Review: Marvel G2 #10 - Total War! and Tales of Earth (part 7)

The tenth issue of the US G2 Marvel Comics run of Transformers. [Note, I'm being only slightly redundant when I write out all of that.  There is in fact a UK G2 series (by Fleetway) as well as a US G2 comic not done by Marvel (done instead by Fun Publications as a part of last years BotCon... see how I worked BotCon in?).  I suppose I could have dropped the country and just gone with publisher, since there is no UK G2 Marvel Comics by this point, but in the interests of uniformity with my G1 reviews I figured I'd keep it.] It is told in two parts, though they mesh somewhat seamlessly.  Both are written by Simon Furman, colored by Sarra Mossof, and lettered by Richard Starkings with Comicraft.  Pencils on the main story, Total War!, is by Manny Galan with Jim Amash on inks.  The incomparable Goeff Senior returns for Tales of Earth.  The cover is all that Derek Yaniger contributed to this issue.

Perhaps it is enough.  We get a symbolic cover this time, with a giant Jhiaxus crushing the Earth like a cheap ceramics.  TOTAL WAR! it boldly proclaims.  It's simple but very effective.  Our heroes have run out of places to hide, and all of Earth will suffer for it.  It certainly makes me want to keep reading.

Inside, we start exactly where we left off, with incoming forces buffeting the Autobase.  I find the narration rather forced.  "Autobase Earth.  A safe haven, far from the eyes and reach of Commander Jhiaxus and his second generation Transformer army.  NOT!"  Ugh.  Trying too hard, you are, Furman.  At first things seem bleak, with constant firepower knocking Megatron and Optimus off balance and killing Joyride.   Up above on the Warworld, things are faring no better.  System after system is knocked off-line, and a boarding party is forcing their way in.  The Combatacons move to repel, but it's worse than they thought.  Starscream is leading the way.  Great artwork here, especially on Starscream.  It's almost Sin City-esque.   Furman also writes desperation well.  This is starting to look like a last stand. 

However, when we flash back to Earth, our heroes are already rallying.  We get three pages of a counteroffensive that seems pretty darned effective.  Furman hangs a lampshade on this a bit, with Jhiaxus incredulous at how badly his forces are doing.  Frankly, so am I.  Hard to imagine the hundred or so G1 Transformers, backed into a corner and still managing to win.  Jhiaxus does the sensible thing, though, and summons EVERYONE to Earth.  One way or another, the fight ends here. 

It's space, though, where the interesting things are happening.  Soundwave and the crew of the Warworld have abandoned ship, leaving it in the hands of the G2 forces... and Starscream.  The G2 forces eagerly pursue the escape craft, leaving Starscream unattended.  He quickly makes his way to the Matrix, still wired into the ship.  This can't be good.  Starscream isn't the only G1 Transformer making his way to the Matrix, though.  Optimus presses Megatron, and the latter admits that he has a cloaked ship nearby.  Up they go, though who or what will greet them is yet to be determined.  I rather like the idea that Megatron would NEVER walk into the Autobase without several means of escape nearby, and further that Optimus would know that.  It feels right.  That the G2 Decepticons would leave Starscream alone in such a pivotal position seems less likely, but I can accept it during the fog of war. And hey, it looks like Roller makes an appearance, amped up for G2 of course.  I like the top panel on this page as well, what with the urgency of Optimus and th casual backwards blast that Megatron uses to shrug off pursuers.

This story isn't quite over.  A battalion of G2 Cybertronians, en route to Earth, encounter a mysterious force.  It is, of course, the swarm, and it rips them to shreds in short order.  However, the order logged in their systems, make haste to Earth, enters what passes for consciousness in the Swarm, inexorably setting up the REAL climax of the series. 

Of course, while Total War! is over, Tales from Earth (part 7) have just begun.  Starscream, apparently in complete control of the Warworld, savors the confusion on the part of Jhiaxus' forces as he refuses to answer hails.  Eventually, he gives them an answer... guns blazing, of course.  Artwork, by Geoff Senior, is of course amazingly lovely.  Starscream's sadism is a delight.  He goes from craven coward to brutal bringer of death at the drop of a hat.  After hurling the gauntlet at Jhiaxus, he waits patiently as Optimus and Megatron come aboard. The Autobot and Decepticon leaders are, understandably, nervous.  They aren't being fired upon, but neither are their hails being answered.  SOMETHING is certainly afoot.

There's a bit of a subplot down on Earth.  (Imagine that, in a story called 'Tales of Earth') 
Megatron's latter-generation Transformers, given life between issues 6 and 7, are playing a part in the seemingly neverending battle.  Some of them, Manta Ray in particular, seems to be getting on quite well with Grimlock.  Razorclaw doesn't take too kindly to this.  There's a great full-panel of his face as his stews on this, but I decided to instead go with him ripping the throat oout of a G2 Cybertronian.  He's looking damn scary!  We also see Grimlock in headband, with 'Big Grim' written on his shoulder.  Why?  I have no idea.  This feels like a set-up for some later plotlines, nice to see in a book so close to the end of its run.

Inside the Warworld, the environment seems bizarre, unfamiliar.  Corridors twist and turn almost organically, with crackling energy everywhere.  The wall twists and turns and swallows them whole, depositing them in the realms of nightmares.  Starscream, with the Matrix, seems to have merged with the ship!  He's huge and glowing, an immense creature blurring matter and energy.  It's actually quite familiar - Issue #50 of the G1 run, Dark Star, featured the same image more-or-less.  It's still rather effective.  We now have three major plot points to resolve, and only two issues to do it in.  Starscream and the Matrix; Jhiaxus and his forces; and, of course, the Swarm.  One can't help but wonder how these three antagonists will interact in the short time left to us.

As for the specifics of THIS plot point, I'm a bit ambivalent.  After all, we HAVE seen Starscream overclock himself on mystical energy sources before, so that doesn't feel very new.  His treachery did feel like it needed a climax, but then that could have been his team-up with Jhiaxus and not this additional outrage.  This marks yet another Starscream-based cliffhanger.  I'm starting to feel like the latter half of G2 has a bit too many of them.

Ending aside, it's a strong issue.  Geoff Senior artwork is very welcome, though actually the Starscream-Warworld material would have been perfect for José Delbo.  I feel like I can almost, but not quite, see where the finale will go, which is a good thing.  Furman is playing fair but not over-telegraphing anything.    While I do think it a bit silly that the Autobot/Decepticon alliance was able to shrug off Jhiaxus' initial assault, I'm willing to accept that for the sake of the story.

Only two issues left!  Total War! and Tales of Earth (part 7) are available for purchase in  Transformers Rage in Heaven  book, published by Titan.

The Ark Addendum - Hound's Holographic Driver

This one almost didn't make it out.  I'm pretty swamped, with guests and preparation for BotCon!  However, I managed to find a few minutes for this piece. 

Do you recognize him?  This is Hound's holographic driver from More than Meets the Eye, part 2.  (When I say that outloud, I'm thinking of a computer file that he uses to interface his holographic projector with his main OS... hehehe.)  The page was a bit light so I repeated his vehicle mode.  I looked for one with the driver seated inside, but couldn't find one. 

I kind of wonder where Hound got this image.  Did he pull it out of the airwaves?  Did he happen to encounter someone who looked like this?  Did he extrapolate from the very few humans he had met by that point in the story?  Not that this is a critical plot point, just something that gave me pause. 

So, back to BotCon.  I'm not going to be speaking on a panel this year, what with me not having a new book out, but you'll still see me wandering around the con and attending most of the panels.  If you see me and you read this blog, please come up to me and say hi.  I don't bite (unless you're a particularly nubile female).  It's a great con, so if you're anywhere near LA try to make an appearance.  The door-prices are quite reasonable, though expect to stand in a line to get in.

Review: Marvel G2 #9 - Swarm and Tales of Earth (part 6)

The ninth issue of the US G2 Marvel Comics run of Transformers again contains two tales: Swarm, and Tales of Earth (part 6).  Despite this duality, there is only one creative crew.  Writing is by Simon Furman, pencils by Manny Galan, inks by Jim Amash, colors by Sarra Mossoff, and letters by Richard Starkings with Comicraft.  The cover, as always, is by Derek Yaniger.

The cover is effective, though it's a bit hard to know for sure what's going on till you read the story.  Three of Jhiaxus' G2 Cybertronians are in pieces, perhaps being consumed by the black smoke that whorls around the cover.  Optimus Prime, faded out, is in silhouette.  "Waking NIGHTMARE!" it says, which is actually somewhat shrewd, as we'll come to find.  It's intriguing, and the artwork certainly conveys what it intends to, but I think the subject matter is just a bit abstract.

We open on a familiar scene, Optimus Prime walking among dessicated bodies, indulging in a brooding (or 'bro-ding', as my wife would say it) narration.  "A dream, a vision..." it asks.   Alas, this is the reality he finds himself in.  An Autobot science crew pores over a devastated industrial plant, while the security team looks on impatiently.  Since this isn't the work of Jhiaxus, Megatron wants to move on, and Grimlock agrees, but Optimus is having none of it.  He suspects a connection between this, his visions, and the G2 Cybertronians. The most effective bit here is the misdirection around the dream state.  Furman seemingly realized that he was overusing this trope, and poked a bit of fun at it.  The cover foreshadows this rather effectively.

Elsewhere, Jhiaxus' massive onslaught continue, this time under the command of a sub-commander named Mindset.  He's systematically and dispassionately eliminating the local life, but the arrival of the Swarm brings all of that to an end.  We get many pages of action as the Cybertonians make a futile last stand, exciting stuff and it puts the cover in the proper context.  When the swarm gets to Mindset, it pauses for a moment and imitates him.  It senses familiarity in this being, though that doesn't save the Decepticon from being absorbed.  Half a galaxy away, Onslaught reacts as his presumed offspring is consumed.  Optimus Prime feels it too, that a turning point has been reached.

Swarm has one more dramatic beat left, though.  Jhiaxus surveys the wreckage of his crew on Ethos, handed to him last issue by Megatron's timely (or untimely, depending on perspective) arrival.  A figure arrives, but Jhiaxus stays his men.  He knows this one... it's Starscream.  The miscreant is looking to switch sides!  (Galan manages to capture Starscream's evil sneer perfectly here.)

The last stand of the native is a nice moment.  Though he's outmatched, his courageous stand provokes sympathy from the reader but contempt from his opponents.  One cannot help but draw connection with the similarly futile stand the Cybertronians would make scant pages later and feel that justice has been served. 


The moment with Onslaught, though, is iffier.  It's not exactly stated, but it was heavily implied that the Combaticons were made on Earth just before issue #25.  With so many hundreds of Decepticons to choose from, why Onslaught?   I do like the visual similarities between him and Mindset, though.

The final twist of the first tale of the book was a bit telegraphed.  After all, with Starscream missing last issue, where else would he go?  I think that it might have been more effective to leave this meeting undepicted.  We'd have gotten the picture, I think.

It's not over yet, though, we still have Tales of Earth!  Back at the Autobase, Perceptor educates the assembled 'Bots and 'Cons as to what they've found.  The residue from the destroyed world, J'Asik, shares  a 'genetic sequence and celluar configuration' with that of the Transformers.  I think it's a bit odd to think of the Transformers as having a genetic code, but I suppose the budding idea already introduced biological analogs to the mythology.  I absolutely love the panel I excerpted here, by the way.  Galan's abstract prime looks so down, yet it's such a simple rendering.  Well done.

Optimus fills Megatron in on his visions, connecting the dots for him (and the audience.)  They face not just the unchecked growth and accompanying amorality of the G2 Cybertronians, but also this monstrous outgrowth of their race.  However, they have no time to dwell on this... Jhiaxus has found them!

The full might, one presumes, of this far superior foe is now free to rain down on the assembled Autobot/Decepticon forces.  It's a great ending, though perhaps telegraphed a bit too much by Starscream's defection at the end of the main story.  It's a bit sad to have no Yaniger artwork.  Galan still seems to struggle with the style.  Though he has some nice moments, on the whole the imagery still seems a bit awkward and uncomfortable.

We now have three issues to go and the big confrontation has seemingly arrived already.  One has to wonder a bit where we go from here.  Three issues of Jhiaxus versus our guys?  Retreat and counterattack?  The story has certainly become exciting, and I look forward to seeing it climax.  This issue is reprinted in its entirety and available for purchase in  Transformers Rage in Heaven  from Titan publishing.

The Ark Addendum - Enter the Nightbird (part 2)

Let's finish up some old business with this week's The Ark Addendum.  While I was working on scanning in the scripts from the Ron Friedman auction, I uploaded some of the models from Enter the Nighbird.  Why not finish it out?


To make the Nightbird's entry into Autobot HQ more impressive, the writers added a cover to the top of the volcano.  It makes sense, Laserbeak flew in and grabbed Sparkplug back in The Ultimate Doom, so why not add in some extra security?  They also added in cameras and motion sensors.  Smart to get rid of the 'open door policy.'  I really wanted to do an extra page on the crashed Autobot HQ in The Complete Ark, and these two images would have gone in there.  What held me back was no really high quality version of the front entrance.  I had a nice shot of the volcano, which I did sneak in, but felt that to not have the main entrance (except for a snowy version) defeated the point. 

The real stand-out on this page, though, is probably the Decepticon base, shaped like their sigil.  Floro Dery spoke fondly of designing this, and I have to say he did an outstanding job.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #120 "Fire On High!" Part 2

Fire On High Part 2 was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Geoff Senior, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Richard Starkings.

The cover is by Jeff Anderson and is a great image, somewhat let down by the colouring. The three figures are well-depicted and pretty dynamic. Galvatron in particular looks brilliant, although I would have liked a little more perspective on Death's Head, who is looking a little flat, but that's a minor nitpick. The problem here, however, is that Galvatron is a really strange colour. Admittedly, we should be used to seeing Galvatron in any number of different purple and grey combinations by now but I have no idea at all where the teal has come from and, worse than this, to my eyes, is the unpainted background that gives the cover far too much white space. The intention may have been to emphasise the fact that the scene is just about these three characters but actually it just makes the image much duller than it should be.

Ultra Magnus is dead and Galvatron triumphant. The issue opens with a fantastic splash panel by Geoff Senior with a dynamic angle that really shows off Galvatron's size and power. While ranting to himself he recaps the events of the previous few issues while mentioning that he did not even bother to watch Ultra Magnus' fall into the lava (hmm....). Despite his madness he correctly determines that the time jump trigger is the only thing that can stop him now so he goes to where he has left it and is dismayed to find that it has been taken. The culprit can only be one being - Rodimus Prime!

Meanwhile, Wreck-Gar is still working on the device but it is slow going because the technology is complex and unfamiliar. He is interrupted when Galvatron appears, striding, with purpose towards them. A quick Mexican stand-0ff ensues and both Rodimus and Galvatron go for their weapons. Galvatron is quicker on the draw, of course, because his gun is attached to his arm but Rodimus pulls off a athletic diving move and fires back, blasting Galvatron in the face and neck, willing him to "FALL!" - Much the same words as Megatron says to Optimus Prime as he blasts him over and over in Transformers: The Movie. Richard Starkings turns in some great lettering here as well, with energy blasts passing through their own sound-effects.

Despite the hail of energy Galvatron says standing until Rodimus spots a cable that is feeding energy into his volcano siphon. He blasts it and the energy is discharged into Galvatron finally stunning him enough to knock him face-down.

Rodimus moves in to finish him off but Galvatron is no ordinary Transformer. He is up and fighting before Rodimus can even cross the distance between them. Senior's art on his furious expression as we realise he is not even stunned is sublime - a moment straight out of a horror movie.

His fist connects with Rodimus' jaw and starts a beatdown that ends with the Autobot leader facedown in the dirt, the ground cracking with the impact as Galvatron's foot lands on the back of his head.

Rodimus' salvation comes from an unlikely quarter. Death's Head, recovered and ready for battle. He is determined to keep the Autobot alive so that he can be paid once he has finished Galvatron. He has the advantage of surprise but a lucky shot forces him to replace his right hand. Galvatron rallies and is able to grab the bounty hunter's other hand and tear it clean off!

Meanwhile, Goldbug is reviving Rodimus Prime and the time-jump override device is finished. Without wasting any time Wreck-Gar hits the button and the device activates. Death's Head, having finally got the better of Galvatron, is shocked as he is swept away by a torrent of time energy. Goldbug breathes a sigh of relief that proves to be short-lived as although the future Transformers and Death's Head are gone... Galvatron remains!

TO. BE. CONCLUDED.

What an issue! Furman manages to keep the "Galvatron beats everyone up" routine tense and exciting with Wreck-Gar's technical race against time in the background and Death's Head's timely reappearance. The twist at the end is a shocking one and sets up a seemingly impossible confrontation for Goldbug. My only real complaint is that mentioning that Galvatron never saw Ultra Magnus die is something of a sledgehammer. Magnus will presumably come back next issue and I can understand setting it up in advance but really I think Furman could have got away with that without mentioning it this issue. It might be usually the done thing to drop a hint or two of an upcoming plot twist but this was too much.

As good as Furman's writing is, this issue is all action and therefore Geoff Senior's contribution is as, if not more, important. In an obvious contrast to Dan Reed's messy, inky style, Senior's lines are crisp and well-defined. Both use stylisation to give the illusion of movement but rather than bend the character models to his will Senior elects to render them as cleanly as possible using only the minimum of inked detail, giving no doubt at all as to what is happening in each panel. Steve White's colouring is praiseworthy as well, lending depth to Senior's figures and adding atmospheric shadow and lighting effects. Check out how effective this is in the sequence where Galvatron is stunned by the energy discharge -

This was undoubtedly a fantastic issue and the cliffhanger really upped the ante. Unfortunately even reasonably astute readers can probably see where it is likely to go next, but that doesn't stop the action from being exciting along the way.

Review: Marvel G2 #8 - Escalation and Tales of Earth (part 5)

The eighth issue of the US G2 Marvel Comics run of Transformers is, as usual, a two-part tale, though this time the back up story was placed in the middle of the main story. Very strange. Both were written by Simon Furman, with colors by Mossoff and letters by Starkings with O'Neil. The artwork on Escalation!, the main story and not the excellent IDW miniseries of the same name , was by Manny Galan on pencils with Jim Amash on inks. The Tales of Earth (part 5) artwork, pencils and inks, was done by Derek Yaniger, as was the cover.

Yaniger  delivers another excellent cover.  Optimus and Megatron stand, back to back, guns smoking, a sword dripping oil.  They stand amid the wreckage of many G2 Cybertronians.  Powerful stiff.  Megatron's hip looks just a bit off, but that's a pointless nit.  Even the cover text seems somewhat necessary: "Optimus Prime and Megatron: Old Enemies / New Allies!"  Yes, the image shows that, but it's so unlikely that it's worth calling out.  Lovely work.

The issue starts off with a middling splash by Galan, Jhiaxus looking wrathful.  Jim Amash's inks definitely give it a certain energy and excitement, but overall it's a bit too static for my taste.  He (Jhiaxus, not Jim Amash) is ranting about how his mercy has emboldened his enemies, and perhaps he's right.  He's had both Optimus and Megatron in his power and let them get away in a futile attempt to bring them into the modern era.  No more, though.  The next page is a rather interesting two-page spread depicting the carnage that his forces are enacting in an effort to draw out Optimus Prime.  Jhiaxus stands in front of it, which works very well.  The coloring helps sell the action here, and the angle on the picture makes him seem contemplative.  Great storytelling, really.  The image of him in the upper right, though very clever, is perhaps a bit redundant.  It's a good three page start to the issue, though, setting the stage for the action to come.

From there we bounce into Tales of Earth, only three pages in.  Optimus and Megatron, both looking worse for wear, start to hammer out the terms of their alliance, with just a bit of interference from Grimlock.  It seems that their alliance is doomed for failure when an alien distress signal lures the Autobots on a mission of mercy, one that Megatron has no interest in.  The Autobots blast off for the frontier, leaving Megatron behind.  Aside from some rather gory Yaniger artwork, like the drool that spews from Megatron's mouth, the most interesting bit comes in at the end.  Starscream suggests that the 'Cons trash the Autobots base while they're off saving the universe, and Megatron dismisses him offhandedly.  Starscream realizes that it's time for him to come up with a real backup plan, and fast, because his time as Megatron's lackey is rapidly drawing to a close.

Thus ends tales from Earth, but the story is far from over.  Escalation continues!  Jhiaxus' troops destroy the peaceful dreamers of Ethos, and Optimus has no choice but to engage.  There's a nice character bit early on where Optimus wrings his hands about the devastation even as Grimlock calmly orders his troops about.  The action is decent, but it's clear that the Autobots have walked into an ambush.  Jhiaxus wanted this confrontation, and he's ready for it.  Help comes from an unexpected quarter, though... The Decepticons ride in to the rally.  (I love Starscream's lack of enthusiasm in response to Thundercracker's rallying cry - "Yeah, yeah. Ra-ra-ra."  Hard to do sarcasm in this format, but it plays well here.)

Optimus is glad that the Decepticons arrived to save their butts, but of course he's worried too.  Despite his lofty speech, it was the brutal edge of the Decepticons that won this battle.  He and Megatron confer aboard the Warworld, attempting to build on the success of this day, when Soundwave shows up with disturbing news.  Starscream is missing!

It's another decent offering, though moving the back-up tale to the middle of the issue feels really strange to me.  I'm not sure just having a different title block makes the changes in artwork any more or less jarring, and clearly Furman feels compelled to keep some portion of each story on Earth.  Leaving that aside, it's a pretty simple story.  Good guys show up, fight, get overwhelmed, and then the cavalry shows up even though they said they wouldn't.  Galan's artwork seems a bit off this time around, which in an action-heavy issue like this is quite a shame.  The brutality of the G2 Cybertronians, though, is a highlight.  Furman's prose does a good job of selling the beauty and wonder of the living computers of Ethos, even if Galan's artwork just shows a bunch of blobby alien creatures.   The real payoff, though, is seeing Autobot and Decepticon fight together.  As well, Starscream's desertion at the end is a nice way to end an otherwise fairly predictable story.  

Sadly, this is also the issue where we find out that the series will end at issue 12. Shame.  It took them a while to hit their stride, but they seem to have done so.  This story, while not brilliant, is solid on its own.  In the context of the overall story, it's really quite good, with Optimus and Megatron poised on one side and Jhiaxus on the other, and Starscream a wildcard. At least we get four more issues to finish things out, which is more than the G1 comic got after the axe fell.  Escalation (and Tales of Earth 5, of course) is available for purchase in the out-of-print titan collection,  Transformers Rage in Heaven.

The Ark Addendum - More than Meets the Eye

A day late, but time for another Ark Addendum!  I'm a bit pressed for time, so minimal commentary this time out.  It's More than Meets the Eye, the very first episode or three of The Transformers.  I've already posted some of the models from this episode, including some stuff from about the Autobot's ship in The Complete Ark.  Here are some of the landscapes that I haven't used yet.  Quite nice, I think.  They really help set the tone for the series to follow, especially season one.  Two broadened the artistic palate, and three went in many fantastic and bizarre directions.

Oh, I've also got some models of the construction of the Victory, the Decepticon spacecraft built in this episode, kicking around somewhere.  I'll try to post them in the near future.