Comic Review: Transformers: Megatron Origin

Transformers: Megatron Origin #1

Writer: Eric Holmes
Artist: Alex Milne

(Covers by Alex Milne and Marcelo Matere)

Synopsis: A Cybertronian Senator travels to a remote mining colony to shut it down, placing its work force out of jobs so they can be replaced by automation. When a dissenting worker is put down, another miner (Megatron) objects and kills a guard. The miners are then "pacified" (read: shot) and the survivors placed aboard a prison ship. However, they quickly break free and take control of the ship then go to hide out in a seedy part of Cybertron.

Comments: I had some reservations going into a mini-series about Megatron's origin--namely because I've read at least a couple of his origins in the past and some were less then stellar. If I don't like this one, well, its official, so too damn bad for me.
Anyway...
I do wonder about the title. "Megatron Origin" is the best thing the marketing wizards at IDW could come up with? A story proposal called "Megatron Origin" I can understand but an actual finished, published comic? Not very imaginative, imo.
Apparently, this writer, Eric Holmes is a long time fan. This can either be a blessing or a curse, depending on his story telling ability (I did enjoy Nick Roche's recent Kup Spotlight issue, to be fair). On the other hand, I've read some genuinely bad fanfic in my time too...
Issue one's story is decent but short. Megatron is apparently an Energon miner but when he and his fellow miners are going to be replaced by automation, takes matters into his own hands (how can robots be replaced by machines? The idea seems ludicrous! I mean, I get it but it's sort of silly when you think about it). We don't get much of a sense of who Megatron is in this first segment--apparently he has a sense of justice (he rebels when another miner is put down for being a dissenter). Yet he seems confused about his own motivations later on--I'm not sure what they're going for here. Is he supposed to be shocked or prone to some sort of psychosis? Beyond his limited actions, we don't seem to know much about who he is or what he's about (and this story is supposed to focus on him so that's bad). And if he's the one planning in the end of the story, presumably, he seemed to get over his confusion quite quickly.
The art is confusing in places. Generally, it's good but there are panels where it's hard to figure out what the hell is going on--this is due, in part, to Milne's using generic drone style robots as security. When they're fighting off the miners, it's hard to tell who's who.
I also wonder about using established characters so quickly, like Rumble/Frenzy and Prowl. Why do the established characters already have to be around so early on in Megatron's own origin? It seems needlessly convenient... Also, while I like Sentinal Prime's look, I think he resembles Optimus Prime far too much--Rodimus, Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus look nothing like Optimus Prime so why would one assume his predecessor would resemble him either? (Yes, this is nitpicking but still a fair question).
I also wonder why a Megatron origin story is truly necessary (beyond being a cheap excuse to sell another comic to the masses). At this point in the main story, all Megatron's even done is help Prime stop Thunderwing by nuking Cybertron then later on, come to Earth to conquer it. We've seen little of his personality/motivations in the IDW universe in the present. So little, in fact, it seems pointless to try and explain his past motivations at this point in time...
And, on a personal note, I really hate stories where Megatron is a victim of circumstances beyond his control. Raksha's Megatron origin fanfic years ago was beautifully written but made Megatron out to be a pawn of fate--and this IDW series seems to take a similar approach thus far. Why can't Megatron simply emerge out of the chaos of pre-war Cybertron and become a charismatic symbol because he wants to? Why must he have a defining, traumatic event to explain away his evilness? He's not Darth Vader, for cryin' out loud! He could simply be a politician that saw an opportunity or a "hero" of the down trodden that fought for a change he saw was needed among his people. Whatever the take, I want him to have pursued his course because he chose to, not because fate conspired against him!

Final Verdict: mildly recommended.

BOP #30... at long last...

BOP #30 is done (it's been delayed for months thanks to family problems and other jazz) and now available for ordering! It costs $3/US issue for those who want the whole thing (that is, the physical issue). Email me at tkphoton@hotmail.com to get a copy!



Also, the stories from BOP #29 are now up and readable at www.karmicsalt.com/boparchive.html


In regards to the future issues, BOP #31 is 95% ready to go (just add art!) while BOP #32 and #33 are done in rough draft. BOP #34-35 are plotted but not yet written... so expect a fairly regular schedule for BOP for the next couple of months anyway.

- Thunder

Sorry for the extremely long absense

I hope to do better from now on. I've given the blog a bit of an updated look. Hope you like the new Movie-esque logo. I'm still trying to get a few little quirks corrected.

Basically I ended up just getting so frustrated with my job as the Security Training Supervisor for McKesson that I quit. (Gave my notice and they talked me into staying an extra two weeks, I'm just a sucker for punishment right.) So now I'm probably going to be taking a couple of months off. (If you can call working on all my parent's projects time off...not to mention my own fix up projects at the place I rent...)

I should be able to knock out the next issue of the TransMasters Comic before the end of the month and quickly follow up with an issue of the Magazine (short but sweet). Mostly the movie stuff you've probably begun to get sick of and a bit of KO Korner. Anyone else here think it sucks that Hasbro let the Official Club do Classics characters? I like the work they've put into them, just don't like the high prices and possibility these characters won't be made for the mass market. Ah well, Hasbro's tossing all it's eggs at the Movie stuff right now and I hope they don't throw away the basket too. Anyone notice how the new movie toys do not have the Takara name on them, just the Tomy one? I was sort of saddened to see this.

Siebertron.com had an article recently about the two different versions of the Speaking Optimus Prime helmet. Make sure you get the one that says "Try Me! Featuring Real Movie Voice." If you want to hear the lines done by Peter Cullen. I'm actually amazed at the quality that went into this helmet, it actually fits me and I even have enough room to put my glasses on too. 8-)

I'm hoping to finish up my Cybertron story and begin a new one with the Classics line. I ran my thesis by another fan in my area. He didn't like it, but perhaps he just doesn't see the potential. Yes, it'd be another new begining for the TFs story. (Like we need another, but to do the story the way I want it has to be done.) Short of it is in this version the Autobots are the ones that kicked *ss on Cybertron, mostly because with the Matrix and Vector Sigma under Autobot control they were able to beat back the Decepticons through sheer numbers (For every Auto that fell 10 were built). Shockwave of course was able to predict the extinction of Decepticons without an outside source for new sparks centuries ago. He implements a plan to search out and find "compatible" sparks. (Only about 10% of the human population are acceptable and they die during spark extraction.) Circa today: He's suceeded and the Decepticons have launced the Nemisis in a last ditch move to use humans as their raw material for more warriors. Warned by the Matrix, Optimus Prime takes a small group of Autobots to Earth to stop the Decepticons from possibly creating a dark matrix. For the sake of the story all G1 characters will have to still be in play, though they may look different. I'd better not say more right now, since I'm still toying with a couple of ideas with just the characters released into the toy line so far. Wonder if the Official club'd get upset if I used their botcon characters? *snicker*

TransformersCon 2007...

Only a week late... better late then never.

To save you the preamble, I went out to Ontario to visit my old friend Matt and we took in TransformersCon last weekend as well. Here, now, for the first time... are my thoughts on the show. :)


-----------
Saturday: Matt and I got up at six in the morning and got ready. After a quick breakfast, we hopped in my rental G6 and zoomed off to Toronto, the Canadian center of the Universe. We stopped somewhere along the way and had a drink/donut at Country Style Donuts (they’re all out of business where I live) because I was getting tired from the drive (like I said, I didn’t sleep that well for a lot of the trip. I had these sexy nymph ghosts in Matt’s spare room that kept trying to have me–it was all I could do to stay awake and alive!)
We got to Toronto around 10 (I think). We quickly found the Doubletree International Plaza Hotel–the site of TransformersCon (the second largest annual gathering of Transformers fans™). This was my first time at a TF convention that wasn’t Botcon (of which I’ve been to five). Anyway, the show had already started but hadn’t been on long... they’d had some sort of get together the night before for pre-registrants but I hadn’t bothered registering because I knew we wouldn’t be able to be there anyway. That morning also had a pancake breakfast (really, what goes better with Transformers then some flapjacks? :) But, again, we didn’t get there in time for that so I didn’t sign up for it either.
We paid $20 to get in the door and I bought a souvenir t-shirt. We also got free TF movie posters–Matt got the Autobot one (“To protect”) and I got the Decepticon one (“To destroy”) We also got little Decepticon logo pins... they had a limited edition repaint of WST Slag (green, like G2) but I skipped it as well as skipping the comic (it was an old Dreamwave one left over from a couple years ago). They also had an Alternators lithograph by Alex Milne but I didn’t buy that either.
We got through the door security (they were a bit too into their jobs) and checked out the Dealer room. It had lots of interesting junk in it... I noted kooltoyz.ca had MP Megatrons there. I went out to get some money from the cash machine for one and returned shortly thereafter to find they’d already sold out! (There was a literal swarm of fans around their table because they were the only dealer with it).
At the cash machine, I ran into Colin. He’s a fan from Ottawa that I met at last year’s Botcon. We chatted a bit–I recall yakking about this year’s Botcon set and saying I likely wasn’t buying it and some other TF nonsense. He said he’d see us later but actually we never did see him afterward.
I noticed a CityTV van outside in the parking lot and believe they were the ones going around with cameras and covering our little show. I guess it’s cool a geek gathering gets TV coverage on the news (now they know what we look like! Quick, hide!)
We sporadically went to the dealer room throughout our day there and I bought four TPBs of the Marvel US comic series (now, I have about half of it). I also got a $10 KO of the Macross Veritech fighter/G1 Jetfire toy (the Happywell one). Matt got two DVDs–one bootleg of B5 bloopers and one of SW fan films (hope those people are getting something for someone putting their stuff on a DVD). I looked at other stuff too but held off buying anything.
We also checked out a TV playing TF episodes in the lobby. They had some G1 the first time I looked and later on were playing Victory eps (the TV had chairs near it which is why I mention it at all).
There was a panel room too. We went to the first panel–“Customizing Panel” starring that guy from marksprojects.com (not sure what his name is... ;) and some other guy too. He had a large, unfinished Metroplex he was building and an MP Ultra Magnus with blue light-up optics. The panel was a bit technical and I almost nodded off several times throughout it (damn sex nymph!) Mark and the other guy were out in the lobby later with his famed transforming TF costume.
The second panel was, by far, the best. It had G1 voice actor Michael Bell present. He answered many questions and told many fascinating stories (somehow, I snapped awake for his panel and listened intently). I missed the Botcon he was at (whichever one it was) so this was a new experience. Michael Bell is as interesting a guest as the best voice actors I’ve yet seen at the Botcons that I have been to.
After his panel, Michael went to sign autographs outside in the lounge (where the TV was). The line-up was long and frankly, I don’t feel like having someone sign something just so I can hauck it on ebay so I passed.
The next panel was “Transformers Movie 2007 Panel”. The MC guy (an east Indian/mid-eastern fellow–I didn’t catch his name) hosted it with another guy and went over several slides basically clarifying what is definitely known of this project. This panel also had me awake and interested... it also had some entertaining moments. One, was an Asian fan at the front of the room that kept interrupting to “clarify” facts for the people hosting the panel (apparently they’re idiots that aren’t in the “know” like him). When discussing the police car Decepticon and his “to maim and protect” logo he commented that “nobody could possibly fall for that”. Because, naturally, all the peoples of Earth know what a Decepticon logo means and that it’s not some kind of logo for a special unit/something. Another amusing moment was when a different fan in the audience asked “If Scorponok’s on our side then why is he fighting our troops?” The guy hosting the panel gave him a funny look then explained the obvious–the Decepticons are bad guys! (You can’t make this stuff up).
Next up, was the “Transformers Comic Book Panel” with Alex Milne, Matt Moylan and Matt Hansen. Of the three, only Alex is really doing anything with IDW while the other two were more Dreamwave related. One guy is editor in chief of some sub-branch of Marvel that adapts sci-fi novels into comics while the other guy does a Lilformers web comic. The panel was okay but not overly informative and we learned little new (except that Alex hates movie Megatron’s design–but who doesn’t?)
After that, we’d had our fill of nerds and robots for the day and decided to return to Belleville. We missed “Live Script Auditions and Reading” (yawn!) and “One-Shall-Stand Transformers Trivia” (also, yawn!) They’d also had a showing of Transformers: The Movie later in the day–but since I’d rather gouge out my optics then see that movie again, we passed.
-------------------

All in all, not a bad show... I still prefer Botcon but this was a decent stand-in.


Hopefully, that didn't bore you too much. If it did, I apologize--but you can't have those minutes of your life back! Ha-ha!

t.k.

Comic Capsule Review...

Transformers Spotlight #5
Ultra Magnus

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Robby Musso
(cover art by Klaus Scherwinski and Kieran Oats)

Synopsis: Ultra Magnus is a bounty hunter, charged with hunting down the worst of his kind. The type of Transformer that has no regard for their laws and blatantly interferes with other races. Upon hunting down Swindle, he is offered a great opportunity--for releasing Swindle this time, he can have an even greater prize: Scorponok!


Comments: I have to say this was the weakest TF spotlight to date. Ultra Magnus is a cool enough character but here he's presented as law enforcement for some reason and even that isn't really expounded upon enough to make him truly interesting. The tale ends on a murky note, which seems like a set-up for a future story. Alas, the story as it is doesn't really hold up that strongly by itself, making it all just seem like a prologue to some future tale instead of something good on it's own. The internal artwork was good but the cover choices were a bit bland--neither convey the story within the comic very well and neither are that exciting as a result (I got the Scherwinski one).

Mildly Recommended.


***

Transformers Escalation #3

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: E.J. Su

(covers by E.J. Su and Klaus Scherwinski)

Synopsis: Megatron uses his human facsimile (clone) to attack an oil pipeline in Russia, sparking off a military conflict between the rebels and government there. The Autobots discover what's going on and Optimus leads a force to the nation to try and engage the Decepticons. Meanwhile, Ratchet and the humans discover a possible lead to Sunstreaker's whereabouts and Ironhide tells them he'll join them on their mission.

Comments: Some action in this issue and the promise of more to come. Could we, hopefully, be about to see a real Autobot/Decepticon fight here? I sure hope so... this series needs to, er, ratchet up the action a bit more. A decent issue and the set-up for more to come.

Recommended.

(belated) Comic Capsule Reviews...

Transformers Spotlight #4
Sixshot

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Rob Ruffalo
(covers by Rob Ruffalo and James Raiz)

Synopsis: Sixshot is the most powerful Decepticon period. He thinks of himself as a soul-less force of nature. When his associates, the Terrorcons (the combiner team), go missing on a routine mission, he follows after them, determined to investigate their ultimate fate. What he finds when he arrives puts his powers to their greatest test yet.

Comments: Another interesting look at a TF character. In this case, Sixshot has had no prior comic appearances (to my knowledge, anyway). Although he was a prominent character in the japanese Headmasters cartoon. I like Furman's depiction here--that Sixshot is basically a destructive force of nature. In this case, Sixshot needs to decide if that is all he is or if he can be something more then the sum of his parts. The art was pretty good--it didn't really stand out in my mind but was good enough not to detract from the story.

Recommended.




***
Transformers Escalation #2

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: E.J. Su

(cover art by E.J. Su and Klaus Scherwinski)

Synopsis: The plot continues to unfold as Ironhide recalls what happened to Sunstreaker last issue to Optimus Prime. Prime, Jazz and Wheeljack track down a garage with Sunstreaker's remains where they're attacked. The humans start to get away but Prime stops them (and how!) Elsewhere, Megatron continues with his plan to assert control of Earth.

Comments: Generally, I've been enjoying this iteration of Transformers. I have to say, though, that this issue seemed mostly like filler. I also got the impression that Megatron would be some sort of tank in this series--I'm more then a little disappointed they gravitated back to the gun. Yes, it's classic but I thought the whole point of this series was to make things "now" and turned some of the established lore on it's head. Art was good and the surprise about Sunstreaker's fate was welcome...

Recommended.




***
GIJOE vs. Transformers (volume 4) #1 (of #2)
"Black Horizon"

Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Andrew Wildman

(Cover "A" by Tim Seeley, Jeremy Freeman and Jean-Francois Beaulieu;
Cover "B" by Tim Seeley, Robert D. Atkins and Rob Ruffalo;
Cover "C" by Tim Seeley, Clayton Brown and Jean-Francois Beaulieu)


Synopsis: Starts in the 70s, when the original GIJOE, Joe Colton, leads his adventure team against some Chinese soldiers in Tibet. They are quickly captured by Cobra-La. In the present, Hawk has been possessed by the Autobot Matrix and is haunted by visions of destruction. The Autobots lead a covert operation against the remains of Cobra, retrieving their stolen Cybertronian technology, with the aide of Hawk and Firewall. Later, Optimus, Hawk and Flint go to the location of Cobra La, seeking something... The Autobot ship meanwhile, is attacked at it's underwater location by the Monster Pretenders. Back in the caves, Prime fights Bludgeon while Hawk and Flint are beseiged by Cobra La soldiers. Firewall calls the rest of the GIJOE team and tells Duke they need their help immediately! We get a history lesson--how Unicron came to Earth 160,000 years ago but Cobra La threatened him with a metal eating spore. They tell Unicron to come back some day, once humanity has evolved sufficiently. He can eat civilization, leaving the world behind for Cobra La to solely inhabit. It's revealed Prime, Hawk and Flint are reading this from cave paintings. Then Cobra La finds them and they prepare to make their final stand when Joe Colton returns and tells them to come with him if they want to live.


Comments: This continues the story of the three previous crossovers. To be honest, I skipped most of them--the stories didn't exactly fire my imagination. They had the feel of extended cartoons to me... Fortunately, this forth volume is a mere two issues (double-sized ones) and I thought I could tolerate the story for that long. The story is decent and attempts to combine all the elements of Joe and TF lore in one shot. The art is decent but not Wildman at his best--there are several frames which lack detail and/or are unclear (does Optimus stare at Hot Rod or actually hit him? I can't tell from the art). It seems like Wildman's getting lazy--or perhaps he was rushed. Firewall's pig tail look annoys the hell out of me--what grown woman wears their hair like that? (a minor thing, but...) The story is a who's-who of Transformers--Eject, the Monster Pretenders, Skids, Bludgeon, etc. I'm a bit neutral on this aspect, it just was a lot of characters running around. It was cool to see Joe Colton thrown in there (along with the kitchen sink :). I do question Cobra La's plan though--why not have destroyed Unicron and then turned their power against humanity? It's likely Unicron would destroy much of the surface in an attack--or even the entire planet, in defiance of them--so, why take that risk? They could've destroyed Unicron, crushed humanity then built their own
civilization in lieu of man. Finally, Cobra-La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! (so irrestibly corny! :)

Mildly recommended.







(borrowed images of the Joe/TF crossover covers from seibertron.com obviously--saves me time buying them all).

new SW TFs pics...

Here.

http://tformers.com/article.php?sid=7066

and

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/MightyMegs/tf7_h_1_big.jpg



(pics courtesy tformers.com)

movie prime and megatron toys...

See 'em here.










(Thanks to gen1tf.com for the pics).

- Thunder

Megatron clarified!

See the better refined movie Megatron pic here...

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=119712


(Thanks to tfw2005.com for the pic)

- Thunder

IDW to publish official TF club comic...

Straight from the official club website...

"Attention all Club Members!
IDW recently announced that they will be publishing the complete collected Cybertron story that was released as part of the Club newsletter. If you joined the club at some point after the start of the story, this is a great opportunity to see what you missed. If you already have all 12 issues of the newsletter then be sure to take advantage of having the complete
first and second year of the story in one collected issue with some great new cover art by Dan Khanna. This title will be available through the Club and at your local comic book shop.

Don't forget!
The Cybertron story that follows two seemingly normal, yet very powerful Transformers, Skyfall and Landquake, continues this February in the pages of the ALL NEW Transformers Club Magazine. On a new planet and far from home the two will meet another very like themselves, as well as some "Classic" characters who are entagled in their own epic war. Make sure you are signed
up to take advantage of this and the many other great Club offerings available now and coming soon!"
---

So, if you're interested in reading the club comic serial or having it collected together, this is your opportunity. (Personally, I think the comic is terrible but that's my two cents :).


Thunder