Uh-huh, that’s right, it’s out this week (29th November) — Transformers Devastation #3. Lots of shocks and surprises to found therein, not least in terms of who’s actually drawing the issue. Regular artist EJ Su had to take some time out to become a daddy (aww), so Nick Roche (Spotlight Shockwave) stepped in to cover. And what a damn fine job he does too! Nick takes Ratchet, Verity and Jimmy through some considerably lethal hoops, courtesy of Sixshot, as well as continuing Hot Rod and Wheeljack’s run-in with the Headmasters (plus more on the intertwined fate of Hunter and Sunstreaker). As I’ve rumbled on about before, this is where everything changes, and what was a secret war goes public in a big, big way. And with various other factions (Reapers, Dead Universe cast, etc) now ready to make their move, it’s only going to spiral further out of control. EJ did manage to find time to, um, conceive a cover for the issue. You can see it by clicking on the thumbnail below. And for more information on all IDW’s Transformers releases, check out their site here.
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simon furman 
I should hopefully be picking this up tomorrow.
Nick’s art is great. I’m looking forward to his run on IDW’s Doctor Who series and hopefully some more TF stuff when he gets time. Simon, you and Nick should do another signing somewhere soon.
Martin 🙂
(curses having to wait to more stupid weeks for FP subscription to arrive…)
Sounds cool Simon, can’t wait.
On a related note, we just got your and Don’s Best of… collection and the Art of IDW’s TF’s in at the book store where I work. These are seriously awesome books! It’s just so hard trying to decide which one to buy first…
On the plus side though, people are really taking an interest in them (helps the Best of Don books all have a signed picture of Prime in…)
i can’t wait to see nick’s take, and Robby’s next month. I think it’s going to make for a hugely strong series, and not weaken it at all. More EJ SOON THOUGH!!!
Simon,
You freaked me out a treat today. Although I live in London my girlfriend has relatives in Pensacola who’ve, well, become family really over the last 4 or 5 years and we make regular trips over there to annihilate our livers. (Bamboo Willy’s on the beach has 20 washing machines full of various dacharis – dangerous)
I was really curious about something, no-one I know has heard of Pensacola, do you know this part of the world, or was it a bit of a ‘pin in a map’ situation?
By the way the bridge that goes out to the beach from downtown is about 3 miles long, so Ratchet did a pretty good job there outrunning Sixshot, how he made it past the cops in Gulf Breeze though I’ll never know – they nicked me for doing 42.
EJ’s art for #5 is well worth the wait, trust me. And Nick and Robby more than pick up the torch in the interim. It’s going ot be interesting to see Devastation as a collected edition, because I think/hope the ‘whole’ will be pretty seamless, despite the differing art styles.
As for Pensacola, Jason, it was pretty much pin in a map (logically, the course from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico seemed to encompass it), but I also liked the sound of the place somehow and I did what research I could (from afar) to make it seem authentic.
Important note: it’s come to my attention (via the various TF discussion forums) that there’s a misdirected couple of speech balloon tails on the final page of the issue (sigh). The two linked blns should be coming from ‘$&*@# Prime’ and the final bln from Galvatron. Sorry ’bout that. Will be corrected for the trade (sigh).
Curiously, why the name change for Prime?
I sorta liked “Nova”.
Great issue, BTW.
Whose idea was the North By Northwest cover?
I have to admit I was disappointed by Nova Prime’s change of name. But the issue has been top notch (bar the speech bubble boo-boo). Hot Rod’s disbelief of seeing a headmaster for the first time and subsequent mockery, Sunstreaker begging Hunter to kill him while giving him information on the Machination.
Ratchet trying to keep ahead of Sixshot by any means necessary is gripping.
I wonder if anyone had noticed one of the Reapers on the last page looks similar to the chap who got decapitated in Spotlight: Kup? And the reporter and her camera crew from Infiltration had turned up?
(If only the comic store in Plymouth had Devastation iss 2.)
Excellent stuff, Simon. While some may complain that not enough happens, I LOVE how you are writing this saga. You have 3-4 plots going in any one issue, and they all get expanded upon. So while no one plot gets tons of exposition, they all get advanced, and over the course of an arc, I can see the payoff…Keep it up!
Oh and no fair ALMOST revealing the name of the head. That was a dirty trick. Not cool 🙂
Hey Mal, I wanted some kind of demarcation between the Prime he was pre-Dead Universe to what he becomes. Plus, Nemesis Prime sounded more badass. I’m so shallow.
Conor, the North By Northwest homage was all the work of that talented Irish bloke. I forget his name.
Clrobe, I couldn’t resist teasing (though by now it must be the most guessed revelation of all time) the identity of the Machination’s ‘head’ one more time. All is (finally!) revealed in issue #6.
Excellent! Nemesis Prime finally gets to be ‘official’. Just annoying I have to wait two weeks to read the bloody thing…
have to say i miss EJ. i wasnt a huge fan of his at first but he really owns the earth based stories in my mind. but its good to see his absence is for such a happy reason. hope he has fond memories of sleep 🙂
in regards to the story nick did a good job fillin in and i loved the shot of sixshot firing down on ratchet on page 5. its nice to see the facsimiles are still knocking around. i was kinda worried you’d shelve all the infiltration elements as i found the idea of human operatives in governemt very cool so its good to see senator holt back. are these guys gonna be around for a while?
theres so many little cool things in this issue that could be expanded on but the best thing for me is how you protrayed sixshot. VERY menacing. looking at the story you genuinely do belive ratchet is out of his league and going to die. that says alot for a character we only met once or twice before. kudos for making him a believable threat. 🙂
the booboo with the speach balloons is really the only complaint i have and thats a very minor one. cant wait to see marcellos work next issue !
I liked the namechange from Nova to, well you know. Plus that name has been in various Transformers mythos for a while, it’s nice to see it find its way into gen1.
I like the noises nk and sk that were coming out of Sunstreakers mouth when he was in pain. I really don’t know who this head is though, unless….
I think the thing that’s irksome about names like ‘Nemesis Prime’ is, well, does he actually see himself as a bad guy?
Unless he went to evil medical school in which case i withdraw the comment.
Good issue, although Ratchet’s survival seemed a little bit of a streach given he was up against someone who kills worlds. But i love Ratchet, so, eh. My main concern with the title at present is the lack of a daily release schedule.
Autobot’s rising out of the water was a bit of a guilty pleasure. Which i am all for. Hoping to see Prime kick some serious shiney metal ass next issue…
Cheers
Well, originally Nemesis was a goddess of retribution, so someone taking that name doesn’t necessarily have to think of themself as a villain.
Plus I’m getting the vibe that he wants to kill lots of things, so it’s not really in keeping to call himself Easter Bunnimus Prime.
Maybe he’s a l33t haxx0r in his spare time and views universes like computers? He’s trying to haxx0r our reality oh noes!!!!11one People like that love calling themselves stuff like Nemesis… I wonder how many people I’ve just blanket offended…
Loved the issue. Loved the North by Northwest overtones in it and homage on the cover.
Good to see Senator Holt again. After his appearance in Escalation I was beginning to think that plot strand would get lost in the shuffle. Oh me of little faith.
Loved the newsteam callback, It’s even right down to the page number, if not the panel. [/geek]
A little unsure still on the Headmaster concept. Not convinced on what the human brings to it if they’re remote controlled. Other than an ability to stand about and do supervillain exposition long enough to get blowed up, of course. 😉
c’mon. what human wouldn’t want to climb into their own robot and create havoc. the machination just seem to be going for a grander scale. it doesn’t seem remote controlled per-se. linked to sunstreaker and observed by the machinations heads (pun intended) – doi!
Anyhow, Simon, have you started writing the next ongoing?!?!?!!? focusing on spotlights for a little while!?!?!? other writings?
Rest assured, there will be more of a rationale for the name change from Nova to Nemesis. It all centres around what the Dead Universe actually is (or was!). Lots more on that in 08 for sure.
The news team callback thing was a fun little aside. Strange that it turned out not to be EJ drawing that ‘reprise’ panel, but Nick did a very nice version.
The idea with Headmasters is you pretty much double up on reaction times and so forth. And everything’s heightened, sensory-wise. Guess it just makes for a more effective warrior.
Right now, writing-wise, I’ve just finished up on the outline/overview for the next big story arc, and it’s NOT ‘Revelation.’ Boy I love to tease.
Hi! I’m a reader originally from the Bahamas (now living in Florida) and I love this comic! My friends and I are completly squealing over the fact that all the action’s taking place in Florida [though the lucky buggers live on the west coast, I’m on the eastern side :(]
I’m also a huge fangirl of Nova Prime -not too fond of the name change, but hey, it’s your writing^^ It’ll grow on me, I’m sure.
Will you have anything on his background-and just how excatly Sentinel became Prime after Nova? Because if Nova had the Matrix before the Ark went into the Dead Universe-just how did Sentinel get it?
So Furman, any chance of a quick tease as to the next arc?
ARGH! And i don’t think any questions in the interview may get to that point…
My guess is it will be another four parter like Stormbringer and Megatron Origin.
Oohhhhh…. Another Stormbringer type filler maybe(non -ation arc, but still relatively present time, main continuation story)? Or maybe the story of Ark 1?! Who knows, but i do love the ‘in-between’ stories that come out. They are like stepping out of the room for a minute, so to speak. Also when i do remember that i’m not finding out about the main arc i get even more excited.