THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Transformers Autocracy #4
Reviewed by Red Dave Prime

Orion Pax had been after Megatron for three cycles but it’s not clear if this is from the events of “Chaos Theory” or “Megatron: Origins”.

Rodimus is named Hot Rod in this issue, a nice nod to his pre-Costa naming.


Back in Chaos Theory, Megatron and Prime discuss their first meeting being the battle of Sherman Bridge. Granted Megatron corrects Prime and we get the story of how they really first met but Autocracy stamps all over that here (and Monstrosity will continue that trend). You could make an argument that is Orion Pax and not Optimus Prime that Megatron is meeting here but that distinction wasn’t made in Chaos Theory and by the end of Autocracy, it won’t be a valid argument anyway.


“You’re a criminal posing as a revolutionary” – Orion Pax to Megatron. I like this line because at this point in their history, it’s not sure if even Pax believes this.

“Just tell Megatron us locals are pulling for him” – random chatter from the street indicates that the Decepticon movement still has some traction with the general populace at this point.

“That’s nice Kid, now shut up and run” – Ironhide makes it clear that he is older than many other Autobots.

“Always a pleasure Old timer” – ok Sky Lynk, we get it. Ironhide is old.

Continuity stomping aside, this is an alright issue. The dialogue between Pax and Megatron is pretty good with Megatron trying to manipulate his foe into joining him by playing on his own misgivings over Zeta Primes rule. It works well and both come off well. There is also a nice nod to the duel covers of Chaos Theory in one panel – I’d swear that Livio simply used Milne’s line drawings to paint over.

And a big thumbs up for the Autobots storming of the Decepticons hideout. Too often I feel that the early Autobot forces have been shown as incompetent – at least here you get to see why Prowl, Ironhide etc. would still be alive and in high positions so far into the future.

We also get the continued collapse of Pax and Zeta Primes relationship. What started off as a friendly meeting at the end of Shadowplay, started to run into ego in Spotlight: Orion Pax and now is clearly at a frayed end here. Considering all those issues run out of sequence it’s nice to see IDW get their continuity right for a change. Zeta is full on villain by this point and he is a natural opponent to the ideals of both Megatron and Orion Pax.

Things take a little nose dive at the end for me with the revelation that Hot Rod was the bomber from issue 1. It’s going to be an odd fit for this to work out and is another instance of a writer wanting to play with all his favourite toys, even if it doesn’t quite fit. Still, Autocracy continues to be an interesting, if flawed, look at the transition from Zeta Prime to Optimus Prime.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5