The Energon Pub

[Hero Alpha]

I would love it if Ramos started doing some Transformers comics. He is one of my top fav comic artist. Sweet looking Optimus he drew here.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Eh, not a fan. I didn't like his work on Spider-Man and Wolverine comics either. Just not into his style at all.
It's weird how there's all that light behind them like it's supposed to be all dynamic and kinetic looking but the poses are all really stiff and dull.

[WreckerJack]

Today we are sharing with you a full preview of First Strike #6 posted by iTunes. Issue #6 is available for digital pre-order if you want to do so. This issue features Windblade, Soundwave, Arcee and many others. Looks like the fight is just getting started!

If you have not already seen the First Strike #1 variant cover, check it out!

Description
War for the Core! Deep within Cybertron, the ultimate weapon to kill all Transformers is about to be activated! Meanwhile, Elita One plans to stop the weapon—by killing every human on Cybertron! Either way, looks like some species on Cybertron is going down unless Optimus Prime and Scarlett can save the day…

[Nexus Knight]

Soooo... fault me for not paying attention and missing a detail, but what is Kieger doing to the Masks?

[Kurona]

... And the aptly-named Sir Not Appearing In This Comic

[Va'al]

Via IDW Publishing directly, we have a number of comic book previews for your viewing convenience, featuring Transformers and the rest of the Hasbro Universe - starting with the Optimus Prime tie-in to the crossover event First Strike! Check it out below, and head back for a Seibertron.com review after its release.

Optimus Prime: First Strike #1
John Barber (w) • Guido Guidi (a) • Sara Pitre-Durocher (c)
With Cybertron under siege by Baron Ironblood's forces, Optimus Prime and Arcee defend their homeland! Caught in the middle is the human/Transformer team known as the Revolutionaries—and one of them has a secret that puts everyone at risk!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Tying into the events of First Strike—A Hasbro Comic Book Event!
The first part of Optimus Prime and the Revolutionaries’ story—continued in next month’s Revolutionaries: First Strike #1!
Variant cover by Nick Bradshaw!

[Va'al]

Next up in our IDW Publishing previews, we have a full look at another First Strike tie-in comic from the Hasbro Universe: Rom! Featuring not only the titular character, but also the Micronauts squad, as the book serves as the second part of the story started in their tie-in (check our database here). Check it out!

Rom: First Strike #1
Christos Gage (w) • Chris Panda (a) • Nelson Daniel (c)
Rom’s team-up with the Micronauts leads our heroes right to the Dire Wraiths… and their new microscopic threat!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Tying into the events of First Strike—A Hasbro Comic Book Event!
The second part of the Micronauts and Rom’s story—continued from last month’s Micronauts: First Strike #1!
Variant cover by Humberto Ramos!

[Big Grim]

Are Kup and Action Man like this in the Revolutionaries? Cuz that little exchange is just the best!

[Cmdr. Trailblazer]

Yes! There they are! With the final issue coming out after First Strike started, I was worried about the fate Revolutionaries. Now I'm curious to see what adventures they're gonna get to go on.

Are Kup and Action Man like this in the Revolutionaries? Cuz that little exchange is just the best!

Saying yes seems like an understatement.

[Va'al]

Yes! There they are! With the final issue coming out after First Strike started, I was worried about the fate Revolutionaries. Now I'm curious to see what adventures they're gonna get to go on.

Are Kup and Action Man like this in the Revolutionaries? Cuz that little exchange is just the best!

Saying yes seems like an understatement.

Those two carry the series, this issue, and the entire shared universe.

[Kurona]

Revolutionaries is absolutely the best thing to come out of the shared universe so far, and a big reason for that is Action Man and Kup. If you were on the fence I can't recommend it enough

[ricemazter]

Wait, wraiths can't possess inorganic material? Then what about them possessing Cybertronians over in Rom vs Transformers?

[steve2275]

good guido almighty

[Kurona]

Wait, wraiths can't possess inorganic material? Then what about them possessing Cybertronians over in Rom vs Transformers?

Well, that mini isn't over yet and it -was- shown to be something previously-unheard of. We'll see...

[Big Grim]

Revolutionaries is absolutely the best thing to come out of the shared universe so far, and a big reason for that is Action Man and Kup. If you were on the fence I can't recommend it enough

Sold! I'll pick em up come payday then I think!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Yes! There they are! With the final issue coming out after First Strike started, I was worried about the fate Revolutionaries. Now I'm curious to see what adventures they're gonna get to go on.

Are Kup and Action Man like this in the Revolutionaries? Cuz that little exchange is just the best!

Saying yes seems like an understatement.

Those two carry the series, this issue, and the entire shared universe.

Nothing truer has been said. There is a reason Kup's titans return toy should have had the head named "Action Man" or "Ian". I renamed him Action Man, this is the best shared universe pairing, no doubt

[Daniel Adkins]

Wait, wraiths can't possess inorganic material? Then what about them possessing Cybertronians over in Rom vs Transformers?

Possession implies being able to control the host. What happened in ROM Vs TF was not that.

[Va'al]

Also from iTunes, we have a quick preview of the opening pages of the second part of the story started in GI Joe: First Strike, in the MASK tie-in comic! Take a look below at IDW M.A.S.K.: First Strike #1, and stay with us next week for the end of the main event.

V.E.N.O.M.’s showdown with the G.I. Joe team continues as transforming vehicles, robotic ninjas and explosions threaten to bring the mission to a deadly end!

[Va'al]

The final issue of IDW Publishing's First Strike crossover event hits its release date next week, and Newsarama has the full preview for it already! There are still a couple of tie-in issues left but the bulk of the event is almost over - so check out how it opens below, and head back here next week for a review and discussion.

First Strike #6
Mairghread Scott & David Rodriguez (w) • Max Dunbar (a) • Freddie E. Williams II (c)
War for the Core! Deep within Cybertron, the ultimate weapon to kill all Transformers is about to be activated! Meanwhile, Elita One plans to stop the weapon—by killing every human on Cybertron! Either way, looks like some species on Cybertron is going down unless Optimus Prime and Scarlett can save the day…
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet points:
- The Hasbro comic book crossover event of 2017 is here!
- The wild ride ends here! Who will live? Who will die? What will happen to Cybertron?
- Expect both a satisfying conclusion and the start of a whole new era!
- Variant covers by Jay Fosgitt, Davide Fabbri, and Leonardo Manco!

[Randomhero]

I just got goosebumps reading this

[steve2275]

thats some damn fine art

[Randomhero]

It’s very nice but there’s no backgrounds. I really wish there were

[ScottyP]

James Raiz on pages 21-24?

^_^

[Va'al]

Struck Out
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis

War for the Core! Deep within Cybertron, the ultimate weapon to kill all Transformers is about to be activated! Meanwhile, Elita One plans to stop the weapon—by killing every human on Cybertron! Either way, looks like some species on Cybertron is going down unless Optimus Prime and Scarlett can save the day…

That's one way of trying

Story

And so, the final issue of the second multi-franchise crossover of Hasbro properties from IDW Publishing comes to a close, with some definite repercussions on the satellite stories it spurred - and a distinct flavouring of corporate mandate that taints an otherwise not-that-bad story, if a little by the numbers in the overall plotting. Read on for some specifics!

This whole page was fun, really

The issue does conclude pretty much as expected the bigger of the various threads set up by Mairghread Scott and David Rodriguez, with Scarlett and Joe Colton facing off against each other as the rest of the cast sort of feel accessory to the main showdown - but the sustained action sequence is very pleasing, as we've seen before from Scott, and the interactions make it perhaps more poignant than expected.

Hammering the point

The coda story, which I mention this early as it picks up the main event of the issue and the arc, is probably the real treasure of the event and the actions of Colton and his band of villainous misfits - and it wonderfully built to fit previously explored and teased moments across the Transformers books in particular - including some from before IDW's presence.

Hey Armada fans

The consequences, then, are varied, but they suffer from the sudden inclusion of property management and company announcements seen in the news cycle until now - see my opening comments - only really allowing the writers to do a lot with what little creative liberties they had in terms of ramifications and character storylines (can't remove all the players from future books, and got to introduce the new ones at some points)


Art

The artwork by Max Dunbar, with colours by Ander Zarate, is on par with the previous issue's efforts - even though some expressions, Colton especially, sometimes suffer from bizarre angles - and there is one particularly well-executed sequence that highlights really well one of the major themes running through the event, and which we've touched in previous reviews too.

Spot the parallel

The coda story, on the other hand, brings veteran James Raiz together with David Garcia Cruz - and oh my, do they deliver on something which doesn't really need that much of an introduction, but still do it beautifully. The script only acts as voice-over for this tiny scene, but the payoff is big indeed.

Just.. gorgeous

Tom B. Long handles the lettering throughout the book magnificently, with the positioning of the script and effects making sure points are heard and jokes land, and in a long action sequence that is never to be underestimated. All the cover variants can be seen, with credit, in our Comics Database, plus you can enjoy the one by Alex Ronald as thumbnail for this piece, too.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

There have been flaws in this event, from editorial (typos included, especially when it comes to Kreiger's name) and company perspectives, that I feel have held back a lot of what the writing team could've done having seen their previous efforts. As I mentioned above, what they were able to do was good in the limits of what they could do, and it's a shame that some of the repercussions were a bizarre, sudden introduction to the next chapter in the IDWverse as this book shows...

Introducing: Brian Goldner

The book was able to keep together a fairly big cast of assorted properties, and I was glad to see some of them sidelined to allow for the main story to be told. I really appreciated the parallels between Colton and Optimus Prime, and both of their failings are something I'd like to see revisited soon. And while I am intrigued by the beginnings of the next two major players, the blight of these books (like Revolutionaries, some of the tie-ins, and more before them) confirms itself to be the marketing machine: we knew who both of them were, and we knew it would happen eventually. I wanted to enjoy it much more.

. out of

[Kurona]

This, at most, should have been a smaller Transformers/GI Joe event.

Action Man and ROM have nothing to do with what's going on, and the involvement of MASK and Micronauts is so minuscule as to be laughable. There was no reason to make this a big 'all-involved' event like Revolution.

That's the only coherent thought I can get about this right now, but in general I can't say I was a fan. I was a bigger supporter of the shared Hasbroverse but it's getting harder and harder to be optimistic about it each week.