Finally here we are, ready to begin a brand new (to me and thus the blog) series of classic Transformers comics. Reading the entire original Marvel UK run in real time was one of the very best comics reading experiences of my life and here is the sequel, the highly regarded Transformers: Generation 2, the original US series. The hype I’m feeling is somewhat tempered by the fact there’ll only be 12 reviews over one year compared to the 375 posts I made on Instagram for the previous run(!), but it’s still all brand new to me, I’ve never read an issue of this, so the excitement levels are still very high.
This first issue is a chunky 68 pages, although cheekily the middle 16 are one long advert for Marvel’s new Midnight Sons so it’s not quite as chunky as it first appears. (And yes, it’s not a sample comic strip, it’s an actual 16-page advert.) However, chapter one of the new Transformers, entitled War Without End continues to be written by Simon Furman and comes in at 37 pages. That’s a good start. As for that shiny foil version of the cover, it opens out into this lovely gatefold image.
Before we get stuck into the meat of the story I do have one issue with that cover. I may not have read any of these yet but I’ve seen this front page umpteen times over the years, and it’s been peering out at me on my shelves since I completed the collection a few years back. It’s that tagline at the top. It had only been two years since the end of the first generation of Transformers comics, how young did Marvel US think people were having kids?!
Anyway, let’s roll out!
The story begins with a space cruiser’s captain being informed of an attack somewhere far out in the galaxy, far away from both Earth and Cybertron and the title spread shows some familiar faces surprisingly spearheading that attack. Hound, Broadside, Sideswipe and Blades (on the following pages) are seen killing everyone around them, with Blades taking particular glee in doing so.
The way it’s been conveyed to the reader is meant to lead us down the path of thinking these Autobots’ allegiances have changed. The war was meant to be over. The scene is reported as a surprise strike attack. The Autobots are the instigators. But then we see one of the so-called victims of their attack transform and the dramatic entrance of an old friend, it’s confirmed there’s More Than Meets The Eye here. How appropriate.
These pages of rollicking action art come courtesy of new Transformers artist Derek Yaniger (Hellraiser, Web of Spider-Man, Alpha Flight) and the colours of Sarra Mossoff (Deathlok, Darkman, Mighty Thor). This is some wild imagery. I’d only ever seen the occasional panel or some of their covers when used on Fleetway’s UK Generation 2 comics, but this is the first time I’ve held any of it in my hands and it’s right up there with the very best UK Marvel stuff from the likes of Geoff Senior, Andrew Wildman, Stephen Baskerville and Gina Hart.
“Early digital lettering days, so why not use a more robotic looking font?”
Richard Starkings, letterer
This is just gorgeous to look at. It’s genuinely exciting and begs to be studied at length before moving on to the next page. The lettering is also rather unique and it’s the creation of friend of the blog Richard Starkings (editor on The Real Ghostbusters, Dragon’s Claws, The Sleeze Brothers). It’s mentioned elsewhere in this issue by Simon that it was Richard who came up with Generation 2’s lettering style and so I just had to ask Richard directly about it.
“Early digital lettering days, so why not use a more robotic looking font?”, Richard told me about his and John Gaushell‘s work when we spoke. “We suggested color coding the boxes on the left to match the Transformer and gave the Dinobots a different style. If there was a bold word, we hit the boxes with black. Rob Tokar was the editor, one of a handful of editors who was happy to see digital lettering on his books. And this was a perfect fit.” No arguments here.
It’s actually Grimlock who comes out with a couple of rousing speeches during this story rather than Optimus Prime, including one where he wipes away the dirt from his body to reveal the new look Autobot logo Hasbro had designed for the new toy range. Simon has given him a speech pattern somewhere between the original UK strips and that of the famous cartoon voice, and it works. Then we find out that the robot called Jhiaxus (a creation of the comic), to whom the report of the attack was given aboard his spaceship Twilight, is actually the leader of the Decepticons. How so? Where’s Bludgeon? Intriguing.
So anyway, we find out the Autobots were actually saving some rather thin-looking humanoid aliens from an invasion by Decepticons they’d never encountered before, and Jhiaxus’ minions questions why they’re fighting. They’ve never heard of the term “Autobots” and thought they were all Cybertronians so should be working together. Jhiaxus describes the name as an acronym from the distant past and something to disregard. Curiouser and curiouser.
Four million years of conflict, stretching between Cybertron and Earth, and finally… all the old ghosts laid to rest!”
Optimus Prime
We finally catch up with Optimus Prime who seems to be having some sort of vision. A vision of him standing upon a dead world, surrounded by screams, dead beings rising from the ground and as soon as they touch him he turns to dust. It’s a recurring waking nightmare and he describes it as a vision of him “running from something unspeakably ancient and evil”. Again? After the whole Unicron and Primus thing we’re going down that route again? Then, as if in answer to my query we get this lovely next page.
I really like this. The story can be read with no previous knowledge of what came before, which Simon touches upon in a special page later in the comic, but this adds a bit of weight for new readers and an acknowledgment to fans. The best way I can describe it is if you started watching Doctor Who when Christopher Ecclestone or Ncuti Gatwa took over the role. These were two moments when the whole show reset itself and welcomed in new viewers while also showing them there’s a rich history there they can delve into if they so wish. I get that same vibe here and as a fan who has read everything that came before it’s an exciting feeling to have.
One thing that could’ve used a bit of explanation for long-term fans is how some characters such as Optimus and Grimlock can transform again after using the Nucleon energy source which gave them incredible powers but stopped this fundamental ability. We UK readers had the explanation in the prose story of the final annual but US readers didn’t, so I’m curious how this was met by them at the time. Not that the transformations occurring here are anything to write home about.
This is the one and only thing I can criticise the incredible art for. We don’t get those intricate drawings from issues past showing how each character changed from one form to the next, not even the wavy lines of Dan Reed. Instead we see the before and after shots in the same panels, with nothing in between. I have an overwhelmingly positive view of this comic as the start of something brilliant, but not showing these feels misguided in a Transformers comic. Although look closely and I do like how we can see Hot Rod‘s cannon fire continue through his (invisible) transformation.
At least Prime’s name isn’t plastered over the side of his trailer.
It’s interesting that they’ve kept their Earthen modes despite leaving the planet behind. Maybe they’ve grown attached. They find themselves out in the cosmos seeking out the worlds Bludgeon and his Decepticons have attacked as they look to build a new Cybertron (seemingly never finding out it wasn’t destroying itself at the end of the previous run but going through some kind of rebirth). Prime questions his own motives and those of Bludgeon until Grimlock gathers everyone together, having summoned them to this planet in the first place.
Reading the spread above the mystery deepens for the Autobots but the readers are aware of who is actually behind the creation of all of these “Little Cybertrons”, and possibly behind all of the conflict they’ve found in this sector of the galaxy. It’s a neat twist that we’re up to speed before the main characters and to see them trying to work it out. That is, until Jhiaxus’ ship arrives and blasts their base to pieces.
Before they get to meet him we get a very quick double-page spread for an update on the whereabouts of Megatron for anyone who hadn’t been on board with the G.I. Joe crossover event. It’s a neat addition and makes me wish David had been the artist on that comic after Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville’s earlier chapters!
So it all comes together with Optimus Prime and Grimlock hauled in front of Jhiaxus at gunpoint and he explains he and his cohorts left Cybertron four million years ago after Prime, Megatron et all went missing in deep space. Escaping their dying world and leaving behind those he deemed unworthy to lead (including a nice image of Lord Straxus for long-term fans, especially UK ones), they set about constructing new worlds. At least, that’s how he puts it.
To him, they are one race now: Decepticons. There is no more good or evil, he says. That way of thinking is for lesser beings than Cybertronians, like the Autobots who he sees as a strange “offshoot” of the true race. If beings can’t co-exist with them then they are simply deemed unworthy of sharing the universe and are exterminated. Jhiaxus has spent millions of years building new Cybertrons and a great galactic empire. He’s a genuinely original and interesting character for Transformers, bringing some social commentary with him.
Afterwards, it’s Grimlock who gives another speech (and is that a pictorial reference to the classic story with the best title ever?), this time for Prime’s benefit and in response something awakens inside Optimus. The war was won, but for what? He has fought for Cybertron and its people and all the while those very people were conquering the universe in the name of expansion and some higher calling. We see a battle to escape over the final pages with a more violent Prime not taking prisoners. He is disgusted at his own race and afterwards he goes over the task that lies ahead in his mind.
The final page, those final thoughts, sum up what this Generation 2 comic will be all about. Plus there’s that pesky ancient evil thing too, of course, which I’m still sceptical of because it feels well-trodden. It could be something brand new, but so far the pitch for it seems all too familiar. Still, the Jhiaxus storyline is fantastic! This has been an incredible opening chapter to what should’ve been another multi-year epic. It certainly has the potential, even without that apocalyptic vision which feels unnecessary with everything else here already being on such a grand scale.
What will eventually become the letters page is instead a personal message from writer Simon Furman in this premiere issue. He mentions Richard Starkings’ great lettering design and also the return of Geoff Senior. Fantastic! Between this and the back page advert for the series (below, taken from the back of the gatefold issue), a lot is made of the point I talked about regarding new readers. The thing is, with a name like ‘Transformers: Generation 2’, which screams “SEQUEL” I wonder how successful that goal could possibly be in reality.
The next issue box promises a return to the storyline involving Megatron and Spike from #142 of G.I. Joe and with that this big, fat first issue of this fondly remembered series comes to an end for the first time for this new reader. I know it ends up cut short after only 12 chapters, but this next year still promises to be an incredible experience for this Transformers fan. I can’t wait to jump back in on Sunday 27th October 2024.
G.i. JOE iSSUE 142 < > iSSUE TWO
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