The Transformers (IDW)

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

You know you love it!

The Transformers is an ongoing series published by IDW Publishing, set in the main IDW continuity. It is set three years after the events of the All Hail Megatron miniseries.

Published monthly from November 2009, it went bi-weekly from July 2011 until December 2011, alternating between two stories as part of the Chaos event. After that wrapped up in issue #31, a one-shot (formerly labeled issue #125) entitled The Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime was published, and then the title was replaced by two new monthly ongoings, Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye.

Although it was not included within the main run when published as individual issues, the collected edition of the Heart of Darkness is numbered as volume 4 in the ongoing series.

"Ride-Along" is also collected in a volume of the ongoing, due to the cancellation of the Spotlight series. It was originally intended to be included within the ongoing run, but was brought forward due to negative fan reaction to Prowl's characterization in the first arc of the ongoing series.

«		»
v1: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 v2: #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 v3: #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 v4: see article: Heart of Darkness v5: #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 v6: #25 #27 #29 Spotlight: Prowl v7: #24 #26 #28 #30 #31

"It's been three years since the devastating events of All Hail Megatron. The Earth has been rebuilt, the AUTOBOTS are in hiding, and the next great era in the Transformers saga is about to begin!"IDW solicitation

Overview

With their members running low on energon and slowly being captured by Skywatch, tension is high amongst the Autobots. After a rescue raid led by Hot Rod results in Ironhide's death, Optimus Prime surrenders to Skywatch. Hot Rod takes the opportunity to try and leave the planet, and several others join him. Those who remain elect Bumblebee as their new leader. Hot Rod's group is attacked by Decepticons who were left behind or who arrived on Earth after their main force left. However, they decide that fighting is senseless and agree to work together to try and escape from Earth. Meanwhile, Ultra Magnus arrives to investigate the death of Ironhide and surrender of Optimus. More Autobots, fearing they will be arrested by Magnus, also go AWOL, but most of them are captured by Skywatch and used as a bargaining tool by Spike Witwicky to force information out of Optimus Prime. Ultra Magnus decides to go after Hot Rod. Thundercracker, having been shot down by Skywarp three years previously, starts to develop admiration for Earth and its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Magnus arrives at Hot Rod's camp and attempts to capture Swindle, but is stopped by Hot Rod. He also fails in trying to get Hot Rod to disassemble the ship his party is building to get off Earth.

Creative team

The series was mainly written by Mike Costa, who penned two of the stories in All Hail Megatron Coda. Issues #22 and #23 were written by James Roberts, and 4-part "Chaos" arc (#24, #26, #28 and #30) were co-credited to Costa and Roberts.

Line-art for the first 6-issue story-arc was provided by fan-favorite, Don Figueroa, officially marking his return from Transformers hiatus. Don's art was modified somewhat to make the Transformers more technically complex (more like the movie 'bots) but still recognizable to their classic designs. James Brown provides colors. Alternate covers for issues 2–7 were by Transformers veteran Andrew Wildman.

Volume 2 (issues 7–12) had a bit more variation. "-Ations" artist E. J. Su and Javier Saltares illustrated issues 7 and 8 respectively. All Hail Megatron artist Guido Guidi returned to draw the 4-part arc, International Incident, running from issues 9–12.

Volume 3 started with Nick Roche drawing issue 13, while Figueroa returned, intending to illustrate the following arc, titled "Revenge of the Decepticons". Alternate covers for this were provided by Roche. However, Figueroa again stepped away from the comic due to a new job after #15, and was replaced by Alex Milne for the remainder of the arc (issues 16–18). Milne kept Don's designs, but tweaked them to his own style, and gave the faces a more traditional appearance.

Volumes 5 and 6 also had a variety of artists. Issue 21 ("Space Opera—Final Tableaux: Orphans of the Helix") was drawn by Guido Guidi and Brendan Cahill, while Milne returned for the 2-part "Chaos Theory" (issues 22 and 23). The 4-part "Chaos" (even-numbered issues 24–30) were drawn by Livio Ramondelli and the 3-part "The Last Earth Story" (issues 25, 27 and 29) was by Brendan Cahill. "Chaos Epilogue" (issue 31) was drawn by Casey Coller .

Collections

• The Transformers: Volume 1: For All Mankind (June 9, 2010) ISBN 1600106846 / ISBN 978-1600106842

• Bonus material includes: art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.

• The Transformers: Volume 2: International Incident (December 8, 2010) ISBN 1600108040 / ISBN 978-1600108044

• Bonus material includes: art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa.

• The Transformers: Volume 3: Revenge of the Decepticons (July 27, 2011) ISBN 1600109810 / ISBN 978-1600109812

• Bonus material includes art from all covers, including design sketches from Don Figueroa and Marcelo Matere.

• The Transformers: Volume 4: Heart of Darkness (September 14, 2011) ISBN 1613770510 / ISBN 978-1613770511
  • Included extras are unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: Volume 5: Chaos Theory (November 2, 2011) ISBN 1613770901 / ISBN 978-1613770900
  • Included extras are unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: Volume 6: Police Action (February 15, 2012) ISBN 1613771649 / ISBN 978-1613771648

• Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus a B&W art page from "Police Action: Part 1".

• The Transformers: Volume 7: Chaos (March 14, 2012) ISBN 1613771401 / ISBN 978-1613771402

• Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus B&W art sketches from Livio Ramondelli.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Six (May 9, 2012) ISBN 1613771835 / ISBN 978-1613771839

Collects The Transformers #1–6, along with The Transformers: Bumblebee, The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers and The Transformers Spotlight: Prowl.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Seven (September 18, 2012 SCHEDULED) ISBN 1613774060 / ISBN 978-1613774069

Collects The Transformers #7–18, along with The Transformers: Ironhide and The Transformers: Infestation Volume 1: The Transformers #1–2

Notes

• In early November 2009, IDW released a three page preview of the first issue... from the end of the comic, instead of the front like they normally do. That's right, the company itself released major spoilers that blew the ending of the first issue. Head editor Andy Schmidt stated the reason for this was "we realized that we need to let people know why this book is important."

• The Transformers was constantly advertised as IDW's first ongoing Transformers comic series, which is weird considering that IDW stressed over and over after the release of Infiltration #0 that that was the start of an ongoing series and not just a miniseries. James Roberts would later state in a letter to the reader in the back of More than Meets the Eye #1 that there's only been four G1 ongoing comics launched prior to the ongoings of 2012 — in 1984, 1993, 2004, and 2009.