Infestation V.1 (comics)

Writers: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Mike Raicht
Artists: David Messina, Nick Roche, Giovanni Timpano
Collects: Infestation #1, Transformers: Infestation #1-2, GI Joe Infestation #1-2

Event comics are often dogshit. This is an unavoidable fact. Sometimes DC will pump out a pretty good one (while Marvel fails every damn time, it seems), but overall it feels like they never work. As usual I got wrapped up in something based on general concept - I can't help it, this one hit all my nerd buttons - and hoped for the best. Maybe IDW could pull off what the other two didn't.

After reading this, all I can say is that while this doesn't necessarily hit the bullseye dead center, this first volume shows promise.

The concept is simple; a zombie virus - controlled by a hive mind - is let loose in one universe. The supernatural special forces of that dimension, the CVO, cannot contain the threat and the zombies gain access to a dimensional portal. From there, they try to take over four others, while the heroes of those universes - the Transformers and GI Joe in this volume, with the other two collected in the second - try to fight them off and keep the problem contained.

The opening issue of the event, Infestation, centers on the CVO, whom are apparently one of IDW's own intellectual properties. I haven't read a damn thing with them before, so it's a testament to DnA's abilities as writers that I was swept up in things - and even finding interest in the characters - fairly quickly. It's a good start to the event and easily sells the stakes.

The Transformers part, however, is definitely a speedbump. It accomplishes absolutely nothing and is essentially the Autobots and Decepticons bickering for two issues when they should be working together against the threat. To tell the truth, the Autobots are the ones that come off badly here. Sure, Megatron is pulling his dickish "surrender control of your forces to me to fight this" heel tactic, but the Autobots are way, way too quick to judge and fight the Decepticons rather than the zombie threat. At least the Decepticons were smart enough - and willing - to put the grudges aside to stop the shit from hitting the fan worse than it already had.

I've read worse comics, for sure, but the only real boon to this section is the art, which is simple and colorful.

The GI Joe section fares much better. Essentially, a few Joes are caught while trying to get rid of a severed robot arm that I just assume was the Terminators for shits and giggles. See, it carries that whole zombie virus thing. Of course, Cobra immediately decides it would be a great idea to ignore the Joes warnings. Soon, the underwater base is riddled with zombies and flooding.

This one kind of hit me in a weird way. It's not that it's bad - it's fairly good - or that there's a learning curve. There aren't any recognizable Joes, after all, and the only recognizable Cobra agent is the Baroness. The problem is... well, it's all played completely straight without even a tinge of ridiculous, which is not something GI Joe has ever done very often.

I mean, Baroness is ramped up to eleven and is relatively bloodthirsty now, killing her own people for the most minor of things. There are no flashy, eccentric characters. They're more competent and not even half as likable. It's a shock to the system. Cobra to me is the organization led by a dude who carves his damn face into the moon. It's the team with a goddamn serpent-man that takes over because of course, along with magic spores and underground snake cults. It's the terrorist organization with ridiculous schemes who never win against ridiculous special forces agents.

It does not feel like GI Joe. I'd heard IDW's GI Joe went for a more serious take on the whole thing, but I'm not sure I necessarily expected experiments on animals and Baroness straight up killing her men just for looking at her the wrong way. I'm not sure how I feel about it; maybe I'd be more convinced if I read some of IDW's recent Joe material. After all, this is probably an odd place to be trying a property overhaul for the first time.

Take away your expectations - and ignore the few Joe trappings that remain - and you've got a pretty good story of some terrorists fighting to survive, throwing their own men to the wolves if necessary.

The Score: 7.5 out of 10

Despite some hiccups - and an entirely underwhelming section of the story - this is a decent start to a rare non-Big Two event. I'm not sure it's as good as I'd hoped, but to tell the truth I had pretty high expectations given the concept, so that's not a slam against it. Hopefully the second half is better, but as it is this is a fairly strong event. Considering events usually suck, that's the equivalent of a thumbs up.

Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume 1 (comics)

Writers: Eric Holmes, Shane McCarthy, Simon Furman
Artists: Alex Milne, Casey Coller, E.J. Su, Nick Roche and others
Collects: Megatron Origin #1-4, Spotlight: Blur, Spotlight: Cliffjumper, Spotlight: Shockwave, Spotlight: Nightbeat, Spotlight: Hot Rod, Spotlight: Soundwave, Infiltration #0-6

This is only my second real foray into Transformers comics. Clearly they have fans - though they've never reached the heights of popularity that GI Joe did in the 80's, as far as I can see - but I've admittedly been a bit skeptical about it. I love the brand and have since I was a kid, but comics never struck me as a great fit for the Transformers.

The reason for that is because one of the key distinctive features of the Transformers has always been the transformation itself. Back when the toys first came out, it was what set them apart from the action figures of the day and to a young mind offered more play oppourtunities than the standard figure. In cartoons, it was still a major strength of the brand, because it was just cool to see them in motion, the transformations animated. For all the strengths of the comics medium, this is not something you can properly depict in detail without spending panel upon panel on the transformation itself. What's left are the characters themselves - and the allure of giant fighting robots - without one of the key features of the brand.

Luckily, I'm quickly finding myself convinced that's enough.

My first taste of the IDW continuity was the opening volume of All Hail Megatron, which takes place further down the line. I liked what I saw quite a bit, but instead of jumping right into the second volume, I figured I'd jump back to the beginning and read back up to that point. IDW had started putting together the big hardcovers, so damn, that's about as good an opening as any, right?

IDW started up their continuity in a rather unique way, one which is on full display in this volume. Instead of sticking with a lot of long story arcs, the bulk of the work is made up of one shot spotlight issues - each focusing on a different Transformer - sandwiched between two bigger stories that play out through the course of a miniseries. The spotlight issues are a great way to get to know the bot in question and while most of them generally begin and wrap in the course of the twenty two pages, the writers are slick in using the issues to set up numerous subplots, several of them feeding into the miniseries.

The result is a continuity that feels connected without being overpowering, which is a nice use of it as a tool instead of a crutch.

The opening story - the first of the two miniseries included here - is the IDW continuities official origin of Megatron. It's not quite the standard opening you might expect from this franchise. Megatron's a disgruntled miner in the midst of having his job ripped from him and his fellow miners by the Autobot government.

It's an interesting switch in that the Autobots, before the rise of the Decepticons, are portrayed as almost corrupt in the upper echelons, their government just as cold and uncaring as ours might be. For a time, it almost looks as though they're shooting to make Megatron sympathetic, even going so far as to show him shook up from his first kill. But that's not what they're going for; any sympathy for Megatron quickly melts away as he becomes increasingly ruthless, finding the killing easier and easier. Soon, he's become the evil tyrant we all know he is.

Speaking of Megatron, before I talk about anything else in the Origin, it's worth noting that this is not the mostly incompetent buffoon we know best from G1. Clearly, this is meant to be the Generation 1 Megatron, but by the end of the collections it's obvious IDW's version follows on the general trend since G1 of making the Megatrons far more dangerous and far better at what they do.

This is the first iteration I've seen of Generation 1 Megatron that was as vicious and competant as the Beast Wars Megatron - without the latters crippling arrogance - who has long been the gold standard. He may turn out to be even more ruthless than the BW counterpart; it's too early to tell, but if he continues in this vein he may just take the crown. Upon learning of Starscreams treachery, Megatron casually dispatches the cronies who followed him before completely trashing Starscream like it ain't no thing. This is not a Megatron to be trifled with; even BW Megatron had a bad habit of letting guys like Tarantulus and Terrorsaur hang around a bit too long.

Anyways, back to the mini itself. The writing is pretty good, but I think it's hurt by the art. Alex Milne isn't a stranger to the Transformers - he's done work on the Energon comic prior to Dreamwaves closure, as I understand - but while he draws some awesome looking robots, there are occasional storytelling hitches. There were instances in the course of the mini where it was difficult to figure out what was going on. I'm not entirely sure it's Milne's fault - much of my confusion seemed to result when the coloring messed up - but it's still disappointing.

After the Origins mini, the next third of the book is taken up by the spotlight one shots. They're all enjoyable and well written, setting up future plots while serving as enjoyable stories in their own right. A couple of them are written by Shane McCarthy, who I recognize as the writer of All Hail Megatron, but halfway through Simon Furman takes the reins, penning the rest of the material in the book.

It's a bit difficult to talk about the art for the one shots. There's literally a different artist for each one. So talking about each one would take all day. But what can be said is that it's uniformly good. No problems following them either, which is what hampered the Megatron Origin.

The last third or so of the book is the Infiltration mini, which seems to be the first "big" storyline of the continuity. I really enjoyed it. Humans are introduced here for the first time; I don't carry the disdain for human characters like some Transformers fans do, but the ones introduced here are probably the best bunch I've seen from the franchise as actual characters. Furman's got a good handle on everyone; I'd expect as much from a long time writer for the franchise, but I was still surprised, considering this was my first exposure to his work.

The brunt of the story picks up on plot threads introduced in the spotlight mini's; Starscream gets hold of some totally awesome energon and decides hey, now seems like a bitchin' time to betray Megatron and take over. Megatron doesn't really care for that, of course, so off he goes to give Starscream a stern talking to. Which, for this Megatron, involves creating giant holes in Transformers bodies and leaving them for scrap. Like I said, this Megatron doesn't screw around.

It's fitting that it closes out the volume, because it does so on a high note. This is probably my favorite of the volume. The writing is good and the art is great. It also sets up the future nicely and leaves me ready for volume two. IDW's Transformers work is pretty awesome, from what I'm seeing.

There's also an unusual risk taken with this continuity in that - Megatron aside - it doesn't focus on the better known Transformers much. Bumblebee isn't seen until Infiltration and Optimus Prime isn't seen at all aside from a cameo or two. Optimus in particular is the most surprising omission, since he's a principal character and arguably the face of the franchise. But it works; when he finally does show up, it feels kind of like a big moment, arguably the one we've been waiting for, and helps with that whole "looking forward to Volume 2" thing.

Overall, this is a very nice package. It's a handsome hardcover and while it's not, say, omnibus size, there's a decent amount of content here. Seventeen issues isn't anything to sneeze at and makes for a pretty thick hardcover. It feels substantial, really; and while I'm normally not a hardcover guy, this is the sort of package I could make exceptions for. Very good work in putting this together.

The Score: 8 out of 10

Seventeen issues of good writing and mostly good art in a beefy, well produced hardcover. As a whole package, this book earns its high mark. I look forward to where things go from here and most of my skepticism about Transformers comics is pretty much gone now. Hopefully the second volume is as good, if not better.

Transformers: All Hail Megatron volume 1 (comics)

Writer: Shane McCarthy
Artist: Guido Guidi
Collects: Transformers: All Hail Megatron #1-6

Everyone loves a good villain, right? They're an important part of almost any fiction and a good villain is important to establishing a good hero. Just look at Batman; the character's one of the richest in fiction, but his villains are also some of the best and help make his mythos as interesting as they are.

Transformers aren't exactly lacking for good villains. Either major Megatron (G1 or Beast Wars, for those unfamiliar) rank among memorable villains and the rest of their squads aren't slouches either. But let's face it; they don't exactly come out on top much. For the most part, like many 80's cartoons, the villains didn't get that many victories and the franchise has followed suit.

But what if that was different? What if Megatron and the Decepticons came out on top, just this once? That's the premise of All Hail Megatron; and honestly, so far it's pretty interesting.

The series doesn't really waste time with any Autobot versus Decepticon battle to show the villains winning. It effectively starts after that battle, right when the action begins. With the Autobots nowhere to be seen, Megatron arrives and swiftly takes over New York City as his base of operations, showing up the US military as a bunch of chumps. The resistance fails miserably and soon the other countries of the world are forced to consider other options. Meanwhile, the Autobots have survived, but they've been ravaged; stranded on Cybertron, they've lost definitively with no way off the planet and Optimus Prime down, forcing Jazz to take the lead.

The story essentially shifts between three real plots and sets of characters; the humans, the Decepticons and the remnants of the Autobots. The human portion is the one with the least concrete direction. You follow a central human for a while, but before you know it he's gone and it shifts to a general snapshot of the military as it deals with the sudden attack. The other two are a bit more straightforward; the Decepticons are wiping out any humans they can and the Autobots are stranded on Cybertron and trying to get their crap together. It's effective, if nothing else; the general mystery of what happened to bring this about is unfolded slowly, the pieces are put into play and the story builds.

It's something of a slow burn, really. Much of this volume sets up the situation and advances the pieces in a slow but steady manner, bringing them to interesting places by the end. If nothing else, you could say that this volume consists of the first real act of the story. But it works, as we get time to see the Decepticons in victory and are teased the possibility of mutiny thanks to the notion that what held the disparate Decepticons together was the hope of victory, leaving the question of where they go once they achieve it. It allows Jazz to show some leadership chops as well, reminding you just why the character was always one of the coolest of the franchise. It feels like one of those stories that benefits from decompression, giving the story enough time to breath before the fireworks start.

Aside from some cheesy dialogue for the humans in the early issues, there's only one thing that really bugs me about the story in this volume, which would be the fact that Optimus Prime is, once again, near death in this story. If you're a fan of the Transformers franchise at all, you've definitely seen this before, because they never let the cliche go. Optimus has died or been near death at least once in, well, pretty much every damn Transformers continuity ever made. We can all thank the original G1 movie for that; kids cried, it left an impression and suddenly no writer can resist the urge to mine that well. Personally, I'm beyond sick of it and could go without seeing Optimus die or on the brink of death ever again. It needs to be put to bed, badly.

The art is very good for the volume. Solid, consistant and colorful. Everyone looks like they should, their G1 forms brought to life on the comic page. It's nothing spectacular, but it's the kind of art that can tell a story and not stick out. For a property like Transformers, it hits the proper notes, so while you're not going to see anything defining, it does it's job.

There is one thing that's a major standout about the art though. The covers. They're simply fantastic, evoking old Soviet propaganda posters with the colors and the simplicity. Very eye-catching and evocative. I loved them.

The Verdict: Dramatic Thumbs Up

Definitely worth a read. The volume is a lot of setup, but it's the good kind. If nothing else, the premise alone makes it worth a read for a Transformers fan, as it's not often you see the Decepticons actually, you know, winning. I just hope the second volume is as good and pushes things into gear. But as far as this volume goes, it's an interesting and enjoyable read. If you're a Transformers fan, it's worth a look at the least.