Revolution: The Road to Revolution 100-Page Special #1

TAKE A STAND! Ten years of TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE comics have led to this month’s REVOLUTION! This bargain-priced bonanza presents five key stories that have paved the road to the universe being born this month! From the early days of the IDW Transformers comics to the latest version of G.I. JOE, the building blocks of this universe have been growing for years!

REVOLUTION: THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION 100-PAGE SPECIAL

Cover by Pop Mhan

WWW.IDWPUBLISHING.COM • $7.99

CREDITS transformers: infiltration #2

transformers: Combiner Hunters

Writer: simoN fUrmaN

Writer: mairGHreaD sCott

artist: e.J. sU

artist: sara Pitre-DUroCHer

Colorist: JoHN raUCH

Colorist: yamaisHi (Coordination: Phase6)

letterer: tom B. loNG

letterer: tom B. loNG

editors: CHris ryall and DaN taylor

editor: JoHN BarBer

G.i. Joe #0

G.i. Joe (2014) #1

Writer: CHUCk DixoN

Writer: kareN traviss

artist: roBert atkiNs

artist: steve kUrtH

Colorist: aNDreW Crossley

Colorist: kito yoUNG

letterer: Neil Uyetake

letterer: tom B. loNG

editor: aNDy sCHmiDt

editor: JoHN BarBer special thanks to: max Brooks

transformers: robots in Disguise #29

additional material

Writer: JoHN BarBer artists: aNDreW GriffitH, GUiDo GUiDi,

Writer: JoHN BarBer

and BreNDaN CaHill

artists: aNDreW GriffitH

Colorist: JosH Perez and JoaNa lafUeNte

and sara Pitre-DUroCHer

letterer: tom B. loNG

Colorists: JosH BUrCHam and JosH Perez letterer: tom B. loNG

editor: Carlos GUzmaN

editor: Carlos GUzmaN

Production Designer: Neil Uyetake editor: Carlos GUzmaN Publisher: teD aDams

Special thanks to Derryl Depriest, Mark Weber, Ben Montano, David Erwin, Grant Gie, Ed Lane, Beth Artale, and Michael Kelly.

www.IDWPUBLISHING.com

Ted Adams, CEO & Publisher Greg Goldstein, President & COO Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Laurie Windrow, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services Jeff Webber, VP of Licensing, Digital and Subsidiary Rights Jerry Bennington, VP of New Product Development

For international rights, contact licensing@idwpublishing.com

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REVOLUTION: THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION 100-PAGE SPECIAL #1. SEPTEMBER 2016. FIRST PRINTING. HASBRO and its logo, ACTION MAN, G.I. JOE, M.A.S.K.: MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND, MICRONAUTS, ROM, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2016 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.

INTRODUCTION

By JOHN BARBER Writer: Transformers, Revolution, Action Man, Optimus Prime The Transformers arrived on October 19, 2005.

Not on Earth, I mean. Well, yes, I guess technically on Earth—but I mean that’s when the first IDW Publishing Transformers comic hit the newsstands.

The Transformers had already enjoyed a pretty illustrious publishing history. Back in 1984, Marvel comics published the first Transformers #1, written by Bill Mantlo (who also chronicled many a toy tie-in comic) and my old friend Ralph Macchio; drawn by Frank Springer and Kim DeMulder, with colors by soon-to-be mainstay Nelson Yomtov, all overseen by the legendary Bob Budiansky. Preceded by an ambitious television advertising campaign, the comic came out before the toys—on the birthday of young me, who picked it up with great anticipation.

Transformers followed hot on the heels of another Hasbro/comics success: G.I. Joe, written by Larry Hama—a man literally without peer—and (usually) drawn by the incredible Herb Trimpe. This comic, too, had a TV commercial announcing its arrival—and that was the first comic that fully attracted the attention of younger-still me. I don’t bring this stuff up to try to draw attention from the heroes who made these things happen, but just to highlight—my life, one spent in comics, would be entirely different without these particular comics.

Anyway—Transformers was a hit, and it was such a hit in the U.K. that they published the U.S. version twice as fast and started creating a bunch of new material on their own. Pretty soon a gent by the name of Simon Furman became the prominent writer (and editor) of these U.K. Transformers comics which had an incredible impact on young kids in the U.K. So, time marches on. The initial Transformers and G.I. Joe comics and TV series came to an end—but Transformers continued with new cartoons like Beast Wars, bringing in new fans and creating a rich tapestry of storytelling. In the early 2000s, new Transformers and G.I. Joe comics emerged—becoming smash hits. But things shift fast in the comics business, and fortunes rose and fell, and by 2005 the Transformers license was nabbed by IDW Publishing. Already successful with books like 30 Days of Night, Transformers: Infiltration #0 was the first licensed comic by the company.

In those very first issues, the Decepticons—led in this particular mission by Starscream—had secretly infiltrated Earth (hence the name, Infiltration) searching for the mysterious Ore-13. An Autobot—Ratchet—reached out to a trio of humans for help.

On the following pages is the second issue of Infiltration. I picked that one because it has the first-in-IDW-continuity appearance of robot-mode Autobots—plus the first actual appearance of Ore-13, which forms the spine of the Revolution series… a series that brings together the worlds of the Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, Action Man, Micronauts, and Rom. Because while Transformers was the first comic IDW and Hasbro produced… it wasn’t the last…

by Bill Sienkiewicz

Simon Furman wrote the first several years of the IDW stories—starting fresh with a new continuity. Simon had the benefit of having worked on every iteration of the Transformers—to this day, he’s written more Transformers comics than anyone else—but allowed here to take a different angle on the characters and concepts. He was joined by E.J. Su on art—who brought a fresh mangainfluenced style to his drawings, redefining the look of the characters for a new (and returning) audience.

by E.J. Su

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