I seem to recall this cover being used on one of Fleetway‘s UK issues, although after dipping my toes in with #1 of their comic I’d decided it wasn’t for me, so I must be remembering it from the newsagent’s shelves. Any fans of the Dinobots would’ve lapped this up, Derek Yaniger’s art perfectly capturing what drew young children to these characters. They were just so much fun, and inside Grimlock is the star.
He actually goes through quite a bit here, from leader, to remorsefulness, to having a blast stomping on baddies, making this the best issue yet! This fourth edition of the original US Transformers: Generation 2 begins with Optimus Prime having more visions of a dead world, slain Transformers rising from the ashes and once they touch him his body begins to dissolve, revealing his inner workings.
Interestingly, he hasn’t hidden these visions from his friends; everyone knows of them and no one is questioning his leadership. After his visions in the G1 comics this makes sense. Everyone appears to be on hand to help. It’s then we find out Grimlock has taken a captured Deception shuttle craft and left with some troops. Has he abandoned Prime? No, not quite. In fact, he’s doing it for Prime, even though they were all instructed to stay put.
Grimlock has decided to use a Decepticon craft to land aboard Jhiaxus’ ship Twilight and use the element of surprise to overwhelm the crew and stop their evil crusade in one fell swoop. This hasn’t come out of nowhere, there’s reasoning behind it, although he could’ve told the others. Judging by the panel below they all look miserable as hell!
They’re probably meant to be looking mean, ready for the attack, but instead they look like they’ve been told they’re not allowed any sweets before dinner. Behind all the bravado though, Grimlock has embarked on this unsanctioned mission to try to redeem himself in his own mind. He sees his “running to Prime” in #1 (when he realised the scale of the problem) as a sign of weakness, even though no one else does.
After everything he went through in the last couple of years of Generation 1, especially his dalliance with Nucleon which almost saw the end of the Transformer race’s most unique ability, he’s become much more critical of himself. Though he’ll never admit it out loud, his inner thoughts betray how he worries about his friends and the danger he puts them in with his decisions. I’ve always loved the comic version of Grimlock and here he’s better than ever.
Well, it was meant to be a surprise hit-and-run attack anyway. After pages of build-up, including Grimlock’s detailed tactics being really rather interesting, I actually laughed at it all coming to an ignominious end as soon as they set foot aboard the Twilight. However, Jhiaxus doesn’t kill them. Instead, he tells them they’re now prisoners and will be taken to “The Leige Maximo”, but not before Red Alert tries to launch his own surprise attack which fails spectacularly.
This comic certainly isn’t shy about killing off recurring characters right out of the gate! Grimlock asks what The Leige Maximo is, a person or a place, but he gets no answer. However, as their shuttle takes off Jhiaxus ponders if Grimlock will end up wishing they’d been killed by the Decepticons, and he appears surprisingly remorseful about sending them off to this… thing. Has Jhiaxus been on the receiving end of whatever this thing is? Is it his secret boss? Colour me intrigued! (No spoilers please.)
Back on board, Grimlock’s internal struggle resurfaces. Despite the cartoon depicting him as a dimwitted brute, the comic always gave him great depth. Well, apart from that awful moment in the original series when he became more like the cartoon just as he became Autobot leader but that was thankfully temporary! Apart from that blip he’s always been one of the more interesting characters.
Once again he’s wracked with guilt over the death of someone under his command and his respect for Optimus Prime is clear, albeit internally. I actually feel for him. His pride stops him from admitting any of this and it keeps getting him into trouble, despite his honourable intentions and clear wish to do good by Prime. Ironically, his internal struggles are what make him perfect leadership material, he and Prime unaware they both share the same doubts about themselves.
Who’d have thought all of this would be part of a toy comic, eh? Anyway, they’re soon attacked by another Decepticon craft and Grimlock is quick to transform into his dino mode and take advantage of the confusion to free his troops. And who says T-rex arms are too small to be of any use?
As it turns out the ship had actually been commandeered by Prime, Hot Rod, Kup, Hound and Prowl as a rescue mission. Below, Prime’s politeness while brandishing a huge cannon against the pilot he’s being so polite to is funny, and I can hear Peter Cullen’s voice when I read his “I disagree” speech balloon. Plus, doesn’t Grimlock just look like he’s having the time of his life in that middle panel?
I’ll give penciller Manny Galan kudos for how expressive his dinobots are in their alt-modes! Jim Amash’s and Marie Severin’s inks are as bold as ever and Sarra Mossoff’s colours pop more than ever. Still loving how Richard Starkings’ and John Gaushell’s letters give differently coloured boxes to each character and how they can change depending on the intensity of what they’re saying. A little bit of genius, that.
All of this fun art distracts somewhat from the ludicrous necks to be found elsewhere (see last issue) and writer Simon Furman rounds things off with a final twist in the tale as our two leads meet up and Prime offers Grimlock the position of Commander of the Autobots! Prime is returning to Cybertron as he believes his visions are a warning from the Matrix and he jokes that Grimlock’s only mistake was not stealing the crew too (because they clearly reported back). I think it’s clear Prime actually did know Grimlock struggled mentally and sees a kindred spirit.
The main strip was fantastic this month but yet again the back up (same creative team but with Derek’s art) is even better and begins with this apocalyptic scene on Earth as Bludgeon’s ship bombards the surface from orbit, his plan being to lure Optimus out from wherever he is in the galaxy, kill him and steal the Matrix in order to bring life to new Decepticons. I have to say, Bludgeon and his fellow Decepticon Pretenders are perfectly drawn by Derek.
News reports claim hundreds are already dead which makes this probably the most successful Decepticon strike ever. Well, apart from that alternate future where we saw Galvatron reduce America to rubble. Back in our reality this new, smaller army seems unstoppable. Unstoppable that is, until Bludgeon’s sword is blasted away by another Transformer weapon and we turn the page to be met with this scene.
Oh my! There’s so much to be excited by here! This is also just ‘Part One’ so it feels like one of those self-proclaimed ‘mini-epics’ the original UK comic ran to add depth to the main stories (when it switched to the three-story format), and given their history it’s interesting Megatron chose Starscream to reanimate! This begs the question, “why”? Whatever the answer, it can’t be good for Earth.
It’s the season of goodwill to all and someone really should’ve told Marvel US’s Ralph Macchio. His column in this month’s Bullpen Bulletin is horrendous! Some creatives had become disgruntled by Marvel and had left to set up their own indie comics. I can understand he’d be upset, but comparing that to communism?! Really? Wow! Around the border of the page there’s a disclaimer from the company. If they were so worried by this column they simply shouldn’t have printed it!
That’s insane, isn’t it? At least in the main bulk of the page we find out about Transformers Generation 1 colourist Nel Yomtov’s musical talents and his “Golden Harp” nickname, so there’s always that. But just… wow. I can’t get over that column. ‘Bitter’ doesn’t even cover it and this really paints Marvel in a bad light. I can’t understand how he thought that would be a good column to write and I’d say it probably had the opposite to the intended effect.
To end on a brighter note, the stories this month have been brilliant, the art has been incredible and I’m fully invested in this superb sequel comic. It may not have lasted as long as it so clearly deserved to but there are still eight glorious (I’m sure they’ll be glorious) issues to come and I can’t wait to see what 2025/1994 has in store. We’ll continue our galaxy-spanning adventure on Sunday 26th January 2025.
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