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I literally just became interested in the IDW comics about yesterday. More accurately a few weeks ago, but I just got serious about it, yesterday. Today, I got MTMTE volumes 1 and 5. 2,3, and 4, I'll have to buy online, because my book store didn't have them. Right now, I can honestly say, from what I've read, I think I like this series more than any of the cartoons or movies. And I think I may have found a new favorite Transformer. Whirl. He's simply too badass. Even went out and bought his figure today, too.

But, my problem is, is that I have no idea how the hell any of these comics connect, or if any of them do at all. There's RID, MTMTE, and all the Spotlight things. What should I read first, in chronological order? I ordered Autocracy, Monstrosity, and Windblade off the internet, but they won't be here for a few days, and I know those first two are like, the beginning of it all. At least I think so. But, I just want to know how any of it connects, if it does at all. What's RID's connection to MTMTE, and so forth?

For the current stuff:

The Death of Optimus Prime, included in MTMTE vol 1, is the starting off point for both MTMTE and RID.

MTMTE and RID take place at the same time, but in different places, RID is set on Cybertron, while MTMTE is set on the Lost Light. There are some rare instances during their runs that things one title does affects the other title directly, but the main plots of both bring major plot events for the whole idw verse into motion that affect both titles during their huge Dark Cybertron crossover event.

The Spottlights were originally meant to tell stories that center around one character, while also introducing plot threads that lead into the main series.

Autocracy and Monstrocity are kinda the start of it all, but it's not required to read them first.

My tip, start with MTMTE and RID, read those volume wise at the same time (MTMTE vol 1, then RID vol 1, then MTMTE vol 2 then RID vol 2, rinse and repeat). Then when you get to the point of Dark Cybertron vol 1 and vol 2, wait and read "Dark Prelude", that contains a couple of kinda bad Spotlights that are kinda important to the Dark Cybertron event. Windblade and volumes 6 of both RID and MTMTE take place after Dark Cybertron.

You don't really need to go back and read all the old material, the important stuff is mentioned and expanded upon in the current books, so if you come across that stuff and don't understand everything or are interested in those events, you can go and check them out.

IF you want a full reading list of everything that's part of the idw verse and in which order to get them:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/IDW_Publishing#G1_rebooted

Again, it's not required since for a while idw had no interest in keeping their continuity straight and created lots of continuity errors that did not gel with previous material.

The current output is trying to correct that, by slightly retconing and rebooting a few things here and there that no-longer add up.

Also:


I. The Beginning…
1. Megatron Origin
2. Spotlight - Orion Pax
3. Spotlight – Blur (All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 p. 4)
4. Autocracy
5. Monstrosity
6. Primacy in 2014
7. Spotlight - Thundercracker

II. The Spotlights
8. Spotlight – Shockwave (Spotlight Vol. 1 p. 9)
9. Spotlight – Cliffjumper (All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 p. 52)
10. Spotlight – Soundwave (Spotlight Vol. 2 p. 9)
11. Spotlight – Wheelie (Spotlight Vol. 3 p. 100)
12. Spotlight - Hot Rod (Spotlight Vol. 1. p. 50)
13. Spotlight – Sixshot (Spotlight Vol. 1 p. 73)
14. Spotlight -- Ultra Magnus (Spotlight Vol. 1 p. 96)

III. Present Day Earth
15. Infiltration #0-3 (through p. 86)
16. Stormbringer #1-3
17. Infiltration #4-5 (p. 87-132)
18. Stormbringer #4 (Full page panel of Thunderwing in jet mode)
19. Infiltration #6 (p. 133 to end)
20. Spotlight – Kup (Spotlight Vol. 2 p. 28)
21. Escalation #1-2 (through p. 46)
22. Spotlight – Nightbeat (Spotlight Vol. 1 p. 27)
23. Escalation #3-6 (p. 47 to end)
24. Spotlight – Ramjet (Spotlight Vol. 2 p. 100)
25. Spotlight - Optimus Prime (Spotlight Vol. 2 p. 76)
26. Spotlight – Galvatron (Spotlight Vol. 2 p. 52)
27. Devastation #1-4 (pages unnumbered; Chapter 4 ends with close-up of Starscream talking to Astrotrain)
28. Spotlight – Blaster (Spotlight Vol. 3 p. 4)
29. Spotlight – Arcee (Spotlight Vol. 3 p. 28)
30. Devastation #5-6 (pages unnumbered; Chapter 5 begins with “Cybertron-The Past”)
31. Spotlight – Mirage (Spotlight Vol. 3 p. 76)
32. Spotlight – Grimlock (Spotlight Vol. 3 p. 52)
33. Spotlight Volume 4 – Revelation
34. Maximum Dinobots

IV. All Hail Megatron!
35. All Hail Megatron Vol. 2 Chapter 2 p. 1
36. All Hail Megatron Vol. 2 Chapter 1 p. 3-13, 17-19
37. All Hail Megatron Volume 4: “Everything In Its Right Place”
38. Spotlight – Drift (All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 p. 76)
39. Spotlight – Metroplex (All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 p. 100)
40. All Hail Megatron Volume 4: “Lost And Found”
41. Spotlight- Jazz (All Hail Megatron Vol. 3 p. 28)
42. All Hail Megatron Volume 1-2 in full
(Note: All Hail Megatron Volume 4 has #43-#48)
43. “Old Ways” Optimus/Ironhide
44. “Uneasy Lies The Head” Starscream
45. “Replay” Sunstreaker
46. “Rebirth” Galvatron/Cyclonus/Scourge
47. “The Man Of Steel” Spike
48. “Hidden” Bumblebee

V. Three Years Later (Note: #50-#58, #68-#72 are located in Last Stand Of The Wreckers Hardcover)
49. Spotlight- Prowl (Ongoing Vol. 6)
50. Autobot File: Rotorstorm p. 130
51. Autobot File: Pyro p. 131
52. Autobot File: Guzzle p. 132
53. Autobot File: Ironfist p. 133
54. Autobot File: Impactor p. 134
55. Decepticon File: Snare p. 135
56. Decepticon File: Overlord p. 136
57. Squadron X p. 161
58. BULLETS/OUT OF BULLETS: Deleted Scenes p. 116 - 128 except ‘Nine Months Later’
59. Last Stand Of The Wreckers #1
60. Ongoing Vol. 1 For All Mankind #1
61. Last Stand Of The Wreckers 2-3
62. Ongoing Vol. 1 #2
63. Last Stand Of The Wreckers 4
64. Ongoing Vol. 1 #3-4
65. Bumblebee paperback
66. Ongoing Vol. 1 #5-6
67. Last Stand Of The Wreckers 5
68. ESCAPE p. 162
69. ZERO POINT p. 170
70. IN WORD AND DEED p. 175
71. BULLETS: Nine Months Later p. 125
72. Wreckers Mosaic Dead Man’s Boots p. 129
73. Ironhide paperback
74. Drift paperback
75. Ongoing Vol. 2 International Incident (#7-#8)
76. Ongoing Vol. 4 Heart Of Darkness.“The Road To CHAOS”. Infestation occurs towards end of #4. End of #4 lines up with end of Ongoing #20 in Ongoing Vol. 5: Chaos Theory.
77. Infestation Transformers 1-2
80. Ongoing Vol. 2 #9 to #12
81. Ongoing Vol. 3 Revenge of the Decepticons #13
82. Spotlight - Megatron
83. Ongoing Vol. 3 remainder of Revenge Of The Decepticons
84. Ongoing Vol. 5 Chaos Theory through end of Police Action: Prolog
85. Spotlight - Bumblebee
86. Ongoing Vol. 6 Police Action
87. Ongoing Vol. 5 remainder of Chaos Theory
88. Ongoing Vol. 7 CHAOS
89. Death Of Optimus Prime (More Than Meets The Eye Vol. 1)

VI. The Autobots Divide
90. More Than Meets The Eye Ongoing #1 with Rodimus (Vol. 1)
91. Robots In Disguise Ongoing #1 with Bumblebee (Vol. 1)
92. MTMTE #2-3 (Vol. 1)
93. RID #2-3 (Vol. 1)
94. MTMTE #4-5 (Vol. 2)
95. RID #4-5 (Vol. 1)
96. Spotlight – Trailcutter(Trailbreaker renamed)
97. Spotlight – Hoist
98. More Than Meets the Eye #6 (Vol. 2)
99. More Than Meets the Eye Annual 2012 (Vol. 3)
100. More Than Meets the Eye #7-8 (Vol. 2)
101. Robots in Disguise #6-10 (Vol. 2, 3)
102. More Than Meets the Eye #9-13 (Vol. 3, 4) and text story “A Signal To Noise” (Vol. 4)
103. Robots in Disguise Annual 2012 (Vol. 3)
104. Robots in Disguise #11-16 (Vol. 3, 4)
105. More Than Meets the Eye #14-15 (Vol. 4)
106. Robots in Disguise #17-20 (Vol.5)
107. More Than Meets the Eye #16-21 (Vol. 4, 5) and text story “The Sound Of Breaking Glass” (Vol. 5)
108. Robots in Disguise #21-22 (Vol. 5)
109. More Than Meets the Eye #22 (Vol. 5)

VII. Dark Cybertron
110. Dark Cybertron (Voll. 1-2)

VIII. Dawn of the Autobots
111. Robots in Disguise #28-32
112. More Than Meets the Eye #28-34
113. Windblade #1-4
114. Robots in Disguise #33-34
115. Drift: Empire of Stone

IX. Days of Deception
116. The Transformers (ex-RID) #35-38
117. More Than Meets the Eye #35-38

Print up Va'al's list and keep it handy... trying to read those comics in order is difficult on a good day. I understand WHY they did it the way they did, but it makes it difficult to read since it jumps around so much. it's a time investment, it's nearly a maze... but it is worth it!

Totally with you on Whirl, I fell in love with him when he first shows up. He just keeps getting better too! I had to get his toy when I saw it in the store and fight my kids for him. But Whirl does sometimes get photographed have adventures around my house (he conquered the remote for the TV)

ctrlFrequency wrote:Print up Va'al's list and keep it handy... trying to read those comics in order is difficult on a good day.

I update it as we go along, so maybe just bookmark it!

Dead Metal wrote:For the current stuff:

The Death of Optimus Prime, included in MTMTE vol 1, is the starting off point for both MTMTE and RID.

MTMTE and RID take place at the same time, but in different places, RID is set on Cybertron, while MTMTE is set on the Lost Light. There are some rare instances during their runs that things one title does affects the other title directly, but the main plots of both bring major plot events for the whole idw verse into motion that affect both titles during their huge Dark Cybertron crossover event.

The Spottlights were originally meant to tell stories that center around one character, while also introducing plot threads that lead into the main series.

Autocracy and Monstrocity are kinda the start of it all, but it's not required to read them first.

My tip, start with MTMTE and RID, read those volume wise at the same time (MTMTE vol 1, then RID vol 1, then MTMTE vol 2 then RID vol 2, rinse and repeat). Then when you get to the point of Dark Cybertron vol 1 and vol 2, wait and read "Dark Prelude", that contains a couple of kinda bad Spotlights that are kinda important to the Dark Cybertron event. Windblade and volumes 6 of both RID and MTMTE take place after Dark Cybertron.

You don't really need to go back and read all the old material, the important stuff is mentioned and expanded upon in the current books, so if you come across that stuff and don't understand everything or are interested in those events, you can go and check them out.

IF you want a full reading list of everything that's part of the idw verse and in which order to get them:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/IDW_Publishing#G1_rebooted

Again, it's not required since for a while idw had no interest in keeping their continuity straight and created lots of continuity errors that did not gel with previous material.

The current output is trying to correct that, by slightly retconing and rebooting a few things here and there that no-longer add up.

Ok, I kind of figured that's how they connected. I already read most of Dark Cybertron volume 2 a few weeks ago, I couldn't even find Volume 1. I already know what happens at the end, and all that. Have they started the MTMTE and RID comics that took place after that already? I know they're confirmed, but have they released them officially?

ctrlFrequency wrote:Print up Va'al's list and keep it handy... trying to read those comics in order is difficult on a good day. I understand WHY they did it the way they did, but it makes it difficult to read since it jumps around so much. it's a time investment, it's nearly a maze... but it is worth it!

Totally with you on Whirl, I fell in love with him when he first shows up. He just keeps getting better too! I had to get his toy when I saw it in the store and fight my kids for him. But Whirl does sometimes get photographed have adventures around my house (he conquered the remote for the TV)

I'll try to make it my life's mission to read all of those. That is a LOT.

Also, when is Whirl's first appearance in the comics? I want them to do a Spotlight on him at some point.

Yes they released those already, but not in TPB form yet.
I think it's a huge mistake to read them the way you did, you basically just ruined half the fun and mystery of MTMTE by reading the end before the rest.

Hell, I have a TMNT tpb here I can't read yet, because somehow I managed to miss 3 previous ones, so I'm waiting till those arive before reading it.

The following IDW Hardcover collections are your best friend:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600106676/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600107516/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600108563/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600109381/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613770529/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613771835/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613774060/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613776276/

I'll later post the reading order that I used to read the stories within them, since I chose to go with an order that's closer to their original publication order rather than chronological order, which helped some things flow better.

SlyTF1 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:
Also, when is Whirl's first appearance in the comics? I want them to do a Spotlight on him at some point.

Whirl's first appearance, I guess if you want to say chronologically, would have been in Stormbringer (I think, I can't say for sure but that is the first appearance I seem to remember).

I'd love to see a spotlight on him. I love how they've taken a character (of course they've done this many times) that could have been two dimensional by just never delving into his personality, and expanding on him. They gave him reasons for his actions besides he's just psychotic.

Dead Metal wrote:Yes they released those already, but not in TPB form yet.
I think it's a huge mistake to read them the way you did, you basically just ruined half the fun and mystery of MTMTE by reading the end before the rest.

Hell, I have a TMNT tpb here I can't read yet, because somehow I managed to miss 3 previous ones, so I'm waiting till those arive before reading it.

I didn't even know it was connected to anything when I bought it. I thought it was just some random standalone side story or something. Hell, I don't even think I knew IDW was its own connected universe at the time. But I'm sure there will be more surprises in the future.

Sabrblade wrote:The following IDW Hardcover collections are your best friend:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600106676/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600107516/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600108563/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600109381/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613770529/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613771835/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613774060/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613776276/

I'll later post the reading order that I used to read the stories within them, since I chose to go with an order that's closer to their original publication order rather than chronological order, which helped some things flow better.

They're so expensive...

SlyTF1 wrote:They're so expensive...

True, but they're also the fastest, easiest, and most affordable way to get physical copies of the entire 2005-2011 portion of the IDW G1 comics.

And IDW recently started a Phase 2 of these collections with this newest one collecting the first batch of 2012 stuff - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1631400401/

A lot of people don't like the pre-2012 stuff that much, but I didn't mind it all as much as other folks did, and you might get something out of that portion as well.


P.S. - still putting together the reading order I used for the pre-2012 stuff.

I just finally got all of the volumes for MTMTE. Now, I can start reading them. I tried to read volume one of RID, but for some reason, it just doesn't interest me that much. I'm not even halfway through with the first volume, and it feels like it's dragging.

Finally got around to putting together my own reading order for all the pre-2012 stuff.

Simon Furman era:
Infiltation
Spotlight: Shockwave
Stormbringer
Spotlight: Nightbeat
Spotlight: Hot Rod
Spotlight: Sixshot
Spotlight: Ultra Magnus
Spotlight: Soundwave
Escalation #1
New Avengers/Transformers
Escalation #2-6
Spotlight: Ramjet
Spotlight: Kup
Spotlight: Galvatron
Spotlight: Optimus Prime
Spotlight: Wheelie
Spotlight: Blaster
Devastation #1-4
Spotlight: Arcee
Devastation #5-6
Spotlight: Grimlock
Revelation
Maximum Dinobots
Spotlight: Mirage
Megatron Origin

Shane McCarthy era (All Hail Megatron):
Spotlight: Blurr
Spotlight: Cliffjumper
Spotlight: Metroplex
All Hail Megatron #1
Spotlight Jazz
All Hail Megatron #2-14
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 1
Spotlight: Drift
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 2
All Hail Megatron #16

Mike Costa era
Ongoing #1-3 ("Things Fall Apart")
Bumblebee
Ongoing #4-6 ("Things Fall Apart")
Spotlight: Prowl
"Dead Men's Boots" Mosaic
Last Stand of the Wreckers
Last Stand of the Wreckers bonus content from the 2012 Hardcover collection:

"Bullets"
"Out of Bullets"
Character Profiles
Series Covers
Script Extracts
Guest Artwork
Squadron X
"Escape"
Promotional Artwork
Fisitron's Facts
Pin-Ups
First Draft
"Zero Point"
"In Word and Deed"

Ongoing #7-8
Ironhide
Drift
Infestation
Ongoing #9-13 ("International Incident")
Spotlight: Megatron
Ongoing #14-18 ("Revenge of the Decepticons")
Ongoing #19-20 ("Space Opera" Parts 1-2)
Heart of Darkness
Ongoing #21-23 ("Space Opera" Part 3 and "Chaos Theory")
Ongoing #25, 27, 29 ("Police Action")
Spotlight: Bumblebee
Ongoing #24, 26, 28, 30, 31 ("Chaos" & "Pax Cybertronia")

I think it's pretty awesome that we have different numberings/reading orders.

One thing I don't like is splitting up LSotW reading. Pretty easy to follow everything if you put it after AHM and then just pick up the start of the Costa run afterwards. I also find single issues to be a great friend in this series. If you want to do them in the "official" (I use that term loosely) chronological order, you're bookmarking and setting down and opening up all sorts of trades. I have maybe four trades total (AHM v. 4 and Ongoing v. 1-3) and plan on someday replacing them with singles so I can have everything filed into a long box in my preferred order.