Bish's Review: Marvel UK #83 "Target: 2006" Part 5

"Target 2006" Part 5 was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Geoff Senior, lettered by Richard Starkings, coloured by Gina Hart and edited by Ian Rimmer.

The cover was also by Geoff Senior and is a fairly dynamic picture of Scourge being blasted by a mysterious character from off-panel. "Scourge is scrapped!" reads the caption, "And not by an Autobot!" It's fairly obvious that the perpetrator is Megatron if you've been following the story and you can see the end of his fusion cannon at the bottom of the cover. It's a pretty decent effort. Scourge looks suitably shocked at what is happening to him and he really seems to be in a bad way. The colours are a little strange, Scourge's blue feels a bit too bright, but that's a nitpick. It's not a classic cover, but it's well done.

The story picks up the cliff-hanger from two issues ago. The robot smashing his way out of a stasis pod is revealed to be Starscream (it's tempting to call it a CR - Chamber, but that term was first used in Beast Wars). It seems that Starscream had been stored there as a prisoner after Omega Supreme handed his skidplate to him back in Issue #71. Buzzsaw, Skywarp and Rumble are confined too, in critical condition but Frenzy and Thundercracker are nearing full recovery. Starscream hears voices arguing. He creeps through the corridors of the Ark to investigate and is stunned to discover...

...Megatron arguing with a group of Autobots. Starscream hides around a corner as Megatron and Jetfire debate angrily about their course of action. Jetfire is telling Megatron that he is the one in charge and that Megatron needs to acknowledge this. Megatron counters this by describing the series of failures that led to Ironhide's decision to enlist the aid of the Decepticons - this serves as a useful summary of the story so far for new readers.

Listening to this and learning, for the first time, about Galvatron's existence Starscream formulates a plan. He must go and seek out this being who is powerful enough to bring both the Autobots and the Decepticons to their knees and make an alliance with him! This is pure Starscream. He has only been online for a few minutes and already he is making plans to betray his former comrades and rule the universe with a new partner. Starscream is a coward in many ways but his willingness to put himself on the line in order to seek new opportunities for advancement is unmatched. He beats a hasty and unobserved retreat.

Into this mess walks Ultra Magnus and he is shocked at what he sees! He is so incensed that the Autobots are planning to follow Megatron into battle that he grows to twice his normal size (just for this issue) lecturing an inexplicably tiny Hound on why this is a terrible idea. Magnus breaks off his rant when he realises that the other Autobots don't yet know why he is under so much pressure to find Prime and the Matrix. He explains about his part in Operation Volcano and why he needs to be back on Cybertron. He understands why Hound has to follow the others into battle to find Jazz, but he cannot join them, so with a final warning not to trust Megatron, he lets him go.

Some time later, Scourge is grumbling that he has been given the task of collecting materials from a metal storehouse when he should be fighting. His prayers are soon answered when he realises that the Autobots are about to ambush him. Although Scourge is heavily outnumbered, the future Decepticon puts up a considerable resistance, forcing the Autobots to run and gun through the warehouse before losing his gun to a lucky shot and forcing his way outside, severely wounding Grapple in the process. Escape is not on the cards, however, as Scourge runs flat into Megatron who disables him with a blast of his fusion cannon.

In Galvatron's lair, Jazz comes to. He accuses Galvatron of being "Just like Megatron" to which Galvatron replies, in a revelation that stuns Jazz and shocks the reader "Not like Megatron... I AM Megatron!"

This is, of course, an extremely important issue for those readers who had not seen Transformers: The Movie, which, if www.imdb.com is to be believed, was none of them, because it didn't come out in the UK during this. Even if it did, the release would have been nowhere near as wide as that of the comic book. The final reveal of Galvatron as a future version of Megatron has enormous far-reaching consequences for where the story might be heading and makes the inevitable future meeting between them much more potentially interesting than it might already have been. If Megatron kills Galvatron then he has given himself an expiry date, but if Galvatron kills Megatron then he has destroyed his own past and created a time paradox. We do not yet know the rules of time travel in the Transformers universe, but neither of those options sound like good ones for Megatron, and he doesn't even know it yet.

It's certainly not unexpected that the Autobots alliance with Megatron is already starting to feel strained. Of all the Autobots left it is only really Ultra Magnus with a strength of personality (and firepower) to really challenge Megatron - Jetfire just comes across as weak and Ironhide, who has brought this situation on, can only bluster ineffectually. Unfortunately Magnus has different priorities and the Autobots can really do nothing other than follow the Decepticon leader.

The action sequence with Scourge is very well staged and I love that this future Decepticon is so advanced that it takes all these Autobots and Megatron to take him down - and this isn't even Galvatron himself.

I have long been a huge fan of Geoff Senior's artwork but this issue is not his best. The main problem, as I've already mentioned, is that Ultra Magnus is far too big during his brief appearance. I suspect that Senior had been using the toys for reference, as the Ultra Magnus toy has a very tall and chunky robot mode. He is excellent at very dynamic motion, however, and his panel of Impactor in full battle rage is probably the most exciting in the issue, even if it does come from a recap.

A good issue with a little too much recapping to feel like a complete entity, which is no bad thing in a story this lengthy. Of course, the revelation at the end is game-changing and makes this issue a must-read classic in one panel.

Ark Addendum - Webworld (part 5)

Hope you're not tired of Webworld yet. This set of models finishes out the therapy portion of the Webworld backgrounds. The upper illustration features the couch where Galvatron was encouraged to talk about his problems. This did not go over well.

On the bottom is the interior and exterior of the Exo-drama stage, a rather ominous arena where Galvatron was encouraged to act out his problems. The incessant bouncing of one of his fellow patients agitated him enough to break forth from hi bonds and go on yet another rampage, prompting the Torkuli to seek more drastic solutions ...

The top model also answers a question that people have been posting about. It's a bit hard to see, but there's a signature in the lower right of the drawing. It looks like it was drawn by Rico Rival. He certainly does Dery's style well, doesn't he? He's quite a talented artist.

Finally, this post is something of a milestone. My very first post was a year ago today. That makes today the one year anniversary of this blog. Looking back, there were exactly 300 posts in the first year (this is #301 for all time), an average of over 300 visitors per day and over 100,000 pageviews. In that time I've published two books, gotten married and seen blog contributors come and go. I like to think that we'll have as much to be proud of next year.

The Ark Addendum - Webworld (part 4)

Webworld continues! The fourth set of models are two rooms inside the advanced facility. Originally I was going to combine these models with the ones on the previous page, but they're just so detailed that I couldn't bear to shrink them.

The top drawing is just a corridor, and yet look how elaborate it is. The bottom drawing is the room where Galvatron's 'art therapy' takes place.

Once again, a big shout-out to Monzo for providing these beauties.

The Ark Addendum - Webworld (part 3)

What a week! It's Tuesday and we're already on our third set of models. Once again, we're looking at backgrounds from Webworld, generously provided by Monzo.

These models are the exterior and interior lobby of the Advanced Facility, where some of the Torkuli's most difficult patients are treated. Doesn't the exterior look great? It's like some kind of sprawling sea-beast, just waiting to devour all comers. It's clever how there's a bulbous region right by the door, and then the lobby is dome-shaped. It's a great example of the pseudo-organic architectural style of Transformers season 3.

The Ark Addendum - Webworld (part 2)

As promised, here is part two of Webworld, featuring some lovely landscapes provided by Monzo. These landscapes are where Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge first landed on Torkulon. There, Galvatron met some of the unfortunate victims - er, patients - encased in the living webs of the planet. In fact, if you look closely, you can read about where they landed and who's in each cell.

The Ark Addendum - Webworld (part 1)

It's time for more of The Ark Addendum. All this week, and for a little while yet to come, I bring you Webworld. Webworld was a third season episode and one of my favorites. It probably was the most Decepticon-centric episode of the series, with only a brief Autobot/Decepticon scuffle in the beginning of the episode. After that, it was all-Galvatron, all the time. It lampoons the mental health system, examines how the Decepticons would chafe under an insane leader, and manages to be very funny to boot. It's also one of the few episodes where I have virtually every model. I decided to to package all of them together, so the next few days will be all-Webworld, all the time. I hope you enjoy.

This is a good time to introduce the newest Disciple of Boltax - Monzo. For those of you who don't know, Monzo is what I'd call an über-fan. Named for the Headmaster, he has devoted a good fraction of his energies to obscure facts, merchandise and characters from Transformers. Check out his website if you have a moment. He's generously agreed to share some of his findings here, so I look forward to seeing what treasures he will unearth. You can thank him for most of the background images from Webworld that I'll be displaying, including the lovely shot of the planet itself.

Review: War of the Worlds, the series ep 9

The Good Samaritan is the ninth episode of the War of the Worlds tv series. This episode features an attempt by the aliens to introduce a lethal spore into the human food supply. An ideal opportunity presents itself when billionaire Marcus Madison Mason announces a new grain his company has developed with the potential to end world hunger. It thrives in the harshest environments, grows quickly, and is resistant to radiation. That last property catches the eyes of the Blackwood team, who are attempting to develop radiation-resistant bacteria to unleash on the aliens. Mason's womanizing allows the aliens the chance to absorb him and push forward their agenda. Thanks to a bit of legerdemain (and the aforementioned womanizing), Dr. McCullough walked off with a sample of the tainted grain, and soon the team realizes that aliens are afoot. Blackwood and Ironhorse, alone, head to the docks to prevent the ship from setting sail. There's a bit of a scuffle that ends up with the aliens dead. Though a few ships were launched, the Advocacy realizes that they will be intercepted.

The Good: Lots of great character moments in this episode. Martin and Chaves continue to have great chemistry. Ironhorse goads Blackwood about his jealousy when Suzanne goes out on a date with one of the richest men in the world. Harrison won't quite admit his feelings, much to Paul's amusement.

Aliens in unusual forms. This time, it's a trio of old ladies, clucking disapprovingly at Mason's mistress.

Bad puns. We first see three aliens working at a diner, testing their poison. These same three aliens are introduced later as advisers to Mr. Mason; Ms. Marsh, Mr. Stein and ... Mr. Cook. Yuk yuk yuk.

The Bad: The pacing. This episode just sorta drags. There's little urgency or momentum going into it. I'm not sure why, it's probably a problem with the directing.

The plan. Aliens make a deadly poison, that's fine. But really, grain is sown, cultivated, and grown. That'd take months. Surely in all that time, someone would discover that the grain was toxic, no? Some farmers would notice that crows were dying at alarming rates or something. This plan was doomed to failure from the start.

The Ugly: Not much. Let's go with Ironhorse cutting off an alien hand.

Overall, a fairly lackluster effort. I just didn't care much about this episode. Mason wasn't an interesting enough villain, and the plot just sort of drags along. Also, this is an interesting episode to keep in mind when we go to the 2nd season. Here, we're talking about ending world hunger. Later, famine seems to be a real issue impacting even the team. There are certainly more obviously fracture points between the two seasons, but this one is thematically about as far removed as possible from the bleak and oppressive 'almost tomorrow' of season two. War of the Worlds: The Complete First Season is available on DVD.