THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

TRANSFORMERS TITLES FROM TITAN BOOKS / MAGAZINES

Titan Transformers #2 (Megatron)
Reviewed by Inflatable Dalek

Ironically this shares the same problem as IDW's concurrent Megatron: Origin comic in that -- despite being named after him -- the titular star is barely present.

The slapstick comedy with Ratchet and co. versus the dumbest soldier of all time is fine, but feels likes it's distracting from the selling point of the story. What we do learn about Megs is nothing new: he likes power, prepared to risk anything for it, considers everyone beneath him, yadda yadda yawn yawn. This will hopefully be of more interest to younger readers with no prior familiarity with the character beyond the Movie (who are of course the main audience), but they really don't get any more from this that they would have from Megatron's cameo in the film.

Art wise, Roche is clearly having fun going for a art style aimed more at youngsters, with all his quirky exaggerations added to more than usual. Everyone's wide-eyed or comically open-mouthed and it's very nicely done -- even if it perhaps doesn't quite gel with some of Megatron's more ponderous dialogue. And after the Prime's Earth Mode Debacle of last issue it's good to see him go to the effort of matching Bumblebee's Cybertronian mode to how it looks later in the IDW reprints exactly.

So despite some nice art it's fairly inconsequential and should really only be bought if you don't already have the back up material.


Optimus Prime launched the Allspark into space last issue, whilst Megatron's assault on Bumblebee is taken from the end of issue one of IDW's Prequel comic (or the next issue of this one if you will). There's no indication of Megatron getting caught in a tractor beam in that issue, but Bumblebee -- the stories narrator -- is having a bad time of things and may not have noticed.

For those who don't know, there's some debate as to what the tank Decepticon's "official" name is -- the Movie itself goes for Devastator but the toy pumps for Brawl. This issue sides with the onscreen name, even if the letters page to issue 1 went with the toy. The gun belts he carries are most likely inspired by the Generation 2 comic where numerous characters were similarly dressed.

The Alkaris Expanse is a wormhole with only one entry but multiple exits. The script doesn't clarify if it's a natural occurrence or an experiment gone wrong -- though perhaps tellingly the tech spec given for Megatron in this issue claims he has a similar ability built into him.

According to Ironhide foldspace weapons were outlawed Deca-Cycles ago -- suggesting there's still some sort of law enforcement and inter-faction agreements despite the war going on.

Artist Nick Roche has worked previously for IDW -- making him the first ever person to have gone from working on an American Transformers comic to a British one rather than the other way round.


The Allspark looks completely different to how it did last issue -- whilst it's now closer to its appearance in the film (and the IDW material) it's still the wrong colour -- brown in this case instead of the blue it was or the silver it is in all other fiction.

Why is Devastator just flying about in Protoform mode like that? Is Megatron actually the only Transformer to have a proper alt-mode on their home planet? Also, on his first panel Devastator is drawn as if he's entering an atmosphere but seems to be far to far away from Cybertron for this to be the case.


Amazing Transformer Tattoos! Place them on your lover's face as they sleep for hilarious consequences.


A profile on Megatron (oddly Titan don't seem to have been provided with a reference photo of his spaceship mode, so they have to use a panel of art from the Prequel comic that looks oddly out of place in amongst the CGI renderings.)
Jazz V. Blackout Smackdown (credited to Furman.)
A competition to win a Transformers bed sheet -- only available in single, it would seem, so they have the demographic down pat...
A poster based on the cover.
An interview with Transformers computer game designer Andrew Burrows.
A thinly veiled advert for merchandise in the Top Gear section.
The Mech mail Letters page, which this time seems to be mostly genuine letters.

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