Cheers for deleting those, it's much appreciated!

Thankfully I have an IDW-reading chum/minion who also reads the thread, who will warn me in advance if any posts are spoileriffic so I can skip past them.

 

Nice system.

 

Infiltration #3

At last! Things happen! The slow build-up finally gives way to some actual plot progression, and a better look at the Autobots. Prowl is a bit of a boor, refusing to accept Ratchet's argument in the face of so much evidence. Ironhide is swayed by Ratchet's rhetoric and sends a message to Optimus Prime, while Bumblebee also agrees to help Ratchet - you can bet Prowl will be mightily annoyed when he finds out what's been going on behind his back.

Thankfully, the three humans are on much better form here (possibly because we're no longer reliant on them to carry the story, now that the Autobots are around). It transpires that the stolen palmtop contains details of an abandoned Decepticon base in Nebraska; Verity, Hunter and Jimmy convince Ratchet that they must be the ones to investigate the base.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons are in full 'scorched earth' mode, tying up loose ends in the only way they know how - by blowing up stuff real good. They blitz the trailer-home of 'Mr Finklerock' - the man who owned the palmtop - and blow up the remains of Jimmy's garage. Their next target: the old Nebraska base that just so happens to be under investigation by Ratchet and company - uh-oh!

I do have a couple of issues with the plotting - it's really convenient that Skywarp and Blitzwing just so happen to get orders to blow up the old base at the same time Verity and chums are about to enter it. Also: why send the humans to the Nebraska base at all? Why put them in danger when Bumblebee and Ratchet could possibly go on his own?

Those niggles aside, this was a good, solid instalment. I'm happier with the pacing, and the human/Transformer ratio is much better. I'm still intrigued as to where all this is going and hopefully we can get a proper Autobot/Decepticon showdown next issue. 3/5

 

I may be mis-remembering.. but im sure there were reasons the bots couldnt just waltz in there - traps, security sensors etc..

I do like the brief summaries.. really helps to figure out where you are, especially as, despite several re-reads, after awhile, my memories get a little fuzzy  

Some more good stuff coming up, you know!

 

Hello, all   Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but where does For All Mankind fit in? Thank you  

 

For All Mankind is the first volume of the ongoing series, which comes after All Hail Megatron, and is the third era of IDW Continuity:

Furman Era (Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation, Revelation)
McCarthy Era (All Hail Megatron)
Costa Era (Ongoing series)
Barber/Roberts Era (RID/MTMTE)

 

Ah! Thank you  

 

Just reading this thread, and I want to say- By the matrix of leadership, so much spoiler talk early on! I'm glad it's died down, after all, it's not necessary to go into how each series ties into other stuff, we'll see the op discover it when he gets there ^^

 

Infiltration #4

There's a guy called Joseph Campbell - the best word I would use to describe him is 'story-ologist'. He wrote a book, 'The Hero With a Thousand Faces', which basically stated that there's this one story - the monomyth - on which a whole heap of other stories are based.

An unassuming ordinary person (Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter) is wrenched from their familiar domestic surroundings, and embarks upon a Quest. There's usually a wise old man character to help them on their way (Jaga, Merlin, Rupert Giles) and some sort of magical object, force or elixir usually plays a part in the protagonist's transformation into a Hero (midichlorians, the Creation Matrix, Prince Adam's Power Sword, Jerrica Benton's earrings).

Apologies for the long intro, but now I'm getting to my point - here we get to the section of the story where we go Into the Belly of the Beast. Just as Hot Rod went inside Unicron in the '86 movie, just as Jonah was eaten by the Whale, just as Frodo "just walked" into Mordor - here we get our own 'Belly of the Beast' moment, as our human heroes venture into the creepy Decepticon base.

This is Verity's issue - it's her we focus on in the present-day, and we also get flashbacks to her youth. As we discovered in her conversation with Jimmy in issue 2, Verity's arrogance and 'tough girl' attitude are just defence mechanisms - deep down she's vulnerable and insecure. This is illustrated by a scene in which she's visibly disturbed after discovering a pod-like object containing a withered human cadaver, but puts on a brave face for the boys, acting as if nothing's the matter. As in part 2, I question why Furman made the 'emotionally flaky' character the girl one.

As promised in last issue's cliffhanger, the Decepticons attack their abandoned base, as part of their 'tidying loose ends' policy. They show up and bomb the place, and Ratchet is critically injured. What's interesting is that the Autobots consider their three human friends as 'acceptable casualties', hearkening back to a couple of old G1 comics which touched on similar themes: we had US#30 'The Cure', in which Goldbug and the Throttlebots considered killing the Scraplet-infected Blaster for the greater good, and UK#137-138 'Ladies' Night', in which the same characters thought that blowing up Mount Verona and Ultra Magnus would be a good idea, if the end result was the death of Galvatron. Juicy stuff.

As well as all that, we get another look at the Machination - a group of sinister-looking plotters who seem to be remarkably well-informed of Transformer activity. More questions are raised by the presence of a human corpse in the bunker - were the Decepticons keeping real humans in their base, or are they in the process of creating clones or replicas - which would, after all, tie into the infiltration theme. The corpse was wearing a military uniform, after all.

Overall, this was much better - with the plot now into full swing, I find I have more to talk about, more to digest that in the earlier instalments. It didn't really warrant four issues of build-up, but at last we've gotten to the point where things are consistently exciting. 4/5.

PS: Megatron!!!!

 

Yep, things were getting intriguing. Of course all will be revealed soon enough.

 

That moment with Megatron, where she's not worth more than a glance, is one of my favourite IDW moments.

 

The Machination and Hunter O'Nion. Oh boy. One of the darkest arc of IDW TF universe.

 

Infiltration #5

Whilst character and plotting and drama and all that kinda stuff can help make a great story, sometimes you just want to shove all that aside and go see a popcorn action movie. The penultimate issue of Infiltration steps back from the world-building and revelations of the previous issues, and gives us a simple, well-delivered action story.

The three humans struggle to escape from the Decepticon base as it's being bombarded from above by Skywarp and Blitzwing. Hunter and Jimmy manage to make it to the surface unscathed, but Verity's still in there. Being the Girl One, she's in full-on damsel in distress mode here, as the Autobots (and Hunter in particular) struggle to rescue her before the base collapses. It's a massive cliché (Verity grabs onto Hunter in the nick of time), but on the other hand, this stock action movie trope just enhances the feeling that this issue is the comic equivalent of a Jason Statham film.

The Good Guys manage to escape the carnage, because Skywarp and Blitzwing are too busy concentrating on Megatron, who is not a happy bunny after nearly being entombed within his own base. Megatron makes short work of his would-be assassins, demonstrating that he's a genuine Big Bad and a force to be reckoned with. Gulp.

In amongst all the action we do have a bit of plotting - Starscream's group are digging for Ore-13. Thanks to Basil Exposition, er, Ironhide, we learn that this is a new super-Energon that the Decepticons are mining. This superfuel would presumably tie in with whatever shenanigans Shockwave was up to in his Spotlight comic, rounding off that particular plot thread quite neatly.

But the real thing to notice about this issue, however, is that it's so darn readable. It flows, it's relentless, boom boom boom. Snappy dialogue combined with kinetic, dynamic, clear art. Furman's gotten the slow-and-steady out of his system with the early issues, now he cranks up the pace and the energy. My one niggle is that they didn't turn it up to eleven and put exclamation marks on the sound effects. In this sort of issue, I want a Zzraaak! and a Kakoom!, as Throom and Chaang just don't cut it.

One could argue all day that this story is two-dimensional, style-over-substance, empty and vacuous. But then that would be spectacularly missing the point. This issue is as subtle as a brick, and proud of it. 4/5

 

Looking at this in proper context, this is the first hint of Ore-13. Shockwave's spotlight issue, released in September of 2006, came 5 months after Infiltration #4.

 

Yeah, the order in which the trades present the stories has been a little odd thus far. Maybe the next set of reprints (I see there's an 'IDW Compendium' due this summer) will put it all in publication order!

 

Yeah, the reading order in which the TPB's place the comics was always off.

 

Now I really want to go back and read the Infiltration mini. Thanks!

 

Infiltration #6

Well, I'm not quite sure how to react to that one... nonplussed, maybe?

It all boils down to this: a final confrontation between Megatron and Starscream, the latter having been powered up by Ore-13. Megatron wins.

And that's it.

For the grand finale of the first chapter of IDW's Transformers output, I was expecting something a little bigger. The Autobots do the sum total of bugger all, watching on as bystanders while the two Decepticons duke it out. Meanwhile, Verity gets all emotional again, and Optimus Prime arrives at the Ark.

Judging the comic on its own merits, there is at least some good stuff going on here - the fight scene is well choreographed, the art is great, and it's refreshing to see Megatron act so steely and restrained in the face of such provocation, especially considering his rant 'n' rave G1 persona.

But this is not a stand-alone comic, it's the finale of a seven-issue story arc. Whilst some of the individual instalments have been strong (especially the action-packed #5), the plot can basically be boiled down to - Autobots meet humans, Autobots find out what Decepticons are up to, Autobots watch Decepticons have a fight. I feel that, given Furman had seven issues to play with, there should have been more to this than what we ended up with.

With Optimus Prime now in play, and The Machination looking to get involved, the next arc promises to be a bit juicier - perhaps the Autobots will now be active participants rather than just befuddled onlookers.

But overall it feels like Infiltration is just a long, drawn-out pre-credits teaser for the main event, rather than a good story in it's own right. 2/5

 

I'm curious about what comes next in your reading order. Are you jumping into Escalation right away, or are you reading Stormbringer and/or some Spotlights before?

 

Yeah I thought Infiltration ended a bit abruptly, but I loved that fight at the end. Starscream is so powerful now, but he still gets his ass royally kicked by Megatron. I love how Megatron easily reminds the rest of the Decepticon's of their place, and it was nice of him to let the spectators leave too.  

Things have warmed up now, let's get onto the rest of these stories.