Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Guido Guidi
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 4th July
There are spoilers in this review.
Galvatron is a tricky character to explain, let alone write as a character in the relatively new universe that is the IDW Transformers playground. The sole reason for the character existing was obviously to sell lots of toys back in 1985, and the movie established that a critically damaged Megatron is reformatted into the more powerful Galvatron by the planet-eating Unicron. This also fell into line with a series of stories written by Furman in the Transformers UK comic such as the currently being reprinted Target: 2006 and the classic Time Wars where Furman used the very idea that Galvatron was the future Megatron to staggering effect and to cause utter chaos at the same time.
IDW is a whole new ball game though, for probably the first time in 20 years of writing, Furman has creative control over the direction of the Transformers universe, and it comes without any baggage from previous incarnations. And so, the biggest and boldest move here is the fact that Galvatron is a separate entity from Megatron – a character in his own right. A mysterious and dangerous character nevertheless, his initial appearance is blowing a probe ship to pieces as he emerges from a space anomaly that nothing should be able to survive in. It soon becomes apparent that Galvatron is doing a higher power’s bidding, he is in essence being sent on an errand.
This idea that Galvatron is at the beck and whim of another power will strike a chord with long-term Transformers fans, as the previous incarnations of the character had him bound to Unicron, much to his utter contempt and hatred. The same emotions are present here, although it would appear his masters now are, well, not alive. Four pages in and Galvatron is “killed” by a comet-smashing laser, but he doesn’t stay down for long, instead rising again to crush his attackers. This is one tough cookie.
The rest of the issue tracks Galvatron as he makes his way to his objective on Cybertron, and also drops in on a bunch of Autobots including fan favourites Hound and Sideswipe. The characterisations of the Autobots is spot-on; Hound is a stickler for rules and regulations, whilst Sideswipe is frustrated at a posting that doesn’t appear to mean anything especially when he could be helping looking for Sunstreaker on Earth. As you might expect, Galvatron is about to bring a bit of excitement to Sideswipe’s world. A very intriguing part of the story is a flashback from Galvatron to the Golden Age of Cybertron - it would seem he was aboard the original Ark that blasted off to explore what Prime refers to as absolute power and the “dark side of the Matrix”. These couple of pages hold far more questions than they do answers, and in doing so show off Furman’s intricate story weaving.
Guidi’s artwork is as solid as ever, his real strength being in character designs, and as an added bonus there are some for the Autobots in the back of the book. He also manages to give a real sense of bulk and solidness about his characters, particularly Galvatron who looks menacing throughout, pointed teeth and a serious bad attitude included. The action scenes are the real clincher, Guidi’s imagining of damage infliction brilliantly rendered throughout.
The only real issues here would be the use of the one-shot as what would appear to be an integral part of the continuing main IDW title, bridging some plot points between Escalation and Devastation. Whilst very satisfying for Transformers fans who have been following all the nuggets of information that Furman has been laying, I would suggest this would be a difficult first comic for anyone trying out or returning to Transformers comics. Hopefully the upcoming Optimus Prime Spotlight will be highly accessible to pick up more readers off the back of the film. This is a minor niggle though, the rest of us will thoroughly enjoy this comic, particularly the last page where…well, you’ll have to buy it yourself to see.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.