IDW's Dead Universe? And where should I start, to catch up? (spoilers)

[Golden Phoenix]

Where does the IDW universe start? All Hail Megs?

Infiltration was the start. But it happens at the same time as Stormbringer

[Paulbot]

All Hail Megatron was "New Start #2".

[Cat]

Infiltration was the start. But it happens at the same time as Stormbringer

Kinda sorta, if you want to get technical (indulge me).

The end of Stormbringer happens, then slots in around Infiltration #4 (I think it's four).

I'd definitely read Infiltration first, but YMMV.

And the IDW Collections are the best way to get started. Over-sized, better value than collecting the individual trades by themselves.

Five volumes are out to date (the latest came about two weeks ago, and should be instock at DM places like Amazon very shortly, if not already).

They're also much wieldier to read than the Premier Editions. There were two of those, and while they cover what I consider to be the best material (besides Last Stand Of The Wreckers), they are simply too big to really read comfortably in bed, and definitely not something you'd want to drag around in public.

If you don't want to read the 'old' stuff, then starting next month, I'd recommend picking up either/both of the two new ongoing series: 'Robots In Disguise' and 'More Than Meets The Eye'. Both start fresh with issue ones next month. Different casts, different objectives. You may find you prefer one to the other, or are interested in both.

Either way, they're perfect for someone looking to start fresh, and not wanting to delve into the past IDW material.

[Cat]

The beauty of starting all over again huh?

Do you think this D-Void will end up being some kind of manifestation of Unicron that IDW is saving up for later? Or something else?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the info Paulbot, I'm thinking of playing catch-up with the IDW universe (I know I'm a long way behind)

Honestly, answering that fully would probably be a bad idea without spoiler tags, as a lot of board members who read these in trade only aren't up to date with this storyline (it's volume 6 of the Ongoing, and volume 5 just came out fairly recently).

May be best to start a new thread elsewhere, explicitly marked as containing spoiler material, just for the courtesy of others.

[griffin]

There you go, now it's its own topic, so spoil away.

(any question in the random questions topic that generates this much interest will usually be branched off into its own topic)

[Verno]

Wow, I go to bed and my little questions get their own thread! It must be Christmas!

Would people recommend reading the IDW back catalogue? I'm assuming the stuff is good.

As most of you are probably aware, I've only ever been interested in BW, but as that won't see the light of day again in any official media, I figured I should branch out! and the comics seemed the most likely place. (Prime TV doesn't interest me, I watched the first few eps and wasn't hooked)

[Verno]

Oh, and would people recommend going right back to the Dreamwave stuff?

[i_amtrunks]

Infiltration #0 is the starting point. Personally I found the Furman written material was the best stuff IDW had released (other than LSotW and a few select issues like Spotlight Kup).

AHM was a soft reboot that ignored more or less everything that Furman had written, but the ongoing tried to tie some of the older stuff (including dead universe characters like Arcee, Hardhead etc) back onto the stor before the last 10 or so issues (including the Chaos "mini") really brought the Furmanverse stuff back to the fore by uniting it with the Chaos crossover.

Paulbot has given you all the good info, I recommend reading the "-tion" books (particularily Revelations), Spotlights Nightbeat, Galvatron, Arcee, to a lesser extent Spotlight Prime, then the ongoing from #119 on. Sure there are more issues but dont come to mind right now.

Oh, and would people recommend going right back to the Dreamwave stuff?

DW does not flow into the IDW stories so are not needed for the IDW run which exists in its own universe and hass no ties to any other tf lore.

[Verno]

Cheers Trunks. I'm out of my depth so any pointers from knowledgable fans is handy.

[i_amtrunks]

Cheers Trunks. I'm out of my depth so any pointers from knowledgable fans is handy.

In all honesty I'd get #125 and start from Jan 2012. Play catch up when you can afford it, starting with Last stand of the Wreckers and the Spotlight Collections (particularily Collections #1, #2 and #3) only the Ramjet and Mirage ones are worthless entries.

From there collect: Infiltration, Escalation, Devestation, Revelation (collection of spotlights) then decide if you want to continue with Maximum Dinobots and then AHM and the ongoing. The final ongoing collection #7 would also be worth getting. Stormbringer is also a decent story to collect.

Hope that helps, it certainly wont help your bank account. Hopefully bookdepository has them in stock, that will save you a packet.