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Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017 3:59PM CDT

Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al   Views: 25,277

Topic Options: View Discussion · Sign in or Join to reply

Iron Filings
(Spoiler free-ish)



Synopsis
Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
But actually also none of that


Story

Keeping with my regular lateness on the non-core Transformers titles from IDW - much like IDW itself really, all things considered - this review of Revolutionaries happens a couple of weeks after the book's release, but still worth having here given the arrival of First Strike and a LOT of references to TF lore so far. Also note: the synopsis is, in fact, for issue 5.

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
Hey Costa run!


In issue 4, there's more Iron than a gym full of anaemia-battling robots, with an array of GI Joe villains showing up to play the part of 'super evil bad guys' working behind the scenes of everything we've seen so far, and to continue some of the storylines from that book in its more recent IDW incarnation.

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
Iron.. Who?


But what this issue is also brimming with, is allusions and references to some very early TF stories from IDW runs, including International Incident and the personal issues with Kup after his Spotlight and the Coda to All Hail Megatron, and not just in passing, but woven into the fabric of the story from continuity and dialogue perspectives. In John Barber we still trust.

Art

Fico Ossio returns to bring the more dynamic, if not indeed flexible, and softer lineart for the issue - and the Predacons take on some different guises than previously seen. Overall, however, the action scenes can be followed easily, there isn't too much overcrowding, the panels flow, and the only moment things are a little unclear may also be due to the script.

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
And this is a Good Panel™


Reuniting the dynamic duo, colourist Sebastian Cheng brings the usual gloss to the lineart, but this time round, I was able to appreciate the shading and different use of lighting in some of the panel compositions, thanks to the fire theme brought on by the highly theatrical villains of the week month, too.

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
Toasty


Instead of the usual caption devices, we have a slight twist to how it's employed allowing Tom B. Long to make the most of it and the multiple soundwords spread across the book during the numerous fights. As for the covers, I have highlighted, in the thumbnail, the Tone Rodriguez and Thomas Teyowisonte Deer variant; all others are easily accessible via our database page (along with full character roster too, here),

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Despite the healthy dose of exposition - and believe me, a lot of it in this issue - the pacing worked well, and all the recapping that takes place actually covers up some holes in various storylines, from Cobra to the Predacons, and follows up on previous characterisations of a number of characters with tact and precision, really.

Transformers News: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4
Movie cameo! Oh, Barber..


This is also probably the clearest the visuals have been in a while, with Ossio and Cheng working together nicely on layouts within the panels too, and reinforcing the feeling that Revolution was indeed too early for its times and the books involved. Plus, Predaking looks great. Different, sure, but good. And as always - the book has humour. Like, actually funny moments. Do not underestimate this part.

. :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: out of :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO:
Credit(s): IDW

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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887629)
Posted by ScottyP on June 7th, 2017 @ 9:03am CDT
Agreed on the visuals, definitely avoided the cluttered feel I got from some of their other work.

Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887634)
Posted by Big Grim on June 7th, 2017 @ 9:49am CDT
Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887644)
Posted by o.supreme on June 7th, 2017 @ 10:32am CDT
ScottyP wrote:Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 7 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.


Corrected to be accurate, yes they are THAT far behind. Also its kind of sad...after years of wanting another sourcebook, specific to all the TF characters (more specifically Japanese characters and newly created ones since the DW one came out). We finally get this...

Now I'm not complaining that it is including GI Joe, MASK, Action Man etc.... However, Transformers itself had well over 300 entries in the original DW 8 issue series which covered pretty much every North American toy based character from 1984-1991. GI Joe alone has probably just as many characters. I don't see this sourcebook being as extensive as it should be. Each series should have dedicated sourcebooks so that fans can pick-and choose which ones they like, or all if they so choose. Having this one mish-mash covering only a few of the characters from each series seems quite a wasted effort.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887681)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 7th, 2017 @ 12:54pm CDT
Big Grim wrote:Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!

Yes, Centurion was established as the name of the Hearts of Steel Bumblebee-looking guy who may or may not BE Hearts of Steel Bumblebee. So, not really the same character.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887727)
Posted by Kurona on June 7th, 2017 @ 3:48pm CDT
o.supreme wrote:
ScottyP wrote:Just a short PSA: if you read this series and pick up the Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook today, avoid the bios for Centurion and Atomic Man as these spoil big chunks of upcoming Revolutionaries issues! To be fair to the editors, Rev 6 7 was supposed to be out in June, but here we are with 5 coming out next week.


Corrected to be accurate, yes they are THAT far behind. Also its kind of sad...after years of wanting another sourcebook, specific to all the TF characters (more specifically Japanese characters and newly created ones since the DW one came out). We finally get this...

Now I'm not complaining that it is including GI Joe, MASK, Action Man etc.... However, Transformers itself had well over 300 entries in the original DW 8 issue series which covered pretty much every North American toy based character from 1984-1991. GI Joe alone has probably just as many characters. I don't see this sourcebook being as extensive as it should be. Each series should have dedicated sourcebooks so that fans can pick-and choose which ones they like, or all if they so choose. Having this one mish-mash covering only a few of the characters from each series seems quite a wasted effort.

Except unlike the Dreamwave sourcebook, this one doesn't seek to give bios on the entire universe's character set nor is it centred around Transformers. The entire point is a focus on the expanded Hasbro universe and the characters that have had specific fictional focus within it (aside from the books that haven't had anything to do with the extended Hasbro universe; like Lost Light and Sins of the Wreckers). You are coming at it from a completely different premise and judging it unfairly because it's not what you personally wanted.

For what it is, this Sourcebook is excellent. It gives you a good reminder of major players within the universe, ties everything in in ways you might not have thought of, has a good sense of humour (that DOC, Buster and Bob page is pure beauty), and in general is just a good fact file.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1887904)
Posted by Big Grim on June 8th, 2017 @ 8:20am CDT
Daniel Adkins wrote:
Big Grim wrote:Centurion? Not heard that name alongside Transformers since G1 Marvel UK! I loved the design of that Mechanoid!

Yes, Centurion was established as the name of the Hearts of Steel Bumblebee-looking guy who may or may not BE Hearts of Steel Bumblebee. So, not really the same character.

Ah, okay. Interesting to hear! Cheers!
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888274)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 9th, 2017 @ 1:28pm CDT
http://www.comiccrusaders.com/exclusive ... onaries-5/

The full preview for issue 5 is out.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888286)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 9th, 2017 @ 2:11pm CDT
Daniel Adkins wrote:http://www.comiccrusaders.com/exclusive-preview-revolutionaries-5/

The full preview for issue 5 is out.


THis makes it clear, to anyone who was doubting, that Centurion is Hearts of Steel Bumblebee.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888289)
Posted by Va'al on June 9th, 2017 @ 2:16pm CDT
Fellow Seibertronian Daniel Adkins has spotted the first of several expected full previews on ComicCrusaders for next week's releases from IDW Publishing: Revolutionaries #5! Featuring art by both Fico Ossio / Sebastian Cheng and Guido Guidi, the five pages can be seen below - check them out, and head back for a review on Seibertron.com after the book is released.

M.A.S.K. vs. the ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries uncover the deep, dark secret of Mike Power, the Atomic Man—and enlist the help of M.A.S.K. to bring in the long-lost agent! But there’s more to Power’s story than anyone imagined, in the oddest story of 2017!


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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888307)
Posted by Lore Keeper on June 9th, 2017 @ 3:28pm CDT
Hearts of Steel and Beast Wars? My inner child is jumping for joy! I have a very strong feeling this is how they're going to introduce Optimus Primal into the story.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888357)
Posted by Silverwing on June 9th, 2017 @ 7:10pm CDT
Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888358)
Posted by Kurona on June 9th, 2017 @ 7:12pm CDT
Silverwing wrote:Wait, is that one of the O parts from RID on the ship?

Nope - unless the resemblance is intentional; this is in fact the Talisman that has been featured throughout the entire Revolutionaries series.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888448)
Posted by Windsweeper on June 10th, 2017 @ 2:21am CDT
Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888455)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 10th, 2017 @ 3:54am CDT
Windsweeper wrote:Very interesting. At first glance that crew resemble Ironhide, Prowl, Bumblebee (or Bugbite).

Domitus resembles Big Convoy, I think that was the mammoth's name in Beast Wars and the guy with the Ratchet looking head's colour scheme reminds me of Clench or Tarantulus.

I wonder who they are?

Have you read the miniseries Hearts of Steel?
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888879)
Posted by o.supreme on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:22am CDT
In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888882)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:28am CDT
It would go after Spotlight: Shockwave. Ask PrimusPrime22@gmail.com to share his continuity doc with you.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888883)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:30am CDT
Screenshot_2017-06-12-09-29-23.png
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888884)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:36am CDT
o.supreme wrote:In a way this kind of makes sense. Since IDW's inception 11 1/2 years ago, They have had the main "New" Transformers Universe. They have also had comics for the movie verse, and tie-in comics for TFA, and several series for the aligned continuity (FOC, TFP, BH etc...) Even a 2 issue GI Joe/TF crossover (Prior to the Hasbroverse). And a separate continuity for BW.

But Hearst of Steel was always an oddity. Unfortunately no other "alternate" universe stories were ever published, so I guess it makes sense to retcon it into the main continuity somehow.

I wonder though...because I collect the individual issues, and not the TPB's, I like to sort my comics by chronological reading order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transformers_(IDW_Publishing)#Chronological_Comic_Order

I wonder where Hearts of Steel will eventually officially be placed? I guess its not a big deal at the moment since all my comic books are in storage, but eventually I'll have to take that 4 issue series out of my "Miscellaneous" collection and file it in somewhere with the main IDW continuity.

This list, done by my buddy Primusprime22 places it somettime between Spotlight Wheelie and Spotlight Hot Rod. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888886)
Posted by Kurona on June 12th, 2017 @ 9:49am CDT
Yeah, Hearts of Steel takes place in the year the original story says it was. So it's kind of fun that for once we have an IDW Transformers story that's not set in the modern day, the 1980s or millions and/or thousands of years ago.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1888982)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on June 12th, 2017 @ 6:57pm CDT
Hearts of steel is now canon. I am very happy :x
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1889291)
Posted by Kurona on June 14th, 2017 @ 3:55am CDT
Steam Wars

Spoiler-ish review of Revolutionaries #5


Synopsis

Cobra Commander vs. Hearts of Steel! Thousands of years ago, a starship crashed on Earth—and the Hearts of Steel Transformers were born… but how can these steampunk Cybertronians be real?! And what does Cobra Commander want with them, when he hasn’t even got Cobra to back him up? The Revolutionaries have uncovered one of the darkest and most incredible secrets on Earth!

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Story

Revolutionaries so far has proven to be a greater success in terms of an engaging story and crossing over various franchises than its predecessor and progenitor Revolution. We've gotten an intelligently-written story that uses elements from Transformers, GI Joe, ROM etc. with actual restraint and intent - and now we get Hearts of Steel thrown in the mix; an IDW Transformers mini that was previously its own little thing connected to no other continuity with the pure reason of having the G1 Transformers be steampunk. It was pretty great. So, how does this manage to fit in with the new IDW Hasbroverse?

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Pretty cleverly, if a tad cold. As one can garner from the preview, writer John Barber smartly manages to connect the Hearts of Steel Autobots and Decepticons to the ongoing narrative of the original 13 Primes and the Colony Worlds. Bridging the gaps in time with a lovely re-appearance of Shockwave and tying things into the backstories of GI Joe characters, the story manages to seamlessly slot Hearts of Steel into the Hasbroverse with nary a continuity error - though unfortunately, it does rely on much of the emotional motivation and pathos of the Hearts of Steel characters being nullified. If you were emotionally invested in the characters of those stories, you might find yourself disliking how this all works - Primus knows I'd be the same if a story I cared a lot about was treated this way. However, as stated; it is clever and this is only a small knock against the contents of the issue.

Talking of the contents of the issue, how does it fare? Really bloody well. We have the story we've been following with Kup and company continue juxtaposed with the backstory of Hearts of Steel Bumblebee beautifully drawn by Guido Guidi (more on that later). I will admit to being a bit confused by the former - it seems to require a decent amount of knowledge about IDW's GI Joe stories, and as someone who has never read those, it's not entirely clear to me what's going on at the start of the issue with Cobra Commander and why he's being betrayed by his former comrades. Still, the narrative can quite easily be followed without context and what follows when the Revolutionaries arrive is a very lengthy but very fun action sequence, utilising the different abilities and weapons of each member all to take down the former Terrorist organisation leader. Which to some might sound a bit dull if this is mostly action and little story, but remember - Hearts of Steel. Switching back and forth between the past and the present help give this issue a very nice balance of action and story; as a reader I didn't feel starved for either by the last page and both gave me a much better understanding of the universe and characters. All good stuff. Unfortunately, while both the flashback and the ongoing story are good and complement each other so you don't get an over-saturation of either; that doesn't mean they work together terribly well.

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As the issue progresses, Blackrock is shown to be conducting on investigation into the Hearts of Steel Transformers. And as his investigation comes to a head, we get panels of his shock and surprise; leading us to believe we're about to see a revelation -- only to realise that he is just discovering something we already knew pages ago. And this is the only real flaw with the flashback: entertaining, well-written and engaging as it may be, it suffers when framed as something Blackrock is finding out. When working with a narrative it is far more advantageous for the reader to discover something at the same time as the character - otherwise the conclusion to the character's investigation just falls flat. Fortunately this is just a minor knock against the story if anything, but it is still rather frustrating when it seems like it could so easily have been done better.

Art

As always, Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng handle the art duties for Revolutionaries on lineart and colours respectively. And if you've liked them on the previous Revolutionaries issues, you'll like them here too! They manage to utilise a colourful cast with a darker atmosphere without dimming said colours, their facial expressions are spot-on, and they just keep getting better at drawing the robotic characters. I have nothing but praise and repetition of phrases to give for these two; they're a great artistic duo.

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But what is most likely to grab one's eye in this issue is, naturally, Guido Guidi's lineart and colours for the flashback pages. Waaaaaaay back in 2012's Robots in Disguise annual, we saw him employ a very 80s Marvel-esque art style used for flashback scenes involving the ancient past dealing with characters closely related to the 13 Primes. It worked incredibly well; giving off a mystery, fanciful and otherworldly vibe while paying wonderful homage to Transformers' roots when they started in Marvel back in 1984. The same style is applied for the same reasons here with all the same positives. To be maybe just a little bit unprofessional for a moment, seeing this sort of thing is really friggin' cool and I personally ADORE it! Seeing it return excited me on the previews and I can only hope this indicates it will be used more in the future. It's simply a beautiful homage by people who are clearly very big fans of the franchise.

Final Thoughts

I may have come across as a little bit negative in the review. I speak of how Blackrock's investigation doesn't gel well narratively, I speak of how Hearts of Steel fans may be a bit disheartened by the way the story is now retconned into the main continuity; and I do express confusion on what the deal with Paoli and his former allies is. But I do speak from a place of love, as these do not horribly interfere with the story and they do not prevent Revolutionaries #5 from continuing this series in an entertaining way and being a thrill-ride of continuity engineering and worldbuilding.

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Action Man and Kup are enjoyable as always, Hearts of Steel's placement in the continuity is intelligent if not a bit cold, the gunfight between Mayday and Cobra Commander is choreographed very well - though I do question one G.I. Joe soldier being able to take down Cobra's former leader. Was he weak in the IDW G.I. Joe comics?) - and, of course, the art is bloody beautiful. The story moves on, the stakes are being raised; and the plans of Kreiger and Doctor X just keep getting more and more sinister even while each issue including this one manages to be its own individual self-contained story with characters from across all the franchises involved. Like the past four issues, Revolutionaries isn't actually anything revolutionary; but does prove that if you're willing to give the Hasbro Expanded Universe a shot, it can most assuredly deliver. It's just a damn good comic.

:HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: 1/2 out of :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO:
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1889328)
Posted by Randomhero on June 14th, 2017 @ 7:28am CDT
I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1889335)
Posted by ScottyP on June 14th, 2017 @ 8:22am CDT
Randomhero wrote:I haven't bothered picking revolutionaries since issue one. Not because I don't like what's happening I just figured I'd get the trades like GI Joe vs Transformers so I've just been reading the tfwiki pages but after this issue I'm gonna go back and pick up the past few issues and catch up. This series sound so amazing and actually making Hearts of Steel part of the G1 universe sold me.
Full credit to John Barber for injecting it with so much soul. It's like he had a high level outline of "things to do to get from Rev to First Strike" and got clearance to just make up the rest as he went. Not anyone could effectively pull that off, but I think it's getting done to tremendous effect.

Cobra Commander's line "...Krieger would." is one that I couldn't help but read in H. Jon Benjamin's voice. Was waiting for an Archer reference (at least implied, maybe?) with that character!
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1889346)
Posted by Nexus Knight on June 14th, 2017 @ 8:59am CDT
Y'know, if Hearts of Steel fans want to keep the heart of their story, they could rationalize that it is possible for those story to exist in another timeline. LL has shown that it has happened, so it is isn't beyond the realm of believe it to be possible for the Steel timeline. They can keep the story in IDWverse and as its own.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1889560)
Posted by Randomhero on June 15th, 2017 @ 7:12am CDT
So I did go back and read all of revolutionaries and man that's a fun book. I had a great time catching up
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1892770)
Posted by Va'al on June 27th, 2017 @ 6:42pm CDT
It ain't over yet..! IDW Publishing's Revolutionaries is about to reach its conclusion, as we head into First Strike, but the Hasbro Universe multi-team has some more tricks up its sleeve - such as issue #6's GI Joe centric variant cover from Tone Rodriguez (plus colourist), as seen below courtesy of Previews World!

(W) John Barber (A) Fico Ossio (CA) Tone Rodriguez
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power-a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN-the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"-and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
In Shops: Jul 26, 2017


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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1896521)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on July 13th, 2017 @ 2:19pm CDT
We have the iTunes Preview for #6: M.A.S.K. Vs. the Atomic Man! https://twitter.com/hasbroupodcast/stat ... 3474660353
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1896527)
Posted by Kurona on July 13th, 2017 @ 2:35pm CDT
Courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Daniel Adkins, we've got a 3-page preview of Revolutionaries #6 for you straight from iTunes! Featuring Kup and the rest of the squad teaming up with a couple of M.A.S.K. characters, check out the blurb and preview below and join the discussion in the forums if you like!


M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!

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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1896554)
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on July 13th, 2017 @ 4:45pm CDT
So this happens after the M.A.S.K. Annual, hmm.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1896557)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on July 13th, 2017 @ 4:56pm CDT
Maybe. It's hard to know when the MASK Annual takes place considering the presence of Cliff Dagger. At first I was thinking the same thing and that Stalker called in Matt and Gloria, but then Stalker said Scarlett called them in, so who knows.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1899463)
Posted by Va'al on July 25th, 2017 @ 3:56am CDT
Directly from IDW Publishing, we have the full preview of this week's comics releases for the Hasbro Universe! First up is the Revolutionaries series, leading into First Strike in the coming months, and setting up a big stage of crossover material, with issue #6 - check it out below!

Revolutionaries #6
John Barber (w) • Fico Ossio (a) • Robert Atkins (c)
M.A.S.K. vs. ATOMIC MAN! The Revolutionaries team with MATT TRAKKER and the M.A.S.K. team to find Mike Power—a.k.a. ATOMIC MAN—the long-lost member of the G.I. JOE ADVENTURE TEAM. The bizarre history of this tragic hero leads to the truth behind "Project Ice Man"—and the return of another classic G.I. JOE hero!
Bullet points:
Variant cover by Pierre Droal!


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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1899731)
Posted by ScottyP on July 25th, 2017 @ 7:56pm CDT
Power and Glory and Feelings
A Review of Revolutionaries #6

Primarily Spoiler Free, but you might find your own if you're in a bad mood
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A real panel from the book that you will actually take seriously. Buckle up for a trip.

With the yearly mega-event First Strike fast approaching, the book intended to bridge the gap between last year's Revolution and said event hits its sixth installment this week. Originally solicited for a May release, it looks like this series won't quite hit its ultimate eighth issue before First Strike, barring a rapid fire release schedule. After reading Revolutionaries 6, this is an acceptable scenario. Sure, it won't be fun to have plot details spoiled, or other things partially unexplained, but if the seventh and eighth issues of Revolutionaries are anywhere close to as good as this one is then no one's going to care about those other factors.

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We now return to The Transformers (feat. Action Force as your backup strip)

While this is an ensemble book, and the ensemble does play around in this issue and do their monthly actioning and adventuring, make no mistake that this issue could also easily be titled Spotlight: Atomic Man. This shouldn't make you turn away if you're a fan of Transformers that doesn't like fun peanut butter in your chocolate. On the contrary, if you fit those qualifications (and even if you don't), Officer Reeses yourself down to the comic shop or over to your digital platform of choice and read this now. The Saturday morning cartoon fun is interlaced by a gripping story of a boy that becomes a hero that becomes a man that becomes lost. In one issue, Atomic Man goes from "one of those Adventure Team guys in the flashbacks in that Revolushunries book" to a fully defined character, and it's hard to put this one down halfway.

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"How would G.I. Joe fancy a team-up with M.A.S.K.?"

Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker make the Hasbro Universe "Total Brand Awareness" roster for this one, and they serve their purpose well. Author John Barber shows his chops in making sure things fit together through them, at least in a small degree, by nailing the dynamic that's been built between the two characters in the actual M.A.S.K. series. Add in some interactions between them, Mayday, and Stalker, and you have a nice bit of crossover that helps smooth over the wider narrative of the universe while it's at it.

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Seriously though Shark has one purpose and that's it.

They really are just there for fun and to move things along, at least on a high level, because outside of Atomic Man another character absolutely shines in this one, and that's Action Man. Ian Noble continues to be treated more like 007 than A Real American Hero (Imported By Palitoy) and here, it really works. Through a clever twist in one of the Agnes Garbowska drawn "Mikey Powers" scenes, Action Man serves as a linchpin to the issue's plot that takes place through the non-flashback sequences featuring the art and colors of series regulars Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng, respectively.

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I love parallelograms

The art throughout varies wildly, but this is for very, very good reasons. As mentioned, Ossio's work takes up the "Main" story and while there are a few of his panels that left things to be desired, with Agnes Garbowska (who many fans may know from IDW's My Little Pony series) lending back up pages in the first half of the issue, his style is balanced out into smaller chunks that I personally find more digestible. Eventually, Ron Joseph takes over for these back up pages and provides his style to these in two different but still effective ways, and it has the same net positive impact on the storytelling. One page even plays around with a real Adventure Team toy advertisement from Marvel Comics' Man Thing #20, published in August of 1975 (This information was retrieved from a blog post at www.ferretpress.com. This ad is ten years older than me, I wasn't going to recognize it on my own!)

There are four covers available for this one, including the primary cover by Robert Atkins with colors by Simon Gough that's shown in the thumbnail for this review. As always, you can find the full list of covers, credits, and characters that appear in this issue in our Vector Sigma Database Entry for Revolutionaries #6.

Verdict
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Reaganomics!

I kind of want to check in on John Barber and make sure he's ok, given the dark and almost brutally melancholic nature of this issue and Optimus Prime #9. However, I also kind of don't because he's on an absolute roll and there'd be fear of disrupting his mojo. Mr. Barber continues here with telling gripping, meaningful stories in this Hasbro Universe that take what could be meaningless monthly serial beats and elevate them through genuine emotion. If pressed, one could definitely find parallels between the "Life of Sideswipe" and the life of Atomic Man presented here which is just incredible.

Seibertron's staff of comic book reviewers has been giving out a great deal of very high scores lately, and I promise you we aren't turning into IGN - the output of the past several weeks has just been that darn good. Pick this one up even if you haven't given Revolutionaries a shot, but be prepared to feel feelings.

. :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: and ½ out of :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO:
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1899898)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on July 26th, 2017 @ 1:19pm CDT
This might make for my favorite issue of Revolutionaries yet. I love the mixed media approach, I'm always a sucker for the Adventure Team, and Mike Power's story was very sad. Though, given certain solicitations, I have to wonder if there's more to his story than meets the atomic eye.

If I had one criticism, it's that MASK really did feel like they had no real reason to be here other than "we needed to put them in somewhere." Still, I much prefer Barber's writing on the MASK team compared to Easton.

And of course, I loved getting to see more of the Hearts of Steel/Eukarian Transformers doing stuff, even if they were only puppets. Perhaps there's a chance they could come back in the future?
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1899899)
Posted by Kurona on July 26th, 2017 @ 1:20pm CDT
I do kinda hope we get more HoS Transformers somewhere down the line. It'd be disappointing to bring it into the universe and only use one of them.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1903805)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on August 11th, 2017 @ 8:23pm CDT
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/previ ... onaries-7/

Multiversity Comics has the full preview of Revolutionaries #7 up. This is the penultimate issue of the series, featuring Sgt. Savage (from G.I. Joe's Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles line) as the guest star.

It also features more Centurion and the Adventure Team. Which means this issue is going to be awesome.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1903930)
Posted by ScottyP on August 12th, 2017 @ 12:55pm CDT
As first seen on Multiversity Comics and as pointed out by Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forum user Daniel Adkins, the five page preview for Revolutionaries #7 is now available. Kup, Centurion, Action Man, Blackrock, Mayday, and Sgt. Savage feature in this next chapter of the series keeping the Hasbro Universe glued together, and while delays have kept this from being released before First Strike as intended, the preview pages below may help you decide whether to give this a shot this upcoming Wednesday, August 16th when the issue hits the shelves.

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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1904584)
Posted by ScottyP on August 15th, 2017 @ 10:26pm CDT
Idk if I'll have time for this post in the morning, so typing it now. Super minor Revolutionaries 7 spoilers from here on!

There's a page with Sgt. Savage and a "Team Extreme" done up in a very 90s style. I dug around the internet and figured out who was on it. Other than Sgt. Savage himself it has:
1. "Action Man" who I take to not be Ian's predecessor, Agent Brogan, but instead, Alex Mann from the Action Man Xtreme cartoon. Could still be Brogan but I figured they'd have name dropped him if it were.
2. Natalie Poole, a Team Xtreme member from that same cartoon.
3. Zartan in his appearance from the GI Joe Ninja Froce toyline.
4. Toxo-Zombie from the GI Joe Eco Warriors toyline. Blast from Kaybee clearance aisles past!
5. Cesspool from the same toyline.


Hope this saves y'all some Google time :)
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1904727)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on August 16th, 2017 @ 2:24pm CDT
This issue was totally tubular! I mean, seriously dog, this was bodacious. 90s Action Man (who is totally Alex Mann) and Sgt. Savage drawn in such extreme art. It was totally dope. But man, I thought Centurion was my homeskillet, but him still working for the bad guy? That's whack! It's a major bummer that twist got jacked, cause the foreshadowing was slamming! But hey, I'm not tripping. Point is, this issue was totally dank!
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1904741)
Posted by Kurona on August 16th, 2017 @ 3:49pm CDT
Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1904989)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on August 17th, 2017 @ 8:44pm CDT
Kurona wrote:Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.

*Sgt. Savage. (Slaughter was the pro wrestler-turned-Joe figure.)
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1904990)
Posted by Kurona on August 17th, 2017 @ 8:48pm CDT
Daniel Adkins wrote:
Kurona wrote:Like the last issue, I feel this one was a bit of a mess and all-over-the-place hence making it weaker than the first 5 issues of Revolutionaries; but I still enjoyed it. Sgt. Slaughter in particular I really liked and would love to see join the Revolutionaries' main team.

*Sgt. Savage. (Slaughter was the pro wrestler-turned-Joe figure.)

Bleh, keep mixing Joe names up. Either way, I like him!
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1905077)
Posted by Tigertrack on August 18th, 2017 @ 11:08am CDT
Image-Last time-
Looking for the ‘talisman’ to use to attempt to reverse the wraithifying of an entire city of people, the group of Rev comrades headed to the last known location of the Axalon discovered in their previous investigations/adventures due to the ship’s ties to the powerful relic. Thank you Mr. Paoli, welcome to the brig…

-Currently-
This issue continues the adventures of, well, GI JOE’s former Adventure Team (Force) members and the current REVOLUTIONARY team members as they work to uncover the secrets of the ‘talisman’ and Project: Iceman. They’re nearing the finish and as you can expect, the action, intrigue, and various threads are starting to be pulled together for the series culmination next issue!

ImageIt's really not as bad as all that.

Largely focused on what happened to Sergeant Savage when he took his jaunts through time thanks to the talisman energy, the Axalon, and the notorious scheming of former ally Krieger; this issue begins the end for the series. Savage becomes a person from the 40’s fighting in WWII, to living in the 90’s fighting ninjas and totally picking up on the language and catch phrases of that radical time, to now; all the while upholding his ideals and determination as his story (and the story of the Axalon/Krieger/the talisman) further unravels.

ImageI am here to ki..save you my ene...friend!

-The Visuals-
The art is acceptable to awesome in this issue. Revolutionaries’ art has been down right good for the most part, I know I criticized Fico Ossio’s art during Revolution, but I think he’s growing in ability, and had some help from comrades like Guido Guidi and Ron Joseph to take some of the load (or maybe I’ve just become accustomed to the style and nuances). Add in a page of guest work by one my favorite artists, Guido Guidi, who draws and colors an action page straight out of the 90’s for good ol’ history hopping Sgt. Savage and some notable 90’s cobra baddies! Mr. Guidi had already practiced this style via his previous Revolution #5 cover where he drew deep inspiration from the Generation 2 Transformers comic to create his beautiful 90’s style incentive cover. The coloring work by Sebastian Cheng on the other 21 pages is excellent helping to give a grainier dull, less focused feel to events happening in the past, and straight up being bright, colorful and sharp for the events happening in the present. No issue would be complete without Tom B. Long’s action-intensifying Skraxxxh, Pow, and Wooms!

ImageTime travel = Cable sighting

-Story-
I’m going to be honest, I went and re-read all the previous issues of REVOLUTIONARIES to fully grasp everything going on in this issue and start to put it all together. Upon my first read of this issue, keeping the characters, and the jaunts through time straight was difficult even with the visual support. Going back and re-reading helped me to focus in on understanding how events lead up to the point of issue #7, and to better understand all of its cool history building. There are a lot of characters, locations, and events to keep track of and it can seem like a whirlwind of confusing events, if not read carefully. But reading carefully, yields a deep story and creatively written unraveling of another piece of Hasbro-verse history. New characters like Action-man, Mayday, Krieger, and Sgt. Savage are being fleshed out to a level where they are becoming enjoyable to read and solid in who they are. Even Blackrock, for TF fans is becoming less annoying to me, although the seemingly misguided Centurion still needs to grow on me more. Kup’s portrayal has always been fun, and welcomed in the series as a bit of a known commodity, but his interaction with the others has really started to grow him more as well. This series and this issue in particular, was a deciding factor in me taking the digital plunge into the latest HumbleBundle by IDW and Hasbro with a ton of GI JOE IDW Collections, and TRANSFORMERS too, it seemed the perfect fit to help me revisit the material that led up to where Revolutionaries, First Strike, and the whole Hasbro-universe is at and gives me another excuse to donate toward a worthy cause.

ImageI ain't no trained teach, but visual aids is 'portant in learnin'.

-Oops-
It is, however, unfortunate that due to some glitch in IDW’s scheduling, we already have some idea of where this issue, and the next are headed, due to First Strike #1 being already available, and the big surprise in this issue of REVOLUTIONARIES was, well, already revealed in said First Strike issue— there might be other clues to the finale based on characters that appear (and those who are missing)-.

Image
We understand, not everything is controllable.

-Rating-
Overall, a more than satisfying read that leads to the final issue of the series. Events are coming together well, the unfortunate big non-reveal (which would have been so much more of a ‘Whoa!’ moment), with the ever enjoyable Kup running at the mouth, and the fleshing out of Sgt. Savage (- I def read Sgt. Savage with Hound’s/John Goodman’s voice-), an interesting TF cameo or two, and tracks to TF issues far past. I think this is a solid issue leading up to the series encore with an above average level of interest for TF fiction fans to read.

Image

:HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: out of :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO: :HASBRO:
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1910753)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on September 13th, 2017 @ 7:10pm CDT
Revolutionaries #8 iTunes preview: https://t.co/JedZbryjOA
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1910827)
Posted by Bounti76 on September 14th, 2017 @ 3:40am CDT
Hot on the heels of the previous preview, we have another Transformers related title, scheduled to be released on September 27th, the final issue of Revolutionaries! After last issue (which arrived a touch late) and the big reveal it contained, what will the final issue hold?

OPTIMUS PRIME VS. BARON IRONBLOOD! The final mystery is revealed as Baron Ironblood reveals his true identity! Only by teaming with Transformers leader Optimus Prime do the Revolutionaries have a chance to save Earth—and the whole Hasbro universe! The senses-shattering conclusion to Revolutionaries leads directly into next month's massive crossover event!


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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1912967)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 26th, 2017 @ 11:53am CDT
Thanks to Comic Crusaders, we have the full preview for IDW's Revolutionaries #8! This is the final installment of the Revolutionaries series, and features the final pieces of the puzzle necessary to fully understand First Strike. Check out the preview below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

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Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1913126)
Posted by Va'al on September 27th, 2017 @ 5:11am CDT
Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1913134)
Posted by Kurona on September 27th, 2017 @ 7:56am CDT
Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

:APPLAUSE:
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1913168)
Posted by Daniel Adkins on September 27th, 2017 @ 11:05am CDT
Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1913169)
Posted by Va'al on September 27th, 2017 @ 11:14am CDT
Daniel Adkins wrote:
Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.


We weren't given it digitally! Has anyone had any luck in print format?
(Oh IDW, sometimes I do wonder..)
Re: Review of IDW Revolutionaries #4 (1913321)
Posted by Calvatron on September 28th, 2017 @ 9:26am CDT
Va'al wrote:
Daniel Adkins wrote:
Va'al wrote:Fun fact: this book is not actually out this week, according to IDW.

Which means a July book with a plot reveal for First Strike will be coming out the same month as the final issue of the mini-series it introduces.

What you talkin bout, Va'al? I just read the thing on Comixology.


We weren't given it digitally! Has anyone had any luck in print format?
(Oh IDW, sometimes I do wonder..)


I got a hardcopy at my lcs yesterday. It’s a fitting final issue (physically) to the best thing to come out of the combined hasboroverse.

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