Transformers Comic Book News on Seibertron.com

Full Preview of IDW Transformers vs Visionaries #2

Date: Saturday, January 27th 2018 8:20am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): AIPT

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Out next week from IDW Publishing is the second issue (of 5) of the current crossover mini-series featuring Transformers vs Visionaries. The battle between two 80s brands in the pages of a comic that has had mixed initial reactions continues, as the Darkling Lords reveal their actual motives and actions, as the Spectral Knights prepare to resist - Cybertronians are also there.

Check it out below mirrored from Adventures in Poor Taste!, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!

Virulina, leader of the Darkling Lords, has discovered that the Transformers are vulnerable to magic–and now she’s using that weakness to try and gain control of Cybertron and wipe them out! Leoric and Ironhide team up to stop her, but quickly find themselves facing not only the Darkling Lords, but all of New Prysmos itself!

Bullet points:

· Don’t miss the vintage style cover by Philip Murphy!

· Variant cover by Brendan Cahill!

Transformers Vs. Visionaries #2
Written by Magdalene Visaggio
Art by Fico Ossio
Color by David Garcia Cruz
Release Date January 31, 2018
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Marvel and IDW Artist Nick Roche to Attend TFNation 2018

Date: Friday, January 26th 2018 1:15pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Event News, People News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): TFNation

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Yet another update just in time for the weekend, from the folks at TFNation - the UK's biggest Transformers fan convention, taking place for the third year this summer in Birmingham - and it's another name from the comics: Nick Roche!

Currently busy on Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, you can read more about the Transformers fan that ran off to non-robot things (but will still do covers) below. And make sure to book your tickets once they go on sale on February 3rd!

Transmission_Initiated
Transmission ID: 00008
TFNation_2018
Operation: The One That Got Away

One of the returning guests to TFNation 2018 is currently only involved in Transformers by the series of variant covers for ongoing IDW Publishing comics series Transformers: Lost Light, but Nick Roche still holds a dear place in the fandom since his noteworthy debut on Spotlight: Shockwave (as artist) and Spotlight: Kup (as artist and writer).

Another of the original Transmasters UK fan community members, during the era of early Marvel comics, Roche has collaborated with writer James Roberts (also attending the TFNation) on fan-favourite Last Stand of the Wreckers, and took it solo, with Josh Burcham on colours, on its moving sequel - Sins of the Wreckers.

Since then, Roche has been seen mostly outside of the printed realm of Transformers comics, working as co-creator and artist on one-shots Monster Motors and Monster Motors: The Curse of Minivan Helsing (with Brian Lynch), and interior artist on Marvel’s Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War: Death’s Head II, New Warriors, and most recently Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (with Jody Houser). He also regularly contributes cover art to Marvel and IDW comics, including the likes of Clue, Deadpool vs The Punisher, Doctor Who, Robotech, TMNT, and more.

Nick Roche will be attending all weekend, and offering autographs and sketches to attendees – though please check in advance for availability for personalised artwork. You can find out more about his pre-order list at his blog (https://nickroche.blogspot.co.uk/) closer to TFNation 2018.

If you want to ensure all communications are intercepted, join our mailing list at https://tfnation.com

Further transmissions to follow.

TFNation

Where All Are One
Transmission_Terminated

Scans of Takara Legends Manga LG60 Overlord

Date: Friday, January 26th 2018 4:18am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Loopaza

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Views: 28,820

Via the Facebook page for Loopaza Mega Store, a regular source for news, and fellow Seibertronian Cyberpath, we have the pack-in comic accompanying the recently released Takara Tomy Transformers Legends LG60 Overlord! And there's no unnecessary artwork, aside from some potential cheesecake about Mega (though true to previous incarnation of her design)!

The comic, mirrored below, also appears to show not only Megajet and Gigatank - as Mega and Giga lure the Masterforce characters into a culinary trap - but also a second Overlord (so you can have Mega Overlord and Giga Overlord, apparently) and ...a combined mode for two Overlords? It is unclear if this is something the figures can do, or purely for the fiction, but take a look below and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!

IDW Transformers: Lost Light #14 Page 3 Art Process by Sara Pitre Durocher

Date: Thursday, January 25th 2018 4:01am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Sara Pitre Durocher

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Courtesy yet again of comics-aficionado Seibertronian Sunstar and her eagle-eyed social media checking, we have some process images for the latest preview seen from IDW Publishing, for issue #14 of the ongoing comics series Transformers: Lost Light!

The pages mirrored below show artist Sara Pitre Durocher's process from layout and roughs to the final lineart - plus Joana Lafuente's colours and Tom B. Long's letters from the final verson - for the third page of the preview, featuring Damus / Glitch / Tarn and his old mentor Shockwave, and their conversation after the latter's liberation from Garrus-9. Check it out below, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!

Three-Page Preview for IDW Transformers: Lost Light #14

Date: Wednesday, January 24th 2018 2:49pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 19,979

Very shortly after the release of issue #13 in the ongoing comic book series from IDW Publishing, Transformers: Lost Light, we have a short preview courtesy of the publisher themselves of the following chapter in the series - issue #14!

We return to the Scavengers, wherever they ended up, Grimlock, and most probably Commander Nickel too. Check out synopsis and preview pages below, with art in the issue by both Brendan Cahill and Sara Pitre Durocher, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub.

MACGUFFIN QUEST! The Scavengers have never had it so good. The war is a receding memory, their patchy service records have been forgotten, and the five of them can roam the galaxy as they please. All’s well that ends well? Not quite. Because unbeknownst to Krok and Co., their next adventure… will be their last.

Review of IDW Transformers: Lost Light #13

Date: Wednesday, January 24th 2018 1:29pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Synopsis
CABIN FEVER! Crammed into a dead Decepticon astropod that's ten sizes too small, the displaced crew of the Lost Light face their most serious threat yet: each other. As tensions rise and tempers fray, only one Autobot is arrogant enough to think he can save the day. Enter Rodimus, expert mediator.



Story

We've had the last story arc be fairly brutal, in both setting, execution (heh) and consequences, so it is only natural - as these series appear to do - to have a breather issue to regain both a setting (the shuttle/pod), a cast (the Lost Light crew), and a handle of the various storylines that had temporarily, and seemingly, been put on pause.



If you will, and if we accept the TV series comparisons for James Roberts' writing, this is a bottle issue. And what that means is that we have ample space for character work rather than plot (and that is both good a bad) but it does not cancel the plot elements that are very much there (believe us, there are MANY THINGS addressed between the lines), if embedded in the character interactions.



Most of all, perhaps, we get to see more of Cyclonus, his growth, development and positioning among the crew (with some impressive Whirl, Magnus, and Chromedome moments), in light of whatever may or may not have happened to Tailgate from last time we saw him and Fangry. Does buried mean dead? And how dead? Comics dead? Or is something else at play, again?



I have more thoughts on how the situation is being handled, below, but I wanted to also mention the attempts (and I mean attempt) at a lighter tone for most of the issue, counterbalancing the heavier parts of the story, with Swerve and Anode playing off each other, but at the same time - I felt - clashing with the overall feeling of the issue. As I said, more below.


Art

Alex Milne returns from Shining Armor back to the Lost Light crew, and what I found most impressive was the incredible similarity in some of the beats that regular artist Jack Lawrence brings to the series usually. Some of the expressions with Ratchet, especially, and it was a delight to see reinterpretations of previous designs and personal takes on specific characters like Anode and Lug.



That similarity, however, is not entirely to be found in the lineart - but rather pretty much distilled to perfection in Joana Lafuente's colours. The continuity and cohesion, for lack of better terms, that her colours bring to the two different styles of art, is something to behold. Plus, we get all the usual amazingness as well.



Roberts' scripts are never not dialogue/text heavy, and a good letterer is the best thing the comics needs for the flow to work well - but also pepper in some clues and hints at situations, possibilities, eventualities, and silent, blank spaces. And for that, Tom B. Long is what is needed.

As for the covers, there are several variants to be found accompanying the issue, from the Milne artist edition used in the thumbnail of this story, to the Roch / Burcham take on the lighter thread of the book, via JN Wiedle's Rodimus spotlight, and the main, regular, Cyclonus-centric Lawrence / Lafuente piece - to check them all out, head to our database!

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

There is a dangling cliffhanger at the very end that might leave several readers fairly surprised, if not speechless, but I felt like the journey it took to get to it was only half as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. Forced interactions in combined spaces have been done in this series previously, and this one had a strong running thread that was - again, for me - too undercut at times, even in its own seriousness.



In addition, the apparent suspension of a lot of plots that are still to be resolved will rub many the wrong way, but more is happening than it first looks (it definitely took a pointer for me to spot some moving parts I had missed, too). To add an even more positive spin, the issue will probably appeal more to readers closer to older stories in the series, but has more than enough material to also not completely shut out new readers, with fewer reference material to work with. So exactly a good, average issue, with some wins and some not-as-much.


(Added note: my biggest problem with the book, I'll admit, is one line of dialogue, towards the second part of the issue, about a specific relationship, and how I really do not like how and where, and regarding whom, it was deployed. I'll leave that for the discussion boards, though.)

Variant Cover B for IDW Transformers vs Visionaries #3 by Jeffrey Veregge

Date: Wednesday, January 24th 2018 11:53am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Also thanks to a pointer from Seibertronian Sunstar and directly from the IDW Publishing website, we have the Jeffrey Veregge alternate cover for the upcoming issue in the comics mini-series, Transformers vs Visionaries #3. Cover B, shown below, is a gloriously neon rendition of the main characters Ironhide and Virulina, current leader of the Darkling lords in the new crossover series, complete with a purple sharkado made of MAGIC and LIGHT.

Check it out below, and take a look at other upcoming titles later this year in our coverage of April's book releases from IDW Publishing right here!

The clock is ticking! Leoric finds himself exiled from New Prysmos by Virulina, who Merklynn has named the new leader of all the Visionaries. Can Leoric and his loyalists save Cybertron from being totally changed into a new homeworld for his people? Should they?

IDW April 2018 Transformers and Hasbro Universe Solicitations

Date: Wednesday, January 24th 2018 10:02am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal | Credit(s): Previews World

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Previews World has updated with new solicitations for us, featuring the continuation of the Onyx Prime story over in Optimus Prime, the Everlasting Voices continuing to speak to Hot Rod(!) in Lost Light, and the Visionaries are still fighting the Transformers and Rom is still with the Micronauts. Check out the synopsis and the covers below, which feature some cool art of the Guiding Hand and Megatronus!

Also of note, this is the last month before the Unicron story is supposed to start, so it marks the end of the current crossovers.

(W) John Barber (A) Kei Zama (A/CA) Livio Ramondelli
"The Falling," Interlude: Who is Onyx Prime? Leader of beasts, and one of the original Primes who led Cybertron, Onyx has been missing for millenia. Yet, his schemes go on. Where did he come from, and how will his reappearance change Cybertron forever?
In Shops: Apr 11, 2018
SRP: $3.99

(W) James Roberts (A/CA) Jack Lawrence
"The Everlasting Voices," Part 2! Hot Rod and company are dead. The Allspark is real. And Hot Rod is about to meet his maker(s)! Oh, Primus! Somebody stop him!
In Shops: Apr 25, 2018
SRP: $3.99

(W) Magdalene Visaggio (A/CA) Fico Ossio
The final fate of Cybertron! Leoric and the drill team, on a mission to stop the destruction of the planet, reach the core-only to be met by Virulina and her Darkling Lords! Now, the two sides are locked in a final battle to determine whether Cybertron sees tomorrow. Everything comes to a head in this thrilling conclusion!
In Shops: Apr 25, 2018
SRP: $3.99

(W) Magdalene Visaggio (A) Fico Ossio (CA) Sara Pitre-Durocher

(W) Magdalene Visaggio (A) Fico Ossio (CA) Brendan Cahill

(W) Christos Gage (A/CA) Paolo Villanelli
Gods and Monsters! The epic conclusion to the Wraith Goddess saga! As the Dire Wraiths use Microspace technology to finally awaken their dark goddess, it's up to Rom and the Micronauts to stop them! But will they be able to defeat Baron Karza's machinations and newly enhanced Wraiths before she arrives on Earth?
In Shops: Apr 25, 2018
SRP: $3.99

TRADE COLLECTIONS

Transformers: Till All Are One, Vol. 3
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sara Pitre-Durocher (a & c)
The fate of Cybertron lies in the hands of Starscream and Windblade as each tries to win allies and support in order to gain control over the Council of Worlds. After the costly victory against the Titans, Iacon is in shambles and Starscream finds himself on shakier ground than ever. The key to his political (and likely literal) survival rests in the outcome of a very unlikely event: the trial of the Council's first official war criminal—Chromia of Caminus! Collects issues #9–12 and the 2017 Annual.
TPB • FC • $17.99 • 128 pages • ISBN: 978-1-68405-086-4

Bullet points:
Advance solicited for May release!

Offered Again!
Transformers: Till All Are One, Vol. 01 • FC • $17.99 • ISBN: 978-1-63140-808-3
Transformers: Till All Are One, Vol. 02 • FC • $19.99 • ISBN: 978-1-63140-924-0

Cover A Revealed for IDW Optimus Prime #16

Date: Wednesday, January 24th 2018 9:43am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal | Credit(s): The Kup on Twitter

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Thanks to a heads up from Seibertronian Sunstar and Twitter user The Kup, we have a newly revealed cover for the upcoming Optimus Prime #16, which is due out in February! The new cover is drawn by regular artist Kei Zama with colors by Josh Burcham, and shows off Soundwave with Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage. What is interesting about this cover is that Ravage is drawn in a body style that is similar to his much earlier Megatron Origins design, which is fitting seeing as how Soundwave appears to have a rubsign, much like he did in Optimus Prime volume 1 during the "in the past" scenes.

Check out the cover below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Preview for IDW Transformers: Optimus Prime Volume 2 TPB

Date: Tuesday, January 23rd 2018 1:34am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 12,899

Despite contradicting information from IDW Publishing (the schedule we received says this book is out some time this month, but other listings state 20th February) we do have a full preview of the second collected trade for the ongoing Transformers comics series Optimus Prime!

Collecting the stories included in issues 7 to 10, and the Transformers 2017 Annual - you know, the Ghost Stories one - the preview can be seen below. Check it out!

Transformers: Optimus Prime, Vol. 2 Paperback
by John Barber (Author),‎ Priscilla Tramontano (Illustrator),‎ Casey W. Coller (Illustrator),‎ Kei Zama (Illustrator),‎ Livio Ramondelli (Illustrator)

Confronting threats old and new while discovering the Transformers universe through the stories of fan-favorite Autobots. Featuring untold tales from the ancient past of Cybertron--and hints to the true fate of deceased Autobot Bumblebee!

Optimus and his Autobots narrowly prevented an alien invasion of Earth. Now, in the aftermath, dive into stories of war, loss, regret, and redemption. This volume of Optimus Prime gives readers dramatic Transformers stories that spotlight the Autobots' present and past struggles while setting the stage for future surprises! Collects Transformers: Optimus Prime issues #7-10 and the Transformers 2017 Annual.