IDW Optimus Prime #5 Variant Covers by E.J. Su and Andrew Griffith

Optimus has really buff thighs. He didn't skip leg day.

I want the Sharkticon cover though. I don't know a comic store that carries it though. Bummer.

WreckerJack wrote:I want the Sharkticon cover though. I don't know a comic store that carries it though. Bummer.

Ask!

I'm super-late to the party on this, but ALL HAIL OPTIMUS PRIME!


I'm workin through MTMTE Vol3 still so I'm waaay behind.

bodrock wrote:I'm workin through MTMTE Vol3 still so I'm waaay behind.

It's a pretty good journey aside from the crossovers; have fun

Thanks Kurona!

Comic Book Resources has updated with the full preview for Optimus Prime #5! This issue sees the Junkions and their Sharkticon armada take on the Autobot on Earth as they try to protect all the really important humans they managed to amass for the unexpected show stopper. Meanwhile, we keep an eye on Jazz as he tries to make a new human friend. Check out the preview, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Daaaaaaaang. Prime's getting scary. Looks like more of Prowl's influence from their Optimus Maximus time is seeping in.

I wonder if it's less "Prime is being corupted" and more "Prime is tired of everbodys shit".


Of course, that can serve as an alternate definition for Prowl, too.

Va'al wrote:

WreckerJack wrote:I want the Sharkticon cover though. I don't know a comic store that carries it though. Bummer.

Ask!

I plan on it. I have been writing down some other titles too.

ya know on the "optimus maximus" thing were all blaming prowl for the change in attitude in prime but think about this.

sunstreakes a narcissist.

ironhides stuborn.

and mirage is a snob.

combined with prowl thats a heady mix for a mindmashed optimus to deal with ontop of whatever effects actually being leader has on him.

so it could be more than just everyones favorite prick to blame here.



what i'd find interesting though now is to see if the effects has bleed over to the other characters. theres scope for some fun to be had anyway.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum; Prowl's settling down for a bit with Fort Max to step outside his usual boundaries and possibly stepping towards some sort of redemption arc. Heck, in Sins of the Wreckers he even showed some sort of compassion towards Hubcap, someone up until that point had been antagonising him. There's some Prime-y traits going on with Prowl imo.

I asked around locally for dat Arcee cover for Op #2, but to no avail.

So I just ordered it from Coliseum of Comics for $5.99, then $7 for shipping.

Totally worth it lol, but now I gotta get 3,4 & 5!

Kurona wrote:Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum; Prowl's settling down for a bit with Fort Max to step outside his usual boundaries and possibly stepping towards some sort of redemption arc. Heck, in Sins of the Wreckers he even showed some sort of compassion towards Hubcap, someone up until that point had been antagonising him. There's some Prime-y traits going on with Prowl imo.

On the other hand, Mirage has basically not shown up again since he has yet to show back up in Lost Light. And Ironhide really hasn't seemed to have changed over in Till All Are One.

As for poor Sunstreaker, he's been part of 2 combiners, with Slugslinger, Sky Lynx, Cosmos, and Thundercracker to boot. If there were side effects, he would have lots

I'm fairly certain prowl has nothing to do with anything. They seem to be pretending that combiner wars didn't happen, especially the bit with OP Max.
My thinking is, they are making Megatron the good guy, and so they need a bad guy. This version of prime has had bipolar disorder since the early days. In the prequels he was angry and agressive, beating swindle near to death. Then went back to being a hero. In the infiltration era he was depressed, giving up his position and surrendering to spike. In the chaos Era he was the noble hero again, till death of optimus when he went emo-loner. Hero again after that, for a time. Now he has a God complex.
Over a Million years of war have pushed on prime till he broke. He's straight mad.

Now they either have Megatron be the hero and stop an evil Optimus, or make Megs snap and go super evil and force OP to be the hero again.

I can understand Optimus going a bit more ruthless, but the thought of him going truly bad and Megatron going heroic is too much for me.....!

I'll be honest -- when he shot Galvy in the face, I couldn't quite believe it....but I felt like he had no choice, and it was due to the millions of war torn years. But still, this was Optimus! I accepted it.

I've even come around to Megz sporting the Auto-brand.

But Optimus as a villain? I can't even....

partholon wrote:ya know on the "optimus maximus" thing were all blaming prowl for the change in attitude in prime but think about this.

sunstreaker's a narcissist.

ironhide's stubborn.

and mirage is a snob.

combined with prowl thats a heady mix for a mindmashed optimus to deal with on top of whatever effects actually being leader has on him.

I like that. That's pretty cool. Hope it's true!

Synopsis
It’s battleground: Earth once more, as the uneasy peace between Optimus’ forces, the Junkions, and G.I. Joe collapses amidst betrayals and subterfuge. Will Optimus Prime and Pyra Magna be able to put aside their differences—or is war really the only way forward?



Story

The turbofox excrement hit the ventilator last issue, as you might recall, with Sharkticons pouring out of the Junkion corkscrew ship by the thousands, Pyra and Optimus not entirely seeing eye to eye (and the complications, if you will, seen in the Ghost Stories annual), and the human side of the alliance still being the squishier part of the two - not ideal in most combat situations.



For an issue that is very, very much tense and building up to a potentially even bigger rupture point, John Barber manages to work in a lot - and I mean a lot - of humour: quips, side comments, snide comments, jokes, tension being maaaybe defused by the likes of Wreck-Gar, Cosmos, the captions, even Aileron and some early snark from flashback cameos. Prowl is undoubtedly not amused.



The narrating voice this issue belongs to Arcee, whose story is still somewhat being developed, and we get to find out more about her attachment to Sideswipe, why she needs him to live, how she might do that, and how her skills will turn in handy in this new fight erupting just over Earth again. The tone, at times, feels a little discordant with the action taking place, I'll admit, but not entirely distracting.



A number of readers and followers of the story have commented on the ruthlessness of Optimus Prime as seen in the preview, and speculation is running high on why he might be behaving this way after all. There may be more to it in the flashback again, as it develops both his motivations (next to omnipresent Prowl) and, in a very nice parallel track, Soundwave's. More on this below!

Art

Kei Zama returns to the artwork after the one month fill-in, and we get to see even more of her Sharkticons in action, plus the dynamism of the various action sequences in the issue are brought out in their wider framing without losing any of the detail that her style focuses on. Plus her Optimus looks truly menacing, with the broken faceplate and warlord stances.



Staying as the staple connector between artists is technicolour wizzzard Josh Burcham, and I still really appreciate the contrasts between flashback and current time, plus the paler palettes used to counteract the heavier inking of Zama's style - Junkions and Sharkticons both continue to look excellent, and battles are even more vicious as a result.



Where I mention above that the Arcee caption monologue can be jarring, the result is definitely tuned down by the lettering, marking them out as separate, in effect, from the action in the panels they show up; the lettering choices by Tom B. Long make it easy to separate and follow equally. Cover-wise, we have a full TF roster with week with some excellent Casey Coller/Joana Lafuente, Andrew Griffith/Josh Perez and EJ Su pieces to accompany the main Zama/Burcham one. All can be seen in our database entry for the issue, here.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

What started out potentially a just-action-fight-scenes sequence, turned out to be a pretty excellent chapter rushing towards the finale in the next issue, and a highlight for many characters involved in the cast: Arcee gets her moments, though I expect more next time; Jetfire, Aileron, the Colonists get some nice time, Cosmos is thrown about and even Optimus himself has a decent block of character added to him.



But it is Soundwave that absolutely shines here, and shows his true Decepticon ideological self - echoing some of the best revolutionary discourse, showing his actual political inclinations, deploying the skills that made his so valuable to the purple cause in what could've been a devastating new conflict - and resulting much scarier (if HECK YEAH) in the process. Suck it, Funny Truck.

This was an amazing issue and I loved it!

I'm willing to bet that the this flashback scene is where Optimus goes from the awesome good cop of the MTMTE stories to the hardass cop from the Autocracy stories

I enjoy that the passage from "Towards Peace" used is the same one that Twincast 159 started with. My favorite lines that James has defined from the imaginary work, and Barber's usage here is dead on point and extremely complementary to the character of Soundwave that he's built up.

Cassette Sharkticons, please. Plz.

Anyone else wondering where Rumble and Frenzy are though? Or is Cosmos the only one who survived