Transformers Comic Book News on Seibertron.com

IDW FCBD 2015 Transformers: Robots in Disguise #0 Preview

Date: Saturday, February 7th 2015 3:40am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Rich Johnston

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Views: 25,028

Courtesy of Rich Johnston of comics and entertainment website Bleeding Cool, we get an early preview at the Free Comic Book Day Transformers offering from IDW Publishing, featuring the new animated series Robots in Disguise, and artwork by Priscilla Tramontano. Check it out below, and head into comic book stores on May 2nd 2015 to pick up your own copy!

Transformers Legends Manga 19 featuring Tailgate and Groundshaker

Date: Friday, February 6th 2015 8:58pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Takara Tomy

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Views: 38,373

Takara Tomy has just released the 19th comic in their Japanese Transformers Legends Comic Series.
This one features, as they put it, fun everyday drama with Tailgate and Groundshaker as they dispose of a bomb, speak of the Planet Micro and defeat Trypticon, all in a day's work.
The comic has been mirrored below for your enjoyment.

IDW Publishing Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #39 Guest Artist Hayato Sakamoto

Date: Friday, February 6th 2015 4:01pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Previews

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Views: 30,492

We had seen solicitations for the IDW Publishing Trasformers: More Than Meets the Eye #39 comic book a while back, but it appears some new informations has appeared via Previews: alongside Alex Milne's cover (below), artist Hayato Sakamoto will be taking over the issue's artwork!

Sakamoto is the writer of the Transformers Legends comics, as well as as number of Kre-O comics issues, but is mostly known in the Anglophone fandom for the art of FunPub's 'Timeless' comic for BotCon 2013. Let us see how he handles the return of the DJD this March!

(W) James Roberts (A) Hayato Sakamoto (CA) Alex Milne
RETURN OF THE D.J.D.! A punishment squad created by MEGATRON to hunt down dissidents, turncoats and cowards-no one believes more passionately in the DECEPTICON cause than the D.J.D. So what happens when they discover their founder has joined the Autobots? (Clue: it's not pretty.)

IDW Transformers: Combiner Wars - Official Press Release

Date: Thursday, February 5th 2015 11:34am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Press Releases
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Courtesy of IDW Publishing, and their official Facebook page, we get the official press release for the soon to be unleashed Transformers comics event Combiner Wars! Spanning across The Transformers and returning series Windblade, the story will also weave in with Hasbro's Generations toy line. Find out more below, including some cover artwork from Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente!

An All-Out Arms Race Takes Hold Of Cybertron!
The Combiner Wars Loom…

San Diego, CA (February 5, 2015) – The biggest TRANSFORMERS publishing event of the year kicks off this March when Cybertron becomes the battleground for the COMBINER WARS! An all-star creative team is bringing along fan-favorite characters and all-new dangers to this battle royale that will shake both factions to their core.

The “Opening Salvo” is fired in TRANSFORMERS #39, and the war begins in earnest in the debut issue of the brand-new WINDBLADE series from the acclaimed creative team of Mairghread Scott and Sarah Stone. The shaky peace between the Autobots and Decepticons is threatened when Cybertron’s leader, Starscream, stands against Optimus Prime and raises an unstoppable army of Combiners, threatening Windblade’s long-lost homeworld..

“We're blowing the TRANSFORMERS universe wide open with this series: showcasing new characters and new worlds in a battle with some of the biggest 'bots you've ever seen,” said WINDBLADE writer, Scott. “Anyone who thinks they know what to expect from a Transformers event will have to think again.”

The ongoing TRANSFORMERS series written by John Barber welcomes PRIMACY artist Livio Ramondelli on to the series for this epic arc. “From day one of this series,” says Barber, “we’ve been seeding the mystery and power of Combiners—multiple Cybertronians who form together into bigger, more powerful wholes. Starscream realizes he needs one of his own to protect Cybertron… but why stop at one Combiner—or one world?”

The arms-race of Combiners will bring fan-favorite TRANSFORMERS characters to the pages of IDW comics for the first time ever—and introduce a new Combiner guaranteed to melt the internet. Featuring standard covers by Casey W. Coller and subscription covers by Ramondelli, the epic COMBINER WARS event will be an integral part of Hasbro’s 2015 TRANSFORMERS: GENERATIONS COMBINER WARS toy line, reaching a massive fan-base and will be supported across multi-media platforms.

If retailers order 250 copies each of TRANSFORMERS #39 and TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE #1, they’ll get two special covers by Travis Sengaus depicting that retailer’s store being protected by Superion (on TRANSFORMERS #39) and destroyed by Devastator (on TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE #1). And best of all… those two covers COMBINE into one mega-image!

IDW Publishing Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #37 Review

Date: Wednesday, February 4th 2015 2:50am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 35,063

Synopsis
DESPERATE MEASURES! Four million years ago, as CYBERTRON teetered on the brink of all-out war, a group of Autobots decided it was time to take matters into their own hands. Everyone concerned would subsequently agree that this was a very, very bad move...



Story

As More Than Meets the Eye continues its solitary trajectory through space (on the Lost Light) and time (through the IDWverse as we know it) we follow up on Rodimus and his team in search of duplicitous Brainstorm, his evil plan and whatever he might be up to in Cybertron's past - will history change forever?



Writer James Roberts had stated a while back that Elegant Chaos would be the third and final chapter to his Cybertronian trilogy, after Chaos Theory and Shadowplay. This issue dissipates all doubts about the execution of that promise, as we look once more into previous (past) storylines to develop the current (present) one, by literally revisiting them from another angle.



The device is extremely amusing and satisfying (and touching, at times, when Whirl, Chromedome, Rewind, Cyclonus, Rung, and Tailgate are involved), for a good deal of the book, but sometimes feels as though there is still too much stalling given the previous issues in this arc. The time travel plot does feel much fresher here, however, which can only be a good thing.



There are a number of twists, yes, towards the very end. I would not call the 'major' reveal entirely surprising, and the parallels present in the issue with Chaos Theory and Shadowplay only aided in finding all the similarities with those scripts and books - but it is very satisfyingly executed nonetheless, with some great secondary developments along the way.

Art

Now, the artwork. As mentioned, the script reuses lines from Chaos Theory and Shadowplay - and the same holds for the visuals, as Alex Milne's work from The Transformers #20 and MTMTE #9 is re-proposed as part of the larger mosaic of the old-but-new story, and it all works fantastically well, even and perhaps especially with the noticeable differences in style. And the new facial expressions are priceless.



And the credit also goes to the combined efforts of previous colourist Josh Burcham, and the current regular Joana Lafuente, with the latter finding a great balance of hues to highlight the pacing of the two timelines in one without making the difference too obvious or jarring. It is a thing to behold.



Tom B. Long's letters, especially the ones used when Whirl is involved, capture perfectly the moment and tones of the scenes they feature in, and a joy to trace in backgrounds and captions. While the Milne/Josh Perez A cover captures the and Nick Roche/Burcham introduce some new arrivals, so to speak, in the B cover, the thumbnailed Kotteri anniversary cover is a great representation of the lighter MTMTE vibe.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

As far as the aesthetics are concerned, MTMTE #37 is a magnificently laid out, formally and structurally arranged piece of comics art. Reusing old material in such a way that it works with the new was extremely well done, and the multiple angles help with the tone and themes of the arc's script. And what is new is very very new, in such a way that there are no feelings of 'shortcuts' in material.



With the plot doing what it does, the stories weaving as they do, and the art blending as it can, what really stood out, once again, were some of the interactions between the very extended cast of the book. Not only the usual suspects, or even the ones present on the page, but there is some very good dialogue that meshes wonderfully with the pre-existing scripts, and gives it that little boost which really encourages a reader to go back and revisit older material. In light of next month's big bang finale. Maybe.

Andrew Griffith to Attend C2E2 (April) and Puerto Rico Comic Con (May)

Date: Tuesday, February 3rd 2015 4:31am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Event News, People News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Andrew Griffith

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Views: 29,237

IDW Transformers artist, currently regular on The Transformers, Andrew Griffith has dropped by Seibertron.com to let us know he will attending two events (for now) this year! For the first time, he'll be showing up in Chicago for C2E2 this April, and in May, he will be travelling to Puerto Rico Comic Con. Check out some of his sketch work below!

IDW Publishing Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #37 Full Preview

Date: Tuesday, February 3rd 2015 3:38am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 21,638

It's been delayed, several times, but this week finally sees the release of IDW Publishing's Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #37 - and you can check out a full preview below! Make sure to head back here for a Seibertron.com review, too.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #37—Days of Deception
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
DESPERATE MEASURES! Four million years ago, as CYBERTRON teetered on the brink of all-out war, a group of Autobots decided it was time to take matters into their own hands. Everyone concerned would subsequently agree that this was a very, very bad move...
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Days of Deception continues!
Variant Cover by Kotteri!

Full preview for Transformers vs G.I. JOE #5

Date: Friday, January 30th 2015 11:15pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Comics Alliance

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Views: 24,877

Here is the official solicit for the long awaited Transformers vs G.I. JOE #5, followed by a full preview found on Comic Alliance.

Transformers vs G.I. JOE #5
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a & c)
IT GETS CRAZIER! The biggest space battle ever grows to universal proportions! Will the G.I. JOE team and the AUTOBOTS make peace—before COBRA and the DECEPTICONS end the war… the bad way?!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

It should be shipping on February 11th.

New Interview with Mairghread Scott About Windblade and Combiner Wars

Date: Friday, January 30th 2015 11:13pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Comics Alliance

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Views: 23,636

Comics Alliance has recently interviewed Mairghread Scott, writer of Windblade, about both Windblade and the upcoming Combiner Wars crossover.

Key news emerging from this interview includes the following:

- Combiner Wars will be a six issue crossover taking place over the course of three months.

- Scott has long term plans for the Windblade series and character.

You can read the whole interview here.

IDW Transformers Drift: Empire of Stone #3 Review

Date: Wednesday, January 28th 2015 2:41pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW, Va'al

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Views: 33,368

Synopsis
THE STONE ARMY! The secrets of DRIFT’S past become his present-day problems… and RATCHET’S none too happy about being dragged along!



Story

We've arrived at the third chapter of the four-issue mini-series following Drift, after his exile from the Lost Light, and in case you hadn't noticed... Drift is an ex-Decepticon turned Autobot with issues, gone ultra good then riddled with guilt and in search of redemption - and the search leads him to a place from his past. Got it?



What Shane McCarthy brings to the table in this issue, other than some usual Animated-esque-via-MTMTE Ratchet sass, is a fairly decent twist on the situation as it currently stands, despite some predictable behaviour from the characters involved. Though the plot may have seemed clear from early on, we get a slightly different look at it by this point.



So if you're expecting a complicatedly weaving plot entwined with multiple layers of social commentary, this is not your port of call. What we do get, though, is yet some great interactions between pretty much all characters involved, some fairly twisted motivations reminiscent of 'bad guys' already encountered in this development of the IDWverse, and some very nicely staged action.



What I am still waiting for, really, is a clue as to how all of Empire of Stone will impact not only More Than Meets the Eye, as the solicits keep telling us, but also the wider Transformers fiction established at this point - and this issue, in Hellbat and the Stone Army, possibly hints at it all, at last.

Art

If the action is greatly staged, as Guido Guidi and Stephen Baskerville have shown us in all collaborations so far, this issue really cranks it up a notch. There's a magnificent slow build of smaller to wider layouts as the action escalates, with some truly stunning full splash pages showing off the scale of what the characters are actually playing against.



Not to forget the gloriously gritty look of the book, and the stark contrast with some much sleeker, cleaner visuals for the main background characters under Gigatron's so-called command. John-Paul Bove's colours make sure those are not traits to be missed, and we should revel in his marvellous deployment of pigmented layers.



With so much action still running through so much of the issue, and the interior monologues that Drift uses to narrate and expose the story, Tom B. Long's lettering has plenty of time and space to shine - though parsimoniously used, the touches add some good voicing to exasperated characters. Cover A is a wonderfully expanded and context-free panel from the issue itself, by Guidi and Bove, while Ratchet takes the spotlight in Sarah Stone's glorious variant - see thumbnail!


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

The main draws of this issue, and so far the series as a whole, come down to a handful of things: first, the seriously stunningly mapped out action sequences and fight scenes, thanks to the fantastic work of the visual team working on McCarthy's script. Every issue just looks absolutely stunning and almost tangible in its grainy stoneness.



But the possibly even bigger incentive, and one that has taken me three issues to fully grasp (heh), is the development of the relationship between Drift and Ratchet, not only as a means for the former to come to terms with his own identity issues, but for both of them to grow from where they set out with that moment as Drift left the Lost Light crew.