THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

133 "Headhunt"
134 "Headhunt"
137 "Ladies Night"
138 "Ladies Night"
146 "The Legacy of Unicron"
147 "The Legacy of Unicron"
148 "The Legacy of Unicron"
149 "The Legacy of Unicron"
150 "The Legacy of Unicron"
151 "The Legacy of Unicron"
152 "Enemy Action"
153 "Enemy Action"

Marvel UK book 6 of 9: Legacy of Unicron

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Reprinting: #133-134,137-138,146-153 (Marvel UK)
Script by: Simon Furman
Art by: Dan Reed [#133-134,137,148-149] / Geoff Senior [#138,146-147] / Bryan Hitch [#151]
Pencils by: Jeff Anderson [#150,152-153]
Inks by: Baskerville [#150,152-153] / Geoff Senior [asst. #151]
Letters by: Starkings [#133-134,151] / Annie Halfacree [#137-138,146-150] / Glib [#152-153]
Colours by: Steve White [#133-134,146-153] / Euan Peters [#137] / Abadzis [#138]

Death's Head! Unicron! The origin of the Transformers told! Meanwhile, Galvatron is causing trouble in the past.

The Stories:

There's some build-up to the title story in the form of "Headhunt", as Death's Head is hired by Shockwave to assassinate Rodimus Prime... and Cyclonus and Scourge get in the way. Ultimately the bounty-hunter ends up being hired by Prime to take out the two Unicron-made Decepticons. Geoff Senior's art in the second part is much sharper and more gritty than Dan Reed's in the first.

This perhaps requires a little introduction, and indeed the preface does include a two-page summary of Transformers: The Movie, for the benefit of readers who spent the last fifteen years or so folded inside a trouser press or otherwise occupied. The main timeline of the UK comics accepted the events of TF:TM as canon, although this was told through flashbacks rather than waste the space of six or more issues in the retelling of a readily available story. Thus, at the beginning of "Headhunt", it is 2007 and the peaceful conclusion of the Movie has given way to renewed war. Death's Head reprises his role after the events of the "Wanted: Galvatron. Dead Or Alive" storyline, but you're told all you need to know: the skull-faced mercenary has a grudge against Rodimus Prime.

(Those who wish to follow the bigger picture in UK chronology might want to check out Titan's first two volumes of UK material: "Target: 2006" and "Fallen Angel".)

"Ladies' Night" is a little follow-up to the "Fallen Angel" storyline which provides context for "Legacy Of Unicron"... after the events of the Movie, Galvatron hid from Rodimus Prime by travelling back through time, seeking opportunity to make himself more powerful. He was ultimately stopped by Ultra Magnus, who wrestled him into a volcano. "Ladies' Night" sees the entombed Transformers rediscovered by a human news crew, the Decepticons deciding to blow up and put and end once and for all to the insane Galvatron, and the Autobots wondering whether they should sacrifice Ultra Magnus and let them do it! Of course, things don't go entirely to plan.

Then we're into the main feature. To UK audiences, the end of the initial installment was the first suggestion they had of Unicron's involvement... reading this over a decade later, you don't get the surprise factor, but you do get an issue's worth of Death's Head hunting down Cyclonus and Scourge as per the contract he made at the conclusion of "Headhunt". Enjoyable in itself. Anyway, the head of Unicron (last seen orbiting Cybertron in the Movie) apparently contained his consciousness; the big ugly has so far made mindless slaves of the Junkion race and is forcing them to rebuild his body. He has also has a time portal built, which he intends to use to eliminate Galvatron.

Furman was in an enviable position working on Marvel UK. With character introductions handled largely by the Marvel US reprints, he had the opportunity to define a great deal about the Transformers universe he was writing. His ability to fit two long-running continuities alongside each other is frequently praised, and is especially deserved because of the nature of the material he contributed: the deaths of major characters and the origin of the mechanoid race in the comics. In just such a major event, part two of "Legacy Of Unicron" sees Cyclonus and Scourge take control of the Decepticon forces on Cybertron and Unicron announces his intention to have them launch an attack against the Autobots which he hopes will wipe both sides out. Parts three and four, meanwhile, features more heroism in battle (and outright war) than many of the 150 UK issues before them, as Smokescreen and Inferno fight to get the news to Rodimus Prime of Unicron's continued existence on the Junkion homeworld. Meanwhile, Death's Head is struggling to break free from Unicron's mind-control and Wreck-Gar is planting explosive underneath Unicron's head.

It's worth taking a moment at this stage to note how important Death's Head is to the plot. His strength of will achieves what few others (Galvatron being the primary example) have managed to do: he breaks free from Unicron's torturing mental grip. More than that, he's able to challenge him on the astral plane, a level of psionic existence which will play a crucial role in what is to follow. Some will say that this is Furman offering up literary conceits which are too convenient, but it does build upon earlier writings such as "Victory" (1986 UK annual story) and the Movie itself. Indeed, it seems also inspired by science-fiction concepts which were particularly fresh at the time: Gibson's "Neuromancer" is one parallel which springs to mind for the way in which combatants fight and communicate in a virtual space.

For his effrontery, Death's Head is told by Unicron something of the origins of Unicron himself and the Transformers. Thus begins the most significant parting of the ways between the Marvel comics and the American cartoon. Gather round and we'll summarise: a long time ago, Unicron (and apparently a group of others) sought to wipe out all life. He was opposed in this by Primus (and another group of beings Unicron refers to as 'Light Gods'.) Primus, distracted by the harm done to life in the universe by their battle, was driven to exhaustion. He attempted to defeat Unicron on the astral plane, and fared little better. In a desperate plan, he fled back to the physical universe, trapping himself and Unicron inside dead asteroids. Ultimately, Unicron shaped his prison into the transforming, planet-eating dreadnought we're familiar with from the film. Primus became the habitable world of Cybertron, supposedly creating the first Transformers in imitation of Unicron. They were to guard the matrix in which Primus had stored his essence, so that it could be used against Unicron in future. This also explains why Unicron is so keen to destroy Cybertron, and why the matrix defeats him in the Movie.

As an afternote, would you take everything Unicron says at face value? Characters can be regarded as frequently twisting or giving incomplete information, especially when they're supposedly as evil as this. His account differs from the ones we later get in the main US stories (remember, UK continuity includes the majority of US continuity but the reverse is not true.) Something to think about, anyway.

The conclusion is quite business-like: Unicron is distracted by the attacking Autobots and Death's Head assists Rodimus in slipping through Unicron's defences, then throws himself, Cyclonus and Scourge through the time portal, intending to deal with them at a more convenient time. The explosives detonate, destroying Unicron's physical presence completely and trapping his essence inside the matrix. A postscript reveals that Cyclonus and Scourge survive the explosion of the time portal as they were entering it, but Death's Head is lost who-knows-where. This neatly allows Cyclonus and Scourge to take part in the US Headmasters storyline, and Death's Head to go forward into other Marvel comics (Dr Who Magazine #135 is the next time we see him.)

The art by Anderson/Baskerville, Senior and Hitch is excellent stuff, typically very finely shadowed and inked. Reed is perfectly functional, his contributions just aren't anything to get exciting about... all merely my opinion, of course.

You could be forgiven for ignoring "Enemy Action", a two-parter printed at the end of the volume. It leads on from the events of "Ladies' Night", with Galvatron free and out to undermine Shockwave. It also fairly randomly features the Seacons, Sparkabots and Firecons, in one of the more noticeable product placement stories of the UK comics... at the end of this, we see Shockwave get the germ of an idea to locate Megatron (who's been missing in action for a while) and use him against Galvatron.

The Presentation:

Geoff Senior and Oliver Harud provide the cover, and it's a really nice one. Inside, we have four pages of background material covering UK issues #125-153... quite an interesting overview, even for those of us who've read the material before. Titan have more access to the production staff of the comics than the rest of the fandom, so even their more speculatory comments deserve some attention.

The back cover features an assortment of thumbnail UK comic covers, some of which with some nice shading work. The ones with Death's Head are particularly striking.

The Verdict:

The first two stories are likely to make little sense to anyone who hasn't read at least the "Fallen Angel" volume. As you may have noticed, the UK storyline can get quite complicated due to the amount of continuity it possesses. Stick with it, though: it also features much of the best writing and art for Transformers you'll see. Some of the American pencillers had occasional flairs of creativity, but all were butchered by Nel Yomtov's colouring and the dot-printing process.

The 'main course' of the volume can be enjoyed by anyone with a passing knowledge of the Movie. We get a sense of the scale of conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons rarely appreciable in other media, coupled with the uber-villain Unicron and anti-hero Death's Head. This is not to say the regular cast are upstaged: Rodimus Prime, Wreck-Gar, Smokescreen and Inferno all play major roles, as do Shockwave, Soundwave, Cyclonus and Scourge. This is one volume of UK stories I'll recommend to anyone... with the obvious comment that it can be more fully appreciated in the context of the storylines before it.

Personally, I'd start with "Legacy Of Unicron" and work backwards to "Fallen Angel" and "Target: 2006".

 
Reviewed by Denyer

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