THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

Synopsis: 1985: GIJoe try to bust one of Destro's arms operations, but Destro's men have hoverpods of some sort and escape. Flint, trying to live up to his father, Nathaniel, takes this hard. Meanwhile, over Mount St. Hilary, an Autobot shuttle crashes. This is picked up by Cobra, who mobilise a retrieval operation. Starscream, already on Earth and disguised as an F15 jet, watches with interest. GIJoe also dispatch an investigation squad, led by Flint. The Cobras and Joes stumble across each other, and a firefight begins. The Cobras retreat, and the Joes stumble across a couple of Transformers. They return to base, and Spirit and Flint are called before Duke. There, two veterans codenamed Stalker and Scarlett are present, and show Flint and Spirit footage of robots fighting in World War II.

Notes: This takes place in the same continuity as the first DW crossover. Not a lot else to draw at this early stage, though GIJoe and Cobra have been at loggerheads since WWII. Aside from Flint, a descendant of the character featured in Vol. 1, and Stalker and Scarlett, both survivors from the Ferra Islands conflict, the Joes all seem to be new characters. Some others, like Destro and Cobra Commander, are less clear. Starscream seems to have recovered from the damage done by Destro and the Baroness in the first series - he refers to having improved from an "archaic" form.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Perceptor, Blaster, Starscream, Megatron [flashback], Optimus Prime [flashback].

Notable Others: Flint, Mutt, Clutch, Rock 'n' Roll, Snake-Eyes, Quick Kick, Grand Slam, Shipwreck, Blowtorch, Destro, Scrap-Iron, Duke, Cobra Commander, Airtight, Bazooka, Doc, Wild Bill, Cover Girl, Alpine, Barbecue, Stalker, Scarlett.

Review: Hmmm... hugely Joe-centric, but the plot is interesting. It's a brave, uncharacteristic move for Dreamwave to keep the first series' continuity in mind, and that's half the interest. The characterisation isn't bad either - the only real downside is the slow pace, and the atrocious dialogue. Granted, most of the GIJoe TV series featured ridiculous speech patterns and voices, but that's no reason to keep it up, though. All in all, though, it's a shame this one got clobbered, and not the Devil's Due's one.