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Posted by Chuck Pope
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02:59 PM Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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The Transformers aren't just making big waves on silver screen this summer. IDW is pulling out all the stops when it comes to the Transformer property. One of their newest titles on the shelf is Megatron: Origin, written by Eric Holmes and drawn by artist Alex Milne. The limited series promises to cover the twisted origin of the Decepticon leader within the new IDW Transformers Universe.
Holmes and Milne begin by showing audiences a time of peace before the civil war of Cybertron, the usual of which they are more than familiar with. On a planet much like Cybertron, a group of mining robots are taken aback when they are informed by a senator that they will no longer be needed on the colony. We find a calm and mannered Megatron amongst the crowd as the senator delivers the news. Despite his efforts to assure the workers of relocation, the crowd grows unruly. The senator must then rely on the Autobots, intergalactic peacekeepers acting as his guards and escorts, to control the crowd. But when an attempt to silence a worker results in the robot's death, a riot ensues. Megatron is forced to defend himself against the Autobot commander and when his anger gets the best of him, he ends up killing the Autobot.
Eventually the Autobots gain control of the crowd, leaving casualties
along the way, and arrest a number of rioters, including Megatron.
Aboard the prison ship, Megatron is admired for his efforts in the
riot. With the help of the other prisoners, Megatron and the others
free themselves and take control of the vessel before fleeing to
Cybertron. Back on Cybertron, Sentinel Prime is informed by Prowl of
the incident, and seems less than concerned, promising just the same to
look into the incident and find the fugitives.
The issue obviously takes inspiration for historical and modern events
of our own history. Holmes does an excellent job presenting a Megatron
we have never actually seen before. The story makes the reader much
more sympathetic toward the future Decepticon leader who reacts to the
riot initially out of defense. On the opposite end, the story sees the
Autobots, who have typically been painted as underdogs or as
characters forced into combat, as less than innocent aggressors over
this lower class of robot workers.
For several years now, IDW has shown a lot of maturity dealing with the Transformers. Intelligent mini-series, such as this one, combine into the more mainstream Infiltration and Escalation,
adding significant back stories that help to further the current arc
and giving fans things they've wanted to see for years. No doubt
Holmes and Milne have more surprises in store as the series unfolds
over the next few months, most of which should be worth following.
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