Having only finished the real time read through of the original G1 comic last year it doesn’t feel too long ago that the Autobots and Decepticons teamed up to defeat Unicron, so the big selling point of this admittedly brilliant Derek Yaniger cover doesn’t feel as epic as it was originally intended. Inside, three pages after the man strip begins it’s interrupted by the 6-page back up strip, before that story just ends and returns to the main one!
Those first few pages are basically Jhiaxus again stating the mission of his overly-evolved Cybertronians as the Nazis of the universe, invading planets to wipe out all inferior (in his eyes) life. Seeing his troops in chunky tank forms wiping out whole civilisations I can’t help but compare them to the Daleks. Their missions are basically the same after all.
Things properly kick off in Tales of Earth: Part Five when the half-destroyed form of Megatron standing over the similarly brutally beaten Optimus Prime somewhat triggers Grimlock. The ability of Megatron to wipe them out if he so wished is very apparent across these pages, which makes Prime’s belief (and Megatron’s confirmation) all the more dramatic. And that’s even with the aforementioned G1 truce still fresh in my mind, so kudos to the comic that this still works.
However, by contrast the back up’s cliffhanger is a bit of a damp squib, seeing as how it’s Starscream thinking about leaving the Decepticons to go out on his own. As usual. Back to the main Escalation story and Manny Galan’s pencils (with Jim Amash inking and the excellent Sarra Mossoff colouring) have improved immensely. Things seem more focussed, the characters more solid and the wobbly wire necks are gone.
Prime is questioning their very existence. If their creator, Primus did indeed stop their evolution because he knew their race would eventually become one devoid of basic compassion and morality, then how was their creation ever justified? After all, as Ian Malcolm would say, life finds a way. Not even a planet-sized robotic god can avoid the key rule of Jurassic Park.
Oh, we almost got some transformation images there! But more importantly there’s Slapdash. The yellow F1-type car was a Headmaster toy I loved so much as a kid. Sometimes it’s the littlest things that can bring joy. Or indeed the largest, dinosaur-shaped things. While I questioned why Starscream had teeth and a snake-like tongue in a previous issue, below they make much more sense. I love Manny’s depiction of these fan favourites. Thank goodness Sarra has kept them to their original color schemes too instead of the gaudy 90s style of the toy line.
Smokescreen buys it when he tries to take a more aggressive approach. He underestimates the enemy’s strength compared to the Decepticons they’ve fought for so long and ends up exploding in a fireball. Inferno rushes in to dampen the flames but it’s too late. Apparently he now has a fiery temper to go with his fire engine alt mode and he ends up killing those responsible, while putting himself directly in harm’s way.
Luckily he escapes (briefly) but I just had to include this panel to show off Richard Starkings’ and Bill O’Neil’s lettering. I’ve raved about the bold design of the speech balloons from the beginning of the series and this really shows how much their sound effects add to the strip too. In fact, everything to do with the art seems to have been dialled up to eleven this month.
I love this panel of Optimus unloading on Jhaixus’ warriors. It feels very animated, like it could be a still frame from a cartoon and seeing the blasts reflected on his chest windscreens is a nice touch. Manny is really going for it in the action scenes! I just wish he’d attempt to show the characters transforming instead of only showing them in before and after poses. Come on Manny, you’ve only got four issues left.
Back to the battle and things aren’t going well for the Autobots. Inferno bites the dust when the building he jumped into for safety collapses, reinforcements for the enemy are on the way, every move they make is countered and in the air the Aerialbots are outnumbered and outgunned. Fireflight is hit and proclaims things are so desperate he’s going to shut his optical sensors and hope for some kind of…
It might not feel as original as writer Simon Furman probably wanted but it’s still great fun seeing Combaticon Vortex and another Decepticon called Ransack (a G2 creation who also appeared in Revenge of the Fallen, a similarly-named robot was a Deluxe Insecticon in the G1 toy line) rush in to save the Aerialbots. Meanwhile, on the ground Megatron and his ground based warriors are taking great pleasure in destroying what he describes as the “pale imitation” Decepticons.
The issue ends with Prime’s inner thoughts confusing me somewhat. He’s weighing up whether he should tell Megatron about his visions of the black mass making its way across the universe and dissolving all life. I mean, it sounds like something important he should share with the enemy he’s now in an uneasy alliance with if they’re to save their race together. But nope, he keeps it to himself. Perhaps this from the previous page sheds a bit of light on his decision?
This, plus Megatron’s insistence he’s only playing nice because of his desire to kill Jhiaxus, seems to result in Prime keeping things close to his chest. After everything that happened at the end of G1 this seems a rather dubious decision and only taken to serve the story, rather than the story serving the characters. As I took this issue off my shelf to read it I spotted the next issue’s cover shows Jhiaxus’ troops dissolving, so Prime better get talking.
As per usual, near the end the strip breaks off for the Bullpen Bulletin and this issue’s is part of a tribute to Jack Kirby who had passed away that year. The bulletins were updated weekly across Marvel’s range so we’re only seeing this part in Transformers. It contains a couple of quotes from names familiar with our G1 comic, namely Jim Salicrup (the original 8-part Transformers story and Visionaries) and George Roussos (G.I. Joe).
At the back of the comic comes the latest Transmissions letters page and the sad news the comic wouldn’t be continuing past its 12th issue. There are some hints about the conclusion too. Strangely, the first letter states they’re happy G2 is more realistic “like the animated movie”. Um, okay. I’m not the only one who agrees Manny’s work has improved immensely, however I don’t understand the comic’s “theory” about the Matrix. The Matrix itself wasn’t destroyed when it stopped Unicron, surely that was evident from the end of the movie too? The fact the writer doesn’t seem to understand why his character has it again (after he’s written it back in) is a bit strange!
That aside, it’s been another great issue and as we rocket towards the now-announced finale I fully expect the pace to pick up incrementally, even from this high-octane outing. I just hope the characters lead the way and aren’t forced into various decisions and/or positions just to get us there. As ever though, I look forward to the next issue. That ninth edition will be up for review on the blog on Sunday 25th May 2025.
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