The Energon Pub

Hey everyone, I'm new here, but just wanted to share a link to an article on Panelsonpages.com that recaps the events of All Hail Megatron for anyone who wants to read the ongoing without going back that far.

The article is the latest in a series called TL;DR (too long; didn't read) and is designed to give you the Reader's Digest version of the events of a particular storyline.

Check it out!

Glad you posted this. I only buy TPBs and I have yet to buy any from the AHM series; mostly because of the mixed reviews I've read. The last TPB I bought was Revelation, now I'm thinking about getting back into TF comics with Ongoing.

Anyone have a second opinion? Is skipping AHM and picking up at Ongoing a good idea, or am I gonna miss something?

I'd skip AHM and go straight for "Last Stand of the Wreckers".

AHM, tries to show Earth under Decepticon occupation, but it seems rather petty as opposed to epic. The previously established "ation" series showed us a Decepticon empire that conquered planets quickly and efficiently.

AHM on the other hand shows that the Decepticons are happy that they have finally beaten the Autobots for once. This gives more rise to the idea that they have been way too incompetant to have conquered anything up to this point.

Most of the personalities just seem plain wrong. Having Starscream save Megatron instead finishing the job couldn't be more wrong. Don't even get me started on Ironhide and Sunstreaker.

I could rant on, but I was pretty much disappointed with this series. This could have been truely epic by building on the "ation" series, instead it focuses retconning this series by inserting a far less interesting story.

8 bit,

As long as you read over the article enclosed in the beginning of this thread, then you should be just fine to jump into 'Ongoing' without having first read AHM. IDW seems to publish its TF comics in such a way that the various sub-stories and mini-story arcs tie-in together, but are also independent at the same time. As a result, AHM sets the stage for series like Ongoing, Drift, and Ironhide, but you can easily read these latter stories without having first read all of AHM.

If you did want to read a portion of AHM, then definitely go with Issues #11 and 12 -- they wrap up the series and help give an overall depiction of the events surrounding AHM. If you are interested in the Wreckers, then I would also read AHM #15.


- Bob

8 bit wrote:Is skipping AHM and picking up at Ongoing a good idea, or am I gonna miss something?

You'd miss quality storytelling and decent plot structure, but you'd miss that regardless.

Glad you appreciated the recap!

I, for one, really liked AHM, but I know many didn't. It was a different kind of Transformers story, and I appreciated it for that. It gave a somewhat more "horror movie" feel to giant robots having showed up on our doorstep, and that's the general state of human affairs when the Ongoing start off.

The intention of my recap was to make reading the books optional. As Bobton3 said, you should be covered for main points and be able to read Ongoing immediately. Still, if someday, you choose to give AHM a chance, I think you'll at least enjoy some of it.

Mnemosis,

I am glad that there is another fan of AHM -- I thought I was almost the only one! I enjoyed AHM for precisely the same reason that you described in your posting. Rather than having the Decepticons conduct a raid on a power plant or other high-value target, we actually see them devastate vast tracks of human society. From arbitrarily razing buildings to ripping up subway tunnels, it illustrated the brutality that could be unleashed by the Decepticons. While there are many aspects of AHM that TF fans deride, we have to admit the series helped push the envelope beyond the scope of restrained proximity conflict that was indicative of previous continuities and TF series.


- Bob

Stormwolf wrote:AHM, tries to show Earth under Decepticon occupation, but it seems rather petty as opposed to epic. The previously established "ation" series showed us a Decepticon empire that conquered planets quickly and efficiently.

Yeah, which did make a lot more sense.

Bobton03 wrote:AHM sets the stage for series like Ongoing, Drift, and Ironhide, but you can easily read these latter stories without having first read all of AHM.

Good to know.

Darth Bombshell wrote:You'd miss quality storytelling and decent plot structure, but you'd miss that regardless.

And that's basically what I've heard about AHM.

Mnemosis wrote:I, for one, really liked AHM, but I know many didn't. It was a different kind of Transformers story, and I appreciated it for that. It gave a somewhat more "horror movie" feel to giant robots having showed up on our doorstep, and that's the general state of human affairs when the Ongoing start off.

Sounds cool. Sort of like that G1 episode "Megatron's Master Plan Pt 2" after the Autobots left earth.

Thanks for the input guys!