IDW The Transformers #56 Full Preview

It's pretty funny to think Sentinel still has his enormous ego when he goes into his small titan master mode.


Also pretty funny how Alpha Trion doesn't appear to take him too seriously I love that.

I hereby re-dub thee Douchimus Prime.

Seriously, Sentinel wasn't anywhere close to this much of a jerk in Megatron Origin. I get he's been recast as a sort of crazy nationalist villain, but you'd think his hatred of the disposable class would've popped up when a bunch of them attended a state funeral he hosted, or he'd have been less inclined to take prisoners in his pursuit of the illegal gladiators instead of explicitly ordering his troops to be merciful to surrendering enemies.

There's character development, and then there's wide, sweeping character derailment. I have faith in Barber to gradually make this work, but this character work has really put me off so far.

Henry921 wrote:I hereby re-dub thee Douchimus Prime.

Seriously, Sentinel wasn't anywhere close to this much of a jerk in Megatron Origin. I get he's been recast as a sort of crazy nationalist villain, but you'd think his hatred of the disposable class would've popped up when a bunch of them attended a state funeral he hosted, or he'd have been less inclined to take prisoners in his pursuit of the illegal gladiators instead of explicitly ordering his troops to be merciful to surrendering enemies.

There's character development, and then there's wide, sweeping character derailment. I have faith in Barber to gradually make this work, but this character work has really put me off so far.

This is all stemming from the fact that when he died, the Decepticons were terrorists that killed him. When he awoke, he saw that said terrorists, whom he would have killed every last one of, are free and walking alongside the Autobots that he thought would crush them, he got angry. He was even angrier when he saw others like the colonists who were not the pure Autobot Cybertronians he knew. So to him, his society is lost, destroyed by terrorists being allowed to roam free and new colonists that are diluting his "pure" race.

So it makes sense for the character, and since the titan gave him the pulsewave that filled him in on all the things he missed, he knows all that has happened too. All that time, plus being killed, can do this to a character, so I don't think it can be called derailment of the character

fenrir72 wrote:This is going to be interesting what with A3 gonna be tforming into a beast mode and all. Prime , maybe TM Optimus vs Sentinel Prime? Will good Megs merge with Galvatron's corpse to become TM Mega Galvatron with Nucleon as the TM?

I can all but confirm that last part will not happen. At this point in the story, Megatron along with some of the Lost Lighters like Rodimus have been assumed dead, and even then Megatron is an Autobot now, and he does not like Galvatron, so that part at least cannot happen.

I'm hoping they explain the titan master concept well. And it will be interesting seeing as how so far A3 has only been shown to turn into a car, no sign of a beast mode

I know it won't happen but I'd love to see him kill Alpha Trion.

Wish they'd get rid of Barber.

Shuttershock wrote:

Henry921 wrote:I hereby re-dub thee Douchimus Prime.

Seriously, Sentinel wasn't anywhere close to this much of a jerk in Megatron Origin. I get he's been recast as a sort of crazy nationalist villain, but you'd think his hatred of the disposable class would've popped up when a bunch of them attended a state funeral he hosted, or he'd have been less inclined to take prisoners in his pursuit of the illegal gladiators instead of explicitly ordering his troops to be merciful to surrendering enemies.

There's character development, and then there's wide, sweeping character derailment. I have faith in Barber to gradually make this work, but this character work has really put me off so far.

I agree somewhat. Granted, I missed Megatron Origins, but it does kind of feel like they slapped some of the racial impurity from Nova and Galvatron on him.

Sure, Sentinel was in power near the apex of Functionism, but it feels like an overemphasized trait, hating on the colonists and whatnot. Feel like they could have stuck with the "I've been gone for four million years and you made PEACE with my MURDERERS!?" angle.

He... enforced empurata on Shockwave, took over the senate, conquered worlds because reasons, claimed that only military action could lead to results. Those all seem like legitimate background character points to lead him to this point.

but this character work has really put me off so far.

He's not supposed to be nice.


The issue does a little more to explain how and why, but that can be discussed once it's out of course.

Admittedly all the Primes before Optimus being dicks is probably one of my least favourite aspects of IDW. Not because I think the Primes should be pure and peaceful or whatever... but because in terms of character they're all the exact same arsehole.

Synopsis
TITANS RETURN! Following the literally-Earth-shattering events of last issue… OPTIMUS PRIME establishes a new base of operations—AUTOBOT CITY! Its first visitor: a newly-revived SENTINEL PRIME, who sees a potential ally in OPTIMUS.



Story

Despite the distribution and release mix-up, meaning that this issue - which directly follows the Titans Return one-shot - is coming out after More than Meets the Eye #56, and the unclarity with which the whole Titans Return event is supposed to be ordered (apparently it's both TF then MTMTE, but also TF-MTMTE-TF-MTMTE; I know, I don't get it either): we're here! New issue! Backstory! Saltinel Prime!



We have been introduced to the newly resurfaced, orange-clad, extremist view-holding, weapon-toting, supremacist, belligerent candida-- ex-ruler of Cybertron, and we get to see more of the joy he brings to the galaxy in this issue - but with actual plot and plan and details. And violence. I am not rooting for him, in any way, but there is a perverse enjoyment in seeing how ruthless John Barber is playing him, and wondering how the story will develop - even with the knowledge of MTMTE 56.



That does come to the detriment of pretty much everyone else involved, with Optimus Prime and Soundwave forced to have a tete-à-tete with the orange (but also black) tyrannical egomaniac, Arcee facing him head-on, and Alpha Trion ultimately headed elsewhere. While we're at it, we also make sure continuity and characters are kept and established, with (arguably) secondary characters such as Kup, the Victorion team, Jetfire and others, used fairly well in the mix, all considered.



The book also quite loudly sets the stage for the upcoming Revolution event, though how successfully it does that is yet to be seen. The story does make sense, yes, but it takes a lot of suspension of belief and some 'let's see'-ing efforts, with the introduction of some of the characters and plot points that will play a major part later, apparently, such as Blitzwing (as we saw in the Revolution prelude) and *other things*.

Art

We have Livio Ramondelli on art duties again, after the Titans Return introduction, and still rocking the new visual direction he's had in these later books. There is clarity in line purpose, good layout on the page and within the panels, and one particularly amusing detail on the body of Ego-Lord Infinitus: the giant screw in his chest. (There's a particularly dynamic panel too, but it's a fairly big spoiler for this review. Screw it is.)



He also takes the colour control on the art side, as is customary, and there's a really intriguing palette at work here, with a lot of orange (mainly down to Sentinel and his ego, but not entirely), reds, blues, but also some ominous and significant purple, paired with nice light/dark effects and alternate light-sources, too.



Tom B. Long is tirelessly still taking care of the lettering for the book, and playing with some good fonting as Ramondelli's style allows for it, plus giving some distinctive voices to the ever-growing cast and communication devices - helpful, really, in this sort of situation! As for the covers, the main Ramondelli one shows a bit of Prime-on-Prime action, and a potential consequence found in the Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente wonderfully scaled variant, but I chose Kei Zama and Josh Burcham's (arguably) MVP art for the thumbnail, for a taste of the post-revolution style too.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Barber is somehow able to bring together the last strands of the storylines happening in The Tranformers, and the beginning of the new line starting with Revolution, while at the same time creating two separate paths that can be used at will - an impressive feat, that borrows heavily from the work he has established in the TFverse since his first involvement (writerly and editorial), and a sign of skill, undoubtedly.



The resulting effect, in my opinion at least and with the help of the visual work from Ramondelli and Long, is a highly enjoyable issue: good pacing, good continuity, good character use, good referencing to previous stories and hinting at new ones/their continuation, good interactions in a very big cast, and one that does not seem to be decreasing any time soon. Good read.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:...that Soundwave and Prime cover is fantastic.

And that will be the art for the Optimus ongoing!

1984forever wrote:They ended the war and sidelined or killed almost everyone so they can have just a few Transformers running around like the X-Men handling little threats that pop up.

Did... I miss something major? Because unless I'm forgetting something off the top of my head, the only main deaths in IDW's current run (aside from MTMTE) are Shockwave, Bumblebee and Galvatron. And there were a few years between the former two and the latter. Certainly doesn't strike me as 'almost everyone'.