BotCon have taken to Twitter to announce a partnership with IDW to produce this year's Convention Comic - Dawn of the Predacus.

Written by John-Paul Bove and artwork by Corin Howell, it's set in the same universe as Beast Wars: The Gathering and The Ascending.

 

I guess that's how they avoided conflicts with cartoon canon, then. Well...that's interesting.

 

We are thrilled to announce that we have partnered with @IDWPublishing to produce this years BotCon Comic Transformers: Dawn of the Predacus
- BotCon 2016 (@BotCon) March 4, 2016

Transformers: Dawn of the Predacus is written by @wordmongerer and drawn by the very talented @Rin237. It is going to be a GREAT book!
- BotCon 2016 (@BotCon) March 4, 2016

Transformers: Dawn of the Predacus will be available 1st at BotCon and will have an exclusive cover and all the BotCon program information.
- BotCon 2016 (@BotCon) March 4, 2016

Lastly, this years story is set within the IDW Transformers continuity that features The Ascending and The Gathering. Going to be great!
- BotCon 2016 (@BotCon) March 4, 2016

The story is completely in continuity (the wibbly wobbly G1, G2, BW continuity) and features some HUGE moments in TF history.
- John-Paul Bove (‏@wordmongerer) March 4, 2016

For fans of both Beast Wars and G1, Dawn of Predacus is set during the last 48 hours of the Great War... #beastwars #transformers #g1
- John-Paul Bove (‏@wordmongerer) March 4, 2016

 

So does this mean the story will feel like a beginning immediately followed by an ending without a proper middle part, plus loads and loads of characters being introduced just for the sake of "completeness", then?

 

The TV show canon and comic canon are meant to be one and the same. Nothing in Gathering or Ascending contradicted the show, apart from Ravage being alive, of course.

Time will tell. They've got 20-22 pages to cover a pretty monumental event in TF history.

A preview page or some artwork would have been a nice addition to the announcement, but alas.

 

Considering those books aren't even currently in print or available digitally (at least that I found searching Comixology), this is a really random niche decision. Oh well I'm still looking forward to the actual box set itself.

 

Huh.
Weird choice.

So what, we're gonna find out if Cicadacon actually was in the Great War or something?

 

Actually this might work out rather well. BW Gathering and Ascending (which I personally enjoyed) had Magmatron as a Tripredacus agent and saw Ravage be more prominent. I could see this working.

 

I wonder if IDW is making plans to do convention-exclusive editions of the old material. Might be a pricey option, but given their involvement, it would be a way to ensure that everyone (even those younger fans who wouldn't have even been aware of those nearly-decade old stories) has potential access to the story.

 

I don't even see why them tying something to old material even matters. I'm sure the comic can be read fine as a stand alone BW story just with minor references to IDW specific stuff.

 

this is huge news!

i've always thought about botcon specific characters like tap out, flareup, apelinq, packrat, and the rest in the idw universes. i hope this is the start of something like that along with maybe idw offering reprints of botcon books with full bios.

i've been wanting to even read some of the botcon comics i wasn't lucky enough to find in comic shops. i can never find scans online.

 

be nice if they'd reveal the souvenir figures.

 

Edit: clicked link to correct topic, but it took me to one unrelated.  

 

This is either gonna be really good (The Gathering) or really bad (The Ascending)

 

Idw is partnering with fan pub I am really excited to see how it will turn out now!

 

Beyond Ravage and Tarantulas, let's hope it's not replete with Beast Wars cameos. Beast Wars is some 300-400 years after the end of the Great War.

 

Oh, and Botcon? Scrap the Uprising continuity. It is unsalvageable.

 

I must admit, the 'Hunger Games meets Transformers' universe has never done much for me.

 

I had a feeling that's where the story would be set, awesome.

 

I've met John-Paul Bove a couple of times, and he's a nice guy. Glad I'll get to read a book written by him. Hope the non-convention edition is out before TFNation. Also, I wonder if we might be in for a reprint of the Beast Wars Omninbus with this (And maybe Dawn of Future's Past) in it.