Less Than Zero: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:23, 10 August 2014

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|- {{#if: IDW Publishing | |Publisher || IDW Publishing}} |- {{#if: | |Published by || }} |- {{#if: | |Imprint || }} |- {{#if: | |Published in || }} |- {{#if: September 18, 2013 | |First published || September 18, 2013}} |- {{#if: | |Shipping date || }} |- {{#if: | |On-sale date || }} |- {{#if: August 2013 | |Cover date || August 2013}} |- {{#if: | |Credits || }} |- {{#if: | |By || }} |- {{#if: | |Manga || }} |- {{#if: | |Manga by || }} |- {{#if: | |Original story || }} |- {{#if: | |Story & art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Story and color art || }} |- {{#if: | |Story || }} |- {{#if: | |Story by || }} |- {{#if: | |Story consultants || }} |- {{#if: | |Story concept || }} |- {{#if: | |Screenplay by || }} |- {{#if: | |Screenplay || }} |- {{#if: | |Adaptation by || }} |- {{#if: | |Adapted by || }} |- {{#if: | |Adaptation || }} |- {{#if: | |Based on || }} |- {{#if: Simon Furman | |Writer || Simon Furman}} |- {{#if: | |Writers || }} |- {{#if: | |Writing || }} |- {{#if: | |Written by || }} |- {{#if: | |Written & art || }} |- {{#if: | |Plotter || }} |- {{#if: | |Plotters || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot by || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot/Script || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripter || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripters || }} |- {{#if: | |Script || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripting || }} |- {{#if: | |Script by || }} |- {{#if: | |Script and art || }} |- {{#if: | |Sript [sic] consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Translation by || }} |- {{#if: Casey Coller (pages 1 & 22), Geoff Senior (pages 2–6), Nick Roche (pages 17–21) | |Artist || Casey Coller (pages 1 & 22), Geoff Senior (pages 2–6), Nick Roche (pages 17–21)}} |- {{#if: | |Comic artist || }} |- {{#if: | |Artists || }} |- {{#if: | |Art || }} |- {{#if: | |Art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Flashback art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Art assistant || }} |- {{#if: | |Art assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Line-art || }} |- {{#if: | |Line-art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Line art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciller || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencillers || }} |- {{#if: Jeff Anderson (pages 7–11), José Delbo (pages 12–16) | |Penciler || Jeff Anderson (pages 7–11), José Delbo (pages 12–16)}} |- {{#if: | |Pencilers || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencil art || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencils || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencils by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciled by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciling || }} |- {{#if: | |Guest penciler || }} |- {{#if: | |Layouts || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencil breakdowns || }} |- {{#if: | |Breakdowns || }} |- {{#if: | |Breakdowns by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustration || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrations || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrator || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrated by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustration by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrations by || }} |- {{#if: | |Finished pencils || }} |- {{#if: | |Finishes || }} |- {{#if: | |Finished art || }} |- {{#if: | |Finishes by || }} |- {{#if: Stephen Baskerville (pages 7–16) | |Inker || Stephen Baskerville (pages 7–16)}} |- {{#if: | |Guest inker || }} |- {{#if: | |Inkers || }} |- {{#if: | |Inks || }} |- {{#if: | |Inks by || }} |- {{#if: | |Ink finishes || }} |- {{#if: | |Ink assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional inks || }} |- {{#if: | |Inking || }} |- {{#if: | |Backgrounds || }} |- {{#if: | |Backgrounds by || }} |- {{#if: John-Paul Bove | |Colorist || John-Paul Bove}} |- {{#if: | |Colorists || }} |- {{#if: | |Colourist || }} |- {{#if: | |Colourists || }} |- {{#if: | |Color || }} |- {{#if: | |Colors || }} |- {{#if: | |Color art || }} |- {{#if: | |Colour || }} |- {{#if: | |Colours || }} |- {{#if: | |Colored by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colors by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colors assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assists || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assistance by || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional colors || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional colors by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colour/Computer FX || }} |- {{#if: | |Computer coloring/effects || }} |- {{#if: | |Color Reconstruction || }} |- {{#if: | |Flats || }} |- {{#if: | |Flats by || }} |- {{#if: | |MTMTE Profiles || }} |- {{#if: Chris Mowry | |Letterer || Chris Mowry}} |- {{#if: | |Letterers || }} |- {{#if: | |Lettering || }} |- {{#if: | |Letters || }} |- {{#if: | |Letters by || }} |- {{#if: | |Lettered by || }} |- {{#if: | |Lettering|Production || }} |- {{#if: | |Special Thanks{{#if: | To}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Collaborators || }} |- {{#if: | |Contributors || }} |- {{#if: John Barber | |Editor || John Barber}} |- {{#if: | |Editors || }} |- {{#if: | |Editing || }} |- {{#if: | |Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Compiled and Edited by || }} |- {{#if: | |Original series editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Original Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Deputy editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Assistant editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial assistant{{#if: |s}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial Assistance
provided by || }} |- {{#if: | |Senior editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Associate editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Story consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Project manager || }} |- {{#if: | |Production by || }} |- {{#if: | |Designer || }} |- {{#if: | |Design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Designed by || }} |- {{#if: | |Design/editorial || }} |- {{#if: | |Book design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection designer || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Graphic design || }} |- {{#if: | |Graphic design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection Design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Creative Director{{#if: | / Layout}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Contributing editors || }} |- {{#if: | |Research editor{{#if: |s}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Managing editor || }} |- {{#if: | |{{#if: |Editor-in-chief|Editor in chief}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Dinosaur consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Publishing manager || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover art{{#if: |ist}}{{#if: | by}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover Design {{#if: |and Elements }}by || }} |- {{#if: | |Inside cover || }} |- {{#if: | |Apologies to || }} |- {{#if: Marvel Comics continuity | |Continuity || Marvel Comics continuity}} |- {{#if: | |Chronology || }} |- {{#if: | |ISBN || }} |- {{#if: | |TPB ISBN || ISBN }} |- {{#if: | |UPC || }} |- {{#if: | |Page count || }} |- {{#if: | |Price || }} |- {{#if: | |Packaged with || }} |- {{#if: | |Printed in || }} |- {{#if: | |Animation || }} |- {{#if: | |Music || }} |}{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

From Zero Space, Hot Rod looks in on four key moments from all across time, leading him to an incredible transformation.

Synopsis

Set adrift in Zero Space, the void that exists at the end of creation where all of time has collapsed to a single point, Hot Rod is barely able to keep his thoughts coherent as he tumbles through the emptiness. Then, inexplicably, ground solidifies beneath his feet: ground that Hot Rod's data-files identify as that of Denver, Colorado, over twenty years in his relative past, at the time of the Autobots' battle with the Deathbringer. Though he was not present for the battle originally, Hot Rod is aware of the creature's history as a medical mechanoid warped by the power of the Creation Matrix, and watches as the battle plays out according to history, with Nightbeat acquiring the information that allows Optimus Prime to turn the creature's prime directive back upon it, convincing it to kill itself. But after the battle is done and the Autobots have departed, Hot Rod waits, and in time, discovers that the fragment of corrupted Matrix energy within the Deathbringer was not destroyed, and still lives...

Next, Hot Rod is whisked to Nova Cronum during the pre-war days of Cybertron, and observes as a Transformer who he has never heard of, identifying himself as Jhiaxus meets with the High Circuitmaster Boltax and three other members of a "Brain Trust". These five, dubbed the "five greatest minds" on the planet by Boltax, are uploading their combined knowledge into a database they call the Underbase—but Jhiaxus, tired of Cybertron's policy of isolationism, takes control of the process and "slays" the others' mental projections, incapacitating them. Before they can recover, Jhiaxus obtains from the Underbase the data he requires to begin the creation of a cosmic empire, then erases all memory of himself from his fellows' minds and all other records.

In another whirl of nothingness, Hot Rod finds himself back on Earth, during the opening stages of Megatron's conquest of the planet. As the zombie "Ex-Bots" devastate a busy highway, Buster and Jessie Witwicky try to escape in their car, but are pursued. Buster has Jessie call Spike in hopes of calling upon the help of Fortress Maximus, but the dejected Spike does not pick up the phone. Taking cover in a car wash, the pair are hunted down by Ratbat and slain. Hot Rod has only a moment to wonder if the takeaway from this vision is the loss of Buster, or the present situation of Spike, before he is again pulled away across the void...

...and lands on an unfamiliar world of junk, which Hot Rod's painful landing indicates is a lot more tangible than the other locales he had visited. Following the sound of an explosion nearby, Hot Rod discovers the crashed remains of an Autobot shuttle of a design he does not recognize and its crew, and watches as Galvatron battles another version of himself, transfigured by the power of the Matrix into "Rodimus Prime". Recalling Primus's words that he "is Prime", Hot Rod believes that what he is seeing is his own destiny, be it the future or some parallel reality, and calls out a warning to his other self as Scourge and Cyclonus fly in on the attack. Rodimus Prime hears and turns in amazement, but is struck by the Decepticons' blasts, which break the chain holding the Matrix around his neck and send it flying. As Galvatron delivers the killing shot to Rodimus's fallen form, Hot Rod reaches out to touch the Matrix...

On the bridge of the Warworld, Bludgeon turns from the fallen Kup, his attention caught by a flash of light behind him. Hot Rod has returned to his home time, and introduces himself to the Decepticon with the new name the Matrix has given him: now, he has become Rodimus Prime!

Featured characters

{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"

Getaway (2)
Optimus Prime (3)
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime (5)
Siren (11)
Nightbeat (12)
Ultra Magnus (24)
Kup (25)
Springer (26)
Arcee (27)
Grimlock/Primus (28)

|

!! style="background:#ffdddd;" | Autobots }}{{#if:*Galvatron (4)

Ratbat (8)
Octane (16)
Razorclaw (17)
Skalor (18)
Thrust (19)
Skywarp (20)
Bugly (21)
Thundercracker (23)
Scourge (29)
Cyclonus (30)
Bludgeon (31)|

!! style="background:#ededff" | Decepticons }}{{#if:*Jessie Witwicky (9)

Buster Witwicky (10)
Spike Witwicky (22)|

!! style="background:#fbefde;" | Humans }}{{#if:*Deathbringer (1)

!! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Misc }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

Getaway (2)
Optimus Prime (3)
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime (5)
Siren (11)
Nightbeat (12)
Ultra Magnus (24)
Kup (25)
Springer (26)
Arcee (27)
Grimlock/Primus (28)

|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"| |}|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |

Getaway (2)
Optimus Prime (3)
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime (5)
Siren (11)
Nightbeat (12)
Ultra Magnus (24)
Kup (25)
Springer (26)
Arcee (27)
Grimlock/Primus (28)

}}{{#if:*Galvatron (4)

Ratbat (8)
Octane (16)
Razorclaw (17)
Skalor (18)
Thrust (19)
Skywarp (20)
Bugly (21)
Thundercracker (23)
Scourge (29)
Cyclonus (30)
Bludgeon (31)|

| style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |

Galvatron (4)
Ratbat (8)
Octane (16)
Razorclaw (17)
Skalor (18)
Thrust (19)
Skywarp (20)
Bugly (21)
Thundercracker (23)
Scourge (29)
Cyclonus (30)
Bludgeon (31) }}{{#if:*Jessie Witwicky (9)
Buster Witwicky (10)
Spike Witwicky (22)|

| style="background:#fbefde;" valign="top" |

Jessie Witwicky (9)
Buster Witwicky (10)
Spike Witwicky (22) }}{{#if:*Deathbringer (1)
Boltax (6)
Jhiaxus (7)
"Brain Trust" member #3 (13)
Decanus (14)
"Brain Trust" member #5 (15)
Primus/Grimlock (28)|

| style="background:#ffeeb8;" valign="top" |

| style="background:#d5e6d5;" valign="top" |

}}{{#if:|

| style="background:#fedeb5;" valign="top" |

}}

|}

Quotes

"This unorthodox meeting of the minds would have been infinitely poorer for my absence, don't you agree? Hardly worth having at all!"
"You always did have an inflated opinion of yourself, Jhiaxus."

—Jhiaxus and Decanus engaging in a bit of back and forth

Notes

Continuity notes

The first of this issue's four sections tells the story of the Autobots' battle with the Deathbringer, which was alluded to in issue #65. That issue was itself referring to the two-part "Deathbringer" story published in the Marvel UK series, in which the full battle was told in detail; this was the biggest allusion any of the US stories made to the UK material, but since Regeneration One has been established as not counting the UK stories for its continuity, this fills that storytelling gap in. Everything is functionally identical to the UK story, including some very similar and paraphrased dialogue.
Boltax and the Underbase were introduced in issue #48, while Jhiaxus (who has put in some cameo appearances in Regeneration One up until now) debuted in the Generation 2 comic. An important distinction between the two depictions of Jhiaxus is introduced: in Generation 2, the modern day Transformers were not aware of his existence because he was not created until they left Cybertron, but here, he did exist before then, and has erased all knowledge of himself from all records.
With the movie adaptation not a part of the regular Marvel continuity, Arcee makes her first appearance in said continuity, though as part of Hot Rod's time travel to an alternate timeline, and only as a corpse. Girl can't catch a break.
Buster intimates that he and Jessie got married some time between their last appearances during the Underbase Saga and now.
While Bugly's appearance amongst Megatron's zombie horde may seem incongruous given that as a Pretender he survived the Underbase incident, the last time we saw him was as part of Scorponok's crew way back in issue #55. Presumably he was deactivated off-panel at some point between then and when Primus summoned the Transformers to Cybertron in issue #73 and left behind on Earth for Megatron to find.

Transformers references

The first and third sections of this issue, drawn by regular Marvel US contributors Geoff Senior and Jose Delbo, are colored in the classic Marvel comics style of Nel Yomtov, complete with faux Ben-Day dots and block-colored crowds.
The second section, illustrated by Marvel UK alumnus Jeff Anderson, is rendered in a painted watercolor style, like that used by the first ninety-or-so issues of the Marvel UK series, with particular inspiration drawn from Tony Jozwiak's work on "Target: 2006".
The fourth section depicts an alternate version of the shuttle crash on Junkion portion of The Transformers: The Movie (a work which was, of course, a huge influence on the UK series). In keeping with this, the coloring recreates the look of the movie's animation, with bold, cel-shaded figures and painted-looking backgrounds; Rodimus is even colored in his cartoon color scheme (see also Errors, below), while Galvatron remains in his Marvel colors. Furman has noted that this section is set in the alternate "Rhythms of Darkness!" timeline, but it contradicts that story on some points (such as the manners in which Kup and Rodimus die).
Furthering this animated connection in the fourth section of the story, present among the deceased shuttle crew is Arcee; she is the only one Hot Rod does not name, because she does not exist in his timeline, so he wouldn't know her.
Throughout all four sections, Hot Rod remains colored in the standard modern style of Regeneration One, as he's merely a traveler and not an occupant of those times.
Nova Cronum was a Cybertronian polity introduced in Dreamwave's War Within: The Dark Ages series.
Buster perishing in a car wash by Ratbat's hands (claws?) alludes to their previous battle in such a locale, in the infamous issue #31, "Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom".
On Cover B the car Buster and Jessie are fleeing the Decepti-Zombies in has T2006 UK on the tag, a reference to "Target: 2006".

Real world-references

This issue is named for the Elvis Costello song of the same name.

Errors

In the first panel he appears in, Rodimus Prime has a red boot, in accordance with his Marvel character model, but in all others—including the final page appearance by "our" Rodimus—his boots are grey, as in the cartoon.

Furminated

We discover that Buster and Jesse were killed by zombie Ratbat during Megatron's initial onslaught
Alternate reality versions of Rodimus, Magnus, Arcee, Springer and Kup are killed on Junkion.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Jhiaxus mentally attacks Boltax, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
Cover B: Buster and Jessie flee the Ex-Bots, by Guido Guidi.
Cover RI: Galvatron destroys Ultra Magnus on Junkion, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham.
Cover RE: Megatron and the Decepticons in front of the Town Clock in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Exclusive to Giant Robot Comics (who are based in Halifax), by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove.

External links

@@ Line 105: / Line 105: @@
 ===Errors===
 *In the first panel he appears in, Rodimus Prime has a red boot, in accordance with his Marvel character model, but in all others—including the final page appearance by "our" Rodimus—his boots are grey, as in the cartoon.
+===Furminated===
+* We discover that Buster and Jesse were killed by zombie Ratbat during Megatron's initial onslaught
+* Alternate reality versions of Rodimus, Magnus, Arcee, Springer and Kup are killed on Junkion.
 ===Covers (3)===

Less Than Zero: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:23, 10 August 2014

Contents

Synopsis

Featured characters

Quotes