iBooks has posted a new three-page preview, this time for IDW Publishing’s Optimus Prime #20. Scheduled to be released on July 11, this next installment in “The Falling” opens with an abridged look at Bumblebee’s history, from his joining the Autobots to his apparent death at the end of “Dark Cybertron,” and why he’s spent so much of his life following Optimus. You can read it for yourself after the jump, and then sound off in our discussion thread afterwards!
T-Wrecks
This issue was pretty good. Though, Aileron shouldn't underestimate Shockwave just because he's a bot she never heard of, he did try to destroy the universe after all. Luckily I can wait next week for the final issue of the story arc and finally Transformers: Unicron.
T-Wrecks
I\'ve been fllowing this story for a while and I love it! Seeing how everything falls apart due to Shockwave\'s machinations, especially manipulating events to make Starscream as ruler of Cybertron, is all too surprising. The fact that Shockwave tries to find out why Cybertron always wind up in civil war with one another has me pondering the same question. I hope how it all turns out in the end before we finally see them in their final battle against Unicron.
Slatersev
Uh, Primal and BW Megs have been around for awhile, how many issues have you missed?
There not just suddenly showing up, they have been established and shown as part of Onyx's army for over a year.
Zilla
Looks like G1 Pretender Beast "Snarler" to me
maku098
Look above the orange guy, you can see Sideways’ head.
Omegashark18
That issue takes place after this one, but it was released early.
BB Shockwave
I thought that was G2 Road Pig. But who is the orange guy with teal arms above Swindle who says "Pax"?
But wasn't he "in the flesh" in Unicron #0? Or did that not yet happen yet because timey-wimey-wibbley-wobbely?
jackgaughan
Maybe it will be explained in the issue where we first meet Bumblebee in the flesh for the first time?
BB Shockwave
Can someone PLEASE explain why and how Bee is not a ghost now? WAS he EVER a ghost? I probably missed some issue but he has been back for a few issues now, and everyone seems to be like he was never dead in the first place…
Also, sweet Primus, please let that be a stupid fakeout cover, don't drag in alternate continuity/future BW Megatron and Primal into this mess right before Unicron hits the fan.
But, but… it does not NEED to be explained. People reading these comics are mature enough to understand that comics are written by different WRITERS, you know? I mean how many ways was Captain America or Batman written, often acting very differently in each issue of a crossover when written by someone else? People will know that is because it is a different writer and IGNORE it.
Barber has this weird OCD that he NEEDS to, compulsively, "fix" the gaps in the continuity. He obsesses about these, and gets lost in them because in all that continuity patching, he forgets the important thing… that he is a writer, not a movie editor patching together a new edit of a movie. He should be telling a good story.
But hey, I have been pointing this out since the end of his disappointing first story arc with Megatron's not-quite return and Wheeljacks not-quite-death and Starscream's rise to power where he has languished for what, 3-4 years now, not accomplishing anything? I am sure you guys like his writing well enough but for me, he has descended to levels where I pine for Mike Costa. (Not quite as low that I'd pine for Shane McCarthy, though…)
Digilaut
Oh, I think we totally agree. My point was more that the Pax written in the -acy series was a totally different character from the same Pax, from the same time period, written by the regular writers.
Everything you say is true, and I'm definitely not against a more hardass Pax. But the differences were very glaring -at least to me – I don't think the writer (was it Flint Dille?) intended his interpretation of Pax to be that 'flawed, seen too much' persona, but rather just wanted to make him a badass. Now it's at least acknowledged outside of Autocracy and in a way solved, which – just like you said – adds to the character as a whole.
Issy543
Still optimistic as ever, Bumblebee.
Deadend
I don't know, that line Pax says to Swindle kind of explains the out of character aspects to the run. It's "cop that sees too much crime and pain" syndrome. Like when anyone in their line of work gets too deep into feeling the pain caused by others or seeing the same things happening over and over again. That mix of powerlessness and judgmentalness that starts to grow from that in wanting to make it stop until some kind of intervention or restorative break/vacation happens that re-instills hope and compassion/empathy. It's something pretty common. Personally I think it adds more to Pax/Prime's personality. That it explains how seeing that many people he has sworn to protect hurt time and time again pushes him just shy of the edge, comes back from it, and continues on the good fight to try and bring order and freedom from the chains of oppression in any damaging form it takes. It makes him more flawed and complex for growth and personal drive.
Even your explanation seems to suggest you got that from it too. So it looks like it did get the point across of what it is.
Black Convoy
Mirrored images and proper source from graphicpolicy.com
Preview: Transformers: Optimus Prime #20 – Graphic Policy
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Lucas35
Full preview:
Comics Preview – Optimus Prime Issue #20
Hadlen_Weltall
I like the way Bumblebee's flashback is more of a mirror opposite of Starscream's revisionist view. However, they both convey the flaws in Orion, the good cop gone angry in hard times.
DOTM Bumblebee
I always enjoy a look into the mindset of IDW Bumblebee, as he's one of the most complex characters in IDW's continuity. He starts out the wide-eyed, idealistic Bumblebee we're all familiar with, but over the course of the war develops into a more seasoned, though still diplomatic and friendly character. Then he becomes leader of the Autobots, and thrust into a position he has no experience with, has no one truly helping him manage, and didn't really want in the first place, he struggles to make the same decisions as those he once idolized. As he struggles to cope with his new position, he becomes grimmer and more stern, and makes more drastic decisions, that ironically work against his strengths (specifically, his friendly, outgoing, generally diplomatic nature). Seeing him rediscover his better traits as he utilizes them to sort of befriend Megatron in the Dark Cybertron was some interesting development, but could have used more focus. (Though with the cluster-mess that story was, and how much was already being crammed in…)
It is interesting seeing him, through the internal dialogue boxes, acknowledge where he went wrong, and I'd like to see him realize and overcome these faults as the story goes on. In Unicron #0, he seems to be closer to where he was as a character before leadership. After we got a Spotlight issue that went out of its way to explain the difference in character between the Ongoing and ex-RID, I'd expect the Master of Continuity to give some kind of acknowledgement to that development.
Spartan Prime
Page 1, far right. Cybertron Sideways
CleverNamePendingatron
Loving this story arc. Can’t wait to see what’ll happen next. No one is safe from the pen of John Barber: Retcon Master!
Issy543
Can’t for Bumblebee to meet Optimus Prime and Shockwave again!
Fallout
my favorite part is how you could read armada cyclonus' line as either him trying to fake idiocy or, because it's armada cyclonus, someone might've just told him they weren't guns and he believed them.