The Energon Pub

[Big Grim]

Hah! I love The Oatmeal.

[Va'al]

Via comics and entertainment site Newsarama, we have a full preview of next week's third issue of IDW's Revolutionaries ongoing series, featuring Kup, Action Man, Blackrock, G.I. Joe and more - plus, this issue Soundwave! Check out the page below, and head back for more thoughts on the book's release.

Revolutionaries #3
John Barber (w) • Ron Joseph (a) • Tradd Moore (c)
BLAST FROM THE PAST! In the deadly catacombs beneath an ancient pyramid, Joe Colton—the original G.I. Joe—found something far worse than any curse or boobytrap. He found the Decepticon Soundwave... scouring Earth for Cybertron's salvation. Their meeting remained classified—until the Revolutionaries crashed headlong into the modern-day results!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
- A special “Blast from the Past” issue featuring art by Revolution: Rom #1 artist, Ron Joseph!
- The secrets of the original Adventure Team are revealed here!
- Variant cover by Marcelo Ferreira!

[concrusher792]

Whose head is that behind Colton inside the tomb? It sort of looks like Prowl, but he never crashed onto ancient Earth in the IDW universe.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Whose head is that behind Colton inside the tomb? It sort of looks like Prowl, but he never crashed onto ancient Earth in the IDW universe.

Which head are you seeing? I can't see one that looks like Prowl

[Va'al]

There has been an update in the Amazon listing for the second collected volume IDW Publishing's Revolutionaries ongoing series, first reported here. The book will be out much later this year, and will apparently lead into the wider story that John Barber mentioned in our ScottyP's interview with him and Dave Hedgecock (you can listen to it here).

The big news in the change? It looks like we're headed to another crossover event somewhere later this year: Insurgency! What do you make of this news? Check out the description below, and let us know in the Energon Pub!

The team-up of the year continues as the TRANSFORMERS' Kup and Blackrock, G.I. JOE's Mayday, and Action Man join forces with the likes of Optimus Prime, Sgt. Savage, and more to unravel the secrets of the newly-formed shared universe! Leading in to the next major crossover, Hasbro's INSURGENCY!

Continuing the adventures of the first volume of Revolutionaries, the team has the Talisman, a mysterious object with fantastic powers that dates back to when Transformers first visited the Earth. Now they just need to figure out why their enemies want it so badly! It's a jam-packed action-adventure that's full of twists, turns and a little bit of time-travel as our heroes make powerful allies from the past in hopes of saving their present! Featuring the talents of Hasbro-expert writer, John Barber, who artfully weaves the backstory of the entire universe closer and introduces fan-favorite characters and stories to a much larger audience! Also featuring the talents of master artists like Fico Ossio, Guido Guidi, and Ron Joseph! Bridging the gap between the first major Hasbro event, Revolution, and the newest crossover, Insurgency!

[Randomhero]

I'm sure it'll be a fun read. They learned a lot from revolution and I'm hoping it'll please people more than it did. Personally I liked Revolution a lot but I do wish when they do cross over events it'd be handled like the Infestation and Mars Attacks which they kinda did with revolution in ways but where they just have special books instead of intertwining them with the main books. To each his own though, bring it on!

[Carnivius_Prime]

i want some movie comics. :/

[Va'al]

Crossovers do not sales make. This one probably will be better than Revolution, but I am not particularly happy about the (inevitable) news.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Crossovers do not sales make. This one probably will be better than Revolution, but I am not particularly happy about the (inevitable) news.

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about another crossover either

[Nexus Knight]

Crossovers do not sales make. This one probably will be better than Revolution, but I am not particularly happy about the (inevitable) news.

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about another crossover either

IDW should do some universe building and tiny crossovers (like Rom vs Tranformers) before we get a bigger one again. Most people agree that most of Revolution was a dud and we're still getting the taste of that outta our mouths. Give us some time with the new universe. Then a large crossover would feel awesome.

[Nexus Knight]

Whoops, my post entered twice?

[Va'al]

Crossovers do not sales make. This one probably will be better than Revolution, but I am not particularly happy about the (inevitable) news.

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about another crossover either

IDW should do some universe building and tiny crossovers (like Rom vs Tranformers) before we get a bigger one again. Most people agree that most of Revolution was a dud and we're still getting the taste of that outta our mouths. Give us some time with the new universe. Then a large crossover would feel awesome.

I mean, Insurgency is going to happen a fair while away from now, so more building in Rom, Revolutionaries, Optimus Prime, GI Joe, Micronauts, MASK is bound to happen. But still, yeah. Not enough time for a good solid foundational buildup!

Plus we have Earthwar and Wrath of Karza, whatever they might be, also pointed at.

[Kurona]

... wait, hang on, it's an actual second full-blown crossover?

Uuuugggghhhh. At least this won't have Revolution's inherent problem of having to kick off 3/5 franchises and reviving a long-dead fourth, but everyone here is totally right; this is too much too soon. It's not exactly helpful business-wise either when comic fans on a whole seem to be pretty sick of big crossover events and I certainly can't blame them.
Expanded shared universes like this work better when they're very casually leaking over into each other; like how it's a G.I. Joe team monitoring the situation with/helping out Optimus or the MASK team hunting down Transformers pieces or even Revolutionaries. Doing a big crossover event every year or so instead of making them few and far between - like, y'know, an actual event - is just intrusive and hurts the fiction more than helps it.
God, imagine if before Revolution ex-RiD and MTMTE had a crossover every year - that would have gone down so well and made the reading order so wonderful to get into, wouldn't it?

I honestly thought this was just going to be the name of the next Revolutionaries arc upon first reading. Ugh. This is painful.

[Randomhero]

... wait, hang on, it's an actual second full-blown crossover?

Uuuugggghhhh. At least this won't have Revolution's inherent problem of having to kick off 3/5 franchises and reviving a long-dead fourth, but everyone here is totally right; this is too much too soon. It's not exactly helpful business-wise either when comic fans on a whole seem to be pretty sick of big crossover events and I certainly can't blame them.
Expanded shared universes like this work better when they're very casually leaking over into each other; like how it's a G.I. Joe team monitoring the situation with/helping out Optimus or the MASK team hunting down Transformers pieces or even Revolutionaries. Doing a big crossover event every year or so instead of making them few and far between - like, y'know, an actual event - is just intrusive and hurts the fiction more than helps it.
God, imagine if before Revolution ex-RiD and MTMTE had a crossover every year - that would have gone down so well and made the reading order so wonderful to get into, wouldn't it?

I honestly thought this was just going to be the name of the next Revolutionaries arc upon first reading. Ugh. This is painful.

We did, it was called Dark Cybertron, Combiner Wars and Titans Return.

We're now 5-6 months the end of revoluion and Optimus Prime is still very much the book it was before revolution except EDC has been replaced with GI Joe, lost light is still the same book MTMTE was and TAAO is still TAAO. Obviously we are living in a dark age for transformers comics

[Kurona]

... wait, hang on, it's an actual second full-blown crossover?

Uuuugggghhhh. At least this won't have Revolution's inherent problem of having to kick off 3/5 franchises and reviving a long-dead fourth, but everyone here is totally right; this is too much too soon. It's not exactly helpful business-wise either when comic fans on a whole seem to be pretty sick of big crossover events and I certainly can't blame them.
Expanded shared universes like this work better when they're very casually leaking over into each other; like how it's a G.I. Joe team monitoring the situation with/helping out Optimus or the MASK team hunting down Transformers pieces or even Revolutionaries. Doing a big crossover event every year or so instead of making them few and far between - like, y'know, an actual event - is just intrusive and hurts the fiction more than helps it.
God, imagine if before Revolution ex-RiD and MTMTE had a crossover every year - that would have gone down so well and made the reading order so wonderful to get into, wouldn't it?

I honestly thought this was just going to be the name of the next Revolutionaries arc upon first reading. Ugh. This is painful.

We did, it was called Dark Cybertron, Combiner Wars and Titans Return.

We're now 5-6 months the end of revoluion and Optimus Prime is still very much the book it was before revolution except EDC has been replaced with GI Joe, lost light is still the same book MTMTE was and TAAO is still TAAO. Obviously we are living in a dark age for transformers comics

It didn't happen every year; and even then not every comic was involved. post-DOOP ran for 5 years and in that time only 3 crossovers happened, one at the very end - and ex-RiD was the only comic in which all three took place.

And I never said anything about a dark age or the comics themselves getting worse. On the contrary I think modern IDW is by far the best Transformers fiction we've ever gotten, and while LL and OP are both a tad rough around the edges at the moment most likely due to being restarted, they're still excellent. And TAAO of course just keeps getting better.
My beef is more with the crossovers themselves - Revolution did not prove to be of any particular quality, and the more crossovers there are the worse the reading order will be for any new readers. The main comic already has you jumping through hoops thanks to Revolution and the three crossovers before it; adding another into the mix so soon is just adding insult to injury.

The comics themselves are good, and I actually feel the shared universe itself is good and has a lot of potential; but the crossovers themselves are easily the worst part of the comics and something I only dread.

[Randomhero]

Technically we have had event books even before dark Cybertron. 2011 we had the 2 part infestation that dealt with galvatrons return, 2012 were the annuals which was something in their own way due to their impact on both books. 2013 were the spotlights and Dark Cybertron which bled 2014 then followed by the Prime Wars trilogy that will conclude this year or next. So in a point of view we have in a way had a form of an event book in transformers for 6 years.

[Kurona]

I... guess, but those were completely different creative teams. I don't think it's fair to bundle -ations, AHM, Costa and post-DOOP all together.

[Randomhero]

I... guess, but those were completely different creative teams. I don't think it's fair to bundle -ations, AHM, Costa and post-DOOP all together.

That's why I didn't name those. those were eras, the main books at the time. But the books I named were books that stood outside what was currently going on or were put in what was happening and left impact. They were still technically event books. Originally even Chaos was intended to be an event mini series to end Costas time but Schmidt threw it with the ongoing due to "mini series books not performing as well as an ongoing"

Doesn't change that in one form or another IDW has been giving us event books for 6 years almost

[Big Grim]

I really don't want IDW shoving events at us too often. It's why I gave up on Marvel recently. "Event fatigue".

[ricemazter]

Technically we have had event books even before dark Cybertron. 2011 we had the 2 part infestation that dealt with galvatrons return, 2012 were the annuals which was something in their own way due to their impact on both books. 2013 were the spotlights and Dark Cybertron which bled 2014 then followed by the Prime Wars trilogy that will conclude this year or next. So in a point of view we have in a way had a form of an event book in transformers for 6 years.

What's been pretty nice with IDW transformers books, up until fairly recently with the wars trilogy, is that their events are structured differently from companies like Marvel and DC's. One of the reasons I stopped reading Marvel books was that every year there would be a big company wide crossover event. This event would barely count as a self contained story, with important plot points happening in tie in issues. Even then, most of the events involve the protagonists from the various series fighting one another. To top it all off, the stories in individual titles would grind to a halt to make room for tie ins.

IDW events like combiner wars and titans return, to me anyway, are much less annoying. Though they do spread the event out over multiple titles, they are all easily collectible. Everything that happens in, say, Combiner Wars is contained in books with the combiner wars label, which is rarely more than 4-5 issues. Compare that to something like Civil War, where you have to buy the main series plus the countless tie ins if you really want the full scope of the story.

[Targetmaster Kup]

According to the IDW July Previews at http://www.cbr.com/idw-publishing-solic ... july-2017/ Revolutionaries #8 is the end of that series. See below:

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!

[william-james88]

this is already covered in the solicitaions we newsed. Its not cancelled, it was a miniseries which is ending and leading to another event.


https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... 017/37836/

[Targetmaster Kup]

this is already covered in the solicitaions we newsed. Its not cancelled, it was a miniseries which is ending and leading to another event.


https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... 017/37836/

Yeah. but I posted this 40 minutes before the solicitations got posted.

I must have missed the announcement that Revolutionaries was a 8 issue miniseries.

[Va'al]

this is already covered in the solicitaions we newsed. Its not cancelled, it was a miniseries which is ending and leading to another event.


https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... 017/37836/

Yeah. but I posted this 40 minutes before the solicitations got posted.

I must have missed the announcement that Revolutionaries was a 8 issue miniseries.

We have access to the solicits as other sites (including Previews World) do, but sometimes it takes a while to actually get to post them - especially when I'm not available at the time! But thank you for bringing it to our attention.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Finally, after a long wait, we have a new Revolutionaries preview, courtesy of itunes! The new book doesn't give much away, but sure makes a scene with some Predacons showing up right off the bat, and let us not forget the Hearts of Steel styled Transformer from last time! Check out the 3 page preview below, and let us know what you think of these new developments in the comments section below!

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!