JULY 2022 Transformers comics and books

[griffin]

As IDW winds up their production of Transformers comics with their license expiring at the end of the year, the number of monthly comics looks to be drying up, with the focus switching to one-off specials... probably so that they don't get too deep into a series or mini-series and printing/production delays prevent final conclusion issues.

Transformers comics and books for JULY 2022, with cover images and details from here (https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/04/22/idws-transformers-comics-solicitations-july-2022-454328).


Transformers: Shattered Glass Volume 1 TP

(W) Danny Lore (A/CA) Guido Guidi
A dark reflection of the Transformers universe, where the heroes you once knew are now monstrously evil� Many kilocycles after the Cybertronian War destroyed Earth, tyrannical Autobots dominate their homeworld, and the freedom-fighting Decepticons struggle to survive. Blurr, an Autobot bodyscrapper, seeks his next bounty: Starscream, who is carrying valuable information that could reignite the war! Meanwhile, a guilt-ridden Megatron weighs the choice of whether to continue fighting, at the risk of losing what little they have left. And when Megatron and Starscream find themselves in the sights of a twisted Autobot warlord and his top lieutenant, the world will be left in shards! Collects the complete five-issue series.



Transformers Best of The Beasts
(W) Various (A) Various (CA) James Biggie
Maximize or terrorize? Either way, things are going to get epic in this collection of the best of the Maximals, Predacons, and characters from the world of Beast Wars! Featuring classic characters like Optimus Primal, Megatron, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Airazor, Tigatron, and Dinobot in clashes for the ages! Collects Transformers: Windblade (Vol. 2) #6, Transformers: Beast Wars #9, Beast Wars: The Gathering #4, and more exciting stories, including some rarely and never-before reprinted hits!

Transformers Best of The Rarities
(W) Various (A) Various (CA) James Biggie
A must-read for Transformers fans! Curated by James Roberts (Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye), Best of the Rarities includes some of the greatest hard-to-find Transformers stories from the series� almost 40-year and over 1,500-issue history! This collection includes never-before-reprinted material from the U.S. and the UK!

Last Bot Standing #3
(W) Nick Roche (A/CA) E. J. Su (CA) John Allison (CA) Evan Gauntt (CA) Mina Won
The Last Bot Standing has finally come face-to-face with the Visitors. Neither can believe the other still exists. But the Visitors are gracious, in their way. They want to help the last Cybertronian� but he knows what the Visitors are, he knows what they do, he knows what they bring, and he�s not going down without a fight!



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Recent and Upcoming TPBs & Books.
-- Transformers 2019 Vol 5 - Horrors Near and Far (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Vol-Horrors-Near-Far/dp/168405883X/) HC - IDW 296 pages (Transformers #31�36, Wreckers: Tread and Circuits #1�4, 2021 Annual, 2021 Halloween Special) - JUNE 7th (was MAY 24th) (digital release JUNE 8th)
-- Licensed Transformers 2023 Wall Calendar (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-2023-Wall-Calendar-Hasbro/dp/1524874434/) - featuring "Evergreen" designs and includes a poster (has Nth American significant dates) - JUNE 14th
-- Transformers Beast Wars Vol 2 (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Beast-Wars-Vol/dp/1684059038/) SC - IDW 144 pages (issues 7-12) - JUNE 28th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- Transformers King Grimlock (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-King-Grimlock-Steve-Orlando/dp/1684058996/) HC - IDW 128 pages (all 5 issues) - JUNE 28th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- Transformers Shattered Glass VOL 1 (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Shattered-Glass-Danny-Lore/dp/168405902X/) SC - IDW 128 pages (all 5 issues) - JULY 26th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Transformers-Cybertron-Trilogy/dp/1974732509/) HC - VIZ Media 192 pages - SEPT 13th (digital release unlikely)
-- IDW Collection Phase 3 Vol 3 (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Collection-Phase-Three-Vol/dp/1684059070/) HC - IDW 400? pages (Revolutionaries #5�8, Lost Light #8�12, Optimus Prime #7�10, Annual 2017, Salvation) - SEPT 27th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- Transformers Beast Wars Vol 3 (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Beast-Wars-Vol-3/dp/1684059380/) SC - IDW 128? pages (issues 13-17, Annual 2022) - OCT 4th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- Transformers Last Bot Standing (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Last-Standing-Nick-Roche/dp/1684059402/) SC - IDW 136 pages (all 4 issues) - OCT 25th (digital release yet to be announced)
-- Transformers 2019 Vol 6 - Wars End (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Vol-Wars-End/dp/1684059410/) HC - IDW 304 pages (Transformers #37�43, War�s End #1�4, Fate of Cybertron) - NOV 1st (digital release yet to be announced)
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March 2022 comics and books (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php/28940)

April 2022 comics and books (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php/28941)

May 2022 comics and books (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php/29109)

June 2022 comics and books (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php/29142-JUNE-2022)
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[reillyd]

That?s just?.. depressing. I didn?t really enjoy the IDW reboot after Unicron??.. but something bad is better than a drought of nothing.

I hope whoever gets the license is hard at work writing and drawing, so there?s not a huge gap

[Paulbot]

Transformers Best of The Rarities
(W) Various (A) Various (CA) James Biggie
A must-read for Transformers fans! Curated by James Roberts (Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye), Best of the Rarities includes some of the greatest hard-to-find Transformers stories from the series� almost 40-year and over 1,500-issue history! This collection includes never-before-reprinted material from the U.S. and the UK!


This intrigues me. I assume they mean never reprinted by IDW as the Definitive Collection got most of everything G1... maybe some Annual stories? Some of the text ones!? There�s a few not reprinted Dreamwave stories but it�s not clear which ones are legally good to do. That Summer Special�s G1 and RID story might be in it?

[griffin]

This intrigues me. I assume they mean never reprinted by IDW as the Definitive Collection got most of everything G1... maybe some Annual stories? Some of the text ones!? There�s a few not reprinted Dreamwave stories but it�s not clear which ones are legally good to do. That Summer Special�s G1 and RID story might be in it?

This appears to have been pushed back to the first week of August... and I see on Amazon that it is part of the "Best of" series that started with certain characters, but now includes 8 different issues.

The Amazon listing says (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YS4QXB1) that it covers the 40 years of Transformers comics, but the full listing that was said to be tweeted (https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/07/04/transformers-best-of-the-rarities-comic-content-revealed-460002) out only appears to include content from Gen1 & Gen2. There has been a fair bit of material that was printed in a number of countries that didn't show up elsewhere, particularly in the last 15 years since the Movie era.


A must-read for Transformers fans! Curated by James Roberts (Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye), Best of the Rarities includes some of the greatest hard-to-find Transformers stories from the series’ almost 40-year and over 1,500-issue history! This collection includes never-before-reprinted material from the U.S. and the UK!


Best of the Rarities includes some hard-to-find Transformers stories from the series’ almost 40-year and some never-before-reprinted material from the U.S. and the UK. Read on for the full list (the last 2 items were confirmed by James Roberts on his Twitter):


Deathbringer parts 1 & 2 (coloured), Marvel UK issues 235-6
Ghosts (1993 G2 Halloween special)
The Wind of Change (a mini story from Marvel UK issue 183, depicting Dreadwind taking over from Grimlock as the character being role-played for the letters page)
The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas (A Woman’s Day exclusive story from 1985)
Dreadwind’s XMas (a text story from TF UK 304, covering Dreadwind’s replacement as letters page avatar by Action Master Blaster)
Two Megatrons (coloured) Marvel UK 244
Another Time and Place (the text story from the TFUK 1992 Annual, ending the Marvel continuity at the time)
An Arcee Sort of Day (from the Synergy anthology produced for International Woman’s Day 2019)
Untitled (Forman/Roche script from an Australian DVD release)
Perchance to Dream: Galvatron (coloured) Marvel UK 260
Starting Over (coloured) Marvel UK 261
Untitled (pilot for European comic published in toy catalogues; new translation)
Five never-before-seen b&w one-page strips by Simon Furman and Robin Smith. (Created in 1989, originally destined for the Sunday Times’ Funday Times supplement).
50 examples of hand-painted covers (minus cover furniture), pencilled artwork (including some from Target: 2006), unused TFUK and IDW covers, rare posters, and pages from unpublished stories.



The eight "Best of" issues so far - Megatron, Optimus, Hot Rod, Bumblebee, Arcee, Starscream, Beasts (https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Best-Beasts-Various-ebook/dp/B09YS5BY2P/) (out last week, featuring Beast Wars), and Rarities.
They each are about 100 pages, which is about 3 times the size of a regular comic issue. As such, I don't think we would see a full compilation... and IDW wouldn't have much time to do one now anyway.

[griffin]

Issue 3 of Last Bot Standing looks to be out this week, and a preview can be seen here (https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/07/19/idws-transformers-last-bot-standing-5-page-preview-of-issue-3-460863).

[griffin]

Just expanding on the "Best Of" series, the eight comics are listed on this one group page on Amazon America (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KYHLYFJ?binding=kindle_edition&qid=1657725603&sr=1-15&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn), but I get the feeling that not all are being released in physical format. The Beast of the Beasts issue that is now out, has a physical comic option of about us$22 compared to the kindle version of about us$7. Some of the others in the series are as cheap as us$3 on Kindle, so it is all over the place.
And their release order does not follow their book number either.
It is a shame that Amazon didn't have a complete listing of contents like they usually do on the TPBs.

Book 1 - Best of the Beasts - out July 13th 2022 - 99 pages.


Maximize or terrorize?! Either way, things are going to get epic in this collection of the best of the Maximals, Predacons, and characters from the world of Beast Wars! Featuring classic characters like Optimus Primal, Megatron, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Airazor, Tigatron, and Dinobot in clashes for the ages! Collects TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE (Vol. 2) #6, TRANSFORMERS: BEAST WARS #9, BEAST WARS: THE GATHERING #4, and more exciting stories, including some rarely and never-before reprinted hits!

Book 2 - Best of the Rarities - out August 3rd 2022 - 97 pages.


A must-read for Transformers fans! Curated by James Roberts (Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye), Best of the Rarities includes some of the greatest hard-to-find Transformers stories from the series’ almost 40-year and over 1,500-issue history! This collection includes never-before-reprinted material from the U.S. and the UK!

Book 3 - Best of Megatron - out May 2nd 2022 - 98 pages


“Peace Through Tyranny,” proclaims Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, archenemy of Optimus Prime, and would-be future ruler of Cybertron! Feast your eyes on a collection of Megatron’s greatest (and most terrible) moments that would define the character forever—as a warrior, a poet, a leader, and one of the greatest villains of all time! Collects THE TRANSFORMERS (1984) #70 “The Priȼe of Life,” THE TRANSFORMERS (2009) #22 “Chaos Theory, Part 1,” THE TRANSFORMERS: MEGATRON ORIGIN #1, TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE #32 “slaughterhouse,” and TRANSFORMERS: AUTOCRACY #7 “Choices.”

Book 4 - Best of Optimus Prime - out January 5th 2022 - 100 pages


Optimus Prime—leader of the Autobots, hero of the cosmos, protector of all life stands tall in the minds of fans around the world! Collected for the first time in this oversized edition are some of Optimus Prime’s finest moments from his most beloved creators—from video game battles to the death to claiming the matrix to some of his most climactic heroic stands! BEST OF OPTIMUS PRIME collects THE TRANSFORMERS (1984) #24 “Afterdeath,” THE TRANSFORMERS (2009) #23 “Chaos Theory, Part 2,” TRANSFORMERS AUTOCRACY #9 “Transformation,” OPTIMUS PRIME #25, and TRANSFORMERS (2019) #6 “Orion Pax: Free Fall.” With a new cover by master artist James Biggie!

Book 5 - Best of Hot Rod - out May 4th 2022 - 99 pages


Whether you call him Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime, or even just Roddy, the hotheaded and cavalier Autobot leader is an all-time great. From his youthful days as the new kid in the group to his accomplishments as Optimus Prime's successor and (co-)captain of the Lost Light, catch up on all things Rodimus! Do yourself a favor, achieve something, and earn yourself a Rodimus star! Collects "Rise" from TRANSFORMERS: AUTOCRACY #10, SPOTLIGHT: HOT ROD, "White Fire" from TRANSFORMERS (UK) #254, "Crucible (Part 2): Lūstrāre" from TRANSFORMERS: LOST LIGHT #20, "The War to End All Wars, Part 5" from TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE #100, and "Peace" from TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 1989 (UK).

Book 6 - Best of Arcee - out September 28th 2022 - unknown pages


Is there anything Arcee can’t do? Anything she hasn’t been? With a life as long as hers, from her days as a barbarian with her brother to guiding heroes like Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, and Rodimus Prime to enjoying quality time with her loved ones—well, as much quality time as anyone can get when things are falling apart around them—Arcee’s seen and done it all. Relive some of the greatest moments from throughout the storied history of the Autobot legend! Collects TRANSFORMERS: COMBINER HUNTERS, TRANSFORMERS (2012) #55, OPTIMUS PRIME #9, TRANSFORMERS (2019) #18, and more!

Book 7 - Best of Bumblebee - out September 7th - unknown pages


Have you heard the buzz about Bumblebee?! As the heart and conscience of the Autobots, Bumblebee’s one of the friendliest bots around! But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to stand up for what’s right! It’s time for a great big adventure with the coolest little bot around! Best of Bumblebee collects “Plight of the Bumblebee” from THE TRANSFORMERS (1984) #16, “Ghost Stories” from TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 2017, “Dark Cybertron: Chapter 11” from TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE #27, “The World in Your Eyes,” Part 2 from TRANSFORMERS (2019) #2, and more!

Book 8 - Best of Starscream - out September 28th - unknown pages


Watch your back! This duplicitous Decepticon air commander’s coming for the throne! But will the scheming Seeker ever achieve his goal of ultimate power? And what of the rumors that he’s actually got a kind Spark? Don’t believe what you hear…unless Starscream’s the one telling you! Best of Starscream collects THE TRANSFORMERS: INFILTRATION #6, “Three Monologues” from TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE #20, “Choose Me” from THE TRANSFORMERS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, “Your First Mistake” from TRANSFORMERS: TILL ALL ARE ONE #12, TRANSFORMERS: SHATTERED GLASS #3, and more!

[griffin]

Another "Best of" book has been revealed, and is now on the Amazon page (link in post above).
The other 8 have now been updated to be "of 9" instead of 8.

Book 9 - Best of Grimlock - out October 26th - unknown pages


Bow down to him, Grimlock king! Leader of the Dinobots (and sometimes the Dynobots), the titanic, tyrannic T. rex is here to save the day! Grimlock’ll stomp and chomp all the baddies who’ve never stood a chance in this exciting collection! BEST OF GRIMLOCK collects TRANSFORMERS ’84: SECRETS & LIES #4, “Victory!” from TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 1986, “Devices and Desires!” from TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION 2 #4, “Grimlock the Rebel” from TRANSFORMERS: KING GRIMLOCK #1, “Kill All ’Cons” from TRANSFORMERS: LOST LIGHT #15, and more!

[KELPIE]

Rarities still the only one I have interest in.