The New Order

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The name or term "New Order" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see New Order (disambiguation).

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Every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray.
"The New Order"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	February 26, 1985
On-sale date	March 19, 1985
Cover date	June 1985
Script	Bob Budiansky
Art	Alan Kupperberg
Colors	Nelson Yomtov
Letters	Rick Parker
Editor	Christopher J. Priest
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Shockwave has destroyed the Autobots, and begins his plans for the conquest of Earth.

Synopsis

Shockwave tunes into his "stories".

Within the Ark, Shockwave observes a number of human television programs–among them, a news broadcast pertaining to a new and ultra-advanced oil rig by Blackrock Enterprises–and judges Earth's natives as quite primitive. As he walks past the deactivated Autobots, now strung from the ceiling, he concludes that conquest of the planet "will be a simple task indeed."

Elsewhere in the vessel, the poisoned Decepticons are being revived. Shockwave explains to Megatron that, in light of this humiliating defeat, his leadership was clearly faulty, and it is only logical for Shockwave to take command. The weakened Megatron is in no condition to disagree... yet. Shockwave explains his plan to use the Autobots as spare parts, and to harvest the Creation Matrix from Optimus Prime and build an army to conquer the planet. Shockwave flies off to undertake his first conquest.

Meanwhile, as Sparkplug recovers from his heart attack, he makes Buster promise not to have anything more to do with the Transformers. Ratchet takes Buster back to the Ark to say his good-byes, only to discover that the Decepticons have taken over. Buster convinces Ratchet to stay outside while he sneaks in to investigate. Buster discovers the deactivated Autobots and despairs. When he realizes that Optimus Prime is not among them, he holds out hope, only to have that hope destroyed when he discovers Prime's detached head located in another room. Prime, still functional, informs Buster that he is the Autobots' last hope.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Bumblebee (11) Cliffjumper (12) Brawn (13) Huffer (14) Gears (15) Wheeljack (16) Bluestreak (17) Ironhide (18) Prowl (19) Hound (20) Trailbreaker (21) Sideswipe (22) Jazz (23) Sunstreaker (29) Ratchet (31) Mirage (36) Optimus Prime (39)	Shockwave (6) Thundercracker (24) Ravage (25) Starscream (26) Megatron (27) Rumble (34) Skywarp (35) Soundwave (37) Frenzy (38)	Ralphie (1) Alice (2) Shumway (3) Monty (4) Brad (5) Otis Parsley (7) Charlene Welles (8) G.B. Blackrock (9) Josie Beller (10) Sparkplug Witwicky (28) Buster Witwicky (30) Gus (32) Mel (33)

Quotes

"Very illuminating. These humans are even more primitive than I thought. The conquest of this planet and the enslavement of its people shall be a simple task -- indeed."

—Shockwave.... as he strolls past a hall full of deactivated Autobots.

"Remind me to thank you when I get down from here, Shockwave. Meanwhile, resumption of my command must begin now."
"You don't seem to understand. These Autobots you see lying dead on the ground are there because I put them there. The Decepticons you see barely clinging to life are in that operating mode because of you. ...Logic says I must assume command of the Decepticons."

—Megatron loses his command to Shockwave, just like that.

"The present eleven Decepticons are not sufficient to fulfill my plans. I will use the Creation Matrix to build more Decepticons, many more -- and then we shall conquer this planet! I have been studying the Earthlings. They are weak... stupid... by every known measure we are their superiors! Their planet's energy resources shall become ours! ...while they become our slaves! And the time to begin our reign is now!"

—And all that, dear reader, is why Shockwave rules.

Notes

Production notes

• The Transformers transitions from being a four-issue mini-series into an ongoing comic book with this issue. It is the first issue written by mini-series editor Bob Budiansky, who would remain as the book's writer for the next four years.
• Hasbro initially rejected the cover for this issue for being too scary, and because—per Christopher Priest—"they feared kids would stop buying Transformer toys because they'd believe they were all dead". Yes, really. The cover was saved when Priest called his contact at Hasbro and argued that it was the best cover they'd ever done, and—considering how often it's been homaged—history seems to have proved him right.

Continuity notes

• This issue is quite careful about making sure every character is accounted for, following up on their last known state from the mini-series. While Ratchet is at the hospital, all seventeen remaining Autobots are shown strung up or dragged around the Ark by the Decepticons; in particular, Sunstreaker is blasted by Shockwave to make a point, and is left so badly damaged that he winds up being removed from the comic's roster entirely, only getting back on his feet in time for a crowd-scene cameo in issue #41. On the Decepticon side, meanwhile, the issue opens with Megatron, Starscream, Thundercracker, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage all recovering from fuel poisoning sustained in the previous issue, while later, Skywarp, Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy are shown to be already up and about, having been injured since the events of issue #3 and thus never poisoned.
• During Megatron's recap of the events of the preceding four issues, on page 8, panel 2 includes a partial re-drawing of a portion of the title page of issue #1, with Big Red's hand reaching into shot.
• Mirage is shown with two arms yet Ravage tore off his left arm in issue 4.
• This issue introduces the Creation Matrix, which would evolve to become one of the central elements of the Transformers mythos. As is to be expected, the rough backstory provided for it in this issue—it is said by Shockwave to be a program encoded in an Autobot leader only "once every ten millenia"—will be the subject of future retcons (inspired by The Transformers: The Movie) that establish it is actually a physical object handed from leader to leader.

Real-life references

• Real-life TV shows viewed by Shockwave include The Honeymooners and Let's Make a Deal.
• On page 18, Ratchet and Buster drive past a trailer with the word "STANJACK" on the side, presumably referring to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Artwork and technical errors

In Japan, this coloring error probably became a totally different character.

• Following on from last issue, Shockwave is colored throughout this story in what appears to be an early colored scheme with white shoulders and an all-over bright fuchsia, as opposed to the more subdued purple of his standard look.
• Pages 4–5, the "Autobots hanging like slabs of beef scene," features a depressing amount of errors (right):
  • Bumblebee is colored like Sideswipe.
  • Cliffjumper is colored like Bumblebee.
  • Windcharger is colored like Brawn.
  • Wheeljack is missing his "ears," his mouthplate is bigger than the rest of his head, his missile launcher is strangely foreshortened, and his whole torso is colored blue instead of white with a red windshield.
  • Bluestreak has a red-and-white chest instead of a grey one, making him harder to distinguish from Prowl, hanging right next to him.
  • Ironhide's chest and arms are colored blue instead of red; additionally, despite being intact at the end of last issue, he is here depicted as a legless, one-armed torso.
  • Trailbreaker is colored red and blue, and his chest is colored to look like a windshield, when it's actually his alternate mode's hood. His forcefield projector is colored like part of the background, and his pose is just his character model flipped upside down, with his arm not even having been re-drawn to hang over his head.
  • Jazz's head is significantly off-model, and it and his hand are colored red instead of blue. The arm connected to that hand is also strangely warped in proportion.
• Page 8, panel 6: In the flashback, Shockwave is incorrectly drawn among the Decepticons flying to their fortress, when he had not yet rejoined the Decepticons on Earth at that time. Also, the scene features the Decepticons flying in robot mode, which was a hallmark of the cartoon Decepticons, but not an ability possessed by the comic characters.
• Page 9, panel 5: When Shockwave blasts Sunstreaker, the Autobot is colored blue with red arms, and is missing a leg.
• Page 15:
  • Sunstreaker's smoking remains are colored like Optimus Prime.
  • Skywarp is missing his left wing.
  • Despite being dragged across the ground, Mirage's pose is lifted from his character model, mirror-flipped. Thus his missile launcher is on the wrong shoulder, and all the damage he sustained last issue (his arm bitten off by Ravage, and his chest raked by Buzzsaw) is nowhere to be seen—though to be fair, an error on the penultimate page of last issue also depicted him without these injuries.
  • Soundwave's head is blue-black instead of its usual pale purple.
• Page 20:
  • Panel 2: Rumble and Frenzy are both blue.
  • Panel 5: Ratchet has the same blue-chest/red-shoulders color scheme as in issue #3 (right). The blue chest is especially egregious since the same prominent area is white when he's an ambulance in the previous panel.
• Page 21, panel 2: It's impossible to tell whether it's Rumble or Frenzy Buster is sneaking past, because they're colored like an off-color Soundwave.

UK printing

Issue #22:

• Published: 13th July, 1985
• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers , Planet Terry ("Part 3: The Doom of the Domed City" ), Matt and the Cat , The Chromobots , and Machine Man ("Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!"  part 1)
• Ian Rimmer became editor from this issue and oversaw a massive revamp of the look of the comic and a new focus on Transformers rather than being a general 'boys action' comic. This also featured the debut of Soundwaves, as the Decepticon communications officer took over the letters page: the first time the comic had a 'letter host'.
• Also featured "Robot War", the first in an irregular series of text features summarising events seen in the comic so far. This invented a way for the early UK strips to fit into the US timeline.
• The UK printing replaces Kupperberg's two illustrations of a scene from The Honeymooners with a publicity still from the television series V (right).

Issue #23:

• Published: 27th July, 1985
• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers , Planet Terry ("The Saga of Princess Ugly part 4" ), The Chromobots , Machine Man ("Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!" part 2), and Matt and the Cat 
• August calendar: Skywarp

Other trivia

• According to a text box in issue #4, this story was originally going to be drawn by the team of "Vince Giarrano, penciling superstar-in-the-making" and "Brad Joyce, inker extraordinaire". This did not come to pass, and while Joyce did eventually ink issue #10, Giarrano would never work on the series.
• Beginning with this issue, the cover corner box depicts Optimus Prime, in a different pose from that which appeared on issue #1 (which was just lifted from his character model). This image would be used until issue #30, as well as on all three issues of the The Transformers: The Movie adaptation and the first issue of Headmasters mini-series, and later returned for issues #50–75.
• From page 15 onward, the speech balloons for Transformers characters change style abruptly from rectangular boxes to rounded balloons, sometimes with "electronic" zig-zag tails. This type of speech balloon would continue to be used through issue #9 before returning to the rectangular style, and would also become the default style for Transformers characters for the bulk of the UK series, beginning with the very next UK-exclusive story, "Decepticon Dam-Busters!".

Bot Roster

• Autobots: Ratchet active; 16 inactive plus Optimus Prime held captive; 5 Dinobots missing in action.
• Decepticons: 5 active; 6 in recuperation.

Covers (3)

• US issue #5: Iconic cover of Shockwave who burned (The Transformers) "Are All Dead" into the wall by Mark Bright. The cover is possibly the most well-known of all Transformers comics and has been homaged in official media many times.
• UK issue #22: reuse of US cover art by Mark Bright.
• UK issue #23: Buster amongst the dead Autobots (and a couple of Decepticons, for some reason), by John Ridgway.

• 
  US issue #5 - Shockwave really needs to invest in a pen.
• 
  UK issue #22 - Nice little corner logo.
• 
  UK issue #23 - Yes, where is he? Inside, you dolt!

Reprints

• 
  The Transformers: Collected Comics 2 - The Battle Continues... (Marvel US, 1985)
• 
  The Transformers Comics Magazine #3 (Marvel US, 1987)
• 
  Transformers Comic-Magazin #1 (Condor Verlag, 1989)
• 
  Transformers: Beginnings paperback (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  Transformers: Beginnings hardback (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 1 (IDW Publishing, 2008)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)
• 
  Transformers: Classic Comic Collection, Vol. 1 (Chrirpy Bird, 2015)
• 
  Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 2: New Order (Hachette Partworks Ltd, 2018)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 2 (Mediaboy Mook, 2018)
• 
  Transformers: Best of Shockwave (IDW Publishing, 2022)

IDW Transformers Classics edits

For The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, IDW Publishing "remastered" the coloring of the series with varying degrees of success. These changes were sometimes to fix errors, but often to alter characters' color schemes to make them resemble their toy and/or cartoon selves, and were rarely applied with consistency. IDW's recolored version was also used for Hachette's Definitive G1 Collection.

• Throughout this issue, Shockwave is recolored to have his "finalized" Marvel color scheme, replacing his fuchsia with paler purple. His white shoulders are colored in this purple on page 3, panel 1, but remain through the issue otherwise.
• Page 1: The Honeymooners splash page is reduced to little more than black-and-white lineart; all shading and texture is erased from the background, floor, furniture, and props, and Alan Kupperberg's signature in the bottom-left corner is removed.

Remastering, this is not.

• Pages 4–5: Many changes, virtually no corrections. Notably, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and Windcharger's incorrect colors are all left unchanged.
  • Wheeljack's face and legs become grey, his torso becomes red, and areas of green are added to his chest, all in accordance with his cartoon character model.
  • Ironhide's chest is recolored to the correct red, but the other miscolored parts of his body are made pale grey, when they should all be red.
  • Trailbreaker is made grey instead of blue-black; his "windshield" chest is still colored wrong.
  • Hound's pelvis becomes green, erasing his correct Marvel solid-blue colors.
  • Jazz's incorrect red head and hand are changed to grey, instead of the correct Marvel blue.
• Page 6, panel 2: Dark blue panels on Thundercracker's legs are tweaked to become more purplish, making him look like Skywarp. The same happens to the dark blue Ravage, whose Decepticon insignia also somehow becomes miscolored orange.
• Page 7: The block-colored Shockwave is changed from red to purple. This wasn't an error in the first place.
• Page 15: Continuing the standard, Soundwave's purple Marvel color scheme is erased, replaced with toy/cartoon blue.
• Page 20:
  • Panel 2: Rumble and Frenzy are differentiated from the original version by coloring one's forearms red. This is still wrong; it's Rumble's shoulders that should be red, not his forearms.
  • Panel 5: Ratchet is recolored into his finalized Marvel color scheme, but with red biceps.
• Page 21, panel 1: Ratchet's still in his finalized Marvel colors; his biceps aren't visible so he looks "correct."

Advertisements

• Rip-Off Velcro shoes (inside front cover)
• Reeses pieces - between pages 6 & 7
• Oreos - between pages 7 & 8
• Bonkers bike bag - between pages 7 & 8
• Block of various Sketchy Things and Marvel Mart - between pages 8 & 9
• Comic Buyers Guide, Choose Your Own Adventure, Comic Book Convention 1985 in Manhattan - between pages 16 & 17
• J & S Comics - between pages 17 & 18
• Olympic Sales Club - between pages 19 & 20
• Bullpen Bulletins - between pages 20 & 21
• Transmissions
• Comic subscriptions
• STAR Comics (inside rear cover)
• Noxzema Acne 12 acne medicine (rear cover)