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THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

Marvel Comics
(1984-1994)
Japanese
Manga
Other Books
and Titles
Titan Books
(2001-2010)
Club/Con
(2001-2016)
Dreamwave
(2002-2004)
Devil's Due
(2003-2007)
IDW Publishing
(2005-now)

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Transformers: Heart of Darkness

| #1 | #2 |#3 |#4 |

Transformers: Heart of Darkness #1

March 2011
Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art By: Ulises Farinas
Colours By: Andrew Crossley
Letters By: Chris Mowry
Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Carlos Guzman

Synopsis: Galvatron arrives in Gorlam Prime, where the dead litter the street, and flashes back to the planet at its golden age. Galvatron compares the planet to an intricate mechanism that has broken down. He is confounded at how this might have happened. Scourge and Cyclonus return, reporting that Gorlam Prime is completely devoid of life. Galvatron transforms and orders the two Seekers to follow him. Galvatron flashes back to when Optimus Prime tossed him into the solar pool. Galvatron had thought that the solar pool’s energy would kill him, but instead it awakened the Dead Universe’s Anti-Matrix, which merged with him to become the Heart of Darkness. Galvatron had made his way out of the Solar Pool, scared the bejeezus out of two Garrus-9 guards, before stealing a ship and traveling to Gorlam Prime to ask the Seekers for guidance. He had found Cyclonus and Scourge on the brink of death. Apparently years had passed while Galvatron was in the Solar Pool. The two have wasted away because they are apart from the Dead Universe. Galvatron uses the Heart of Darkness to revived them, and told them that they have a new mission as ‘catalysts of change’. Scourge sent out his Sweeps to investigate Gorlam Prime’s emptiness, since Cyclonus and Scourge had no memory of that period, to what had emptied Gorlam Prime.

Galvatron and the Seekers reach Excavation Site 4, in hopes of finding Jhiaxus and the trans-dimensional portal. Cyclonus finds the portal buried under rubble, as well as the corpses of Jhiaxus’ Micromaster guards. Cyclones wants to investigate, but Galvatron blasts the rubble apart. Cyclonus leans against the wall and causes a rock slide, but Galvatron holds it up. They find that the sea-like portal gone. They find the mutilated body of Jhiaxus, who asks them to kill him. Jhiaxus recounts the years that Arcee spent hacking him apart before disappearing with Hardhead, and couldn’t recall any more than that. Cyclonus and Scourge gathers Jhiaxus’ assorted parts together, and Galvatron uses his power to reassemble Jhiaxus. Galvatron recruits Jhiaxus to help him find the portal. Jhiaxus sets down a tunnel, leading the group to a humongous cavern filled with ancient markings and statues, and in the center a massive sphere made of the same material the first portal was made of. Galvatron remarks that this is the place he had been searching for, and tries to touch the portal. However, he was shot several times before he can do so by Arcee and Hardhead, who rushes in, intent to destroy them all.

Featured Transformers: Gorlam Prime Inhabitants, Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, Optimus Prime (flashback), Jhiaxus, Hardhead (flashback and present), Arcee (flashback and present)

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Transformers: Heart of Darkness #2

April 2011
Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art By: Ulises Farinas
Colours By: Andrew Crossley
Letters By: Shawn Lee
Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Carlos Guzman

Synopsis: Galvatron is down after Arcee and Hardhead’s attacks. Jhiaxus screams and panics upon seeing Arcee. As Galvatron struggles to get to his feet, Hardhead beats up Scourge and Cyclonus, as well as delivering some pretty bad trash talking. Arcee slices off the terrified Jhiaxus’ hand, and Galvatron forces himself to recover. Galvatron touches the sphere and taps into the power of the Dead Universe. His wounds are repaired, and he blasts Arcee and Hardhead. Arcee is horrified upon what Galvatron has become, and Hardhead jumps between her and Galvatron, telling her to warn the Autobots. As Galvatron unleashes his power upon Hardhead in the form of pink energy tendrils, the Seekers pursue Arcee into the subterranean ruins of an unknown civilization, and shoot her down into a chasm. Jhiaxus binds the wounded Hardhead, and Galvatron uses his powers to access Hardhead’s memories.

During their time in Gorlam Prime, Hardhead wanted to explore the ruins but Arcee wants to continue torturing Jhiaxus. However the portal lake began to show some signs of activity. As if hypnotized, the entire population of Gorlam Prime walked into the lake and vanished. Arcee and Jhiaxus both succumbed to the lure of the portal, but Hardhead was able to resist and pull Arcee aside, while Jhiaxus was prevented from going due to his wounds. And then, in a flash of light, the lake was gone and the sphere was there in its stead. Hardhead and Arcee had left into the catacombs to find answers, but Galvatron’s arrival spurred them into action.

Galvatron concludes that Hardhead’s exposure to the Dead Universe was the reason behind his resistance. Galvatron enters the portal sphere into the Dead Universe, and tumbles into the ‘universal continuum’, overwhelmed by a series of bizarre sights. Galvatron feels the Dead Universe at the edge, seeing it as a hole with dark tendrils. Galvatron is disassembled into a skeletal structure, and as he screams for answers, Galvatron sees the corpses of Gorlam Prime’s population swirling around him, and a mysterious, dark being that introduces itself as D-Void attacks Galvatron. Concluding that this creature has sucked the life of the Gorlamites, Galvatron manages to wards D-Void with his Heart of Darkness, and flies away, plopping back into the real world. Crazed, Galvatron fires randomly and causes the chamber to collapse. Galvatron then proceeds to tell his Seekers that they must raise an army of Autobots and Decepticons to combat the D-Void. Meanwhile, Arcee climbs back up to the surface, determined to warn the Autobots….

Featured Transformers: Galvatron, Cyclonus, Jhiaxus, Scourge, Arcee, Hardhead, Micromasters (flashback, killed), Random Megatrons and Galvatrons (vision)
Notable Others: D-Void

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Transformers: Heart of Darkness#3

May 2011
Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art By: Ulises Farinas
Colours By: Andrew Crossley
Letters By: Shawn Lee
Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Carlos Guzman

Synopsis: On the gas planet Spindrift, crab-like aliens hunt vapor eels when they are attacked by a cloud leviathan. They are barely rescued by the arrival of Galvatron and the Sweeps. However, Galvatron couldn't care less about the aliens. Instead, he uses his power to resurrect a deactivated Transformer who has been made as part of the ship. This ancient transformer, Thinkbox, is recruited by Galvatron to stand together against a common foe. Galvatron and his entourage arrive onto an area known as the Realm of Wrecks, littered with corpses of dead Transformers from past battles over the area. Galvatron uses his power to resurrect every corpse and adds them to his army. Galvatron and his new troops return to Gorlam Prime with his new army with the help of Jhiaxus' Space Bridge.

Galvatron has apparently been to numerous other planets where the civil war had been made, reviving Autobots, Decepticons and even other robotic lifeforms, in order to create a force to defend the universe from D-Void. Cyclonus doubts the existence of D-Void, but Galvatron assures him that the cosmic being is real. The Heart of Darkness directs Galvatron to Dykayra. Galvatron brings Cyclonus, Hardhead and a scouting party to investigate, and discovers ruins similar to those found beneath Gorlam Prime. Galvatron speculates that the seemingly long-gone alien race might have had something to do with everything happening. Galvatron tells the others that he cannot revive the dead Autobots he finds because the touch of D-Void is strong there. They discover another portal to the Dead Universe... and is shocked to see the all-too familiar figure... of the undead Nemesis Prime, who greets them.

Featured Transformers: Sweeps, Galvatron, Scourge, Thinkbox, Revived Dead Transformer Army, Jhiaxus, Junkions (?), Cyclonus, Hardhead, Nemesis Prime
Notable Others: Crew of the Murkdipper, Random Aliens

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Transformers: Heart of Darkness #4

June 2011
Written By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art By: Ulises Farinas
Colours By: Andrew Crossley
Letters By: Shawn Lee
Edits By: Andy Schmidt & Carlos Guzman

Synopsis: On Dykayra, Nemesis Prime attacks Galvatron. After a quick flashback on what happened to Nemesis Prime prior to his death, he explains that D-Void revived him so he could get his revenge on Galvatron for his treachery. When Galvatron is tossed aside, Cyclonus and Galvatron’s other minions attack D-Void/Nemesis Prime. However, Nemesis easily sucks the life out of two of the minions, then mutate into a gigantic, monstrous thing. The Nemesis/D-Void monster kills some of the Sweeps, but Galvatron is undeterred and confronts the monster. After a lengthy battle, Cyclonus and Scourge arrive with Galvatron’s main army, and the massed power manages to cause the Nemesis/D-Void avatar to stumble through the Dead Universe portal, which Galvatron then destroys.

However, Galvatron tells the others that they have only destroyed an emissary of D-Void, and the real threat is still coming. He travels to Earth to recruit the Autobots for his cause, and after defeating a zombie plague, his offer is rejected by Optimus. Galvatron continues to send his army to Cybertron, D-Void’s first target (due to D-Void having tasted Gorlam Prime before). There, a Sweep attacks Rodimus and Wheelie, and breaks rank to attack them. Wheelie shoots the Sweep down, but Galvatron heals the Sweep with a reprimand. The Autobots are horrified to see him in control of an army, and blasts off in a spaceship as Galvatron’s army arrives, despite his intentions to recruit them. Galvatron lets the motley Autobot crew go, since he’s got what he came for… Cybertron, which will be the last line of defense against D-Void.

Featured Transformers: Galvatron, Nemesis Prime/D-Void, Hardhead, Cyclonus, Scouge, Galvatron's Army, Sweeps, Jazz, Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jhiaxus, Kup (screen), Rodimus, Wheelie

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

 

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