Going Backwards - Transformers: All Hail Megatron #7 review

Welcome back! I'm feeling slightly depressed as of now - virtually no-one has found this site and my follower Shadow has dropped off the face of the Earth. So here's my review of All Hail Megatron #7, even though no-one's reading... (BTW Trev's cover is just so cool I just had to make it exta big).

SYNOPSIS: Before: On Cybertron, scientist Deluge has created the Swarm, nearly three thousand twisted deformed Decepticons, in the hope of producing the perfect breeding ground for evil genius. Though Thundercracker is unhappy at the treatment of fellow Decepticons it has produced one notable success, in Bombshell. Megatron takes the new Transformer to meet someone … Now: On Cybertron, the Autobots race to find a more secure base before the Swarm find them. As they travel, Jazz explains how they came to their current predicament. Having both Prime and Megatron on Earth had resulted in a stalemate, with the Decepticons eventually vanishing from sight. Eventually the Autobots received word via Mirage that Starscream had made a power play resulting in a broken split force. Preparing a raid on what they expected to be a small group of ‘Cons, Optimus lead his troops into a textbook ambush by the full Decepticon force. Despite this, they managed to hold their own until Devastator tipped the balance, resulting in everyone falling and Megatron taking the Matrix.
Kup interrupts the story to order a brief rest, allowing Sideswipe to get Sunstreaker alone. He tries to persuade his teammate that he and Ironhide need to leave Mirage alone as it’s ripping the team apart. He then tries to talk to him about his terrible experience as a Headmaster, but Sunstreaker  brushes him off.

Jazz continues recounting to Kup, explaining that after they were defeated Megatron gloatingly told them that the Autobots had been betrayed by a traitor within their own ranks. After breaking them with this news, the Autobots were forced into a Space Bridge to Cybertron with the intent of them being fed to the Swarm, but last man in Prime did something that destroyed the Bridge but badly damaged him as he was thrown through. This effectively left the Autobots trapped on Cybertron.
As this conversation continues, Sunstreaker angrily tells Ironhide how Sideswipe has told them to back off. This so outrages the security chief that he goes off to where Mirage is standing alone and starts arguing with him. Though Mirage protests he’d reported the information in good faith, Ironhide refuses to believe him and beats him to the ground.

THE ART: Guido Guidi does his usual great job on the art, and captures the tense mood of Ironhide beating the crap out of Mirage (nice reference to the G1 cartoon with the "blame Mirage" affair). But the absolute star of this issue (sorry Burcham, it was close) was prolific E J Su. His flashback scenes are just beautiful. I've never thought about it before but I miss his complex, lots-of-hatching style. The shot of Megs ripping the Matrix from Prime's chest is just fraggin' exquisite! Kinda reminiscent of his shot of Megs standing over Prime in Escalation. Josh Burcham, I love you. Your colors are amazing, and take Guidi's and Su's lineart to a higher level of existence. Well done all around. I'm extremely satisfied with this issue and would have paid more than what I got for it happily ... OK, maybe not.

THE STORY: Shane's story is good enough--any writer who puts an obscure G2 character like Deluge (pictured left) knows something about what he's doing. But there are a lot of little details that make the story a bit incredible. Jazz says the storms on Cybertron are getting better and they can walk around normally, albeit in pain (remember Cybertron is a metal wasteland with electrical storms abundant). This is highly convenient for the Autobots as they arrive on Cybertron just as the storms stop. This one I'm prepared to take, but all the earth-bound Autobots going into a steep, enclosed canyon is just nuts! I mean come on, Shane McCarthy, do you actually think us Transfans are that stupid? It's like something out of the G1 cartoon. Not good. But if you ignore these, and you can with reasonable and surprising ease, then the story is very well done and makes me want more. But Fanbot is easy to please, as regular viewers will know.

ERRORS: Josh Burcham mixes up Skywarp and Thundercracker's colors in panel 1 of page 2. TC's on the left in panel 1 but in the rest of the page he's on the right. Honest mistake. In Su's flashbacks, Cliffjumper is missing his chequerboard patterns that go on the sides of his forearms.

FAVE QUOTE: Skywarp: "Hey. [Megatron] knows what he's doing."
Thundercracker: "That's what bothers me." [It's taken TC how long to figure out he's on the wrong side?]

VERDICT: a well-executed though slightly clumsy exposition of how the Autobots got the crap beaten out of them. E J Su's return is a definite win for AHM. Next month: Sunstreaker dies! And Bombshell begins to doubt his creator. Rated 8 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 3:37 pm, MONDAY 16 November