The Energon Pub

The fine folks at IDW Publishing have supplied us with a preview of Transformers Ongoing #29. Enjoy the seven page preview below, and be sure to pick this issue up when it hits shelves on November 2nd.

Transformers #29
Mike Costa (w) • Brendan Cahill (a) • Marcelo Matere, Cahill (c)
“The Last Story On Earth” ends here! When Prowl makes a breakthrough in his investigation, he assumes that he has the answers to all his questions… until a shadowy adversary brings some shocking revelations to the Autobot's attention. Could this be the end of the human/Autobot truce? Mike Costa and Brendan Cahill bring this tale to its unexpected conclusion!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:
Black & White Brendan Cahill cover!

Bullet points:

• CHAOS Tie-in!
  
• The truth comes out!

I've always been a supporter of IDW's TF Ongoing series, but I have to say, I am loving reading this story. It reminds me so much as an '80s cop movie. All the roles are present, the top brass, the rookie, the veteran, the by the books (but conflicted) officer, and the experienced but benched officer. It's been a great read, Prowl's dialogue is really fun and the back and forth with Spike here was very enjoyable. I'm anxious to know what Jazz will do next. I don't think IDW will take him down the turncoat path, but will he go rogue? Is he going to save the field team when they need him the most?

These dialogues... enjoyable? I could barely keep myself awake. Ongoing 8 was by far the worst IDW issue, and they just keep that "plotline" rolling, while it should have been left buried and forgotten.

Spoilered for those that didn't notice it:

What's the worst thing for Spike to get his hands on?
The Aequitas Trials data.
And Prowl left it right on the table.

Chaoslock wrote:These dialogues... enjoyable? I could barely keep myself awake. Ongoing 8 was by far the worst IDW issue, and they just keep that "plotline" rolling, while it should have been left buried and forgotten.

Barely kept awake? what would you prefer? A lot of comic readers often grumble and yawn when they are faced with dialogue driven scenes but i am curious, would you prefer an action packed story all the time? Don't you think even that would get boring? Is the payoff not worth the setup? I am of the opinion that scenes like this one make me crave action sequences. But its a trade off, you don't get rich story from action sequences.

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:

Chaoslock wrote:These dialogues... enjoyable? I could barely keep myself awake. Ongoing 8 was by far the worst IDW issue, and they just keep that "plotline" rolling, while it should have been left buried and forgotten.

Barely kept awake? what would you prefer? A lot of comic readers often grumble and yawn when they are faced with dialogue driven scenes but i am curious, would you prefer an action packed story all the time? Don't you think even that would get boring? Is the payoff not worth the setup? I am of the opinion that scenes like this one make me crave action sequences. But its a trade off, you don't get rich story from action sequences.

I'd prefer Ongoing 22-23 style dialogues, where there are interesting things behind dialogues. The last page, where Jazz complains, is pure one page of wasted paper - he should be locked away for what he did, in the first place.

i don't get it? IDW comes up with some interesting plot ideas and then runs them into the ground? who cares if he murdered scrapper? scrapper and his team killed thousands of humans, not to mention that devastator was responsible for the autobot's defeat and exile. the real surprise to me is that scrapper actually stayed dead, unlike every transformer character that IDW has killed or mortally wounded in this series. both soundwave and megatron were shot in the head but they're alright. bumblebee shot at close range with a megatron pistol and hot rod shot in half but they're cool, sunstreaker blows himself up killing hundreds of insecticons but not himself and finally ironhide is killed and then resurrected in the worst story ever written.

yeah, me again, finally if anyone from IDW is reading this, could they PLEASE explain to me how a robot or a human with a "dead leg" can use the other leg to step on and crush anything. prowl should spearhead an actually worth while investigation into how devestator supported himself on a dead limb and attempted to step on sunstreaker. you need two good legs to step on anything. i realize that the writers aren't doctors but COME ON???????!!!!!!!!!!!!

thunderjacker wrote:yeah, me again, finally if anyone from IDW is reading this, could they PLEASE explain to me how a robot or a human with a "dead leg" can use the other leg to step on and crush anything. prowl should spearhead an actually worth while investigation into how devestator supported himself on a dead limb and attempted to step on sunstreaker. you need two good legs to step on anything. i realize that the writers aren't doctors but COME ON???????!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in 1997, I was in Navy basic training where I had an allergic reaction to an inoculation. It caused internal swelling in my left hip and compressed the sciatic nerve, effectively paralyzing my left leg for an entire month. So believe me when I say: you can still stomp on things with a dead leg. It's a very lurching motion, just kind of kicking the good leg out there for a second and bringing it down hard. It's not easy but it's far from impossible.

The preview can best be summed up with two words.

Bor. Ing.

El Duque wrote:Mike Costa and Brendan Cahill bring this tale to its unexpected conclusion!

The only way Costa can conclude this unexpectedly is if he does it in a way that doesn't insult the intelligence of the reader and doesn’t rely on characters acting out of character or doing things because the so called “plot” demands it.

In other words, it’ll end up like every other conclusion he’s ever done.

It's nice to see the continuation of the Ongoing story arc. I recently got caught up on the IDW universe this summer; I ordered the AHM complete hardcover as well as Ongoing TPB volumes 1, 2, and 3.

I'm planning on skipping volume 4: Heart of Darkness...the artwork and story just don't appeal to me. Volume 5: Chaos Theory will be out in November, so I'll just pick up from there.