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25 years ago when Denny O’Neil and Bud Budiansky created names and profiles for a new line of Hasbro toys that Marvel planned to cross promote with a comic series, I doubt either of them knew they were going to create one of the most enduring pop-culture hero/villain rivalries of the modern era.  For over 2 decades now, the Transformers dominate toy lines, cartoons and even movies allowing the eternal battle between the heroic Autobot, Optimus Prime, and villainous Decepticon, Megatron, to play out for millions of fans worldwide.  It should be no surprise to anyone that the toy line that started out in comics continues the tradition to this day.

IDW, the current publisher of Transformers comics, puts out several different Transformers based series.  Reprints of old, classic comics, the recent movie based comics and even comics based off the original G1 Cartoon/Old Marvel Era Transformers.  All Hail Megatron #1 follows the G1 IDW continuity.  In this continuity, so far, the taking of earth for the Decepticon cause began in subterfuge and eventually ended with a struggle that forced the Autobots off Earth and Optimus Prime apparently dead.  All Hail Megatron kicks off with Megatron and the Decepticon army beginning their conquest of Earth by announcing themselves in New York City, attacking Times Square. 

I have to say, being the huge Transformers fan that I am, that I loved this comic.  While I enjoy the IDW G1 continuity comics, All Hail Megatron woke up that little boy in me by making me feel like I read something based on the old cartoons and comics that had matured.  Shane McCarthy does no end of justice to the characters in the story he writes.  The few Decepticons who speak feel completely in character to what remember of the cartoons.  Starscream and Megatron’s uneasy working relationship remains.  However, unlike the old cartoon, All Hail Megatron brings a real brutality to the surroundings.  People die.  The Decepticons are cold and uncaring and toy with the human defenders.  They are enjoying the fight.  They are cats batting the mice around just to prove their vast superiority to their foes. The only problem I had in the entire story came from a page where the air force pilots are about to get into their jets and they talk about a speech we did not see. It feels very disjointed and while I understand that McCarthy probably wants us to connect to these young men who are about to fight foes they cannot possibly hope to beat, it was a very unnecessary and I think the story comes across better and more emotionally if you just ignore the page altogether.

The art team on this book astounds me.  Guido Guidi’s pencils and Josh Burcham’s colors completely blow me away.  While Guidi’s pencils definitely seem to have a Pat Lee (who drew Transformers while it was under Dreamwave) feel to them, the sheer amount of detail drawn in, and not just on the Transformers, but on everything else as well, wowed me.  It would not surprise me to learn that Guidi worked having copies of all the toys sitting in front of him and not just artist renditions.  Great perspective and panel layout work throughout the issue.  He also does an excellent job of showing the Transformers mid changing.  Some of the best renditions I have seen that shows he actually understands the why the Transformers work.  Seeing the self-satisfied smirk on Megatron’s face again only enhanced the familiarity to the book.

The same goes with the coloring.  I could not find a misstep with the coloring anywhere in the book. Bright bold and a bit garish on the Transformers the way they should be with nice even shadowing across several areas.  He picks out all the details so many others tend to gloss over, from the red on the inside of Megatron’s legs to the subtle differences in the blues between Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp.  It truly enhances the nostalgia factor.

All Hail Megatron #1 gives old school Transformers fans like myself exactly what they want out of a Transformers book.  Death, destruction and our old villains. If you have been following the IDW comics, you will probably enjoy this greatly. If you have not followed the IDW comics and G1 Transformers are your nostalgia, I would recommend you start now as I have a feeling this series promises a lot of fun reading.  If you are new to the classic G1 Transformers, the first issue probably will not give you enough back-story, but I think anyone who enjoys any version of the Transformers will enjoy seeing the bad guys on a rampage.  The good guys cannot always win, right?

All Hail Megatron #1
Written by: Shane McCarthy
Art by: Guido Guidi
Colors by: Josh Burcham
Letters by: Neil Uyetake & Chris Mowry

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