Transformers!

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Mars Attacks the Transformers oneshot came out today. Set in its own continuity apart from the regular IDW-verse as well as the original G1 story Furman is telling. I guess it could technically be set in the original cartoon-verse. The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting each other like usual when the Martians Attack. Megatron offers to join them, but is then double crossed so the Bots and Cons have to team up to defeat the Martians. Once that's done, they go back to beating on each other. The art by Matt Frank had a Mike Weiringo/Humberto Ramos animated vibe to it with lots energy in the action and facial expressions. Lots of clever jabs in the writing from Shane McCarthy. Like Spike wearing yellow boots because he's an "oil rig worker" and Cosmos' alt mode finally being useful.

Anarky, you might want to have whomever gets you your ReGen issues to snag this for you as well. It will most likely be collected in a Mars Attacks! TPB rather than a future TF book. It seems a waste to buy a $20 Trade for only one TF story. And you'll get a kick out of it. It's worth buying the single issue.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Hey, nark! I have this issue of Transformers. It's an IDW issue titled "War for Cybertron" issue 1. On the cover it has close up heads of Optimus and Megatron facing off.
Looking inside it says it's an adaptation of excerpts of a TF novel called 'Exodus' written by Alex Irvine and it's drawn by Dan Figueroa. It's 16 pages long with no ads, except the inside back cover has an ad for Hasbro's War For Cybertron figures of Optimus and Bumblebee coming Summer 2010, and the rear cover is an ad for the Exodus novel on sale June 22nd, 2010.

What I'm wondering is, did this book come with an action figure? Did I pick this up at SDCC? I think it might have been a giveaway at the ActiVision booth that year, in conjuction with the release of the video game. But honestly, I don't know where I got it and I can't find it in the cbdb.com database.

Do you have this issue? Do you know where it came from?

[anarky]

Never heard of it. I'm not aware of an SDCC exclusive, or any pack-in comics from Transformers toys aside from this one (which you should see if you can track down on eBay--it's basically a new scene from TFTM, written by Furman, and fills in a lot of gaps).

Exodus is a decent novel, but wasn't good enough to make me run out and buy its sequels. (It didn't help that it purported to be a true G1 novel, but turned out to be a prequel to Prime.)

[anarky]

That reminds me: I need to track down affordable copies of New Avengers/Transformers and the new Animated Movie adaptation Budiansky did. Funny thing is, it looks like individual issues are dirt cheap, but the paperbacks must've been severely underproduced or something.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I have that Rodimus/Cyclonus book. I think I actually bought the 2-pack it came in on clearance. Is that really the only TF comic ever packed in with a toy? You'd think they'd take advantage of the Hasbro/IDW synergy and be dropping issues left and right. GIJoe has had dozens of comic pack ins. And Marvel too, come to think of it.


hey! Found it. War for Cybertron. It was a giveaway at SDCC. I wonder how come it's not on cbdb. A rare miss for them.

[anarky]

Huh. Wonder why I didn't get that one.

You'd think Hasbro would do a lot more with their comics, anyway. Joe had the 2-packs, but they went from a way to get cool new figures to a way to toss in shitty repaints. They wondered why neon Rock 'n' Roll paired with Shiny, But Just As Shitty as 1984 Deep Six didn't sell as well as the Crimson Twins.

People were literally begging for things like IDW's Crystal Ball and Croc Master. Instead, we got the same shitty pegwarmer Croc Master, only in Python Patrol colors, even though that meant he was only slightly darker and the stupid bastard was never in Python Patrol anyway.

Even their designers claim they want to make Billy and a few other comic-only characters. Kwinn almost made it to production. But stuff like Fred VII that only requires minor retooling, or resulpts of their core guys ever actually get made.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Transformers Comics almost killed me.

Fer serious. I was reading the latest issue of MTMTE and Swerve says "I could tell you about the dead coming back to life, or Fort Max going off his nut, or Brainstorm inventing an Existential Gun that shoots Ennui-- (it's not funny - Pipes nearly shrugged himself to death...)" and I had a swig of soda in my mouth. Which proceeded to head down my bronchial tube when I started laughing. After a solid fifteen minutes of coughing, I could kinda breathe again. But it was close. My chest still hurts.

So as a public service, I suggest you all refrain from imbibing beverages while reading Transformers comics. For your own safety.


Also, tangentially related to Transformers; Death's Head showed up in the latest issue of Iron Man. Sadly, it was a cameo and he didn't do anything other than sit at an intergalactic bar for a panel. But still, it's good to know writer Keron Gillen was thinking of him. And afforded him the definite article The, as in "The Bounty Hunter". As in the greatest muthah #%$@ing Bounty Hunter. Ever.

[anarky]

Yeah, fuck that clone with green Mandalorean armor.

No, I say that seriously. Death's Head would mop the floor with Boba Fett.

[Diabolical]

Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) would kick both of their asses.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Well, I got excited when I saw him. And then I went 'awww' when I realized he and Iron Man weren't gonna blow shit up for the rest of the comic.

And then I got suspicious that Gillen saw Chux's idea for Death's Head in our Comic Brainstorm topic like all the other cribbing bastards that come in here.

Ooh! It should also be noted that DH was his "correct" size of 30 ft. tall in the Iron Man appearance. Extra kudos to Gillen for that as well.

[anarky]

Ooh! It should also be noted that DH was his "correct" size of 30 ft. tall in the Iron Man appearance. Extra kudos to Gillen for that as well.

In-616, wasn't he slightly more than human size and was rebuilt to be on scale with Transformers, then subsequently rebuilt at his old size? The frame narrative in the reprint series from the early 90s even specifically stated that.

Given how he travels in time and such, this could actually be Death's Head just returned from the TFUK universe, before he's rebuilt.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I did a little research, and Gillen also had DH appear in his very brief (only lasted 5 issues before getting cancelled) S.W.O.R.D. series from Marvel. He was TF sized in that as well. I guess he could just be ignoring that framing sequence stuff and going from the original UK TF appearances. Gillen is from England, so he grew up on the original UK books and not the 90s US retcons.
Either way, the guy has had more DH in his comics in the 21st Century than all the other writers at Marvel combined. Eat a dick, Remender!!!

[anarky]

Dude.

Just. Dude.

I never thought I'd be excited about a fucking Bumblebee figure.

[Tom Foolery]

Ha! Hoist is getting a Spotlight issue. Awesome.

[anarky]

I'm not even sure which circle of TF's Hoist is in. I think he's on the Lost Light?