Comic Review: The Death of Optimus Prime (#125)

[Paulbot]

The two names James Roberts and Nick Roche should be enough to convince you this is it worth it.

If you liked the Megatron/Optimus 'flashback' issues (#22-23) you'll find a lot to like here as well..

The last issue of the ongoing (the flashforward) wasn't great, but this is a , a great way to tie up the ongoing and set a path for the new series. If you've not been reading the ongoing you might not enjoy it as much, it's less standalone than say the Wreckers limited series.

Instead this book ties up the conclusion of Chaos (much more so than the published epilogue) and then sets out the premise of both new titles. Both are clear, follow logically from the roles and actions of Bumblebee and Rodimus in the ongoing.

I really liked Sideswipe's new (Yaniger) look, and it's a promising use of Ratbat in modern day continuity too, and Prowl's in fine (IDW manipulator) form too.

It's also another interesting view on what it means to be a Cybertronian civilian, in Transformer stories that always focus on the two armies.

There was actually something quite moving about the motives behind the death of Optimus Prime too, which I wasn't really expecting to be moved by.

A nice comic to end the year with.

[i_amtrunks]

Going to be my first single comic purchase since LSotW.

Hearing good things about this issue, and glad you recommend it to Paulbot. Hopefully should have it to read tonight.

[Sam]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw it, but glad I bought a copy.

[Verno]

Is this another new universe? Or does it tie into something major?

[Paulbot]

Is this another new universe? Or does it tie into something major?

This story follows up where #30 ended, with Prime opening the Matrix to stop Dvoid.

A lot of the mystery of the first few pages is where has Prime awoken? Heaven, Hell, the past, the future.

The book is an epilogue to the Ongoing IDW series, and prologue for the two new ongoing books (one staring Rodimus, one staring Bumblebee) that begin in the new year, still in the same IDW universe as all their other G1 comics.

[Verno]

I take it This IDW Timeline (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/IDW_timeline) isn't quite up to date then?

[Paulbot]

I take it This IDW Timeline (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/IDW_timeline) isn't quite up to date then?

That's right. It's missing events from Issues 19-31

[Verno]

That's right. It's missing events from Issues 19-31

Damn the laziness of fans!

[i_amtrunks]

This is a great starting point issue that should have been hyped up as a must-read before the upcoming split. My fiancee has never read an TF comic, read this one and had a basic understanding of what had happened (war, bots won, now factionalising again due to NAILS) and she even predicted the split without reading the text blurb at the back. She is no dummy, but she also has zero care factor about the comics (only read it due to me asking her to pick it up after she finished work, first time in years she's gotten one, and she wanted to know why this one is so special I had to own it straight away).

Anyway, the issue is very dialogue eavy and a good lengthy read, they squished all the info and setup they could into the 32 pages, while also making it very character driven, there is no wasted space here. Art by Roche is stylised and not everyones cup of tea, but it is clear who is who in every panel without the need for name plates like when Guido took over the ongoing.

I wont harp on about anything specific, but this is a Prime centric issue that sums up his thoughts and feelings about his "death" and sets up all the right players and points for the two ongoing stories, focussing on Cybertron and outer space. The teams looks good for both runs, hopefully we continue to see Prowl at his best, Roberts, Roche have really got him as a character and exploited it to the betterment of their stories.

With the return of the NAILS it gives them a clean slate for new characters and designs, and I am very interested to find out who the second tier bots (and cons) will be to support the main players (Rodimus, Magnus, drift and Bee, Prowl and Ironhide).

As much as I like Optimus and thought that bar some ongoing issues that IDW have portrayed him well, his send off in this issue was very well written and weighted, I hope that we do not see him again (or Megatron for that matter) for quite some time.

Didnt realise that comic prices had dropped thanks to the stronger $AU, so the $5.50 price tag makes this comic even more value for money, it even smelt like a new comic should.

If you ever collected the IDW series while the Furmanverse "-tion" stories were being released, or quit while you were ahead during AHM or even the ongoing, this is a perfect issue to jump back aboard on, don't let the cliched title fool you, this is a seriously good comic that ties up loose ends and begins new threads seamlessly.

Bring on 2012!

[Verno]

What do you think is being hinted at with the 'M' emphasis in the title? Kind of looks like the top of the 'Con symbol, or perhaps Prime's head. Or is it just the font?

[i_amtrunks]

I didnt read anything into it, and I must say I enjoyed the big M not being sighted or barely mentioned in the issue.

[GoktimusPrime]

Boy I'm glad I avoided this thread until I picked up this ish! :D

When I saw them advertising the title "The Death of Optimus Prime" way back, I thought, "Nuh, not again..." - and the beginning reminded me of when Optimus Prime delved into the Matrix and saw Cybertron's distant past in G2... but the pages lie - another story in disguise!! :D

I do indeed like seeing all those neutrals coming along - showing that only a minority of Cybertronians took sides in the war with the majority being pacifistic non-combatants! Until now, I thought it was the other way around - and that seems to have been the way that Cybertronians have been portrayed in other media... one big warlike race. But it's interesting here how they show the majority of Cybertronians as being civilians with a disdain toward war.

I also like how they tied in the Drift mini-series with this story -- and continuing to use another Japanese G1 character as part of the group who refuse to fight. I think it's kinda interesting see the Hasbro G1ers being the fighters, and the non-fighters being Takara G1ers (and a whole lot of generics -- hopefully they'll populate them with more Takara-bots).

The reimagining of Dai Atlas' name as "Dei Atlas" and meaning "God Map" was interesting, although implausible (the odds of a Cybertronian language-name sharing commonality with Latin and Greek... then again, Transformer names never really have sociolinguistically made sense, so I really should just suspend disbelief on this one ;p). The suggestion that "Dai" came from "Dei"... at first made me cringe because I thought, "Please don't tell me that IDW staffers actually pronounce Dai Atlas as Dei Atlas"... but now that I think about it...

* "Dai" (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7) is Japanese for "Great" (thus Dai Atlas means "Great Atlas")
* "Dai" is also pronounced as "dae" in Korean, which sounds pretty much the same as "dei"
* "Dei" of course is a corruption/shortening of the word 'deity' which comes from the Latin deus/dea.
...and if we really wanna scrape the bottom of the barrel, deus is related to the word dies which is Latin for "day", but of course is pronounces as /da'i'z/ in English -- and if we remove the final "s" it's Dai - Dai Atlas. Eeeyyyyy! :p

Overall, I was expecting this issue to suck, but I've been pleasantly surprised to see that it doesn't! I did deliver on the death of Optimus Prime, but in a new way that I didn't see coming. The spoileriffic title actually threw me off the scent because I thought it would literally be about him dying rather than in a metaphorical sense! Nice! :D

I agree with what i_amtrunks said -- hope not to see either Prime or Megs for a long time coming (though I'm not too keen about Bumblebee as Autobot leader either). I hope they do make at least one issue showing us what Orion Pax is up to though, heh. :)