Out this week, in store 23rd April in the US (just in time for Botcon)/24th in the UK, is the long-awaited (by me at least) Transformers Spotlight: Grimlock. It had to happen, I suppose. Ever since his supporting role in Spotlight: Shockwave, it’s only ever been a matter of time before the Dinobot commander (an established favourite of mine) got his star turn. And what a turn it is! Not only is it something of a sequel to Spotlight: Shockwave, it’s also something of a prequel (not saying yet to what, but maybe I’ll get to spill the beans at Botcon), and it even ties into the ongoing Escalation/Devastation storyline, featuring, as it does, a certain Scorponok! Oh, and rest assured that despite this after- and fore- shadowing, it’s pretty much a standalone story in its own right too. Reawakened by government alien-spotters Skywatch, Grimlock is not in the best of moods, especially as he soon realises his actions may have doomed his fellow Dinobots… even if they survived their molten end in Spotlight: Shockwave. Enter Scorponok, with an offer that Grimlock may just not be able to refuse! Story is by me, art by Marcelo Matere. For details of all IDW’s Transformers titles, check out their website here.
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simon furman 
been waiting for this one, really enjoyed the brief turn in Shockwave, and love the way it can seed some ideas for other bits whilst still being its own single story.
hopefully there are plenty of big announcements at botcon!!!
Woo hoo! Bring on the Grim’! Very keen to read this with him being one of your faves Simon.
Will we see Shockies returning the favour with a supporting role in this Spotlight? I hope so – surely they didn’t dig up *just* the Dinobots…
Can’t get to Botcon, but will be eagerly awaiting any and all news.
been dying for this one . i love the dinos and TBH i always wondered why they never got a mini for themselves. it’d certainly help flesh them out.
ive seen some of marcellos art on this and it looks gorgeous. im still not sold on nicks redesign of the big grim (that chest just looks wrong) but it’s looking good so far.
cant wait till thurs 🙂
Can’t wait to see how this turns out. I agree that the Dino’s (Dyno’s?) need more pages dedicated to them – I’m still in awe of Wrath of Guardian/Wrath of Grimlock from the UK continuity and I’d love more in that vein.
I hope this doesn’t conclude your tenure with IDW Simon, it’s been awesome so far and I’d hate to think fandom could lose you so soon after Don. It’d be one hell of a blow so far as I’m concerned…
I reckon Godfather Scorpy’s going to offer Machination drivers for the Dynos. All hail Diaclone Pilots! 😦
Oooh, can’t wait for this one! And you just confirmed what I thought, that Scorpy won’t come looking for a fight – he’s smarter than that – he will have an offer for Grimlock…. Hmm, Headmaster Dinobots? Now THAT would be new… 🙂
Waiting makes me feel all tingly like it’s Marvel US #70 -“The Price of Life” again! Grimlock must decide… but I hope he’ll be wiser this time,after that Nucleon fiasco… 🙂
Yes that is kick ass,I have been all over the internet wondering when this is going to come out.Now I’ll have to wait one more day and it’s here!Im pumped for this one
Picked this up last night. While I don’t think it could ever have lived up to my expectations, the errors in the book really killed the excitement: One lengthy speech obviously by Grimlock is in a word balloon pointing to Scorponok, and another page is just flat-out misprinted: the crop was wrong. Add to that the disjointed work of the 3 different color guys, and the book looks more than a little rushed. Grimlock deserved better.
But I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Gotta agree with Bumblebee. I enjoyed the story, but the errors really dragged it down.
But still, good stuff and a lovely prelude to MD…
Yeah, another ‘awesome story, shame about the production values’ comment here. I hope IDW pick up the ball again after this one.
Anyhow, bring on MD!
I just read it.
Is it me, or is the only true bad ass in the entire Autobot ranks Optimus Prime?
No, seriously. Only Optimus Prime can kick anyone of importance’s ass. Mooks like Swindle don’t qualify, they’re like Hound…professional cannon fodder (and I mean that in the nicest possible way…I like both of those characters, heh). Anyone, and I do mean ANYONE who goes one on one with the likes of Shockwave, Scorponok, or Primus help them, Megatron (the list is far larger)…hell even 20 on one, and it’s game over unless you’re Optimus f’n Prime or a damn City-bot. Oddly, Optimus Prime doesn’t get the same privileges (in these books)…send a few Decepticons after him, and he rolls over faster than a badass girl when you grab her standard female grab point (the upper arm).
Hell, we have Shockwave pulling a G1 version of himself and kicking the living daylights out of ALL the Dinobots at the SAME TIME! Six Shot has been out there for millions of years, and there isn’t ONE countermeasure (I’m guessing Six Gun is going to be a complete and total pansy if he ever shows up), and he takes on whole platoons AND Optimus Prime.
What I’m getting at is, I get it…the Decepticons have some some serious power houses on their side. But c’mon…Grimlock, Ultra Magnus, Fort Max (smaller version), Jetfire…so do the Autobots. Grimlock is supposed to be, at the very least, on par with Optimus Prime…and he’s a non god modified Transformer. So far as I’ve seen, about the most he can do is treat Starscream like his personal boy toy…maybe. Jetfire has gone down more times than a Times Square purveyor of the oldest of professions; and Ultra Magnus? He got himself torn a superfluous rectal cavity from a non headmastered Scorponok in about as much time as it takes for the fanboys to scream “MOOOEEEEE!!!” when Hotaru Tomoe pops up in Sailor Moon (and God help me, I’m one of them).
The way you’ve (‘you’ being every writer on the Transformers) it seems like you could have every Autobot badass up there attack Megatron, have Megatron SNEEZE and send them scattered until Optimus Prime shows up…assuming a group of seekers didn’t screw him up.
An exaggeration to be sure, but I hope I’m making sense. This is getting ridiculous, and my “I believe” button just fired off some Omega Beams in my general direction when I tried to push it this time.
You know what, it just occurred to me: the only other really BADASS Autobot I’ve seen is a GIRL! Hot though that is, and it really is, I’m about to call shenanigans on the entire thing, and sorry to say, especially because of that. Is it too much to ask for someone OTHER than Optimus Prime to legitimately kick some power house’s ass? Because the Autobots are intelligent and knew they’d need some powerful fighters and made a few, upgraded a few for that purpose, or just had one or two naturally that way?
I mean, c’mon…seriously. What’s next? Galvatron tying down Metroplex and Fortress Maximus (the big one) and……no I won’t finish that one.
It just looks to me like the entire Autobot army is getting Worfed for Optimus Prime, who doesn’t usually enjoy the same protections as those doing the Worfing. I’m legitimately concerned here…this seems to be a serious problem in the way the story writers view the way things work in the comics medium. The animated version typically goes the other way, it’s just as eyerolling, and I’d communicate my disagreements to them personally if I knew how.
There’s something seriously fundamentally wrong here by my reckoning. I’m just one voice in a million, and you don’t have to believe me, but i’m just thinking maybe you all should look into that. Cause I know you can do better…we’ve all seen it.