The Energon Pub

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww yeah, this is what I have been looking forward to! And Primal and Beast Megatron are there! Hopefully they actually get called out by name this time, seeing as how both were seen in issue 10 I believe(?) and unnamed in Trion's story.

[Mr.MicroMaster]

This going to be epic I can’t wait. I can’t wait for the Beast Wars cameos.

[Mr.MicroMaster]

The art is fantastic Zama and Burcham are a perfect team.

[ZeroWolf]

Am I being blind? I can see Optimus Primal clearly but I can't see bw Megs...there's also a few others I recognise like the bunny one, but I can't place a name on him.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Am I being blind? I can see Optimus Primal clearly but I can't see bw Megs...there's also a few others I recognise like the bunny one, but I can't place a name on him.

BW Megatron is alright right beside Primal in the same panel as him. He's a bit trickier to identify, but you can see the glow of his T-Rex head on his hand.

and the bunny would be Stampy, except he showed up in sins of the Wreckers in a different role, so it must be different

[ZeroWolf]

Am I being blind? I can see Optimus Primal clearly but I can't see bw Megs...there's also a few others I recognise like the bunny one, but I can't place a name on him.

BW Megatron is alright right beside Primal in the same panel as him. He's a bit trickier to identify, but you can see the glow of his T-Rex head on his hand.

and the bunny would be Stampy, except he showed up in sins of the Wreckers in a different role, so it must be different

Ah I thought that spec was just the background showing through but yeah I can see it now, thanks.

[Mr.MicroMaster]

So by the colors I’m guessing those two bots with The Mistress Flame are previous torchbearers.

[Va'al]

So by the colors I’m guessing those two bots with The Mistress Flame are previous torchbearers.

Indeed! We've seen Praesidia before, in last year's TF annual.

[Va'al]

Are you ready for some bots to the wall mythological action? Next week's IDW Publishing comic book, from the ongoing Transformers title Optimus Prime, sees John Barber, Kei Zama, and Josh Burcham bring back in full the story of Onyx Prime, the Mistress of Flame, and the Torchbearer predecessors to the Rust Renegades who form Victorion. You can see the full preview below, courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Sunstar and entertainment website Newsarama - join the conversation in the Energon Pub discussion boards, and stay tuned after the book's release for the Seibertron.com review!

Optimus Prime #1
Cover A: Kei Zama
John Barber (w) • Kei Zama (a & c)
“THE FALLING, PART 1!” Darkness falls over Cybertron as the legendary Onyx Prime returns. What does this mean for Optimus Prime—and the Earth? Windblade defends an already tense planet against a secret that could shatter Cybertron forever.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
· Variant cover by Brendan Cahill!

[ZeroWolf]

That onyx prime needs to appear as a toy...

[Randomhero]

That onyx prime needs to appear as a toy...

Oh he is. You get a little Prime master

[Decepticon Stryker]

That onyx prime needs to appear as a toy...

Oh he is. You get a little Prime master

Don't forget Batman! Oh wait that's Onyx Primal...

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Really looking forward to this!

[ZeroWolf]

That onyx prime needs to appear as a toy...

Oh he is. You get a little Prime master

I might still get him depending on his pretender sheLl. There's certainly a way they could get more money by giving us proper figures of the primes (well the ones we haven't got figures for yet)

[Va'al]

Out of the pages of Rom vs Transformers: Shining Armor, and into the ones of the IDW Publishing ongoing series Optimus Prime, we find the recently created character of Stardrive at the hands of artist Alex Milne. In the latest issue before this week (number #14), Livio Ramondelli was the one bringing her into present day, but Milne has shared concept art of her Wraith form - Wraithdrive, in his words - and you can check her out below.

Also included, via artist Kei Zama, is the linework for the opening pages of this week's issue of the series, Optimus Prime #15, in full inky glory, and a concept sketch of one of the Camiens accompanying the soon-to-be Mistress of Flame - Magrada, the linguist. All images have been mirrored below for your viewing convenience!

[ZeroWolf]

I like those lineart drawings for Stardrive, especially the out of control mode which is making me think of Guyver (with some Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode mixed in)

[ScottyP]

Surfeit of Cool
A Review of Optimus Prime #15

Free of any explicit spoilers, but several implied ones made it in here.

Already very cool, but way cooler if you imagine it with the sound box.

This week in Transformers comics, quality returns with the arrival of Optimus Prime 15, "The Falling, Chapter 1: Surfeit of Primes". Much more than a mere exercise in thematic brand synergy, this latest chapter of John Barber's Optimus Prime starts an ominous new chapter for our heroes - not to mention the book's namesake character himself. Is this one you should pick up and read, and is it for only seasoned veteran readers or can newcomers easily follow along? Read on to find out more!

Mistress of 'Dem Hips

Somewhat fitting to the book's title, there really are a surfeit of plot threads, but it still works. Most of these are also given context to help new readers along. For instance, Scoop reappears as something other than Devastator's leg for the first time in quite awhile, and at least this basic premise of who and what he is gets provided by the book's dialogue and other context. The results are decent at introducing the character for those unfamiliar while still making him somewhat relevant to the plot at hand, offering some great continuity with another recently canceled series that is very refreshing to see. The Mistress of Flame, a somewhat enigmatic figure in the IDW Transformers universe, also gets some overdue attention. Her backstory and running commentary not only helps build her character, but it also helps frame the overall issue's narrative in a creative way that I quite enjoyed.

I haven't worked out if you're getting a toy or not, actually, but thanks?

In a book like this one with a big cast, it can be easy and often is appropriate to put a character in the background and pick up their goings on down the road. That limited space for characterization is used well with Arcee and Aileron, in a similar but still different manner from the approaches taken with the Mistress of Flame and Scoop. Without giving too much away, the reader is left wondering what kind of influence a character like Arcee might have on Aileron, who is already surrounded on all sides by strong influences. However, the opposite happens with Slide, where what feels like too much time is given to beats that have been heard many times before. While there is a definite, clear, and effective point to doing this again in this book at this time, I'm left wondering how many more issues Slide will spend as a victim character sorely in need of development. Hopefully, this is the issue where a tipping point is reached and she'll soon start saying new words.

"Ultra Mega Chicken? No. He is Legend."

As seen in both the solicits and the preview, Onyx Prime arrives in the story in earnest at last. Sometimes the build doesn't deliver, but for this issue it truly does. Fellow staff member Va'al agreed, and points out something else worthy of note:

We've had too many charmy-scary villains in these books. Time to have a freaking terrifying one.

Onyx definitely gives an aura that business is about to pick up, with a fearsome, though a little bit inspired look to go along with it. While I wish there were a bit more of him in this issue, it's probably for the best as the story would suffer from a pacing perspective were he already wreaking mass chaos. His presence here serves a purpose, one that is foreboding but also an exciting, effective hook for the issues to come.

Nature lies, they're robots in disguise!

Speaking of what's to come, there are some really fun teasers for this in the book. While many fans might see the above and write it off as Total Brand Awareness, they're probably also not careful longtime readers that would have seen this coming. Or is it coming at all? You can let me and your fellow Transformers fans know by replying to this story on our Energon Pub Forums!

Thoroughly analyzing the potential of Onyx/Liege to be bigger than Kylo/Rey

The visual work is stellar throughout, with Kei Zama returning on linework supported by colorist dynamo Josh Burcham to deliver another surfeit: a surfeit of cool. The new character Magrada, seen above, is a treat to look at with the Camien aesthetic blending with a Junkion flair in a splashy, fun approach. This is a transitory character, yet great care was taken to the point where it almost feels like she's destined for a flashback spin-off at some point. If she's not, it's another credit to the artistic team that speculation like that would even occur. Her brief appearance oozes personality without a word spoken like a fascinating, magnetic rock star. Even Onyx's design takes the earlier mentioned inspiration and bends it in a way that feels fresh. Couple this with Tom B. Long deftly navigating the layouts to provide background narrative that never distracts and character names that feel right in place and you have an absolute visual feast of Transformers style. I haven't even mentioned the lighting effects that made some of this issue look like it was paper where a light was bouncing off, and while that actually holds true for many reading experiences, keep in mind our first experience as reviewers is on a digital copy.

The Zama/Burcham combo also handles the "A" cover for this issue, with Casey Coller's lines with John-Paul Bove's colors on the "B" cover seen in this news story's thumbnail. As always, you can find images of all of the covers and full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Optimus Prime #15, but do note it does contain a character appearance list that may be considered as spoiler-laden!

Verdict

My newest toy is now two kinds of inaccurate

This issue was very good, I'm very hooked and excited to see what's next, but it's a hair too busy. In the context of the overall story being told it's very likely great, but the serial format causes some of the panels and moments to feel truncated. While a little more focus may have served it well, this is still a superb read and genuinely feels like a great jumping on point if you've been off this ride for a while. After all, Optimus has his faceplace down at the start, so the action's clearly taking off soon. I can't wait to read more, be sure to do yourself a favor and get to your local comic shop or website of choice (that isn't one where you're reading scans you didn't pay for, that makes you a thief) to pick this one up!

. out of

Especially after the write up above and the gushing on the visuals, I feel like I have to explain the score above. Maybe I don't, regardless, please realize that I don't subscribe to scoring styles like the Net Promoter Score or IGN styled bloat and I don't write these because I want IDW to buy me things. On my personal scale for these reviews, a 4/5 is "very good", with 5/5 reserved for "all time great Transformers comic" and first issues of larger arcs almost never hit that in the monthly format, for me, given the nature of their content. I don't like scores, but maybe if we can make them more than "good" and "bad", we can be smarter about how we think about the media we consume.

tl;dr, this issue was really good and I recommend it, even if you've been trained by the internet to think a 4/5 is just 'ok'

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Poor Magrada, such a short intro and goodbye.

And that Wraithdrive is fantastic

[Randomhero]

This was a solid first issue arc. This is a story that’s been hinted for like three and half almost 4 years. Since the start of season 2 of RID so daaaaaaamn John has been playing the long game with setting this all up and managing to include hints and straight up plot points with crossovers like Combiner Wars and Titans Return and even crossover hasbroverse books.

Someone was saying this feels like Johns final story but he’s not leaving. He’s helming the Unicron story after.

One question I have though, is this the Power of the Primes arc? It’s not subtitled power of the primes but the Primes are returning and with the Unicron Story being the big story later in the year was The Falling intended to be Thr final arc in the Prime Wars trilogy and IDW said “screw it weve planned all this out were still doing it but not calling it POtP” And Hasbro said “sure go for it”

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Awesome issue, and continues to show that OP is the best comic going on right now. Really well done, and I am really looking forward to all the Onyx stuff.

As a note here, considering reference keeps getting made to unicron, and even includes one in this story, and his story is coming later this year, can Onyx be an agent of Unicron. Afterall, isn't his ship this big black eye?

And on the black eye thing: "adorned the titan will be in metal black" coupled with Optimus and the Mistress' dreams, what if the Dark Cybertron prophecy is actually Unicron coming?

Also, Primal and BW Megatron need to get an actual introduction soon. They have appeared too many times to be mere easter eggs.

[Randomhero]

Awesome issue, and continues to show that OP is the best comic going on right now. Really well done, and I am really looking forward to all the Onyx stuff.

As a note here, considering reference keeps getting made to unicron, and even includes one in this story, and his story is coming later this year, can Onyx be an agent of Unicron. Afterall, isn't his ship this big black eye?

And on the black eye thing: "adorned the titan will be in metal black" coupled with Optimus and the Mistress' dreams, what if the Dark Cybertron prophecy is actually Unicron coming?

Also, Primal and BW Megatron need to get an actual introduction soon. They have appeared too many times to be mere easter eggs.

It is curious what that giant eye is. Antilla orbits a black hole and Unicron just woke up erupting from a planet that was orbiting a black hole...

I really hope that is Unicrons design. I don’t want him looking like his regular G1 self and please don’t turn into a giant robot. I never liked it when he would transform.

[Daniel Adkins]

Awesome issue, and continues to show that OP is the best comic going on right now. Really well done, and I am really looking forward to all the Onyx stuff.

As a note here, considering reference keeps getting made to unicron, and even includes one in this story, and his story is coming later this year, can Onyx be an agent of Unicron. Afterall, isn't his ship this big black eye?

And on the black eye thing: "adorned the titan will be in metal black" coupled with Optimus and the Mistress' dreams, what if the Dark Cybertron prophecy is actually Unicron coming?

Also, Primal and BW Megatron need to get an actual introduction soon. They have appeared too many times to be mere easter eggs.

Possibly, though I'm still holding onto my theory that Onyx is actually a Doomsday Prepper trying to stop Unicron. Remember that Onyx was in possession of the Talisman, the magical energy of which can utterly destroy Transformers. And in Revolutionaries #8, Onyx tells Blackrock that "the Talisman is an inoculation against that which comes."

Combine this with Infinitus/Sentinel Prime (a servant of Onyx) saying that it was Optimus's duty as a Prime to subjugate Earth for its own protection, it seems to suggest Onyx's MO is to conquer worlds to protect them. It would also help explain why he has both two colonies (Eukaris and Antilla).

Assuming my theory is correct, I'd imagine the eye is that of Unicron that Onyx and his army actually ripped out. Which is pretty badass when you think about it.

[LE0KING]

So I've gone over it a few times and i still don't understand the opening. The fembot with the dreads just loses her head for no reason.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

So I've gone over it a few times and i still don't understand the opening. The fembot with the dreads just loses her head for no reason.

The Mistress of the past, complete with a translator (the dreads) and a bodyguard followed a signal coming not far from their own planet. They traveled there and found Onyx, and apparently they were not supposed to, so Onyx killed the one he got his hands on (dreads) and then eventually killed the bodyguard, as seen in the annual. He's ruthless and sees his duty as bringing judgement upon his race, and their crime was actually following a signal they received from him and finding him.

[Randomhero]

Awesome issue, and continues to show that OP is the best comic going on right now. Really well done, and I am really looking forward to all the Onyx stuff.

As a note here, considering reference keeps getting made to unicron, and even includes one in this story, and his story is coming later this year, can Onyx be an agent of Unicron. Afterall, isn't his ship this big black eye?

And on the black eye thing: "adorned the titan will be in metal black" coupled with Optimus and the Mistress' dreams, what if the Dark Cybertron prophecy is actually Unicron coming?

Also, Primal and BW Megatron need to get an actual introduction soon. They have appeared too many times to be mere easter eggs.

Possibly, though I'm still holding onto my theory that Onyx is actually a Doomsday Prepper trying to stop Unicron. Remember that Onyx was in possession of the Talisman, the magical energy of which can utterly destroy Transformers. And in Revolutionaries #8, Onyx tells Blackrock that "the Talisman is an inoculation against that which comes."

Combine this with Infinitus/Sentinel Prime (a servant of Onyx) saying that it was Optimus's duty as a Prime to subjugate Earth for its own protection, it seems to suggest Onyx's MO is to conquer worlds to protect them. It would also help explain why he has both two colonies (Eukaris and Antilla).

Assuming my theory is correct, I'd imagine the eye is that of Unicron that Onyx and his army actually ripped out. Which is pretty badass when you think about it.

I don’t think he’s a herald of Unicron. Onyx has continuously portrayed as a Cybertronian purist like many of his time. He not good that’s for sure. I was hoping he was going out getting the rest of the Primes together and they going to be lead by Prima and wage war for cybertron(hehehe). We know the Primes were not really good people and was hoping for a Prima like that too. Galvatron was very much “they are coming, this is hadn’t news and you need me”

I miss Galvatron. Still got hope that undead monster will be coming back.