Comic Review - Primacy

Issue #1

Picking up not long after Monstrosity ends, we see most of the same characters in play. Grimlock and the other Dynobots are being purged of their mad alt-modes, Prime has been repaired and is going on an ice-hike with Ironhide and Megs is having a chat with Trypticon who now has Pentius’ spark.

Some interesting stuff. The fact that Trypticon and Megs are now sorta connected from sharing the same borrowed Quintesson spark is cool, as is the brief image of Trypticon walking the plains of Cybertron before the rest of them had even existed, as well as dipping into the Quintesson lore. It would be nice to know if ‘Slinger’ – Hot Rods ex-mate - turns out to be ‘Slugslinger’. The Grimlock/Hot Rod stuff I found to be a bit of filler but will prob lead to Hot Rod gaining Grim’s respect in a later issue. I adore Omega Supreme but didn’t think a lot of the idea he’d just been standing round for thousands of years doing sweet f’all – I hope his inclusion leads somewhere. All the Cons flying off into space aboard Trypticons city mode was a nice way to end the issue I thought, Trypticons city mode in space looked awesome, though part of me wishes that since he was being a mode of transport they had used his battle station mode or his FOC alt-mode instead.

Overall, quite good. Looking forward to the next instalment :)

Issue #2

A lot of the comic is given over to Megs reuniting his army that split after Scorponok's reign and shows the Seekers going to find the Stunticons, Predacons and Combaticons. They did this well - the Stunticons terrorizing all-but-abandoned highways, the Combaticons stealing military hardware using Swindle's tips and the Predacons have been going from planet to planet hunting. The only thing I thought would have been a nice touch is since Thundercracker found the Stunticons and Starscream found the Predacons is if they had had Skywarp find the Combaticons rather than Starscream again - since they were really fufilling their roles as Seekers which Megatron mentions later.

The rest of the comic is setting up for a big fight between titan-sized Trypticon and Metroplex in the next issue. Finally the fight we have been waiting for! Given that Omega Supreme is there too, it will be interesting to see if he gets into the mix. You would think he wouldn't make much of a difference but then it was implied in the Dark Cybertron series that Monstructor could hurt Metroplex so I suppose Omega can do some damage to Trypticon.

The only thing that irks me a little is how much they are tying the Quintessons to Junkion, given you see Megatron using a Quintesson ship later. I suppose it can be classed as Pentius' ship he crashed in ages ago, though that begs the question of why didn't Pentius and Megatron use it in Monstosity? Also Megatron says to the Junkions "Make your World-Ship ready. And leave this hell behind" (not quite the quote but near enough). What does he mean? Is Junkion going to become one big ship or is the Quintesson ship their world-ship? Not quite clear.

So overall pretty good - the Decepticons and their subgroups are the real stars of the comic, the Autobots are a bit dull but really just there to react to events, and the Junkion/Quintesson thing raises a lot of questions. Bring on issue #3!

Issue #3

The big fight between Trypticon and Metroplex! Very good, lots of melee as well as energy weapons use, just a shame the art style is not more crisp as it would have been great to see this fight done justice.

The star of the comic, even though he really does nothing, is Megatron. One of the most thought out strategies I've ever seen from Megs for a battle (no Transfixatrons here :p). Gets Trypticon to battle Metroplex, then slams from orbit a Quintesson ship through Metro's spine pinning him to the ground and all but killing him. This releases a flood of coolant from underground which the Sharkticons which were housed in the front of the Q's ship swim out into to attack the Autobots. All while this is happening he has the Junkions attack Primes command group and positions the Seekers and heavy artillery units (like the Combaticons) to take out Omega Supreme before he can enter the fray.

Damn Megs - you thought this out brutha! Shame you got a Quint in your brainpan pulling some sneaky stuff they will surely explore next issue ;)


As in seeing a military strategy unfold, this is a very good issue! :D

Once again In A 4 issue series, a big "twist" on the final page on issue 3. Now there won't be enough pages to conclude all the strands in a satisfactory fashion.

Art was some of Livios worse. I normally don't mind him but I could barely tell what was going on in the digital version and it wasn't much better in the print version.

I agree it was nice to see a battle plan with more sophistication than what we normally see (since we only normally see them charge into one another). We are always told what a strategist Megatron is, but it was nice to see it.

Yay, Predacons!

On a more serious note, I am really enjoying this series, along with the 2 predecessors. Makes a nice change from RiD/MTMTE.
If you're not reading Primacy (and Autocracy/Monstrosity previously), you really should be.

Nice Scrounge cameo! :)

I haven't seen a Megatron this cunning since Beast Wars. :cool: Both Megatrons have plans within plans and are playing a game of chess with their enemies, keeping several steps ahead; but one difference is that BW Megatron has to play this game with his allies as well as his enemies (as some Predacons were also plotting against him, he had counter-plots to keep them at bay). I really love how BW Megatron was playing everyone against each other for his own gain, but having said that, I do quite like how Primacy Megatron is able to forge the Decepticons and their allies into a cohesive fighting unit (which BW Megatron could never do, due to all the Predacon in-fighting (which he happily chose to exploit in his favour ;))).

Issue #4

As i_amtrunks predicted this felt very rushed with rather simplistic conclusions to the different plots going on. The Stunticons and Predacons felt shoehorned in, the case of the Quintesson spark went nowhere and was then magically solved by the matrix and the battle turned far too easily. Suddenly the Decepticons went from on top to being on the defensive due to the acid rain and Trailbreakers forcefield. Grimlock and Hot Rod fought Razorclaw together so like I predicted when reviewing issue one, Hot Rod did something in a fight to make Grimlock like him.

Only real highlight for me was to see Motormaster in truck form charge Optimus, but even that was dissapointingly quick as Motormaster seemed to just bounce out of the way - they did it much better in the old cartoon.

This issue was probably not as bad as I'm making it sound - there were parts of it I did like -but certainly wasn't top notch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Issue #4
This issue was probably not as bad as I'm making it sound - there were parts of it I did like -but certainly wasn't top notch.

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No, it was very ordinary. Plots they spent 3 issues building up fell to nothing, Prime heals all with the shiny McGuffin, Megatron is captured and all the combiner teams are shown off as individuals to lets us know the "Combiner Wars" are coming, and that they sure do exist in this continuity.

Dull, dull, waste of time, poor art, dull.

Poor conclusion to what looked to be such a promising series that in the end stuffed up alot of existing story and characterisation for no gain. I normally do not mind Livio's art, and he has improved, but nothing in these issues stood out.

Calling it very ordinary is a compliment this series and creative team does not deserve. Quite possibly one of the worst Transformers-related media I've ever read and I've read just about every Transformers comic ever.