Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child.
Issue 150: The Legacy of Unicron! Part 5. 23rd January 1988.
Unicron! If only we knew more about him.
Astute readers will have noticed that up till now, each of my entries on an instalment of this story has been titled from a Bond song lyric, reflecting the general tone and feel of the piece. I've not gone into huge depth on this as I covered a lot of Furman's interest in Bond during the Volcano story, but props to reader Ryan F for observing Unicron's entire pit both sides against each other plot is taken from the film of You Only Live Twice. And The Spy Who Loved Me. And Tomorrow Never Dies. It's definitely a plot EON love, and pleasingly I'm writing this whilst watching the best ever film with a hover gondola in it, Moonraker.
Here though we leave the trappings of action cinema behind for the week as we enter a psychedelic Jack Kirby style world of gods and monsters. But before we look at that, because there's going to be a lot to say, let's cover the four pages not set in the mind of Unicron.
The opening page is, on the surface, a straightforward recap done in the style of a Mission Impossible tape briefing by Wreck-Gar (this segways into a Star Trek conversation, I'm sure the fact both these shows stared Transformers: The Movie actor Leonard Nimoy is not a coincidence), but is made much more interesting by the reveal he has managed- unaided and surrounded by enemies- to gather enough explosives to plant in a cave under Unicron to destroy the big giant head. Suddenly this previously silly and one note character is a Liam Nesson style bad ass.
Do not fuck with this man.
This scene is then mirrored on the last page as Wreck Gar prepares to leave the cave, but a stray eye-beam blast on the surface causes a cave in, trapping him with the bomb (just like Bond in Goldfinger, we haven't completely left this behind), causing him to fully break the fourth wall by leading into the NEXT box with a "To be continued?". Both these pages are very nicely done and probably mark the highpoint of Wreck-Gar writing in any media.
In-between that we have tension on the shuttle bringing Rodimus Prime to Cybertron as the Autobot leader worries about how little they know about Unicron and Smokescreen is dealing with the emotional consequences of Inferno' death...
Oh wait, no he's not. He's dealing with Rodimus being pissed off with him for having left his best mate Wreck-Gar behind on the Planet of Junk two weeks ago. Deciding to make this the focus of Smokescreen's involvement in the rest of the story is odd as it not only makes the bulk of the previous issue even more irrelevant, it also is not really going to have any sort of resolution. For all we know Rodimus is going to remain annoyed with Smokescreen for the rest of his life, meaning this is a rather unsatisfying part of the story. That said, the way the shuttle engages battle with Unicron's head is nicely done, especially Prime's sensible decision to keep behind the Noggin so as to avoid the deadly eye lasers.
The meat of the issue though, is within Unicron's mind. The place to start here is with the art, and whilst Jeff Anderson does perfectly well with the real world sequences-and there's nothing you could point at here that's actually bad- the generally solid nature of his art doesn't really suit a surrealistic dream sequence. The pages where Death's Head is so confused by his surroundings he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown just don't work as they're not nearly insane enough, this is actually somewhere Dan Reed would have excelled at.
Anderson is on firmer ground with the Unicron flashbacks, but it's also not hard to escape the feeling these would also have benefited from being weirder or more dynamic. It probably doesn't help that we'll be getting a definitive take on this origin story from Geoff Senior when the American series covers the same ground. It's a shame to be negative about Anderson here- after all, he's been on the book longer than anyone else (including Furman) and so certainly deserves to be doing such an important issue- but this is not something that plays to his strengths.
In-between that we have tension on the shuttle bringing Rodimus Prime to Cybertron as the Autobot leader worries about how little they know about Unicron and Smokescreen is dealing with the emotional consequences of Inferno' death...
Oh wait, no he's not. He's dealing with Rodimus being pissed off with him for having left his best mate Wreck-Gar behind on the Planet of Junk two weeks ago. Deciding to make this the focus of Smokescreen's involvement in the rest of the story is odd as it not only makes the bulk of the previous issue even more irrelevant, it also is not really going to have any sort of resolution. For all we know Rodimus is going to remain annoyed with Smokescreen for the rest of his life, meaning this is a rather unsatisfying part of the story. That said, the way the shuttle engages battle with Unicron's head is nicely done, especially Prime's sensible decision to keep behind the Noggin so as to avoid the deadly eye lasers.
The meat of the issue though, is within Unicron's mind. The place to start here is with the art, and whilst Jeff Anderson does perfectly well with the real world sequences-and there's nothing you could point at here that's actually bad- the generally solid nature of his art doesn't really suit a surrealistic dream sequence. The pages where Death's Head is so confused by his surroundings he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown just don't work as they're not nearly insane enough, this is actually somewhere Dan Reed would have excelled at.
Anderson is on firmer ground with the Unicron flashbacks, but it's also not hard to escape the feeling these would also have benefited from being weirder or more dynamic. It probably doesn't help that we'll be getting a definitive take on this origin story from Geoff Senior when the American series covers the same ground. It's a shame to be negative about Anderson here- after all, he's been on the book longer than anyone else (including Furman) and so certainly deserves to be doing such an important issue- but this is not something that plays to his strengths.
"It's not as if a friend of his died yesterday as well"
Luckily, the actual story is much more interesting. After some faffing about where Unicron declares how amazing Death's Head is once more (get a room you two), we're into the story of the creation of the Transformers.
One thing that's really surprising here is how fully formed it is, Furman has clearly been thinking about this for a good long while and very little will change across the two other retellings of it we'll hear over the course of the book. Considering this is a subjective telling from one person's perspective it would actually have been very easy to tweak and change things later on, but they’ll be only minor changes (a throwaway mention of other Gods won't come up again) with nothing substantial added to this until the modern comics. And the biggest change Furman tries to add there- that there's only one Unicron and Primus across all dimensions- wouldn't have been possible to introduce here when there's still only one Transformers continuity.
What's really interesting here is how Furman completely avoids the obvious origin story for a group of robots, the version we'll be covering with the cartoon on Saturday where the machines rise up and destroy their masters. The second most obvious would be that used by the Gobots cartoon of organic minds placed in machine bodies.
Furman ignores both these options and instead gives us a back-story that massively increases the scope of a series that was already about a planetary civil war spanning four million years. And into this he also explains Unicron and the major plot hole of the film that the Matrix and its effects on him both come out of nowhere. That's a neat bit of writing.
It's also an idea that fans have become somewhat tired of due to overexposure during the Noughties. The Unicron trilogy was based around it and Dreamwave cheerfully beat it into the ground, tellingly IDW G1 resolutely ignored it for years (despite the best efforts of Furman to launch a 13 miniseries), with their very poorly received second Beast Wars comic being the last comic to touch on it for quite a while. The requirements of tying into the Combiner Wars toys has seen it start to rear its head again, which is a shame as the More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise annuals had done a good job of implying a new and fresher back story.
This all means it's quite hard now to recapture how this must have felt at the time, indeed, is there any point in me giving the most basic recap of the story when there's a good chance you all know it by rote at this point?
One thing that's really surprising here is how fully formed it is, Furman has clearly been thinking about this for a good long while and very little will change across the two other retellings of it we'll hear over the course of the book. Considering this is a subjective telling from one person's perspective it would actually have been very easy to tweak and change things later on, but they’ll be only minor changes (a throwaway mention of other Gods won't come up again) with nothing substantial added to this until the modern comics. And the biggest change Furman tries to add there- that there's only one Unicron and Primus across all dimensions- wouldn't have been possible to introduce here when there's still only one Transformers continuity.
What's really interesting here is how Furman completely avoids the obvious origin story for a group of robots, the version we'll be covering with the cartoon on Saturday where the machines rise up and destroy their masters. The second most obvious would be that used by the Gobots cartoon of organic minds placed in machine bodies.
Furman ignores both these options and instead gives us a back-story that massively increases the scope of a series that was already about a planetary civil war spanning four million years. And into this he also explains Unicron and the major plot hole of the film that the Matrix and its effects on him both come out of nowhere. That's a neat bit of writing.
It's also an idea that fans have become somewhat tired of due to overexposure during the Noughties. The Unicron trilogy was based around it and Dreamwave cheerfully beat it into the ground, tellingly IDW G1 resolutely ignored it for years (despite the best efforts of Furman to launch a 13 miniseries), with their very poorly received second Beast Wars comic being the last comic to touch on it for quite a while. The requirements of tying into the Combiner Wars toys has seen it start to rear its head again, which is a shame as the More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise annuals had done a good job of implying a new and fresher back story.
This all means it's quite hard now to recapture how this must have felt at the time, indeed, is there any point in me giving the most basic recap of the story when there's a good chance you all know it by rote at this point?
The first of many tellings.
Well actually, there may be in terms of context. So Unicron was once an energy being, a God in his words (but then, what do we know about sufficiently advanced technology?) who walked the Universe when it was new in order to wipe the "Lifestain" from existence. Standing in his way: The Light God Primus. Their battle shock the Universe and destroyed whole solar systems, leading Primus to take their battle outside their bodies onto the Astral Plane, where he carried out a trick that saw them return not to their bodies, but inanimate rocks that were intended to imprison them for all time.
But their mental link ensured both reshaped their rocks into new forms, Unicron into a transforming body that he could new use to carry on eating all life, and Primus into a metal world populated by beings designed to mimic Unicron's shape shifting ability, the last defence against him and each with a tiny part of Primus within them thanks to a genetic Matrix he has created from what is basically his soul (which also has a purity that can hurt Unicron): The Transformers!
Now consider all of the above in relation to many of the stories we've had in the last year. Children with teddy bears; three women trying to stop a bomb; Kup having a nap; Megatron threatening the Thames; Death's Head chasing Rodimus; Optimus killing himself over a computer game... The potential destruction of the West Coast of America was the largest the scale has gotten in that time. Now we're dealing with a menace that goes back to the dawn of time and a threat to the entire Universe. And only our heroes stand in its way. This blew my mind the first time I read it in the reprint, coming off a fairly low key 12 months it must have been even more extraordinary. However badly the idea was used in the last decade it cannot be understated what a successful changing of gears this actually is, and how much this is going to inform the rest of the series. This is as impressive as it is important, and a fitting way to celebrate 150 issues.
Even the little details are pleasing, a one panel cameo from Optimus Prime as he gains the Matrix from what will later be called Sentinel Prime (despite their drastically different looks IDW Sentinel will pleasingly keep the same colour scheme) is especially awesome thanks to his long absence making it feel as if the comic is touching base with its past.
Niggles with the art aside, this is an extraordinary issue in terms of what it achieves and the extent to which it is a game changer. The real question is; how will next week's final be able to top it?
But their mental link ensured both reshaped their rocks into new forms, Unicron into a transforming body that he could new use to carry on eating all life, and Primus into a metal world populated by beings designed to mimic Unicron's shape shifting ability, the last defence against him and each with a tiny part of Primus within them thanks to a genetic Matrix he has created from what is basically his soul (which also has a purity that can hurt Unicron): The Transformers!
Now consider all of the above in relation to many of the stories we've had in the last year. Children with teddy bears; three women trying to stop a bomb; Kup having a nap; Megatron threatening the Thames; Death's Head chasing Rodimus; Optimus killing himself over a computer game... The potential destruction of the West Coast of America was the largest the scale has gotten in that time. Now we're dealing with a menace that goes back to the dawn of time and a threat to the entire Universe. And only our heroes stand in its way. This blew my mind the first time I read it in the reprint, coming off a fairly low key 12 months it must have been even more extraordinary. However badly the idea was used in the last decade it cannot be understated what a successful changing of gears this actually is, and how much this is going to inform the rest of the series. This is as impressive as it is important, and a fitting way to celebrate 150 issues.
Even the little details are pleasing, a one panel cameo from Optimus Prime as he gains the Matrix from what will later be called Sentinel Prime (despite their drastically different looks IDW Sentinel will pleasingly keep the same colour scheme) is especially awesome thanks to his long absence making it feel as if the comic is touching base with its past.
Niggles with the art aside, this is an extraordinary issue in terms of what it achieves and the extent to which it is a game changer. The real question is; how will next week's final be able to top it?
The special Rodimus Prime AtoZ.
Perhaps as a sign of how sales have passed their peak, the issue as a whole is somewhat less impressive than the 100th was. Getting Jerry Paris back to do the cover as he did for issue 1 is a nice touch (and one Transformation makes great play of, along with how it can double as a poster), but equally he's not a "Name" like Alan Davis was, even if the final result is so good I'm glad they didn't try to get a Special Guest Star artist. The alteration of the series title to read The Origin of the Transformers is a lovely idea as well.
The budget also won't stretch to extending the lead strip this time, and perhaps surprisingly there's not even a competition. This means the anniversary celebrations beyond the cover are confined to the reveal of the origin itself- another thing Transformation bigs up be devoting the sidebar to- and a special AtoZ on Rodimus Prime using artwork from the covers of issues 113 and 114 for his two modes. This means we get that lovely angry Geoff Senior drawing of robot mode Rodimus again.
As a sign of how kids are perhaps more easily pleased than cynical adults, Grimlock receives two letters; one from John Boone of Birmingham and one from Aiden Hogan of Ardavillane; praising Budiansky's work on issues 141 and 140 respectively. Though as their main reason for liking those stories are that they feature Special Team toys the boys own this might not actually say that much about the quality of writing.
Iron Man has double trouble as Roxxon have revived his prior enemy Sunturion to take on Stratosfire, something made more difficult by the new complication knowing his secret identity. The fight between the three around some USAF planes is very nicely done, and the addition of a new major character is a smart way of stopping this longer than usual Annual story running out of steam.
Robo-Capers doesn't mention the birthday nature of the issue, unusually for Stringer who normally makes gags about important milestones, but has to be the only comic in history to make jokes about Asimov's laws of robotics and club 18-30 holidays within three panels of one another.
It’s a strange thing to be doing in late January, but we also get a full page advert for the 1988 Annuals (readers of the comments section would have seen Snowkatt link to it a few weeks ago), that belatedly reveals the full range and the fact there was a non-licensed property Marvel book as well. Meaning the “Marvel Super Heroes” were sharing shelf space with such well remembered icons as My Pet Monster, Hardballs and the unbelievably exciting sounding Fisher Price Play Family.
Obviously with my holiday there won't be an entry this Friday, but a week afterwards we'll find out what non-Matrix ways can be used to destroy Unicron. But to sate your insatiable need for me, on Saturday I look at everyone's second favourite Transformers origin story, Five Faces of Darkness.
ISSUE 149
1988
COMMENT
The budget also won't stretch to extending the lead strip this time, and perhaps surprisingly there's not even a competition. This means the anniversary celebrations beyond the cover are confined to the reveal of the origin itself- another thing Transformation bigs up be devoting the sidebar to- and a special AtoZ on Rodimus Prime using artwork from the covers of issues 113 and 114 for his two modes. This means we get that lovely angry Geoff Senior drawing of robot mode Rodimus again.
As a sign of how kids are perhaps more easily pleased than cynical adults, Grimlock receives two letters; one from John Boone of Birmingham and one from Aiden Hogan of Ardavillane; praising Budiansky's work on issues 141 and 140 respectively. Though as their main reason for liking those stories are that they feature Special Team toys the boys own this might not actually say that much about the quality of writing.
Iron Man has double trouble as Roxxon have revived his prior enemy Sunturion to take on Stratosfire, something made more difficult by the new complication knowing his secret identity. The fight between the three around some USAF planes is very nicely done, and the addition of a new major character is a smart way of stopping this longer than usual Annual story running out of steam.
Robo-Capers doesn't mention the birthday nature of the issue, unusually for Stringer who normally makes gags about important milestones, but has to be the only comic in history to make jokes about Asimov's laws of robotics and club 18-30 holidays within three panels of one another.
It’s a strange thing to be doing in late January, but we also get a full page advert for the 1988 Annuals (readers of the comments section would have seen Snowkatt link to it a few weeks ago), that belatedly reveals the full range and the fact there was a non-licensed property Marvel book as well. Meaning the “Marvel Super Heroes” were sharing shelf space with such well remembered icons as My Pet Monster, Hardballs and the unbelievably exciting sounding Fisher Price Play Family.
Obviously with my holiday there won't be an entry this Friday, but a week afterwards we'll find out what non-Matrix ways can be used to destroy Unicron. But to sate your insatiable need for me, on Saturday I look at everyone's second favourite Transformers origin story, Five Faces of Darkness.
ISSUE 149
1988
COMMENT
