The Energon Pub

[Randomhero]

This looks great

[ScottyP]

First Strike 1 comes out next week, and when it hits the following things intended to lead up to it will still not have been released:

• Optimus Prime 10
• Micronauts: Wrath of Karza 4 and 5
• Rom 12, 13, and 14
• Revolutionaries 7 and 8
• GI Joe 8 and 9
• M.A.S.K. 9 and 10

240 pages of lead-in material. 240.

[o.supreme]

^I've been concerned about this for some time. I was wondering why Revolutionaries was like 3 months behind, and now TAAO is a month behind, but with both of those ending, I guess it doesn't matter. I keep hearing this is Diamond Distributing's fault and not IDW...but now I'm not convinced.

[Kurona]

It's the most frustrating thing. Crossovers and scheduling; the two things IDW can't do.

[Big Grim]

First Strike 1 comes out next week, and when it hits the following things intended to lead up to it will still not have been released:

• Optimus Prime 10
• Micronauts: Wrath of Karza 4 and 5
• Rom 12, 13, and 14
• Revolutionaries 7 and 8
• GI Joe 8 and 9
• M.A.S.K. 9 and 10

240 pages of lead-in material. 240.

That's impressive! And horrifying!

Have IDW always been this bad at their scheduling. I know they have with their crossovers.

[Kurona]

I think so, but it only became particularly noticeable with such a huge influx of books taking place in the same universe. Before Revolution, they only really had two constant ongoings to keep a track of -- MTMTE and ex-RiD.

Beyond that you had that one Drift mini - which is very fluid in where it takes place; you can read it anytime between Ratchet's departure from the Lost Light and Dying of the Light - ; some books like Primacy which don't have any immediate connection to the cocurrent stories; the Dinobot stories which are their own self-contained thing so it doesn't matter all too much when they come out; and the Windblade books, which aside from actual crossover stuff, are also fairly fluid in where they take place and where you read them.

But now we've got all these books converging into a single point and which are supposed to have shared world events happening at the same time for them -- take for instance how much more involved the Council of Worlds have been with what Optimus is doing. We saw them in OP with references to Windblade being in some sense inactive and hence the Mistress of Flame having to take over for her; leaving a fair few of us who had been keeping up with both OP and TAAO very confused as to what was going on. The move from fluid continuity to solid continuity has done a fine job of exposing just how bad IDW is on the business side of things.

[ScottyP]

Fact: They don't have enough editors. This is the only actual reason they are behind like they are. Even then, most books are only a month behind, part of my earlier post embellishes a little - the original intention probably was that some of the finale books like Rev'aries 8, Rom 14, GI Joe 9, and MASK 10 were going to come out concurrently or just after First Strike started.

Another fact: These delays really started in earnest in December '16/January '17, and they never have gotten that month back. Some things have just slipped yet further.

My own speculation (not even a rumor, just me talking): I'm not sure they have a consistently available printer. But you know, a service company that prints comics, not literally an office printer. Just looking at some recent stuff I have Revolutionaries 6 and issue 2 of the Sourcebook that were printed in Korea, with Lost Light 8 having been printed in the US. I wouldn't have to go too deep into the pile of older stuff to find something printed in Canada.

[Va'al]

Still operating on the lack of an embargo, we have a repeat of the full preview for IDW Publishing's Hasbro Universe First Strike comics crossover event - which we have seen before. What is new is the interview with writers Mairghread Scott and David Rodriguez, a brief one mind you, in the backmatter of the first issue of the Transformers meets GI Joe meets MASK meets Micronauts meets Rom the Spaceknight. Check it out below!

Can you give us a hint of any major surprises or revelations that readers can expect from First Strike?

MS: Well, Scarlett’s gonna throw down with the last person on Earth she wants to fight. Anyone who thinks Shazraella’s gonna spend this book clinging to some-one’s shoulder is sorely mistaken. Optimus is in for a rude awakening and Elita One is going to prove once again that there’s a reason she’s the same color as Cybertronian blood. Oh, and that’ll take us to the end of Issue 2.

DR: I’m not sure what we’re clear to say this early on. But I can say that this isn’t just an “event” series—the universe is going to be permanently changed in a meaningful way by the end of First Strike. Hopefully we can get some jaws and f-bombs to drop. When working with characters with such a long history, how do you raise the bar and bring readers something they haven’t seen before?

MS: The most challenging part was more tonal than anything else. Till All Are One is a very political book. G.I. Joe is very balls-to-the-wall crazy action. Micronauts is fast-paced with a lot of wry humor. M.A.S.K. and Rom take on a darker tone. We wanted to feel like all these books could live together and still give fans each book’s unique aspect.

DR: I think the best thing we can do for the readers, and luckily Mairghread and David Hedgecock have been a big advocate for this as well, is to make sure that we are engaging all the characters in this story with emotional stakes that resonate with our readers. Sure, we can put Cybertron at risk with a huge, summer blockbuster style event and visuals, but without that relatable, human backbone to the story, it feels hollow. We are going to do our best to deliver that experience to fans.

Are there any characters you’re going to work with in First Strike that you haven’t had the chance to write before? Any characters you’ve been away from for a while that you’re excited to write again?

MS: This is my first time writing Scarlett and I am psyched. I’ve been wanting to write her for years. And it’s always a thrill to write Optimus. It’s been surprising how fun all the Joes are to write, but the real stand-out right now is Shazraella. She’s such a stuck-up, overconfident, condescending...well, every line of dialogue she has is a joy.

DR: Scarlett has always been a favorite. I was glad that I got to use her in the M.A.S.K. Annual and she has a large part in First Strike. She is just a fantastic character to write. But part of the fun of First Strike is the opportunity to discover and expand on characters I wasn’t as familiar with growing up and exploring how they interact with each other. But don’t be surprised if you see Sunstreaker. He is, after all, the prettiest damn Transformer that ever rolled out.

And finally, if you could be a Transformer,who or what would you want the ability to transform into?

MS: JET! JET! JET! Wait—! Robot dragon! No, 1950s UFO! ...Did anyone call shark/bird yet?

This may take a while.

DR: Oh, I would totally want to be Shockwave. Not only is his design incredible, but he might be the most stone-cold, ghost-faced, unflappable character in the entire universe. I don’t know if you remember, but Megatron called him from Earth after 4 million years and Shockwave picked up on the FIRST RING. No hemming and hawing, or “Where the hell you been?!” He was just “Yes, Lord Megatron.” 4 million years and he didn’t blink. That’s just badass.

[Prowl4]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

[Va'al]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

[Prowl4]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

Cool story needs more dragonstorms and gick.

[Va'al]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

Cool story needs more dragonstorms and gick.

My pal! Using some Irish on the boards, stud? Yay for linguistic diversity, dudeicus!
Thank you once again, tiger, for some excellent contributions to the discussion.

[Prowl4]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

Cool story needs more dragonstorms and gick.

My pal! Using some Irish on the boards, stud? Yay for linguistic diversity, dudeicus!
Thank you once again, tiger, for some excellent contributions to the discussion.

Thanks for being a fan of my cac. I know a fan when I see one and you're a fan

[Va'al]

Not a true fan - we have a thread for that.

Ain't comics swell! GI Joe on Cybertron, huh? What next? Transforming robots?!

[Nexus Knight]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

Cool story needs more dragonstorms and gick.

My pal! Using some Irish on the boards, stud? Yay for linguistic diversity, dudeicus!
Thank you once again, tiger, for some excellent contributions to the discussion.

Thanks for being a fan of my cac. I know a fan when I see one and you're a fan

I feel like someone got drunk someone during this exchange...

Also, I absolutely love Skywarp's tag. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

[Prowl4]

Not a true fan - we have a thread for that.

Ain't comics swell! GI Joe on Cybertron, huh? What next? Transforming robots?!

You're definitely a true fan. If this was ppv you'd be subscribed kid.

[Prowl4]

Baffling how mairghread scott continues to get work. Awful writer.

Sorry, Broseph. Must hurt, my proud-standing sugarloaf, to see her name remind you that you, my pal, are baffled to the point that you - o dudemeister - feel the need to comment everytime. Such a toll it must take, my dude.

Cool story needs more dragonstorms and gick.

My pal! Using some Irish on the boards, stud? Yay for linguistic diversity, dudeicus!
Thank you once again, tiger, for some excellent contributions to the discussion.

Thanks for being a fan of my cac. I know a fan when I see one and you're a fan

I feel like someone got drunk someone during this exchange...

Also, I absolutely love Skywarp's tag. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

I love my fans.

[Daniel Adkins]

Ain't comics swell! GI Joe on Cybertron, huh? What next? Transforming robots?!

You're right, Va'al! Comics are swell. I cannot wait to read First Strike. It looks really good.

[Daniel Adkins]

In case anyone needs a refresher on the Hasbro Universe events/needs to catch up on a title you didn't read, Action and Adventure just released a special First Strike Primer podcast. Perfect for anyone curious about any titles they haven't read. http://hasbrouniverse.libsyn.com/bonus- ... -to-strike

[Va'al]

Strike One
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis
The crossover of the year is here! Earth is finally ready to officially join the Cybertronian Council of Worlds and appoint their first representative to the Council. Too bad the ceremony is interrupted by a massive explosion and the forces of COBRA! Now it’s up to Scarlett, Optimus Prime, G.I. Joe and the Autobots to save two worlds!

Because it worked so well last time...

Story

It begins. For a long while now IDW Publishing and the comics media mill have been promoting the first full crossover (since Revolution, anyway) for the various Hasbro properties licensed to the comics world: this is where we start, with issue #1, by Mairghread Scott and David A. Rodriguez - which also contains an additional story - The Origins of Evil, Part One: Redcliffe Club, written by John Barber. I'll talk more about this below, in summary.

Tone set

The first thing to note is that, due to IDW scheduling issues, this beginning of a brave new world in the Hasbro Universe is actually spoiling at least one of the series that lead up to it (Revolutionaries, in case you were curious), and probably needs a little more context from both Optimus Prime and GI Joe to actually reach the starting point we're at.

...wait for it...

That is obviously no fault of the writers, and what they do offer in terms of plot is actually a satisfying approach to a crossover: easing in the various factions, with GI Joe and Transformers taking the first brunt, rather than crashing all of the properties at once. The villains of the piece are set up, and the coda story does some more to attempt round-off the major players on this side too, if briefly so.

note: this gag is excellent

The better part of the story though, and the only one that can be fairly judged this far, is most definitely how the various characters are built up and interact with each other - Skywarp and Scarlett's Joes are clearly the stand-outs here - something that a recent interview had probably clarified, at least for me. We'll have to see how the wider game is played, now that the initial set-up has begun.


Art

Max Dunbar is at the helm here for the issue - and I can't help but wonder why the art doesn't feel up to his usual standards. There's nothing horribly wrong, but something in the designs for the Transformers in particular, especially on profile shots, and every other odd panel just don't line up with his usually stellar work on Micronauts. Perhaps a tighter deadline for the big event?

Similar issues can be held up to Netho Diaz (pencils) and Walden Wong (inks), though I wonder whether having lines and inks applied to the main story, and leave the back-up to a single artist may in fact be a solution to the problem. Again, it's not bad, it's just not overly consistent, and I can it putting readers off.

..eep

In terms of colours, Ander Zarate - Dunbar's partner in crime on Micronauts - is doing well to bring some of the sheen of Till All Are One for Cybertron, but perhaps uses a little too much lighting on the faces of the characters, and Scarlett suffers the most in close-ups and wider shots alike.

Similarly for David Garcia Cruz on the Barber-coda, some of the colours used on the heavier lines makes jawlines and facial features a little too flat at times (Baron Ironblood in particular), something that seems to happen with these books with a regular frequency.

There are good moments too!

Veteran on robotic lettering Tom B. Long takes on this issue too, and the captions that some find irritating in other books are actually the best solution (and placement) in an event like this trying to attract new readers - and there's a pretty spiffy Kachoom to marvel at, too, before a BUDDABUDDABUDDA.

Covers? There are many. The one spotlighted in the thumbnail is the variant from Sara Pitre Durocher, showing the robot side of the event from a crowd perspective - as most of the other artists chose the character spotlights instead. You can view them all in our Comics Database, as usual, and choose your favourite.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Much like the case of Revolution, the visuals do not shine kindly on the artists involved, as all of the people working on here are usually a pleasure to see on the page. The pressure of the event, the scheduling issues, editorial shortstaffing - I am most definitely giving the benefit of the doubt to all involved for the first issue, but I can see this heading in a similar direction to the previous project, in terms of art, meaning that creators will feel much better when the five issues are over.

I'm also down with just a series of Skywarp/Roadblock's fashion commentary

As for the story, however, there are no real complaints from me so far. The issue is most definitely a GI Joe story set-up, that just happens to use the setting of Cybertron - and that is not a bad thing! Easing into a crossover is a much better plan than expected, and I am glad this approach was taken. I am definitely interested to see how the other franchises will be brought in, at this stage, and that's the best outcome that could've happened, really.

. out of

[Kurona]

Better than I thought it'd be, which is a pleasant surprise.

[ScottyP]

Does it seem super obvious to anyone else that Baron Ironblood isn't Colton, but Chameleon posing as him? It's the only way I can explain Spike being all "hurr-durr gotta help these Cybertronians" without discounting that as a failure in writing.

[Daniel Adkins]

Does it seem super obvious to anyone else that Baron Ironblood isn't Colton, but Chameleon posing as him? It's the only way I can explain Spike being all "hurr-durr gotta help these Cybertronians" without discounting that as a failure in writing.

But Chameleon is a Joe.

[Randomhero]

Does it seem super obvious to anyone else that Baron Ironblood isn't Colton, but Chameleon posing as him? It's the only way I can explain Spike being all "hurr-durr gotta help these Cybertronians" without discounting that as a failure in writing.

Someone didn't read issue zero that revealed Joe Colton is alive and is working with a cobra to be all xenophobic.

And yeah, Cameleon is a GI Joe and present in the comic.

[Randomhero]

I like the issue. I'm just reading revoltionaries and the TF books but I followed it fine.