All Hail Megatron #1-12 / TPBs

[Blackjack]

A few folks have speculated that it's Deluge from the G2 line. The head matches, anyway.

Am I reading this right? McCarthy actually using someone from the 1990s?

OMG.

They killed DIRGE??? Damn you McCarthy!

OMG!

[inflatable dalek]

Am I reading this right? McCarthy actually using someone from the 1990s?

The script probably "A Decepticon stands there" and eithwer Guido or Su picked the actual character. I suspect something similar got Roadbuster into the comic.

[zigzagger]

The script probably "A Decepticon stands there" and eithwer Guido or Su picked the actual character. I suspect something similar got Roadbuster into the comic.

I suspect that might be the case. Deluge, even if the only panels he appears in were drawn by Su, also looks like something Su would have (re)designed (i.e. the kibble, the exposed fuel lines and joints, etc). That, or the script called for a Decepticon scientist, and someone either looked it up or suggested Deluge be thrown in there.

[StarscreamX]

An okay issue and an improvement on the a lot of went before (Some may see that as pretty faint praise however).

I enjoyed the Decepticon moments in this issue. Thundercracker trying to be the voice of reason fits with his profile and I felt it added a lot to his character. I get the feeling that he may be the "Surprise defection" to the anti Megatron faction within the Decepticon army hinted at in the solicits, rather than Starscream. (I hope so too, because Starscream being the traitor would be all too predictable)

Megatron also got a more subtle character moment in his discussion with Deluge. It's clear he's as disgusted with the Insecticon proccess as Thundercracker but sees it as a neccessary evil. And Deluge has to be some kind of idiot to stand there giggling while Megatron's looking like he wants to rip his head off. Doesn't surprise me they left the psycho to rot on Cybertron.


Meanwhile on the mentally handicapped side of town we get to see that Ironhide is even more of a dumb thug than he previously appeared as he beats the living crap out of one of his "Fellow Autobots" based on a vague suspicion with no hard evidence to back it up (And also based on the word of there sworn enemy. Yeah, there's a reliable source). Basically his reasoning seems to be: Mirage doesn't agree with Autobot policy so he's a dirty stinking traitor. Great work moron. Watch out Batman, there's a new master detective on the loose!

And it turns out Sunstreaker is no longer bonded with Hunter (And he apparently abandoned the guy when he needed him based on Sideswipes "You turned your back on him" comment). Apparently becoming a massive EMO is a side affect of being a former Headmaster, as well as turning a sociopath into a sycophant, as seen by the way he kisses up to Ironhide (He "Didn't have time" to defend Ironhide against Sideswipe's accusations? He threw a hissy fit and then stormed off on his own, how did he not have time? Great way to look out for your so called friend Sunstreaker)

The backstory felt very much like it was playing catch up and while it was nice to see some explanations for how the Autobots were beaten and why Cybertron is more habitable than it was in Stormbringer (Even if the latter only got a brief explanation) I can't help but feel it would have worked better as a full on flashback without Jazz and Kup's heavy handed narration. Let the dialouge of the characters in "The past" tell the story of what happened. Still I have to admit the scene of Megatron physically ripping the Matrix out of Prime's chest brought a smile to my face.

So, positives: We get a few more character moments for the Decepticons (Given the series is called All Hail MEGATRON it should really be delivering more of these) and we finally learn some of what occured to bring things to this point. And no human characters marring the story with their atrocious dialouge

Negatives? The plot doesn't move forward at ALL (Unless you count the bright red inbred Ironhide going from bitching and whining to actually physically assaulting one of his "Fellow Autobots" in a brutal fashion. Gee, wonder why these morons lost the war) and Jazz and Kup's dialouge just feels like a rehash of what was said last issue. And the cliffhanger was fairly weak. If Ironhide had KILLED Mirage that would be a genuine shock cliffhanger but as it is, while his actions were an obvious example of Autobot hypocrisy they didn't make for a compelling cliffhanger ending.

So, only five issues left to go. Really hope the Autobots get off Cybertron for a showdown with the Decepticons as if their beaten by that waterlogged G.I Jerk Witwicky and the deus ex machina that his brain dead father gave him I'll be sorely dissapointed. And I doubt I'll be the only one.

[inflatable dalek]

I suspect that might be the case. Deluge, even if the only panels he appears in were drawn by Su, also looks like something Su would have (re)designed (i.e. the kibble, the exposed fuel lines and joints, etc). That, or the script called for a Decepticon scientist, and someone either looked it up or suggested Deluge be thrown in there.

Or based on what he also does to Dirge perhaps McCarthy hates all Decepticons with names begining with D and will be killing them all by the end of the title? Alas poor Devastator, he's probably going to collapse under his unwieldy proportions in issue 10.

It's two weeks before I'm getting my copy, but I can't be arsed with avoiding spoilers. After all, how can you spoil a comic where nothing happens?

[StarscreamX]

Be fair, we never saw Deluge or Dirge die. What's that old saying? If you don't see a body the guy isn't dead? (Even then...these are sentient robots after all, dead is a pretty flexible term)

[E.J.Su]

I suspect that might be the case. Deluge, even if the only panels he appears in were drawn by Su, also looks like something Su would have (re)designed (i.e. the kibble, the exposed fuel lines and joints, etc). That, or the script called for a Decepticon scientist, and someone either looked it up or suggested Deluge be thrown in there.

I did work on the redesign, but the character was specifically named in the script.

[zigzagger]

Ah, I stand corrected.

Well, isn't this issue just filled with surprises.

[Brimstone]

I always kind of assumed Deluge was the new version of Mirage. They look awfully similar. Even the new head sculpt for Mirage (Alternators) is more based on Deluge than G1 Mirage, imo.

[Red Dave Prime]

Really enjoyed it. The faults are still there (it feels like jazz has been telling kup what happened for months.. oh wait, he has.) But the art was brilliant. EJ puts so much into his face expressions. It really adds extra touches to characters. Also, his megatron looks so much more like a ruthless leader (sorry guido)

There were some other cool moments - my favourite being cliffjumpers schwarzenager like tooling up to take on the decepticons.

Some things tickled me though. First off, why does blaster get a speech bubble but we dont actually see him?
Also, is bombshell a soundwave design offshoot based on the blaster spotlight or is that going to be overlooked?
Finally, anyone else going for streaker as the traitor? He seems more then a little screwed up at the moment.

[Halfshell]

Incredible.

Something actually approaching a decent issue.

Note I said approaching.

Definite improvement, though. Underplayed ending that was given away on the cover didn't help.

No real way to my eyes that the creation of the Insecticons can be reconciled with Spotlight Blaster. Would like to be proven wrong, though.

Nice to see continuity actually being addressed. Though doing it with dialogue such as "this has nothing to do with any of this. This has nothing to do with now"... well, the review kind of writes itself, doesn't it?

[Terome]

It occurred to me that maybe the stupidity of the ambush as described by Jazz, combined with the wacky chronology therein, could be a Clue? Maybe Jazz is the traitor and he is made of lies? That would be kind of interesting.

But hey, yeah, this is sort of going somewhere if you ignore all the terrible writing. I mean, we more or less overlooked Spotlight Sideswipe and DoubleDealer, didn't we?

[StarscreamX]

I wouldn't say the writing is that bad (Except when Mccarthy tries to write humn characters). It's the pacing I feel is the problem. It's been said before but the events of the last seven issues could comfortably be fitted into four or so issues. Right now the story feels very padded out.

In my opinion the best way McCarthy could redeem this series is to deliver an ending that doesn't fit cliche. So rather than the bland, pathetic little fleshlings somehow beating Megatron, have all their attempts fail. Earth is violently subjugated as is the rest of the Universe. The Autobots fianlly get of Cybertron...to find that the entire universe has been conquered by Megatron and they've got one hell of a fight on their hands. Would also make the title "All Hail Megatron" make a lot of sense, if he's master of the universe.

[wolfbolt86]

After reading the comics a couple of times, I'm wondering if there really is a traitor in the Autobots. I know this sounds like complete crap, but could McCarthy be pulling the wool over our eyes by making claimes that there is a traitor in the group. While everyone thinks that Mirage is the likely suspect.

Here is an idea: Megatron figure outs a way of ending the conflict on Earth by making a fake up riasing. After the plan works, and he finds the Autobot base, Megatron gains the infor needed to end the war once and for all. In a curle joke knowing what it will cause he makes all the Autobots think that they had a traitor. While his plan of disposing of the Autobots didn't go as plan, the joke has basicly destroyed the morale of the Autobots and is making them turn on each other.

I know this sounds crazy but, it might an unexpected way for the old Autobot traitor to play out.

[zigzagger]

I don't know. Though I'd love to be proven wrong, the plot seems pretty transparent to me. It would be a further waste to reveal after several issues devoted to building up this "mystery" that, nope, there was never a traitor and it was all just a sham.

Then again, considering what I've read, it wouldn't surprise me.

[Red Dave Prime]

Quite like the idea of there being no autobot traitor. It actually popped into my head when I was reading that bit. Still, Sunstreakers weirdness would lead me to believe its him.

I know a lot of people here are lukewarm at best to AHM but I've just read the whole lot in one go and I enjoyed it. The continuity problems really only seem to affect Jazz, Springer and Kup. Really, Springer should be the one in Jazzs Boots (would suit him or maybe Hot rod so much better going from Furmans work). Kup is the most glaring problem that at no point have we had any insight into how he regained his sanity. That would have been an awesome Spotlight sequel and would have been more valuable then Spotlight:Blur. They could have even linked Kups return to a Blur based main story.

2 things I dont get here though are:

1.) So many of you dont like the book, fair enough. But you still buy it... I cant understand this. At least if your curious wait until the far cheaper trade paper back surely?

2.) Why does the title matching the story seem so important? So many of you have posted comments complaining that it doesnt feature enough of megatron or the decepticons to justify the title but I have to ask: What would? Issue after issue of the decepticons praising their leader?

Anyway, thanks for reading....

[Rossum]

I think some fans are compelled to get Transformers comics, no matter how they like or dislike them. Also, hope springs eternal. I got 7 due to the praise it was getting from other readers, and ended up disliking it anyway.

The focus on the name comes more from the buildup, the opening issues and the Hutchison covers that made AHM look like it would be about Megatron in power. Instead, it seems to be more focused on the Autobots, and how they cope (or don't) with losing the war--except even most of their time is taken up with recounting the events that led up to AHM.

[Halfshell]

1.) So many of you dont like the book, fair enough. But you still buy it... I cant understand this. At least if your curious wait until the far cheaper trade paper back surely?

Personally, I don't like what I've seen so far (though it's improving), yet I want to give it a fair shake. I prefer singles to trades just through personal preference, and also after the whole Dreamwave fiasco I like to get stuff as it becomes available.*

Also, and this is one of my main justifications for still buying it, I hated Dreamwave's G1 stuff. But I gave them twelve issues to convince me that they could produce something I'd like. After twelve issues, it was clear that it wasn't for me on any level, so I quite happily discarded the main title.

AHM is (purportedly) set in the same continuity as an existing series that I really enjoy, so in the interests of fairness, I'm giving it the same twelve issues (albeit in this case it's one arc instead of two) to convince me. I'm not going to ignore what might be an integral part of the continuity on the grounds that it's a brand new writer and the first few issues were shocking. Furman's written some tripe, but I know that on his day it's worth the effort, ergo I'll grab his issues regardless... I don't have that frame of reference for McCarthy, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

* Also, single issues get bagged by arc and stored in an archive box. Trades live on my bookshelf, and ergo are more prominent in my mind/living room. It's a position of prestige that I'm not going to give AHM when there's far better stuff hidden away in The Boxes.

[inflatable dalek]

2.) Why does the title matching the story seem so important? So many of you have posted comments complaining that it doesnt feature enough of megatron or the decepticons to justify the title but I have to ask: What would? Issue after issue of the decepticons praising their leader?

The problem is- as of issue 6- Megatron has been a very minor character we've had barely any focus on him at all. Ironically the bits that have focused on him have tended to be the best in the series but what we've got isn't how it was sold to us, and the title is a part of that.

EDIT: Misdirection (deliberate or a idiotic PR person) isn't a problem if the comic was making us go "Wow, that's not what I thought it would be but it rocks!" mind.

[optimusskids]

didn't Starscream and Megs discuss the traitor on Earth when it couldn't have been part of misdirection.