All Hail Megatron Issues 1 to 6 (Vol 1)

[STL]

Furman in the past has shown the ability to drastically change direction while still maintaining the integrity of the present universe so I don't see why he couldn't of done it this time.

I think it comes down to the way the comic industry works. There just needs to be a new name on the title to give it a new chance at life. In the old days, writers could resurrect their series with a good run or change of direction. Now, most don't get that chance and the smart ones don't stay on for more a year. The average comic reader seems to jump around like hotcakes between the new cheese and whatnot. So having the same writer would've been a poor move as retailers would not have had much confidence. It's sad but its the way the comic industry seems to work these days. It's also one of the reasons why I care less and less about comics.

Something else, many of us would have been much more accepting of this new take if it was indeed a new continuity instead of it being shoehorned into the previous one creating so many gaps and discrepancies which mostly serve to as a deterrent to the established reader base than something that will serve to increase reader numbers.

That's defintiely true. I don't think IDW helped themselves at all in that regard. They were asking for trouble. The comic reading public (in the broader sense, not just TF fans) is very fickle and unaccomodating of change unless its "big", "bad" and by a star creative team

[kup]

i wonder if this IDW Megatron will ever become Galvatron

im willing to bet an imaginary dollar that, they fix/frick around with the timeline somehow and the invasion of Earth never happens!!!

That's actually possible. I don't think that there is a serious commitment in AHM to maintain continuity with the former story but if Megatron does turn into Galvatron, I doubt that it would happen in this run, perhaps in the second series assuming AHM gets a sequel.

[GoktimusPrime]

But IDW continuity has already established Galvatron as an entirely separate character - initially part of the crew of Event HorizonArk-1 under the command of Nova Prime.



If that ever happen it would absolutely establish AHM as a separate continuity from the rest of the IDW universe despite McCarthy's vehement claims to the contrary.

[Golden Phoenix]

But IDW continuity has already established Galvatron as an entirely separate character - initially part of the crew of Event HorizonArk-1 under the command of Nova Prime.



If that ever happen it would absolutely establish AHM as a separate continuity from the rest of the IDW universe despite McCarthy's vehement claims to the contrary.

Megatron could change into a different form. They could re-design Galvatron again and Megatron could simply change his name to honour the Galvatron that went into the Dead Universe

[kup]

Megatron could change into a different form. They could re-design Galvatron again and Megatron could simply change his name to honour the Galvatron that went into the Dead Universe

I think that if AHM is successful enough, they will slowly drop total continuity with the Furman universe making anything possible as presently the only thing attaching it within continuity is purely PR as the references made in the book are either ambiguous or 'forced' in.

There are already massive enough plot gaps to make this a new continuity despite the official stance on the subject. The only way to make the Furman universe 'fit' with AHM is if they take some retcon liberties to adapt the Furman Universe to AHM or simply 'continue on' from the AHM present story and ignore the 'past'.

[griffin]

Galvatron was originally a different character to Megatron, according to the original bio-writer Bob Budiansky. It was just the writer for the 1986 Movie that thought it would be a good plot device to have them as the same person, and as such, every comic and cartoon story around it had to match.
Original techspec:

Galvatron is a cold-hearted robotic villain. Determined to lead the
Decepticons. Possesses enough strength to pulverize an Autobot into
scrap metal. Unconquerable. Arrogant and compassionless. Plots
against his allies, thus weakening his position. In robot mode, he
carries a laser that emits chemically-produced, direct-current
electricity.

If he were originally intended to be a new Megatron, the bio wouldn't have him with a rank of 9 and describing him as having ambition to lead the Decepticons.

It's about time we have an official Transformers story that has Galvatron be a separate character, as he was originally meant to be.

[kup]

Galvatron was originally a different character to Megatron, according to the original bio-writer Bob Budiansky. It was just the writer for the 1986 Movie that thought it would be a good plot device to have them as the same person, and as such, every comic and cartoon story around it had to match.
Original techspec:


If he were originally intended to be a new Megatron, the bio wouldn't have him with a rank of 9 and describing him as having ambition to lead the Decepticons.

It's about time we have an official Transformers story that has Galvatron be a separate character, as he was originally meant to be.

I am sure that many of us (including myself) are hopeful that this concept be carried onto AHM from the Furman universe if Galavatron is ever to appear there.

The Furman IDW stories are actually the most original G1 story we have ever gotten. It didn't follow old clinches and actually tried to bring forth 'forgotten' bio characteristics for the most part even if it begun to go down a bit at the end in this regard.

[griffin]

Considering Furman was a big driving force behind Galvatron being Megatron in the Gen1 comics, it must have been tough for him to use Galvatron as he was originally intended.

[bassbot]

The IDW galvatron is awesome, we haven't seen heaps of him, but what we did I really enjoyed. He seems to have his own motivations and enlightenment during the time he is off the reigns of Nemesis Prime. Why would we want Megs to become Galvs?!?

Anyhow - I enjoyed #6 - some more great dialogue, and especially between the cons, cool little bit of Thundercracker. I want more.

Some theories going around that Kup could be the autobot traitor. He seems to know a bit much and really wants to keep Jazz close who appears to know who the traitor is and isn't.

[i_amtrunks]

so.....AHM #6

What another fizzer. Nothing solid is added to the series in this issue, purely conjecture from characters within the story, and a very forced 'ZOMG Drift is teh Awezomes!!!1!!1!'.

It's taken half of the series to not quite setup the rest of the series, and all of this setup could have been done in about 3 issues had the useless script and terrible pacing been rectified. This issue alone only sees Kup and Starscream speculate on things that have happened and things to come, while Skywarp alludes to something I fear we will be seeing more of in the next few issues.
Kup mentioned that Megatron has killed two Primes, I assume that the second he killed is the Zeta Prime mentioned in Spotlight Blurr, further distancing the AHM universe from the Furmanverse.

Sure there are some rather nice one lines and such, again Cliffjumper shines, but thanks to Perceptor we also get a good line from Tracks. The fact this occurs after the forced "hey how cool is my character Drift" moment does sully it a bit. The fact the Drift moment mirrors what we got with Mirage only last issue also blunts it even further.

However there were 2 pages that stuck in my mind, and not for any good reasons. I love Guido's art, and think he is among the better artists IDW has to call upon, but his work on the two Megatron and Starscream pages that feature a central 'action' shot of Megatron surrounded by poorly placed dialogue panels featuring the two is some of the worst art and indeed worst layout of any transformers comic released by IDW, including Origins.

Not only did the quality in art take a dive, the writing also took a serious nosedive with it, both pages were painful to read and the fact that I had to re-read them 2-3 times before they started making sense did not help.

It almost seems that Prowl was drawn by another artist, at the end of his main scene, all he needed was the giant 'sweatdrop' on his temple to be a sterotypical anime style drawn character, totally out of style with the rest of the cast. The rest of the art is nice, but nothing really outstanding this issue, hopefully we will get more art that looks like the cover for issue #7 featuring Ironhide.

Pro's:
- More good one liners for characters like Cliffjumper and Tracks
- Nice gentle introductions for Roadbuster and not so gentle Perceptor
- A nice bit of insight into the Seekers, who never really get much characterisation, as well s the Insecticons
- A smart Starscream, this isn't the dolt from the Cartoon
- Inter team factions within the Decepticons, are also shown to perhaps be forming in the Autobots
- Kup
- No real focus on Humans for 90% of the book

Con's:
- Terrible pacing and scripting issues continue
- clunky dialogue for Megatron and Starscream
- Too much discussion of events that happened in the break, that will barely have time to be expanded on
- Poor art on various pages, and panel layout on same pages is terrible, design and execution of purple 'thing' leaves much to be desired
- McGuffin of Energon to appear
- Humans in book are boring, and the final line of the comic is so very cliche.
- The final 6 issues have too much to close what the first six opened.

And I'm also slightly peeved that once again the Trade (due Feb) will contain added extras, it's kind of a slap in the face to the people who are buying the single issues.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea in books that deserve to be bought twice (like Infiltration), but I shouldn't have to buy this crap twice to get bonus items, as compensation for how crap issues 1-6 have been IDW should have been putting all extra cover art, sketches and the like into each issue.