Quick Switch: The Transformers # 38!

After spinning its wheels for so long, “The Transformers” # 38 amounts to an intense conclusion where all the loose ends writer John Barber has laid out need to be definitively tied up because the next issue, # 39, is the first chapter of the much anticipated Combiner Wars storyarc. Thus everything that happens in “TF” # 38 has a purpose, and the issue marches along grimly going about its business. Over Bikini Atoll, Thundercracker sees that the humans’ secret weapon—an armada of automatons based on the corpses of Ramjet and Thurst—is heading towards civilian territory. Thundercracker wants to stop this at all costs, so he strikes a deal with Soundwave, who is busy setting up the Decepticon sanctuary in Tanzania. Soundwave can shut the clones down, but can’t find a reason to do so, considering the humans built the drones without informing the Decepticons, their so-called allies. Whether he is convinced by Thundercracker’s plea or because he is just sick of listening, Soundwave effectively turns the clones off. “Please Thundercracker, I care not for screenplays or Earthlings. Do not contact me again. Our relationship ends here,” Soundwave warns.

Optimus Time: Transformers Punishment!

ONE of the best things about manga and anime is the openness to doing stories which run parallel to the main story. They even have a great term for it: side stories. These in-continuity tales enable creators to fit in characters and plotlines that would be obscured by the weight of the main narrative.

            And that’s exactly what we’ve got with the new “Transformers: Punishment” one-shot. This extra-sized one-shot is actually a print version of a comic book originally created for the interactive Madefire platform. Reading it, it’s hard to believe this wasn’t originally scheduled for a release from IDW Publishing considering how good it is.

            Fans of writer John Barber and artist Livio Ramondelli will get a thrill because they get an extra helping of the two this month. “Punishment” is the kind of side story you get when the characters aren’t all trying to save planets.

            That being said, this is still Optimus Prime’s show. In “Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye” and “The Transformers,” Prime bids the Autobots farewell seemingly on a lark to go back to Cybertron. He doesn’t tell anyone why he’s going back right now, only that he must and that he will be back.

            “Punishment” details what happens on his trip to Cybertron. The book begins with the death of three Decepticons—Wilder, Treadshot and Brisko—at the hands of an unknown assailant.  This is apparently not an isolated incident, and Cybertron’s supreme leader Starscream soon arrives on the scene with Decepticon detective Barricade at his side. There’s someone killing Decepticons in what is called a Decepticon ghetto.

A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On: Transformers # 37!

AFTER the freakish weather in the real-life United States caused a delay in the delivery of IDW Publishing’s Transformers titles, the Cybertronian comic books are back, and we begin with “Transformers” # 37.

            Once the series received its new streamlined title, writer John Barber ironically has packed so much material into “Transformers” that entire splashes are left to exposition. This is because Barber has decided to go whole hog into the mythology of this continuity. Thundercracker has been circling Bikini Atoll and its secret armada of Earth-made Conehead (Ramjet and Thrust) clones. In Tokyo, Arcee and the human Jimmy Pink face off against a determined Galvatron and the Decepticons. Galvatron seems to be playing some mind tricks on Arcee, trying to convince the Autobot assassin to change her mind about her loyalty to Prowl.

            Speaking of Prowl, he and Spike have a long discussion. Spike is taken aback when Prowl reveals it was Galvatron who killed Spike’s father Gen. Witwicky (we know this to be true; Galvatron is peddling the convenient lie that it was Prowl’s doing instead). In Shanghai, we get the big one: G.B. Blackrock (that’s who he is and I’m sticking with that) explains the entire story behind how humans found the elusive Enigma of Combination and built civilization around it. Blackrock now has the Enigma, and has profited handsomely from it. Now, of course, the Cybertronians on both sides want it back.

            There’s a lot of double talk going on here. “No one should have the Enigma,” Galvatron says (don’t quite believe him) but returns to the Decepticons at Mount Fuji (who are playing a stupid game with Pink to kill time) with a surprisingly quiet Arcee in tow.

The First Issue: The Transformers # 35!

This of course is technically just the continuation of IDW Publishing’s “The Transformers: Robots in Disguise” series under the new, streamlined title “The Transformers,” but it also heralds what amounts to a fresh start for the series particularly its creative team of writer John Barber and artist Andrew Griffith. After spinning its transformed wheels with some flashback and cutaway stories for the last two issues, “The Transformers” # 35 bring readers back to the main dramatic issue: the tricky relationship between humans and Cybertronians. To dot this, it reintroduces some people we’ve known for a while, as well as tying in what has emerged from the memories of the rescued Alpha Trion. The issue begins in Tokyo, where the IDW’s version of the industrialist G.B. Blackrock is introducing to the world his new operating system Onyx. “See, living in post-Cybertronian world… it’s not all bad,” he tells his audience. At the same time, we see a robot being hunted down by armed men. Then the transmission is hijacked by Spike Witwicky, who is leading the group that has captured the aforementioned robot. He reveals that Blackrock’s company has been supplying Cybertronian weapons to the Earth Defense Command, before executing the robot.

The Last Issue: Transformers Robots in Disguise # 34!

THIS is the last issue of IDW’s “Transformers: Robots in Disguise”—technically speaking. But it’s not going away, it’s just changing titles next month to just plain “The Transformers” # 35. Read into that what you will, but “TF: RID,” though well-written and well-illustrated, still somewhat remains overshadowed by its even-better-written and better-illustrated sibling title, “Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye.” That is not helped by the fact that “TF:RID” is now jumping all over the place. Originally, the series seemed focused on the Earth-bound adventures of Optimus Prime and the remaining Autobots, but it’s since jumped back to life on a bittersweet Cybertron and then back to Earth now that the humans have aligned themselves with the Decepticons. But now, it’s going back in time with some surprising and defining back stories.