IDW have published their solicitations for March 2019. Next March brings Transformers back to comic stores with the launch of a new Transformers ongoing series. The solicits share a few more details of what we can expect in the new series. The background of the series seems to be kicking off with a very different Cybertron from IDW’s previous work – far from a desolate, dead world that much of the galaxy avoids, Transformers (2019)’s Cybertron is a hub of commerce. It sounds like the planet has been at peace for some time – the reference to the first murder in living memory establishes this – and the references to lies in the issue 2 solicit also implies that there is going to be a certain amount of political intrigue. We’re probably going to see a slow side into war from here and it will be an interesting ride.
Also coming in March is Synergy and Go-Bots #5. The solicits also include an advance solicit for IDW collection phase 2 volume 9 – arriving in June – and a Star Trek vs Transformers trade paperback – arriving in May.
Check out the solicits and cover artwork attached to this post.
March 2019 Solicitations
Transformers #1—Cover A: Gabriel Rodríguez
Brian Ruckley (w) • Angel Hernandez & Ron Joseph (a) • Gabriel Rodríguez (c)
A NEW ERA DAWNS! In the infinite universe, there exists a planet like no other: Cybertron! Home to the Transformers, and a thriving hub for inter-stellar commerce, it is a world brimming with organic and constructed diversity. Immense structures line its landscape. Mechanical giants roam across its surface. Starship-sized titans orbit its skies, keeping a constant protective watch above and below.
Ancient Transformers merge into its very fabric. Small, mysterious creatures skulk in its shadows. It is a truly amazing realm, long untouched by war, and exuberantly reaching for the stars. This is the Cybertron that Optimus Prime and Megatron vie for in this bold new origin—a world of seemingly endless peace! All that changes when Bumblebee and Windblade take a newly-forged Cybertronian on his first voyage through this world of wonders—they are confronted by the hard reality of the first murder to have occurred on Cybertron in living memory!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Transformers #1—Cover B: Angel Hernandez
Brian Ruckley (w) • Angel Hernandez & Ron Joseph (a) • Angel Hernandez (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Retailer incentives:
Order 10 copies and get one free Transformers 35th Anniversary variant cover by Sara Pitre-Durocher!
Order 25 copies and get one free variant cover by Freddie E. Williams II!
Order 50 copies and get one free SPECIAL TREATMENT variant cover by Freddie E. Williams II!
Order 10 copies and receive your order fully returnable!
Bullet points:
- A BOLD NEW ORIGIN!
- Fantasy Author Brian Ruckley brings an epic story so amazing, it takes two artists to tell it!
Transformers #2—Cover A: Nelson Daniel
Brian Ruckley (w) • Angel Hernandez & Ron Joseph (a) • Nelson Daniel (c)
“Your life is yours to shape.” These words form the backbone of the Transformers’ society. But Cybertronian police officers Chromia and Prowl learn there’s a dark underside as they investigate the murder that’s caught Bumblebee in a web of lies and secrets.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Transformers #2—Cover B: Ron Joseph
Brian Ruckley (w) • Angel Hernandez & Ron Joseph (a) • Ron Joseph (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Retailer incentives:
Order 10 copies and get one free Cybertron Travel Poster variant cover by Jeffrey Veregge!
Order 10 copies and receive your order fully returnable!
Bullet points:
- Double-shipping monthly!
- Don’t miss out on this brand-new adventure!
- Don’t miss the Cybertronian travel poster cover by Jeffrey Veregge!
Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two, Vol. 9
John Barber, James Roberts, Mairghread Scott (w) • Livio Ramondelli, Sarah Stone, Andrew Griffith, Marcelo Ferreira, Corin Howell, Alex Milne, Hayato Sakamoto (a) • Marcelo Matere (c)
The Autobots and Decepticons’ uneasy peace is threatened by the flames of war! Starscream, ruler of Cybertron, makes contact with Windblade’s homeworld—and the only defense against a new Cybertronian Empire is the Combiners—multiple Cybertronians joining together into huge, dangerous forms! Collects Transformers issues #39-43, More Than Meets the Eye issues #41-44, and Windblade, Volume 2 issues #1-5.
HC • FC • $49.99 • 312 pages • 7” x 11” • ISBN: 978-1-68405-484-8
Bullet points:
● Advance solicited for June release!
● Presenting IDW’s Transformers comics in recommended reading order, including one-shots, crossovers, and event series! It’s everything a beginner could need, everything a die-hard could want.
Synergy: A Hasbro Creators Showcase
Various (w) • Various (a & c)
In recognition of Women’s History month, IDW and Hasbro are teaming up to create SYNERGY: A HASBRO CREATORS SHOWCASE, a celebration of fan-favorites and new talent working with some of the most beloved Hasbro characters. With 13 fabulous covers drawn from the IDW archives and 27 pages of new material—including autobiographical works by Mairghread Scott (drawn by Sara Pitre-Durocher, reuniting the creative team behind the beloved Transformers: Till All Are One series) and Katie Cook (writer on the hit My Little Pony comic), as well as three original stories inspired by G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Jem and the Holograms—this anthology celebrates the women who have made, or will make, an impact on the world of Hasbro for many years to come.
FC • 48 pages • $7.99
Bullet points:
- Celebrate Women’s History Month with women creators who made history!
- Includes a collection of some of the most gorgeous and dynamic covers IDW and Hasbro have to offer—plus exciting new stories!
Star Trek vs. Transformers
John Barber & Mike Johnson (w) • Philip Murphy, Jack Lawrence (a) • Derek Charm (c)
When Kirk, Spock, and the entire crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise investigate problems at a remote mine, they’re met with an explosive battle between powerful warriors who change into vehicles from the 20th century! As the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons rages, it’s up to Kirk to decide—does he violate the Prime Directive and interfere in a war that’s raged for millenia? And how will the Klingons complicate the issue? It’s cartoony fun between two of the most popular science fiction franchises in the world!
TPB • FC • $17.99 • 120 pages • ISBN: 978-1-68405-436-7
Bullet points:
● Advance solicited for May release!
● Four decades in the making, it’s the crossover that fans have demanded! Kirk, Spock, and Autobots! Decepticons and Klingons! Optimus Prime and the Prime Directive!
● “Star Trek vs. Transformers broke all the rules of a typical comic book team-up and it was fantastic!”—Outright Geekery
● “If you’re a deep Star Trek fan and you’re turned off by this cartoony combination, lighten up!”—Trek Core
● “A great burst of nostalgia-filled fun for fans of the original incarnation of the Star Trek and Transformers properties.”—Multiversity Comics
Go-Bots #5—Cover A: Tom Scioli
Tom Scioli (w & a & c)
The jaw-dropping conclusion to Tom Scioli’s epic tale is here! The fate of all Go-Bots hangs in the balance!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Go-Bots #5—Cover B: Dash Shaw
Tom Scioli (w & a) • Dash Shaw (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Retailer incentives:
Order 10 copies and get one free variant cover by Ryan Brown!
Bullet points:
- From the creative mind that brought you IDW’s Transformers vs. G.I. Joe!
- Visionary creator Tom Scioli unleashes his imagination on the bizarre, absurd, and wonderful world of Go-Bots!
Tom Scioli (w & a & c)
The jaw-dropping conclusion to Tom Scioli’s epic tale is here! The fate of all Go-Bots hangs in the balance!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Go-Bots #5—Cover B: Dash Shaw
Tom Scioli (w & a) • Dash Shaw (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Retailer incentives:
Order 10 copies and get one free variant cover by Ryan Brown!
Bullet points:
- From the creative mind that brought you IDW’s Transformers vs. G.I. Joe!
- Visionary creator Tom Scioli unleashes his imagination on the bizarre, absurd, and wonderful world of Go-Bots!
Oceanus Prime
Oh, my God, yes. I was in almost weakly during the tail end of idw v1, but I took a break after it was over to save money for the holidays and whatnot. I've hardly been back since.
Infosaur
Oh, that Soundwave is a stretch. Lol.
If I had that as a toy in 1986 they'd be like, "transforms into a space ship!" And I'd be like, "suuuuure it does."
My poor comic dealer. I haven't seen him in months. I used to be there every other week but the last time I went it had been two months and he only had two book for me. Lol.
(IDW Ghostbusters & a Firefly based book, if anyone cares.) from 5 books a week to two books a month? Crazy.
Issy543
Next week on Wednesday on the 13th March.
dCon
What day does IDW Transformers comic arrive this month? My comic store, never seems to answer the damn phone & they missed all 3 of my gobots comics so id like to be on top of it.
Mr.Deflok
Damn, just noticed Starscream, Soundwave and Shockwave in alt mode. They look rad together.
Infosaur
As corny as it is, you need to see the TAAO Annual, with the "Christmas Story", it's a pretty good outline for where Scott was going with the character.
It's all about ego. Starscream thought being a Decepticon would bring him satisfaction, then becoming Megatron's lieutenant, then victory over the Autobots, the end of the war, ruler of Cybertron,,, etc etc etc
It didn't work, but when Windblade & Bumblebee's "ghost" began to reach out to him, he started "growing".
It really was a cool book. Nice to have a character actually "grow", even a "villain".
maltesefalcon
Infosaur
A Cybertron that had never known war and is a center for galactic commerce? Sounds like a *cough* "Golden Age"!
Yeah, they mishandled Optimus in pretty much 95% of IDW and I don't know why. (Exception being Shadowplay.) but the Redemption of Starscream was one of the most epic takes on that character ever. Marghied Scott took that line about "pity the warrior with no one left to fight." And really ran with it.
No reason she can't show up later as a supporting character. Heck, I could already see her as a hero-worshiping fan-girl who idolizes Chromia. Chromia of course is a hard bitten noir veteran and has little time for a groupie.
These stories write themselves.
Considering Cybertonians are notoriously hard to kill by organic standards, (and we're talking murder, not homicide or manslaughter) this would maybe mean deliberate and premeditated.
So for the first time in "recorded memory" somebot intentionally permanently terminates another Cybertronian? (Or murders a Quintesson master? Oh, am I going to far?)
Could this be the beginning of an uprising?
maltesefalcon
I don't mind a bit of seriousness but I hope it never gets to previous levels, where things got so murky Starscream was more heroic than that slimy Optimus. I like my heroes to be heroic!
yeah they make the hard choices sometimes but one of the things that I disliked most about game of thrones was its a****le vs a****le tone. everyone that tried to be better got killed or corrupted. id like more a seasons 1-3 angel(buffy spinoff) tone, it captured the difference between what was acceptable and not perfectly.
Oceanus Prime
Really? Chromia has a history with Ironhide, so it will be cool to see them work together, but I see your point. But, well, toys.
Thundershot
Hmm.. I really wish they’d have used Strongarm in place of Chromia.
General Tekno
So this writer tends to do darker stories?
That feels appropriate for a story that is going to be chronicling the collapse of peace as it is shattered by war. That’s not SUPPOSED to be a happy story.
Like are his inclinations dark or GRIMdark? As there IS a difference. GRIMdark is darkness for darkness’ sake/rule of cool and the pitch for this series sounds like one that is going “let’s treat the emergence of this civil war like the tragedy that it is rather than the background flavor text useful for flashback stories that it usually is treated as.”
maurice
Originality has left.
Oceanus Prime
Brand unification. Oh boy.
Shepard Prime
Quick thoughts:
One of my biggest fears about the new continuity was that they weren't going to run with some of my favorite parts of the old one, namely that Cybertron was a part of a larger galaxy. I really liked that IDW had the Transformers interacting with other civilizations and, ultimately, their war's effect on the worlds/galaxy around them. So the idea that Cybertron, with it's assumedly high technology and being a commerce center/trade hub of the galaxy is pretty interesting to me. It really sets the tone that Cybertronians don't exist in a vacuum. Hopefully, this will give the writer a natural opening for worldbuilding as that was another thing I thought IDW/ROberts did well, showing Cybertron having an actual culture and existence beyond the war as it gives a nice set of stakes and juxtapose against the war and what they'll/they could potentially lose.
I really want to see interior art but based on the interiors artists covers I could be okay with. Neither are Milne, Roche or Kei for instance but they don't have to be.
Last, is this potentially a noir-ish story given that it's a murder mystery with Prowl and Chromia leading the search? I could *really* get behind that (tho' I would've loved Strongarm as the rookie cop in place of Chromia paired up with Prowl).
grindcore138
Well, my hope was that the reboot would keep things interesting and the premise so far certainly sounds intriguing. While we haven't seen any interiors yet I am a little wary of what the aesthetic for this series is going to be though. It kinda feels like it's gonna be all dark and dingy which I'm not the biggest fan of, and you know how it be with comic book art; The story can be great but if the art's bad or just isn't your cup of tea it can turn you off the book no matter how much you want to like it.
pluto
So the utopia setting gives me a good iain m banks/anne leckie vibe but ruckley does not inpsire. Still, worth a crack
maurice
\"Bumblebee and windblade\" not again..
Uncle Yetibacca
Honestly, the direction this reboot is going for is one that has already captured my interest. I mean, a Cybertron that is liked across the Galaxy instead o being isolated from it, which also happens to be a perfect utopia, is really something a little fresh.
Also, it makes me wonder what could possibly ignite such a devastating conflict as the Great War (I\'m pretty sure the \"utopia\" angle will not be what it seems) and how the galaxy reacts to the conflic since the Transformers are liked.
PS: That Synergy showcase cover is just beautifull… Sara has been blessed by Primus no doubt xD.
PS2: I\'m glad to confirm Hasbro does own Dawn (The female Snake-Eyes)
Rewind
Yeah, however that’s one book and Ruckley has an entire career of books in the same vein. :/
Like I said though, I’ll give it a chance.