Mask annual2017 pr

THE

ORIGINAL

TELEVISION

PILOT, "THE DEATHSTONE" FOR A MODERN

M.A.S.K.: MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND: ANNUAL 2017

RE-IMAGINING

AGE! THE M.A.S.K AND G.I. JOE TEAMS ARE PUT TO THE ULTIMATE TEST AS THEY JOIN FORCES IN A DESPERATE, WORLD-SPANNING QUEST TO KEEP V.E.N.O.M FROM HARNESSING THE POWER OF A STOLEN METEORITE BEFORE ITS STRANGE POWER CAN BE USED TO DOMINATE THE WORLD!

RODRIGUEZ WITH ART BY THE INIMITABLE ANDREW GRIFFITH AND JOHN-PAUL BOVE!

Cover by Andrew Griffith

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RODRIGUEZ • GRIFFITH • ATKINS • BOVE

FEATURING THE TALENTS OF WRITER DAVID A.

HASBRO UNIVERSE TITLES FEBRUARY 2017

THE DEATHSTONE

*

WRITTEN BY

DAVID A. RODRIGUEZ ART BY

ANDREW GRIFFITH

SUBSCRIPTION COVER art by Juan Carlos Ruiz Burgos

COLORS BY

JOHN-PAUL BOVE LETTERED BY

GILBERTO LAZCANO EDITED BY

DAVID HEDGECOCK

MARCH 2017

EDITORIAL ASSIST BY

DAVID MARIOTTE PUBLISHED BY

TED ADAMS *Inspired by the M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand original television pilot episode.

REGULAR COVER art by Andrew Griffith colors by John-Paul Bove

Special thanks to Derryl Depriest, David Erwin, Mark Weber, Ed Lane, Beth Artale, and Michael Kelly for their invaluable assistance.

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•G.I. Joe #3 •M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand #4 •Transformers: Lost Light #3 •Optimus Prime #4 •Transformers: Till All Are One #8 •Transformers Annual 2017 •M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand Annual 2017 •Revolutionaries #3 •Micronauts #10 •ROM #8

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M.A.S.K.: MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND ANNUAL 2017. FEBRUARY 2017. FIRST PRINTING. HASBRO and its logo and M.A.S.K. MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2017 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 2765 Truxtun Road, San Diego, CA 92106. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.

•G.I. Joe #4 •M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand #5 •Transformers: Lost Light #4 •Optimus Prime #5 •Transformers: Till All Are One #8 •Revolutionaries #4 •Micronauts #11 •ROM #9

Greetings, IDW Faithful! This month, we want to put the spotlight on writer Mairghread Scott, who writes our Transformers: Till All Are One ongoing series!

Tell us about yourself!

These parts are always so boring: I'm a writer, I grew up outside of Detroit... blah, blah, blah. Here are some random things I never get to say: I love food with a fiery passion, especially anything with cherries. My favorite movie is The Last Unicorn. I can recite most Monty Python sketches from memory. I hate puppets. I need an inverted Y-axis when I play video games. I always, always have to answer any question asked if I know it... even if they didn't ask me. And if you ever meet me in person there's a 75% chance I will ask you a million questions about your job and life until it gets superawkward. Sorry in advance.

With the second story arc of Transformers: Till All Are One wrapping up this month, could you give our newer readers a short run-down of where things stand on Cybertron?

Things... could be better. Right now the planet is under siege by a swarm of undead, city-sized Transformers and the planet's only hope, Elita One, is being far less helpful than everyone would like.

[Psst... if you're reading this at the end of TAAO #8 you already know what's happened, but let's not spoil it for the other readers.] On the bright side, Starscream continues to be a better leader than anyone—me included—expects. He's not exactly putting his own spark on the line, but he is trying. Whether or not he'll get credit for that is another story!

Between Revolution and Titans Return, it’s been a hard couple of months for Windblade!

Does the future hold more challenges for her—or are things on the upswing?

Well, ummm... you probably wanna read TAAO #8. But I will say that this entire arc has been a bit of Windblade's call to sacrifice. She's been pushed and pulled to give up a lot of things for others and the end of issue 8 is Windblade's declaration of how far she's willing to go when innocent lives are on the line.

There’s some complicated relationships you explore in Till All Are One—friendly and adversarial alike. How do you approach the interplay between these clashing personalities?

My other job is writing cartoons for children, which I love, but you often can't have super-nuanced relationships in a 22-minute cartoon. So when I write for adults, it's very important for me to build the kind of relationships I see in adult life, namely messy ones: the co-worker you work great with but can't stand, the family member you love despite your own jealousy of them, the significant other you can't seem to quit no matter how bad they are for you. I try to embrace this messiness as much as possible and let my characters react however well—or poorly—I think they would. In Transformers, we're already asking people to relate to alien robots, I don't want them to have to relate to cardboard saints as well.

And of course, we gotta know: who’s your favorite Transformer?

Oh, this changes sometimes. But right now it's IDW's Waspinator. Not only do artists always get a ton of great expressions and movement out of him, but he's a joy to write whenever I can.

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