead up to the release of the original film (I’m not going to spoil his exclusive research, but the fact sales start their drop-off from January 1987 shows the damage the film did do to the brand).
In the case of the Bay films, we’re truly about to hit the golden age of the peak of their public popularity. Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon are going to be ridiculously, insanely massively successful films. With the later even managing to get onto the top ten most successful films of all time for a while. Whatever fans and critics thought, audiences ate them up.
So, why does the comic almost immediately start its decline? It will attempt to carry on in the same style, but by the start of 2010, notable format changes and cutbacks will have kicked in. Why wasn’t it able to coast on the coattails of the popularity of the new film in the way this first volume did 2007?
Was it Revenge of the Fallen skewering a little older and the comic going younger? The assumption from Furman that Skids and Mudflap were going to be double Bumblebee popular meaning the comic will spend a long time focused on what even the most generous of people regard as the movie’s weakest link? Or is it simply that, with the attempts to repeat the success the book all failing (Terminator Salvation will not manage 75 issues), Titan became less enthused by the whole idea of restoring the classic licensed comic market and decided to make it a little more standard?
Hopefully this will be a mystery we’ll get some answers to over the next two years worth of comics.
But of course, next week, it’s not just the first issue of the Revenge of the Fallen comic. There’s a film to talk about as well...
ISSUE 24
2009
COMMENT
KO-FI
As we end the first volume, it’s worth wondering why this represents the peak of the book. If you look at the sales figures for the Marvel UK comic in Ryan Frost’s excellent Transform and Roll Out book, that comic was at its most successful exactly when you’d expect: in the lead up to the release of the original film (I’m not going to spoil his exclusive research, but the fact sales start their drop-off from January 1987 shows the damage the film did do to the brand).
In the case of the Bay films, we’re truly about to hit the golden age of the peak of their public popularity. Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon are going to be ridiculously, insanely massively successful films. With the later even managing to get onto the top ten most successful films of all time for a while. Whatever fans and critics thought, audiences ate them up.
So, why does the comic almost immediately start its decline? It will attempt to carry on in the same style, but by the start of 2010, notable format changes and cutbacks will have kicked in. Why wasn’t it able to coast on the coattails of the popularity of the new film in the way this first volume did 2007?
Was it Revenge of the Fallen skewering a little older and the comic going younger? The assumption from Furman that Skids and Mudflap were going to be double Bumblebee popular meaning the comic will spend a long time focused on what even the most generous of people regard as the movie’s weakest link? Or is it simply that, with the attempts to repeat the success the book all failing (Terminator Salvation will not manage 75 issues), Titan became less enthused by the whole idea of restoring the classic licensed comic market and decided to make it a little more standard?
Hopefully this will be a mystery we’ll get some answers to over the next two years worth of comics.
But of course, next week, it’s not just the first issue of the Revenge of the Fallen comic. There’s a film to talk about as well...
ISSUE 24
2009
COMMENT
KO-FI
