Bish's Review: Marvel UK #150 "The Legacy Of Unicron" Part 5

The Legacy Of Unicron! Part 5 was written by Simon Furman, pencilled by Jeff Anderson, inked by Steve Baskerville, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Annie Halfacree.

The cover was by Jerry Paris and John Burns and, being the one-hundred and fiftieth issue, is a little bit special in that it's a wraparound poster style cover. I have been a little disparaging about the quality of the covers for this particular story as I do not feel they really do justice to the issues themselves. This, however, is different. The image depicted is not one that is actually from the story, or any one story, but it is iconic. On the front cover we have Hot Rod, floating in mid-air opening the matrix of leadership and bathing the viewer in its otherworldly light. This is actually quite a strange version of Hot Rod. Not off-model, as such, but not the way he is usually depicted. It does make him look like a religious figure, however, which is in the aim of the cover.

The back cover is more traditional and in some ways more exciting - a terrific picture of Unicron tearing into Cybertron's crust with his mighty claws. There's not a lot to be said here except that it recalls the towering imagery of Transformers: The Movie perfectly and is a very memorable piece. For once, the text embellishments to the cover are welcome as they invite as to witness "The Origin Of The Transformers" which makes the issue appear to be out of the ordinary, even though it is only Part 5 of a six part story and is not any longer than usual. "Origin" has long been a powerful word in the comic book industry. This is something that has also crept into other media with the recent rash of prequels for popular films and books, but I would suggest that comic books, and especially comic book movies, really started the craze, as they habitually tell and retell the origin stories of their iconic characters. Either way, any comic book fan with a passing interest in Transformers would have immediately picked up that this would be a big and important issue, which the wraparound cover complements perfectly.

Luckily the story itself wasn't a let-down: As Death's Head begins his desperate gambit to attack Unicron inside his own mind we find Wreck-Gar, alive and well, in a cavern beneath Unicron's head. He has piled up a very impressive amount of explosives and is muttering to himself in Mission Impossible and Star Trek quotations about his plan to blow Unicron sky-high. He is slightly confused that Unicron has not noticed his incursion but decides that he must have something else on his mind.

As we all knew, he does! A rather concerned and out of his depth bounty hunter to be precise! Death's Head tumbles through a colourful mindscape, as multiple images of Unicron guffaw at his expense. This is once again a triumph of art where Death's Head is concerned as Anderson manages to make his expression almost comically surprised, despite the relative immobility of Death's Head's face. It is totally (hopefully Death's Head won't kill me for this), adorable.

Unicron cannot help but be impressed by Death's Head's strength of will but cannot help but tell him how useless the effort was. As Death's Head's sanity is being stripped away, Unicron alters his mental environment to make it a little easier on the bounty hunter. All the better to gloat at an enemy who can understand what you are saying. Unicron announces his intention to return Death's Head to his mortal body and destroy him on the physical plane. Death's Head, growing desperate, but relying on Unicron's overbearing arrogance, keeps him talking by questioning his nature. Unicron cannot resist talking about himself so prepares Death's Head for the ultimate tale: The Origin Of Unicron!

In the sort of scene transition favoured by Furman, Rodimus Prime, aboard a shuttle travelling to Junk, is also wishing that they knew more about Unicron. He recounts the few facts they do have - he came from nowhere, tried to destroy Cybertron, the Matrix stopped him - which is also a convenient recap of the salient points of Transformers: The Movie. Tempers are not entirely settled aboard the shuttle. Rodimus cannot quite get over the fact that Smokescreen left Wreck-Gar on Junk and Smokescreen himself is prepared to avenge the Junkion if he never does anything else. The atmosphere is tense as they hurtle towards the rematch with Unicron.

Death's Head, meanwhile, is being treated to a full narration of the metaphysics of the Transformers universe. It appears that Unicron first emerged as a direct reaction to life ("the lifestain" - great word choice here) spreading across the universe, but as he set out to destroy life as it spread Primus, Lord of The Light Gods appeared to challenge him and they fought. The cosmic collateral damage from this battle threatened to destroy the very life that Primus had set out to protect and so he decided to catch Unicron in a trap. Pretending to be defeated he led Unicron in a merry dance through the astral plane which culminated in them both being trapped inside asteroids.

Both gods were rendered inert, almost powerless, but over millennia Unicron was slowly able to use his remaining strength to shape his asteroid prison into a version of his old body, so becoming the first Transformer, able to shift from planet to robot mode at will. However, Primus wasn't idle either, and also shaped his asteroid, not into a new body, but into a world that started to spawn its own life, robotic lifeforms who would one day challenge Unicron - the Transformers! Primus gifted them with his own life-force, the creation matrix, that could create new life as well as fight Unicron.

Unicron knew this and knew that if he were ever to consume Cybertron, he would need to secure the matrix first. Unfortunately the proxy he chose, Galvatron, proved too strong-willed and allowed Rodimus Prime to obtain the matrix and destroy Unicron's body. A spark of life remained and now, on Junk, Unicron is preparing his rebirth. He breaks off his story (although he had basically finished) as the Autobot shuttle screams into view and starts firing on his head. In order to deal with these "bothersome insects" he returns Death's Head to his physical body and starts firing on the Autobots using his powerful eye-beams.

He orders his minions to attack as well. The Junkions obey immediately but Death's Head is able to resist.

Meanwhile, below ground, Wreck-Gar has finished planting his explosives and prepares to leave the area, saying that it's "Goodnight from me, and goodnight from him", a catchphrase from British comedy duo, The Two Ronnies.

Unfortunately for Wreck-Gar, Unicron notices Death's Head levelling a weapon at him and blasts him at close range, smashing a hole in the ground and, unwittingly trapping Wreck-Gar beneath tons of falling rock, as the counter on the explosives continues to tick over...

"To be continued?" wonders Wreck-Gar. "In fact, to be concluded!" the "Next time" caption answers enthusiastically.

This is one of those issues (and one of those stories) that shape everything that comes afterwards. If you've been a Transformers fan for any length of time you're probably aware of the story of Unicron and Primus whether or not you've ever actually read these particular panels. Furman would recap, revisit and expand upon this story in his run on the US comic but the basics were laid down here.

The amount of creative control that Furman was allowed in this story is almost unthinkable when one considers the modern state of the Transformers brand. These days Hasbro has a gigantic, 400-page bible that encompasses all continuities and forms of media. All prospective creators who want to work within the Transformers framework are under close scrutiny to ensure the brand stays in the shape approved by the corporation. In theory, millions of dollars ride upon this tight control and it is necessary to stop maverick creators playing fast and loose with the characters and universe.

In the eighties, however, there was no official universe. There were official documents describing the characters but Unicron had no official comic book origin and the origin of the Transformers themselves was vague enough - "naturally occuring gears, levers and pulleys" - to be reinterpreted in a more interesting way. Pleasingly the comic was also allowed to be sufficiently divorced from the cartoon that Furman was not forced to use its explanation for Unicron's origin, as, to put it mildly, it lacks the majesty of the comic book version.

Nowadays the Transformers comic books are never really at the bleeding edge of official continuity but even if they were there is no chance that someone like Furman, working on his own little book - one that wasn't even going to be published in America, for Primus' sake - would be allowed to blaze a trail like this. Even though each comic book and each cartoon is officially in its own continuity, Hasbro would still very likely get nervous if a single creator laid down the law about something as fundamental as the origins of life in the Transformers universe. Witness, for example, the ultimate decision by Hasbro not to allow a comic book about the Original Thirteen Transformers to be published because they had not decided where they wanted to take that story yet. This stands in contrast to the eighties comics where it seems that Marvel would publish these stories before Hasbro had their say, which is why there were occasional differences in naming and colour-schemes between comics and newly released toys.

I am not necessarily coming out on one side or the other - I certainly understand why Transformers as a brand needs to be protected and nurtured. It is simply worth too much money for poor quality or contradictory story-telling to be allowed to harm the franchise without proper scrutiny (in theory - obviously everyone has their own opinion about what constitutes a good story). That said, without people like Furman sitting down at their desks (sometimes after the pub, if his stories at Auto Assembly are to be believed) and just thinking which cool stories could be told without having to run it past a committee, you probably wouldn't have an official continuity today, and it certainly wouldn't be the same shape.

Larger considerations aside, this is a rattling good read. A fair bit is given over to the origin of Unicron, of course, which alters the pacing a little, but this is a good time to tell us, as it gives us more of a sense of Unicron as a character before the inevitable final confrontation in the next issue. A nice subtle indication for possible future storylines is given in the artwork for the Unicron origin scenes. While the god version of Unicron looks basically the same as the Transformer version, Primus has a helmet and wing designs on his back that are very reminiscent of a certain Rodimus Prime. Unfortunately this would never really pay off in this continuity, but it was obviously designed to play a part in future storylines. Perhaps this is something that Furman's imminent continuation of the Marvel comic universe will deal with.

Other than that, the angst between Smokescreen and Rodimus isn't especially compelling but it serves to demonstrate that times are dark indeed, while informing us that the Autobots are arriving on Junk with a little more than a simple scene change. Wreck-Gar is fun as always, spotting the references in his TV talk is a game for the reader in itself and they are cleverly used here. Death's Head keeps his own sense of identity while serving as the catalyst for Unicron's origin story. I love how defiant he remains, even when horribly out of his depth. My only slight gripe about his part of the story is that Furman does not set up a scenario where it is particularly necessary for Unicron to tell his story. It's a good story, and a good read, but even Death's Head's taunting does not seem enough for Unicron to tell him his entire origin. Unicron in Transformers: The Movie was arrogant, because of his awesome power, but he wasn't quite the blowhard that Furman writes him as in this story.

Anderson's artwork is generally of a very high standard. He goes for a much more, shall we say, traditional approach than Dan Reed and the characters are very much more recognisable as themselves from the cartoon and various character models. The issue has also been very carefully inked by Steve Baskerville, who would go on to ink most of the later US issues and this, combined with excellent colouring work from Steve White, lends the whole issue an air of quality.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #149 "The Legacy Of Unicron" Part 4

The Legacy Of Unicron! Part 4 was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Dan Reed, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Annie Halfacree.

The cover is by Jeff Anderson and I feel kind of bad for constantly trashing the covers from this period but it's another bad one. The perspective gives the sense that something exciting is happening but it's actually pretty hard to see what it is that Smokescreen is flying out of. As well as this, given how dramatic the moment that this cover depicts is in the proper issue, Smokescreen's speech balloon becomes doubly unfunny.

"SHAKK!" the Autobot shuttle that escaped Junk last issue is struck by multiple shots and starts a flaming descent. Smokescreen is at the helm, his panicked thoughts providing a good recap of the previous few issues and the events in between. He has been able to pilot the shuttle back to Cybertron with the badly injured Inferno in the medical bay but Scourge and Cyclonus, still under Unicron's mental control, have tracked him and critically damaged the ship.

The two Decepticons unleash a formidable barrage of missiles that Smokescreen only just manages to avoid at the last minute when he realises the engines have regained some power. It turns out that Inferno, while still in a very bad way, has managed to repair the engines and now takes up his position at the weapon controls, blasting at the Decepticons and forcing them to peel off.

Smokescreen is very concerned about his comrade's functionality but Inferno stoicly tells him that one of them has to survive to inform Rodimus Prime of the threat posed by Unicron. Unfortunately it turns out that the last hit from the Decepticons took out the landing gear and now the only possible landing is a crash. Smokescreen says he will try to control it as much as possible but the chances of survival are minimal. Inferno, realising the desperation of the situation, gets the drop on Smokescreen and hurls him from the shuttle as it hurtles past a tall building. Smokescreen bounces, dazed, but alive. Inferno manages to hold the shuttle steady for long enough to avoid the main Autobot army and angle it straight towards the Decepticons.

Smokescreen looks on pleadingly as the shuttle finally pitches towards the ground and detonates in a titanic fireball. Scourge and Cyclonus make the classic comic book mistake and decide "Nothing could have survived that." not noticing that Smokescreen was thrown clear before the explosion.

Back on Junk, Unicron is pleased at the outcome. He does really think that anyone can stop him at this point, but is glad that Rodimus does not yet know of his return. Death's Head, momentarily free of control or punishment, takes the opportunity to taunt the chaos bringer, knowing that it will incite a rant about Unicron's ultimate power. This turns out to be by way of an experiment for the bounty hunter who has noticed that when Unicron speaks out like this his mental control is at its weakest.

Death's Head keeps Unicron talking by asking him the purpose behind a time portal that has been erected nearby. Unicron explains that his errant minion, Galvatron, is still at large in Earth's past and when Unicron is completely rebuilt he will use the portal to pluck Galvatron from wherever he is and teach him that he cannot escape his master.

Back on Cybertron, Smokescreen's arrival has engendered a council of war. Rodimus is reluctant to leave Cybertron while the battle still rages but the others manage to persuade him that the matrix of leadership might be the only way to stop Unicron. Rodimus orders a shuttle prepared, he, Smokescreen, the Dinobots and Scattershot are heading for Junk!

On Junk, Death's Head grabs a gun and blazes away at nearby Junkions. Unicron immediately notices and starts his psychic punishment. This turns out to be all part of Death's Head's desperate plan. By concentrating very hard he is able to ride Unicron's psychic attack onto the astral plane where he hopes to be able to battle the dark lord himself!

Furman quite rightly keeps the action at a suitably blockbuster level for this issue. The extended sequence with the crashing shuttle is very effective because while it's a well-worn genre idea, it hasn't been overused in Transformers and makes a bit of a change from the straight-forward battle-action. Even in the few panels we see them together, we get a great sense of Inferno and Smokescreen as characters and Inferno's sacrifice is ultimately quite moving.

The emotional weight of Inferno's death aside, the biggest turning point of the story is Death's Head's invasion of Unicron's mind. It's as yet unknown as to how this will play out but it's a genuine twist in the tale. It has not exactly been telegraphed that this is something Death's Head might be able to do but it certainly doesn't seem implausible either. After all, the bounty hunter is extremely strong-willed and it makes sense that for Unicron to forcefully share his thoughts with others he must open his mind in some way.

In these eleven page issues Furman frequently demonstrates the skill to paint emotional and dramatic beats with only the bare minimum of exposition. This is something that appears to be missing somewhat from modern comicbook writing, and I'm not really just talking about Transformers. I'm not about to embark upon a rant about "writing for the trade" because a) it's been done a million times before and b) writing with a collection in mind is by no means always a bad thing. That said, I can't help but view an issue like this, where so many things happen and plots twist, in only eleven pages, as well as including an exciting, but not particularly plot-necessary crash sequence as something of a masterclass in how to write episodic fiction.

That is not to say that I think this is Furman's best Transformers work, although The Legacy Of Unicron! as a whole is up there, but it just strikes me as a good example of an issue where a lot changes in a few pages and the characters aren't let down by the speed of the plot moving around them. That is something to be noted and celebrated.

Reed's artwork doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous issue because there are fewer panels uniquely suited to his talents. One of his biggest problems is that he seems to really struggle with Death's Head's face and the bounty hunter seems comically malformed in one or two panels. One thing is clear - Dan Reed saw Predator the previous summer and it gave him some pretty clear ideas about what an alien bounty hunter should look like despite the original design for Death's Head predating that film (oh hey, look, an accidental pun!).

A great continuation, slightly marred but certainly not undone by lacklustre artwork, Jeff Anderson takes over next week. Lets see how he does.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #148 "The Legacy Of Unicron" Part 3

The Legacy Of Unicron!: Part 3 was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Dan Reed, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Annie Halfacree.

The cover was also by Dan Reed and while I sometimes enjoy his style, I don't think it works very well for covers. The advantage of Reed's organic-looking Transformers is how they look in motion but as part of a relatively static image, (despite all the explosions), all that becomes apparant are the flaws, like the fact Kup looks a bit like an outer-space potato man or Rodimus' thigh is nearly as wide as his torso. This would have made a fine interior panel, but as a cover it doesn't really measure up.

On Cybertron, a rare calm has descended. Kup doesn't like it as it doesn't feel natural. Rodimus Prime chides him for his pessimism but is forced to eat his words when a near-miss from an exploding shell heralds the arrival of their worst nightmare - a full-on Decepticon assault!

The Autobots scramble to retaliate and Rodimus throws himself into the thick of the fighting, all the while wondering what has prompted Shockwave to try such a risky move, as the evenly matched sides stand a very good chance of totally destroying one another.

There follows a dramatic two-page montage, which you can see just here, of the Autobots charging into the fray. Like the rest of the issue it's drawn by Dan Reed and his messy, line-heavy style works very well to convey the chaos of this scenario. That's not to say that I wouldn't have liked to see Geoff Senior's take on this scene but there's something abstract and almost... desperate... about Reed's style that I really like here. I think the difference is that Senior would have drawn something dramatic and precise and comic-book, whereas Reed's take is full of lovely little moments, but homogenises the combatants more than Senior would have done. Unusually, that is actually an advantage here, conveying just how unimportant individuals are in this kind of all-out battle. This isn't the clever heroics of Optimus Prime and his elite team on the Earth of the 1980s. This is proper, hand to hand, blaster to blaster total war.

(I would be very interested to see Furman's original script for these pages because Reed must have winced when he read it. I am reminded of a fan project I was involved with a long time ago where I wrote a script that contained the instruction: "Two Page Spread - Massive battle with hundreds of combatants on either side. Each should be unique." - needless to say, it was never drawn...)

Meanwhile, Scourge and Cyclonus overlook the battlefield, their minds no longer their own, and Unicron, safely ensconsed on the planet of Junk gloats over his imminent victory. The desperate final battle he wanted has begun, and now he only has to await the outcome. His enthralled Junkions are slowly, but surely, rebuilding his body and he will be ready to destroy the few pitiful survivors of this epic conflict.

Inferno, Wreck-Gar and Smokescreen decide that they have seen enough and have to get back to Cybertron to warn Rodimus Prime, hoping the matrix will be able to defeat Unicron as it did once before.

They are stopped in their tracks by an enslaved Junkion but Wreck-Gar, despite clearly hating himself, chooses the greater good and takes him out with a well-placed axe throw.

Death's Head has returned to Junk and is locked in a battle of wills with Unicron as he attempts to throw off the mental control. It's a tremendous effort, (even causing the mechanoid to sweat!) and it actually impresses Unicron, but the outcome seems inevitable, nonetheless.

The Autobots have nearly reached their shuttle when Inferno is blasted from behind and takes a tumble. Apparently Death's Head was not able to fully resist and is now back on the attack. Wreck-Gar is more alert and gives him a reasonable duel before being disabled. Death's Head/Unicron gloats over his victory before Wreck-Gar points out the shuttle taking off. Death's Head is about to execute the Junkion anyway but once again attempts to break Unicron's influence, managing to shoot wide. Unicron's mental punishment begins, causing the bounty hunter to fall to his knees in pain, but it's a small victory. Death's Head has proven that Unicron's domination is not total.

As issues go, this one is pretty huge, if a little unbalanced. In context as a part in a larger story it works very well but obviously taken as an individual installment it's hard for the final cliff-hanger to top the spectacle of all-out war on Cybertron. That said, the last page is very exciting, with interesting implications for future issues, especially for those of us who count ourselves as fans of Death's Head.

I find it interesting to compare this comic with the cartoon by Sunbow at this point. This issue came out after the three part finale episode, The Rebirth, a large part of which is concerned with a similarly all-out Decepticon attack, this time on Earth. On the cartoon the animators and writers are unable to really give us a sense that this is apocalyptic in scope. All the combatants are named characters and no-one seems to get seriously hurt. Legacy Of Unicron by contrast shows us a tough, desperate, all or nothing brawl. There are no individual heroics, no clever flanking manouvres, inspiring rallying cries or witty retorts.

There is a case here, after the comparitive sunniness of the issues set in the '80s, to regard this future as a kind of worst-case scenario. On Earth the Transformers are superheroes, on Cybertron they are meat for the grinder. Rodimus Prime is a more dour leader for a more dour time. No-one seems to think the war winnable, on either side, and the prospect of actually having a decisive battle is equally unthinkable for both.

Ultimately, of course, this future, along with the events of the Transformers: The Movie itself, will be erased from comic book reality by future UK comics and the Unicron war will happen in a rather different manner, but since there was not yet any hint that this was going to occur (and Furman probably hadn't considered it either) it could have looked like the future of all our favourite '80s characters was very bleak indeed, with the raft of shocking deaths from Transformers: The Movie still raw because those characters still featured regularly in the 1980s based issues despite the horrible fate awaiting them.

I've already written a fair bit about Dan Reed's contribution to this issue and while I don't really count him among my favourite Transformers artists he does occasionaly pull out something very memorable, and not in a bad way. This issue has to count among the high-points of his Transformers career and is a good indication of why he kept getting jobs on the comic despite his rather polarising art-style.

The Legacy Of Unicron! continues to charge ahead at a breakneck pace, introducing new story elements and testing characters to their limits. This is Transformers story-telling at its finest folks! See you next week!

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #147 "The Legacy Of Unicron" Part 2

The Legacy Of Unicron! Part 2 was scripted by Simon Furman, drawn by Geoff Senior, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Annie Halfacree.

The cover was by Robin Smith and unfortunately does not really live up to the excellent issue that it is wrapped around. Firstly, it's too yellow. In lieu of a proper background we have a yellow sheet with Unicron's gloating face etched onto it. I understand that the figures in the foreground are the important bit, and Unicron's face lurking in the background is quite a good idea, and thematically relevant, but really, your first thought upon looking at the cover is "man, that's pretty yellow," rather than "look at those cool robots fighting."It fails to emphasise the important parts of the issue. Really the eye should be drawn first to Death's Head and Shockwave, as their battle is the main part of the issue and the Unicron head should be noticed second, but the huge block of yellow messes this up and detracts from this aim. Then again, Smith's versions of Death's Head and Shockwave are both pretty awkward looking, so perhaps it doesn't really matter.

Despite the shocking appearance of Unicron's head at the end of the previous issue, Part 2 does not pick up immediately after that. Instead we are back on Cybertron where we find Shockwave preparing to deal with the return of Death's Head, bearing the remains of Scourge and Cyclonus and demanding payment for them wrecking his hit on Rodimus Prime. It's both funny and creepy to see Shockwave throwing his arms wide and telling the bounty hunter that it's good to see him again. It's unlikely that Shockwave would be able to carry off this forced jollity but luckily Death's Head isn't interested in greetings, he just wants his money.

Shockwave is happy to pay if they really are dead, as he may need Death's Head in the future but he has not risen to the ranks of Decepticon commander by trusting people so he has Soundwave conduct a mental sweep of the room (Furman loves Soundwave's tech-spec mind-reading ability, no other writer really bothers with it). This sweep reveals, as Shockwave suspected, that it's all a ruse and Cyclonus and Scourge are still alive!

Death's Head, his cover blown, fires on Shockwave but the Decepticon is too quick for him. Hear starts a game of cat and mouse between the two of them while Scourge and Cyclonus "miraculously recovered" face a tide of Decepticon reinforcements. Death's Head pursues Shockwave and seals a blast door behind him, proclaiming "Shockwave's mine!"

Meanwhile, back on the planet of Junk, Wreck-Gar has come home (ostensibly this is ten minutes ago, and each subsequent panel on this page ticks down a few minutes until we get to NOW! but it's a little bit pointless - a potentially nice device rather ruined by being crammed into one page). He, Smokescreen and Inferno are a little surprised by the lack of a welcome from the Junkions. Wreck-Gar finally spots some and the trio set off to see what they are up to. Nothing can prepare them for the sight of Unicron's disembodied head giving orders, mentally, to his current pawns, Death's Head, Scourge and Cyclonus!

Back on Cybertron, Death's Head follows Shockwave into a target range featuring facsimiles of prominent Autobots. He is struggling with Unicron's influence, revealing it is based on reward and punishment, rather than a complete takeover. Original thoughts are possible, but punished with pain. Distracted, he is barely able to dodge Shockwave's surprise attack and rails against Unicron for clouding his thoughts and nearly getting him killed.

Shockwave, his usual veneer of icy calm gone, blasts furiously at the locked blast door, desperate to get hold of Scourge and Cyclonus. Soundwave is trying to get through to help him, by having Menasor attack the barrier, but he will be too late.

The Decepticon leader is unimpressed when an Autobot dummy rolls out of the darkness, thinking that Death's Head will attack from another angle. Unfortunately for him, the bounty hunter is actually hiding behind the dummy and pops out to shoot Shockwave square in the back. Further shots blast holes in Shockwave and wires pour out like entrails.

Another shot tears his arm from the shoulder and leaves him helpless on his knees, smoke and sparks pouring from horrific wounds. Death's Head approaches him and tells him that he was a worthy opponent and on a different day he might have enjoyed their fight but that in these circumstances, with his mind not his own, it just makes him feel sick. He blasts Shockwave at point blank range and the Decepticon literally comes apart. Death's Head opens Shockwave's disembodied head, removes his brain module, and crushes it between thumb and forefinger, promising all the whole to "avenge [them] both."

Meanwhile, Soundwave has Scourge and Cyclonus at his mercy. Death's Head emerges and explains that he has executed Shockwave and that Scourge and Cyclonus must take his place as leaders of the Decepticons. Soundwave disagrees but Death's Head backs his point up by threatening to blow his starship, and everyone in the base, into pieces. Soundwave, ever the pragmatist, does not argue and immediately hails Scourge and Cyclonus.

Back on Junk, Unicron is talking to himself. He explains that with Scourge and Cyclonus in command of the Decepticons, he will force them to lead a devastating attack on the Autobots which will leave few Transformers alive, paving the way for his return to Cybertron and its destruction!

The decision to take us to an unexpected place after the shock reveal of Unicron's survival pays off enormously for this issue. What could easily have turned into a simple story of Death's Head fighting the diminished Unicron on the Planet Of Junk has turned out to have dire consequences for Cybertron and the entire Transformer race - as any Unicron story really should.

One aspect I like so far about The Legacy Of Unicron! is that it focuses on Unicron's tendency to act through catspaws, as Death's Head is treated similarly to the way Galvatron was in the animated movie. This is important because Unicron himself is hard to relate to. He's so big and so destructive that he needs smaller minions to carry out his more subtle plans and to give the audience something less cosmic to follow.

Shockwave's destruction is a genuinely shocking moment. Of course this happens in the distant future (2oo8) so readers can still enjoy stories about Shockwave from the present day (1987) but we have never quite seen a major character, even a Decepticon, dismembered in such a brutal fashion. The crushing of the brain module is a particularly memorable and disturbing touch, telling us, without being so crass as to put it into words, that Shockwave isn't coming back.

Unicron's plan makes a fair bit of sense as well and has a bit more intrigue behind it than simply wanting to get stronger and attack Cybertron. I like him using Scourge and Cyclonus as his puppets, since they were created by him in the first place but I rather get the impression that picking Death's Head might have been a mistake. The strong-willed bounty hunter gives several indications in this story that Unicron's control might be less than total and one slip and he is going to come looking for revenge.

When it comes to artwork, really only Geoff Senior could be relied upon at this point in the comic to deliver the kind of dynamism that the death of Shockwave demands. He steps up, giving us one memorable panel after another. It says a lot of his art that we can feel empathy for a being without a proper face.

We're in an exciting place here. The Autobots are approaching Unicron and clearly have a big part to pay but we cannot count Death's Head yet, and will the Autobots and Decepticons be forced to break the stalemate they've been mired in at Unicron's bidding? We are promised "TOTAL WAR!" next issue, so there's a chance!

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #146 "The Legacy Of Unicron" Part 1

I seem to write a lot of these but once again apologies for the irregular nature of this column lately. I've had a lot of unexpected events in my non-Transformers life but hopefully I've got some breathing room this week to keep to my regular schedule.

The Legacy Of Unicron! Part 1 was written by Simon Furman, pencilled by Geoff Senior, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Annie Halfacree.

The cover was by Lee Sullivan and unfortunately isn't particularly brilliant. Death's Head does look suitably confused by the Junkion's sudden appearance but the background is severely lacking which at first glance could make it seem as though the Junkion is bursting out of thin air. A silly speech bubble and a pointless caption conspire to add to the generally lacklustre nature of the image.

Making a return to 2008 we find Cyclonus and Scourge locked in mid-air battle with Death's Head's personal spacecraft, over the planet of Junk.

Scourge is forced to crash but Cyclonus manages to pull up just in time and leave him to his fate. Cursing his partner, Scourge transforms and prepares to continue the battle on foot. He faces down the ship, wondering why it's not reacting, before a voice behind him confirms his worst fear - the spaceship was on autopilot and Death's Head has got the drop on him.

Scourge falls pathetically to his knees and begs for mercy. Death's Head is disappointed in his prey's lack of spine but it is revealed to be a ruse as Cyclonus, still in plane mode, loops back around and strafes the bounty hunter, forcing him to dive for cover.

Scourge gets a good moment here where he mocks Death's Head's lack of foresight: "Hoped for more intelligence, yes?" Death's Head's agility gets him out of a jam as he manages to get Scourge to keep his head down with a well-placed shot.

He launches a missile that Cyclonus easily dodges, mocking him for his aim. Cyclonus is forced to eat those words, however, when the missile changes direction to follow him, drawn by the heat of his jets! In a moment of comic-book physics Cyclonus transforms at the last minute to kill his jets and the missile barely misses him. It doesn't help him much, however, as this distraction is enough for Death's Head to crack him over the head with his mace.

Just as Death's Head is about to finish him off a Junkion appears and begs him for help, telling him that he is the last of his people who still retains his free will, all the others have been enslaved by "a being of vast power." Death's Head is interested but won't do it without there being a profit in it, so the Junkion points out that his people are among the richest traders in the galaxy.

Death's Head agrees to help and goes back to finishing off his previous job but the Junkion tells him to stop, as he may need the help of Scourge and Cyclonus to be victorious.

Meanwhile, on Cyberton, Wreck-Gar is planning to leave for his homeworld. Rodimus Prime thanks him for all of his help and the two part on friendly terms.

Back on Junk, the Junkion and Death's Head have hatched a plan. The Junkion is going to pretend to be enthralled and lay explosives near the still unnamed target. It turns out that the Decepticons have woken up and agreed to help distract the enemy in exchange for Death's Head giving up his contract on their heads. Death's Head agrees, but has no intention of keeping his word, as giving up a contract could be bad for future business.

The flying Decepticons begin their attack and Death's Head goes into action, hoping to get close to the target without being notice (I love Senior's panel here of the bounty hunter vaulting some cover). Before he can make a move, however, he is surprised to see the lone Junkion from early running towards him.

The Junkion can only cry out that "He knows!" before he is blasted to pieces by a beam from off-panel.

A booming (well, the speech balloons are wobbly and ringed in black) voice from off-panel explains that the Junkion was always under it's thrall and that this has been a trap to ensnare their minds.

We finally get the title of the issue, unconventionally, on the last page as we are presented with a splash of a horrifyingly familiar gigantic horned head. The Legacy Of Unicron.

After the Christmas embarrassment of Stargazing this story is shaping up to be much more Furman's usual speed. Returning to the future timeline divorces Legacy Of Unicron effectively from the more Earthbound US stories and gives Furman a lot more room to flex his creative muscles.

In truth, it's a little surprising that Budiansky didn't more readily embrace the Movie characters given how well the film opens up the universe for storytelling possibilities. Then again, Budiansky has gone on record about disliking the pressure of having to introduce whole lines of new toys at a moment's notice so perhaps he would have got there in good time if he had continued with the book. In any event, his disinterest in the future of the universe gave Furman a pretty free ride when it came to telling his own stories and most of Furman's multi-part epics were largely based in this setting.

Reading this as a Transformers fan in 2011 gives it a slightly unusual air that it would not have had back in 1987. These days, Unicron is a mythic figure, a universal singularity. It is seemingly impossible for a Transformers series to get to a certain length without an appearance by him being at least teased, and often he is the focus of much publicity and hype-building (although there were no such plans to feature him in Animated, no matter how many seasons it got). I am not precisely stating that these things are boring - Unicron is pretty exciting - but they're part of the furniture now. In 1987 there were no such rules. No-one had any idea who Unicron was, and the cartoon's explanation for his origins was far too weak for a storyteller of Furman's sentiments. It is therefore, unthinkable, in 2011, that the junior partner, as Marvel US must have considered Marvel UK, would be allowed to take Unicron and do a multi-issue story with him, completely out of the blue, that would never be published or even alluded to in the United States.

What we have is an entertaining continuation of the Death's Head storyline from Headhunt that keeps us interested until the shocking last page, when, suddenly - Unicron! That would never happen now, and maybe it should.

Although the potential for future story developments is obviously huge, the issue itself is mostly interesting for the further glimpses it gives us into Death's Head's character. I especially like his decision to kill two birds with one stone and use Scourge and Cyclonus as much as necessary. His code might not be anyone else's idea of honour but it works for him. I also like the fact that he is not swayed by the Junkion's pleas. Death's Head, at least in Transformers, does not have an ounce of sympathy within him. Time and again in fiction this sort of character is eventually persuaded to fight for something other than money but that won't work on Death's Head, and why should it? He's a mechanoid, built and programmed to kill for a profit.

However, Death's Head's usual entertainment value aside this issue really turns on its final page, so much so that everything leading up to it is readily dismissed as simply moving game pieces to get them into position - an analogy that Unicron himself would no doubt agree with. It's necessary, intriguing, and well-written but the impact of Unicron's devilish visage is such that it hardly matters how we arrive at that point.

Senior's artwork is extremely good, as we expect by this point. Once again, it is in action scenes where he comes into his own, using crisp, strong lines and iconic poses to clearly tell a story. His linework is by no means photorealistic, but where would the point be in that? If comic books were aiming at such realism, why would we even be reviewing them for their art? Senior has a knack at getting to the heart of the drama, sometimes using perspectives and poses that aren't often used by his peers.

Overall an excellent start to Furman's next big multi-issue epic. Who can resist the possibilities inherent in a clash between Death's Head and Unicron?

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #145 "Stargazing"

The first new UK originated issue after the saga of Used Autobots, Child's Play and Spacehikers!, Stargazing was written by Simon Furman. The pencils were provided, unmistakeably, by Jeff Anderson and inked by Stephen Baskerville. Euan Peters managed the colouring and Annie Halfacree the lettering.

The cover is by Barry Kitson and although there's not a lot wrong with it it just isn't very exciting, although it is tempting to take Starscream's comment as a sly dig at the issue in general.

We find Starscream, fresh from the stasis pod he was locked in at the end of Target: 2006 standing in a snowy landscape and reminiscing about Cybertron. He goes through fond memories of wrecking Autobots on his homeworld and seems to be so homesick that he's ready to give up all his ambitions of taking over the Decepticons and leave Earth behind for good.

He is interrupted by a geeky looking (and insanely brave) human male who turns up and asks if Starscream is a Transformer. Luckily Starscream is so depressed that he cannot even be bothered to squash such an irritation and actually lets it engage him in conversation. It seems that this (still unnamed) human is really keen on Christmas and is determined to let the ambulatory warplane that he has stumbled upon know about it.

Despite himself, Starscream accesses his own datafile on Christmas and reels off the basic facts. The human is horrified to hear it in such clinical terms (genuinely horrified - he really bloody loves Christmas !) and tells Starscream that the Decepticon doesn't understand Christmas at all.

Starscream is understandably peeved at this (who wouldn't be?) and, picking the human up in one giant hand tells him to buzz off. The human seems to get the message and says that he will go home. The mention of the word "home" sets off Starscream's nostalgia circuits again and his anger is replaced, once again, by depression.

Realising that the human (who must have a death wish) has not departed, Starscream is confused. The human has detected Starscream's sadness and tells him that he'd be a lot happier if he just saw what Christmas is all about.

Starscream, for reasons that I doubt even Simon could Furman explain, transforms to jet-mode and agrees to give it a try. He stuffs the human into his cockpit. The suggestion is that they fly around for a while and try to find some people giving presents to one another - hardly compelling to Starscream.

The human tries to explain that the act of giving is the best feeling of all, which is the complete antithesis of the Decepticon philosophy. As they debate these points, they spot a bus that is stuck in a snow drift below them.

Starscream lands and the bus turns out to be full of old people. The human urges Starscream to help them but the Decepticon isn't sure what he'd get out of it. While they're discussing this a police car races up and transforms into Streetwise who blasts Starscream.

They tustle for a couple of pages before a break in the brawl gives the (insane) human a chance to admonish Streetwise for attacking Starscream! Starscream, for his part, decides to help the humans out of the snow drift.

Streetwise is totally confused by this and does not seem to buy the human's explanation that it's because it's Christmas, but then, that is his explanation for everything. Streetwise takes off to escort the bus to its destination, leaving the human with Starscream.

The human, for his part, is elated that Starscream has discovered the spirit of giving but the Decepticon assures him that he only saved the bus in order to humiliate an Autobot.

The human FINALLY gets the message that Decepticons don't do Christmas and turns away, wishing Starscream a sarcastic and disappointed "Merry Christmas."

As he walks away, something completely inexplicable strikes Starscream and he turns back, with a big smile, and wishes the human a sincere "Merry Christmas kid!"

What. A. Crock.

Ahem... sorry. I'll try again. Stargazing is very possibly the single worst issue of the Transformers UK comic that I have ever read. To A Power Unknown is arguably worse, but that was written by random people and stuffed into an annual to make up the pagecount. Only the most obsessive fan would care about its status in canon. Stargazing however, got an entire issue of the main book and is unquestionably canon, despite not making any sense.

Stargazing very much has the feel of an obligatory issue in two ways. For one thing, it came out at Christmas, and Marvel UK policy (I assume) dictated that there must be a festive issue, despite the fact that they were usually awful. For another, Furman had left Starscream in stasis following the events of Target: 2006 but he was about to be used in the US book and therefore had to be returned to functionality. Presumably given that he was about to go into Legacy Of Unicron, which has no place for Starscream's return, Furman decided to kill two birds with one stone, with bizarre results.

The concept of an evil or misguided character learning about the magic of Christmas is hardly a new one. Charles Dickens made a pretty good stab at it and, perhaps more relevantly, a previous Christmas story, Christmas Breaker did almost the exact same thing with Circuit Breaker. It's not easy to do it without being twee, however (and Christmas Breaker is fairly terrible, just not as bad as this one). The problem here is that Circuit Breaker is a mentally ill human character who has a good chance at redemption. Starscream is a ruthlessly evil alien robot. He isn't even liked or trusted by his fellow world-conquering death machines and that's not because he's too nice or anything. It's because he's a backstabbing low-life who wants power for its own sake and has no loyalty to anyone or anything.

Starscream's homesickness is borderline out of character for him but I'll give it a grudging pass considering what comes later. I honestly don't really see this as something that would bother him overmuch, but I suppose we all have our unusual moods. Him having any patience whatsoever with a bothersome human is completely impossible, however.

Lets look at the scenario from another perspective: I like Christmas. You get to see your family, and eat a lot, and more importantly, Doctor Who is on, but I would find this nameless holiday cheerleader extraordinarily annoying, as, I'm sure would many other readers. Now, I admit this is difficult to prove, given the anonymity afforded by the internet, but I am actually an ordinary flesh and blood human, not a millenia old invader from the beyond the stars and I'm guessing most of you aren't either so really we should be on the side of the kindly human trying to persuade Starscream of the magic of our way of life. We're not though, are we? We're firmly with Starscream as he expresses his cynicism for holiday cheer.

I am not against shades of grey. I am not against an attempt to engender sympathy for an inherently irredeemable character but this issue is not that. The reader is sympathetic to Starscream but shouldn't be, because being irritated on Christmas Eve does not make up for the Decepticon's many crimes. If Furman had seriously wanted to turn Starscream to the path of good, then that would have been a valid approach (I believe something along those lines happened in The Unicron Trilogy) but he is not doing that. He is merely churning out a piece of fluff that happens to tick a couple of necessary storyline boxes, without having a tone or characterisation that feels consistent within that storyline.

So, that's bad, and then... AND THEN, Starscream loses our sympathy but not in the way he should - by blasting the human into a wet stain on the snow but by giving in and wishing him a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Starscream, he who goes by the motto, "Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies" has been charmed by the spirit of Christmas. I would maybe have accepted the fakeout ending - that Starscream only saves the bus to humiliate Streetwise. It would still have been stupid, but it's the kind of stupid that Transformers can occasionaly deal in and get away with, but this final line is, like Starscream himself, irredeemable.

There's art. Some of it isn't too bad. One of the panels of Starscream transforming is pretty awkward. The bus is a weird shape. Who cares? Deal with it.
The colouring is quite nice.
NEXT WEEK: We start off looking at the next epic storyline: Legacy Of Unicron. I'm excited. Admittedly after this issue I'd have been excited by another look at The Girl Who Loved Powerglide but this should be a step up from that.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #138 "Ladies' Night!" Part 2

Simon Furman returned to write Ladies' Night Part 2, surprising no-one. Geoff Senior took over pencils from Dan Reed, Nick Abadzis supplied the colours and Annie Halfacree the letters.

The cover, which is really striking, was by Barry Kitson. It doesn't really accurately represent what happens in the story, but it's hardly the first comic to sacrifice that in favour of an eye-catching image and this is very eye-catching to say the least. Both robots and humans are well-rendered and Joy, Cindy and Susan are actually attractive this time and posed in a great Charlie's Angels style homage, particularly around the haircuts (and automatic weaponry).

Swindle is in the middle of wiring up an explosive charge when he is shocked to discover a flaming jeep heading right for him! His attempt to dodge fails and he is left stunned when, to his horror, he sees a human-controlled tank driving towards him.

Before he can raise his own weapon the tank fires. He is hit in the torso by an explosive shell and goes down in flames (Senior's artwork makes this look really painful - especially if you're a man - I think this might be a subtle reference to the "women fight back" theme).

It turns out that Joy Meadows has some experience in tank driving from a special she did on her news programme, so we'll go with that.

Cindy thanks the other two women for helping her when they had no reason to but Susan Hoffman explains that she could hardly turn down the find of the century - Ultra Magnus and Galvatron - still sealed within the crater. This prompts Cindy to recount what happened at the end of their battle which, since this year's annual which contained the story hadn't come out yet, must have been both really helpful and an incredibly lame way to find out to a reader in 1987.

Joy just uses the reason that she is a newswoman and this is good copy. This is slightly odd because her connection to the Dinobots was actually pretty strong and she built up a good relationship with them but perhaps Furman just couldn't more exposition into this fairly lean story.

Nearby, Soundwave finishes laying his charges. Onslaught asks him why they want to destroy a fellow Decepticon and Soundwave explains that Galvatron is too powerful and dangerous to be contained and would destroy all of their plans. He prepares to detonate the charges but Onslaught informs him that Swindle has not yet returned. He orders them to find their team mate and goes to guard the detonator.

A little way away the Autobots are worried. Blaster suggests that Goldbug goes to make sure the humans haven't got themselves into trouble. Goldbug is only too glad to go against his original decision as he agrees that they cannot leave the humans in danger and he hadn't liked leaving Ultra Magnus to die, despite it being the logical choice. At Goldbug's order, the Throttlebots roll out!

Onslaught and the Combaticons are puzzled by Swindle's unconscious condition. Their musings are interrupted when another driverless jeep comes hurtling towards them. Onslaught stops it easily before noticing that it is full of the explosives that Swindle had been laying!

The Combaticons scatter but Joy Meadows is ready with her tank. She blasts the jeep and the explosion throws the Decepticons in all directions and wrecks the tank. Battered, she crawls out of the wreckage and finds Cindy, similarly shaken up. They remember that Susan was closer to the explosion and turn to look for her, only to find Onslaught still standing, the unconscious archaeologist clasped in one hand.

Joy makes a determined last stand with an assault rifle but Onslaught laughs it off until he hears a voice from off-panel and turns to see the Autobots with guns in hand. Realising he is beaten he transforms and drives off but not before swearing revenge on the Throttlebots (this theme would be continued in the Used Autobots originating in the US comic).

The Autobots are surprised that the Combaticons have all retreated before Goldbug realises that the volcano is still wired up as one huge bomb!

Elsewhere, Soundwave transforms into tapedeck mode and prepares to send the detonation signal. Unfortunately for him, Blaster has anticipated this and also sits in ghetto blaster mode, jamming the signal.

The Autobots disarm the charges and all is well. Goldbug is grateful for the humans' help but tells that they they shouldn't have got involved. He does say they've done pretty well for mere... but is cut off before he can say "humans" by a furious Joy Meadows, who assumes he was going to say "women". Goldbug, predictably, is utterly confused by the ways of women. (just like all of us, am I right lads?). In all seriousness, this joke is pretty lame way to end a decent story and really dates the comic.

Luckily the real ending is much more interesting as we cut back inside the volcano to see that some of the rock has been shaken loose. Could Galvatron be escaping? But that, as the text informs us, is a story for another time.

Ladies' Night, while hardly essential, has been an entertaining dip into a slightly different kind of story. The innovative ways that the humans are able to hold their own with the Decepticons are a lot of fun, and believeable enough for a comic book world.

I could see there being a valid debate over whether the Autobots' riding to the rescue is a good ending or a cop-out but I am inclined towards the former. The Autobots are the stars of the comic, in theory, and it's better for believability to show the titular ladies holding the Decepticons off, but ultimately needing giant robot help at the end than for three squishy humans (and non-combatants at that) to actually defeat some of the fiercest Decepticons out there unaided.

Furman avoids a last minute deus ex machina by setting up the Autobots' dilemma believably and intertwining the two plots in a logical fashion. I especially like the characterisation of Goldbug, looking for any excuse to go back and help Ultra Magnus after making the decision to leave him. Obviously the Autobots cannot leave humans in danger but they have no real evidence that Joy, Cindy and Susan haven't simply slipped away after realising how dangerous the Decepticons are. It makes perfect sense that Goldbug, formally Bumblebee, friend of humans and all round compassionate character is only too eager to go back on his logical, but cold, decision, despite the probable consequences. It marks him out as one of the more "human" characters but also demonstrates that he struggles to be decisive when lives are on the line.

As far as the other characters are concerned Furman does not really portray Goldbug's decision as anything less than the right thing to do but the ominous nature of the last panel indicates that perhaps letting Galvatron go undamaged was a very bad idea indeed. I genuinely cannot remember if it ever is, but it would be very interesting indeed if Goldbug's involvement here is mentioned again when Galvatron does inevitably escape. Even if not, the final panel is enough to make us worried that things are not going to pan out well for our heroes, helping to redeem the story after the final "joke".

The other fun piece of characterisation is Furman's care to make Swindle's few lines all about his mercenary nature. Lines like "There goes my resale value!" after he is blown up are cheesy but almost essential in a comic that has a to juggle an immense number of characters, many of whom appear and disappear with little fanfare.

Senior's art is, predictably, a big step up from Reed's. His humans look more human and, amazingly, his robots look more robotic. You would think perhaps one would affect the other, but this is not the case. The action is clear and crisp although the scale problems from last issue are not completely gone - Susan really is awfully small in Onslaught's hand.

Ladies' Night was reprinted in Titan's Legacy Of Unicron collection. It is, like all of their lovely oversized collections, out of print, but easy enough to find. Unfortunately neither Joy Meadows or Cindy Newell were ever featured in the book again but Susan Hoffman does return in issue #215.

We have a long way to go before we hit that, however, so I invite you to check back later in the week when I will have continued my slow, but inexorable, march to the end of the Transformers UK continuity by reviewing a story about Starscream at Christmas... apparently he's not keen on it.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #137 "Ladies' Night!" Part 1

Ladies' Night Part 1 was written by Simon Furman, illustrated by Dan Reed, lettered by Annie Halfacree and newcoming colourist Euan Peters who went on to have a long relationship with the UK Transformers stories.

The cover is by Lee Sullivan and is quite a nice idea. It's unusual to see a human so prominently on a Transformers cover so it's unfortunate that she looks so awkward. I know comic books tend to portray an "idealised" view of anatomy but there's nothing ideal about Dr Hoffman here. Rather than athletically climbing a rope she looks like she's about to pass out from malnutrition and that's if her weirdly tight belt doesn't snap her in half first. Ultra Magnus "silent scream" is pretty well done, however, and rather evocative. It's just a shame the rest of the cover doesn't measure up.

We start on the slopes of a familiar looking mountain and are reunited with a familiar face. Dr Susan Hoffman, fresh from her clash with Megatron beneath the city of London is now investigating a new phenomenon - a volcano in Oregon, thought dormant, that has recently erupted. While there are metal fragments of unknown origin surrounding the site, I'm not convinced this really comes under the purview of archeaology, but it's nice to see the character wasn't a one off.

She descends intrepidly into the volcano and discovers, to her shock, that there are two giant robots trapped within the rock. Galvatron and Ultra Magnus, far from being destroyed by their tumble into the lava back in Vicious Circle! appear to be intact and merely frozen in place.

Meanwhile, Goldbug (who is still on the run from Grimlock's "justice" during this period of the comic), Rollbar, and Blaster are watching TV in a shop window while in their vehicle (and tape deck) forms. In a moment of cuteness that seems almost inevitable, Bumblebee is extremely taken with the story of Herbie.

Their enjoyment is cut short, however, when they see a news report about the volcano, fronted by Joy Meadows (Sludge's friend from Dinobot Hunt!). She is talking to Hoffman about the find and the Autobots are shocked to see the stricken, pained visage of Ultra Magnus, trapped within the volcano wall.

Elsewhere, Cindy Newell, Ultra Magnus' friend from the Burning Sky! storyline, dreams fitfully about that last fateful battle. She wakes from her fitful sleep to see the same news report, now hovering over the terrifying snarl of Galvatron!

In the Decepticons' island hideaway, Shockwave struggles to contain his composure at seeing at the news that the future Decepticon commander might still function. He immediately orders Soundwave to gather a squad of Decepticons and travel to the volcano, not to free Galvatron, but to destroy him!

Back at the volcano, Joy Meadows and Susan Hoffman are talking about the broadcast and the military attention it has drawn when they see another woman being manhandled as she tries to get to the crater - Cindy.

Joy orders the soldiers to release Cindy and the newcomer explains that she has to help Ultra Magnus somehow. Before she can explain further an explosion goes off close by and the threatening helicopter form of Vortex appears in the sky.

The other Combaticons also charge and engage the US troops around the crater. It's a slaughter. The humans can make no headway against the Decepticons at all.

After the army withdraws, the Combaticons are discussing their task to destroy Galvatron. Goldbug and Rollbar are listening in, concealed behind a boulder. They decide that this is one victory they can give the Decepticons and decide to leave, before a tiny determined figure appears and begs to differ.

Cindy is angry that they have decided to abandon Ultra Magnus to his fate in the interests of finishing off Galvatron. Goldbug points out that if Galvatron lives, Magnus' sacrifice would be in vain, but Cindy won't hear of it. While the Autobots retreat she determines to stay, assuring Goldbug that it isn't over yet!

Those who know Furman's later work might recall that he sometimes betrays a slightly awkward relationship with gender politics on these Transformers books but most of that will actually come later and be connected to the idea of female transformers, rather than humans. However, the Ladies Night! title of this issue is a little unnecessary as it seems to say: "That's right boys, this one has girls in! Deal with it!"

That aside, these three characters are some of the more interesting supporting characters from Furman's Transformers UK stories and it really is great to see them all again, especially after Susan Hoffman just fell out of the Action Force story with no explanation. It should also be noted that all three women are strong, independent professionals: archaeologist, reporter, geologist, and have no romantic subplot that would necessitate them being female. This is a far cry from The Girl Who Loved Powerglide. Okay, one could argue that Sludge's relationship with Joy Meadows was based on her gender's traditional role as a caregiver, but that is hardly worth mentioning, given that she was also portrayed as an intrepid, monster-hunting reporter.

It is undoubtedly contrived to group these three characters together but the connections do at least make sense beyond the simple fact of their gender. Certainly there is more interest here for a regular reader than in creating a new set of characters for this story so I think trading believability for an emotional connection is a good choice, although not one that should be made too often.

Decepticon politics are always a welcome addition to the story and I particularly like the idea that Galvatron is too much of a threat to Shockwave's authority to be allowed to live. Coupled with this is an unusually pragmatic approach from the Autobots. This is understandable as this particular group are on the run from their own side and cannot rely on getting any support against the Combaticons, let alone if Galvatron were to get loose. That said, it is surprising that Goldbug appears to be calling the shots at the crater as I might have expected to have seen something of Blaster's action-hero persona come to the fore as the Decepticons attacked.

Unfortunately Dan Reed seems to be in danger of becoming the next Will Simpson for this column as once again I find his art lets down an otherwise pretty good issue. The problem this time is not so much his style, which is generally serviceable, if out of the ordinary, but his sense of scale. Granted, Transformers and scale is not a subject that can be entered into lightly and the generally accepted response is to accept the inconsistencies and move on. However, this becomes increasingly difficult when you have images such as Swindle - a robot who turns into a jeep, picking up a jeep in one hand and shaking the humans out of it like bugs. Obviously the Marvel comic does include some size-changing (mass shifting if you want the generally accepted fan term) when it comes to characters like Soundwave or Starscream but in general the more mundane vehicles have tended to transform into a vaguely plausible upright version of their size, give or take a little artistic licence. To ignore this, as Reed does, ups the giant stompy robot quotient, certainly, but takes away a good part of the appeal of Transformers - the seamless shifting between one mode and another.

It's great to see the comic revisiting some of it's human characters as well as the robots. The Marvel Transformers universe really begins to feel like it has a life of its own as the cast expands and characters develop. And that's without even considering the possible threat of a Galvatron revival if our heroines don't stop it! Definitely a recommended issue, with a review of Part 2 coming next week.