Transformers: Megatron Origin

Transformers IDW #1

by Eric Holmes, Alex Milne (Illustrator), Marcelo Matere (Illustrator)

The Transformers: Megatron Origin Before allegiance, rank and function - before war - a civilian will become a warrior, and warrior will become a leader. As a leader he will learn of the most powerful weapon on the planet - a weapon powerful enough to bind legions to his will - a faction named Decepticon. This collection brings the would-be major players of that faction together. Full description

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, 21st Century

104 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2007

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slave. Gladiator. Warrior. King.

Ok, you have to swap "slave" and "king" with "miner" and "leader", but I really loved how Megatron's rise to power here reminded me so much Conan the barbarian's one.



Great art and story for grown up/new fans of Transformers, and the characterization of Autobots as cold heartless rulers was just a really good and unexpected twist.



And the Megatron killing Gobots' Cy-Kill easter egg was just one of the best and most hilarious ever!

Excellent!

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was always a big fan of Megatron. Thus when I saw this origin comic, I had to get it. I am glad I did.

In the corrupt world of Cybertron, an underground pit fighter rises to become a champion. As his sigil, he uses what will be the Decepticon symbol. This is Megatron. We witness the oppression of the ruling Autobots and the Senators, but underneath it all there is a great deal of anger. Megatron uses this anger and creates his own organization.

From Soundwave to Starscream, many of your favorite Decepticons are shown. It is also a great look at the origins of Megatron. Good story and good art make this a real pleasure for any fan of the Transformers.

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, nemesis of the Autobots, a ruthless villain. Or is there more to his character? Is there more than meets the eyes?

This comic book, revolves around his origin; how he came to be, and how he became the infamous villain that he is. The artwork is impressive, capturing very minute details. However, the coloring makes it difficult to distinguish differeng characters.

Megatron Origin is a good entry point for new readers, which included myself, to the IDW Transformers universe.

[Mark Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot-wise, this book ranks higher than two stars. The actual telling of the story is where it fails. The artwork was muddy and the overall pacing is terrible. It is often unclear who characters are or with whom they are speaking/interacting. I’ve read better work from both writer and artist. Knowing that so much superior TF works comes from IDW later on, it is disappointing to go back to the early work and to start with this story.

[chai ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing is certain but death and taxes and megatron being the no 1 sentinel prime hater (as he should be). also, starscream is babygirl <3

[Graham Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hot mess. The art itself was good, but the page layouts were super constipated and congested, coupled with color palettes that were Zack Snyder levels of grayscale. On top of that, the story was just...unmoored.

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pretty important comic to the IDW continuity, in that it established that the Autobots of old were corrupt and that the Decepticons were an uprising against them. However, we never quite see why Megatron decided to transform his legions of followers into a conquering army - after the first two chapters we have basically no insight into his thinking, and there don't seem to be any particular offenses later on that sparked it (other than trying to arrest him). I guess we have to just roll with his bad experiences in the mines and his outlaw status as the main motives. The rest of the plot is functional but basic, though it does have a few interesting moments (such as how Starscream meets Megatron). (Incidentally, I'm not clear how canon this all is at this point, as the backgrounds of Megatron, Starscream, and others seem to be a bit different in later IDW TF series. Suppose they can be reconciled, though.) (C+)

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story quite a bit, but for me the art was too dark/same-y. It was super difficult for me to tell the characters apart in some panels, and my understanding of the story was slowed waaaaay down because I kept having to flip back and forth trying to figure out which Transformer was talking at any given time.

[Stergios · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story reminded me of Spartacus. The oppressed miners revolt against the rulling class and Megatron leads them in the fight. The big problem for me was the art. Muddy colors and crowded page layouts. I had to read the plot synopsis to make out who was who and what was going on! A shame, for the actual story was not that bad. For completists and Transformers fans only.

[Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transformers: Megatron Origin is a prequel to IDW's transformers comic franchise. This story arc shows what lead a hard working miner named Megatron into a dark life of being an underground gladiator; slaughtering his way through the arenas of cybertron and how this violent hatred caught the attention of the Autobot government that Megatron and his fellow fighter despise. this causes Megatron to gain a cult following and raise up into a leader of the "Decepticons" and takes over the city of Kaon thus starting the story of the Transformers.

Personally I feel mixed with this book as I found the art hard to read at times making the start of the narrative to translate. however I did apricate some of the set pieces and the designs of the characters especially they psychotic outbursts of Megatron's wrath taken in a more darker and edgier tone. overall not a lot actually happened and doesn't truly convey Megatron growing as a character but more giving places for him to fight in and although it does an interesting way of introducing a lot of the original decepticon cast it just doesn't do a lot that makes the characters memorable in their own right and just throwing them in for the reader to go "oh that's soundwave". All and all its an okay read mainly just fight scene followed by another one. If your a massive fan of Megatron then its worth the read for that but as a part of the transformers universe this can easily be skipped over

[Daniel Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Megatron and it's IDW, so it's brilliantly written and illustrated.
5 stars, because I'm a hopeless Transformers nerd, other people's mileage may vary.

[Grey Liliy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my canon for Megatron's back story--without question. Megatron's rise from miner to ruler is well written and displayed. I also love the backstory with other familiar characters winding into the story from how Rumble & Frenzy hooked up with Soundwave, to Starscream & his brothers joining up with Megatron and even seeing Senator Ratbat.

The art style, in particular, is absolutely gorgeous and accompanies the writing well.

Amazing book & definitely worth more than one read.

[Matt Richter · Rating 3 out of 5]

started off quite well. but just became more and more convoluted. Some art was amazing and some was rather oddly conceived ... as if the frame had zoomed in too far and you couldn't really make much sense of it. certainly not one of the stronger IDW Transformers releases.

[Nikki &#x1f3af; · Rating 1 out of 5]

As far as IDW transformers goes this one is ... okay. Megatron's IDW storyline is incredible. It is so strong and compelling and you really sympathize with him until you get to watch the slow and horrific turn for the worst. Then you get to see him be this completely unrecognizable monster. This comic tries to encapsulate all of that which just isn't really possible. Firstly, because this is only a 4 issue run. Secondly, because this is his origin not his full story.

The very beginning is not too bad. It starts with the mine riots. The author manages to give the audience a rough idea of why these happened without the slow preamble of Megatron's writing about functionism and miner's rights, and how they spread throughout Cybertron to other lower class builds. After this the comic starts quickly deteriorating. It just wildly over to the gladiator days. This in context of the comic makes NO SENSE. They highlight how hard it was for Megatron to make his first ever kill at the riots then in the very next story beat he is killing for entertainment (or at least that is what the dialogue leads you to believe). To make another quick jump- At the end of this run Megatron talks about how they used badges in the arena and if you forfeited you gave up your badge to your opponent. The spend roughly 3 of the 4 issues in the gladiator era and they don't tell you until the last issue that these early Decepticons are NOT just killing each other for fun and money?? It very much so makes it look like Megatron went from mine riot-breaks out in route to jail-starts killing for money-becomes the leader of the Decepticons. which is very 0-100 and lacks the nuance of Megatron's pressurized decent into being the Warlord he becomes.

They also introduce you to Soundwave, the Seeker Trine and the Cassettes. Normally I would be like "Hell yeah, cameos of characters that become very important later!". This was not a good introduction to these characters. Each are introduced immediately as Super Important Characters (except for Skywarp and Thundercracker who, as they often are, reduced to Starscream's accessories). They are all also introduced as very secretive and conniving with deeper histories and reasons for helping lead Megatron's cause. This is okay-ish with Soundwave because they at least show how extremely competent he is which would encourage Megatron to work closely with him. The "ooo look how mysterious and deceptive Soundwave is" is annoy though because you know it doesn't pay off in this story, and it unclear in what story it does pay off. With Starscream however is this REALLY BAD. He is introduced near the very end and is immediately seen as Megatron's right hand man by virtue of being a flight class?? Legitimately doesn't make any sense. It would if this comic didn't include Thundercracker and Skywarp who are not only flight classes but also Outliers. An argument could be made that "But Starscream is the trine leader!!". So? I legitimately don't think Megs would respect that. He isn't a flight class he wouldn't know the rules of Trines. He also is literally attempting to dismantle a hierarchy, a don't think he'd respect a mini hierarchy based on build type. This leaves all of the side characters uninteresting at best and confusing and disappointing at worst.

There is also a weirdly high focus on Prowl and Sentinel in this. Like a get it they're the opposing force but I actually really don't need their POV of "We have no idea where he is or what he's doing! Let's investigate!" Like yeah buddy. Of course that is what they're doing. More on that actually. We get this dumb POV telling you what is obviously happening but we never get to see anything about the Senate or any POV that goes into more depth about why Megatron is causing an uprising beside the "We are automating the mines and firing the miners" speech in the beginning. That is a large leap from "You're taking our jobs" to "Let's kill the Senate" and without any history of functionism explained or any of the atrocities of the Senate it just makes no sense.

Overall this is a bad origin by the fact that it is disjointed and pandering to fans who know characters (Rumble, Frenzy, the Trine, Sentinel, Prowl, Soundwave) making it extremely hard to follow for new readers wanting to learn Megatron's origin and for readers who already know his origin this retelling holds the least weight and lacks all nuance, and realism.

[Iain · Rating 1 out of 5]

What chaos. I kept thinking throughout, this feels like the Michael Bay movies put to paper: just endless metal, cables, robot pieces, explosions, carnage, everywhere, filling the panels with dreary visual noise so that we have to work to even figure out the gist of what's going on in most of them. Who is that? Who's talking to whom? What did he just do? Where did he come from? Where are they now? Are they in the sky now or still on the ground? How are those guys here too? Wait, where'd he come from? How did that happen? What's his plan here? How was he not destroyed? How'd he get up there unnoticed? How did he get through that armored barrier so quickly? Who, what, where, when, how: This entire story is just all of the basic questions, all at once, and often unanswered.

As much as it seems like Transformers are a very visually dependent story, this would have been vastly improved by just presenting it in text. Clear descriptions of what the hell is going on, who's saying what, who's doing what, and some insight into what anyone's thinking. As it is, I feel like everything I learned in 100 pages of wading through twisted metal could have been summarized in one of those 1984 toy character bios:
Megatron was an energon miner, he lost his job due to automation and price cutting, he rebelled and went on a rampage, became an underground street fighter, and built his notoriety into a following and a rebellion against the corrupt elites that pissed him off. There wasn't a lot of depth to it beyond that, and it actually gave me some real January 6th vibes, a decade beforehand.

Also got some major Joker in Dark Knight vibes with Megatron's agent of chaos sort of schtick and plan (was that a plan?) at the end. Guess that's what makes the Killing Joke tribute cover of him appropriate.

This was the first Transformers story I've ever read in comic book form, despite being a G1 fan of about 37 years, and not only did it not give me much hope for these, it really confirmed my existing feelings about Transformers: Show me Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, blending into human surroundings, but I could not possibly give a damn about a bunch of metal men on a metal planet brawling like R rated rock em sock em robots. That goes doubly if the art doesn't even render it intelligibly.

[Nicholas (was Allison) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.34 Stars
Notes: I have previously done years of research into various different transformers comics in the past. From that amount of time I had previously spent researching Decepticons, there are actually a few really good stories about Megatron’s origin that are written, since this is one I could find. I read this because of Transformers: One, given what I’ve seen online about it, Megatron is one of the characters in that movie.

Even though I’m much more of an Optimus Prime fan, I still know quite a bit more about decepticons and how they generally are, from taking effort looking into them. This was a very distracting comic and the story is clear to read through, even with multiple conflicts going on at the same time. It didn’t take me much time to read this story, given, I’ve watched through many transformers cartoons for years, so I already knew a lot of stuff about them for...a while.

Even with that knowledge, I will advise caution into reading this story, because I was literally not able to put it down, from the amount of stuff that goes on in the pages. This comic contains a very, very worthwhile Megatron origin in its pages, with more decepticons present in it (along with those like Soundwave and Sentinel Prime as well as some other ones that don’t get frequently mentioned much), than some other transformers comics I’ve heard of. I’ll also admit this affected my morals some, too, from everything that took place - there typically was a lot of things that went down, that even affected me to no end.

I would recommend this to those interested in reading something that while at first may seem slightly like an ordinary comic, this is literally, extremely necessary reading if you’ve had a transformers obsession like I’ve had for years.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second time I've read Megatron Origin after a good few years and still holds up as one of my favourite comic books. Eric Holmes has created what I consider the perfect Megatron/Deception backstory of any continuity in the 40year history of transformers.

We're also introduced to one of the main themes of IDW's vision of pre-war Cybertron. An unfair classist society which see's the Autobots taking on a bourgeois role leaving the lower classes to fight for their Energon.

This is where Megatron's story begins, fighting back after the ruling class of Autobots decide to shut down the mine he works at in order to automate it to reduce labour costs. This is where the story takes on a parallel to the Russian revolution of 1917 and we see the rise of our Stalin like figure in Megatron, developing is own 'cult of personality' in the underground gladiators pits of Cybertron and stumbling upon the power of an idea.

While I did really enjoy this version of events, I did feel it downplayed some of the origins of other notable Decepticons. Notably Starscream and the seekers who just sort of show up and join up with Megatron.

This edition also includes two issues of Spotlight, my favourite comic series. These issues are on Blur and Orion Pax, who are not the most interesting of characters and unfortunately their spotlight stories reflect that.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually did like this one! Megatron is a person, then a gladiator, and slowly becomes a leader. It's not the most complicated or novel story, but it's a good arc. There's no great tragedy, no emotionally devastating moments, it's a harsh world that hones him into something darker and more ambitious. I had a problem with discerning which character was which towards the beginning- it's much easier when Megatron gets a more unique appearance, or characters like Starscream with their unique outline and bright colours begin to show up, but at parts it was a lot of grey plastic/metal standing around. My favourite parts were the lines where Megatron embraced being a villain and went on his evil monologues.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story itself is a classic tale of rising from the bottom to the top through sheer will and fury. A mining town is closed so automated machines can make the company more money, Megatron becomes a pit fighter and raises a crew of goons into the decepticons, very epic.

My issue with this collection is the lack of powerful art or design, many panels felt muddied together and the characters all looked to similar. The art really took away from making this feel more epic, instead it felt like a throwaway. I’d still say read it if you’re a transformers fan because it’s quick and has some solid backstory to one of the most important characters in the series!

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been a sucker for a good origin story. This book explores the beginnings of one of favorite villains of all time, and makes him seem a touch less villainous. Like the best Transformers comics, there is not absolute good or evil here. You find that you are cheering on the "bad guy," and not just because his name is in the title.

[Jesse Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished after years of meaning to. Character art is decent, but action can be hard to follow. Decent story. Reading this while in the midst of the 2012 IDW arcs really shows the potential and ambition they've always had, but also just how far they've come.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minha primeira HQ desse antigo universo Energon (quando nem avia esse nome).

Foi uma ótima introdução a grandes vilões dessa franquia mesmo sendo extremamente rushado em grandes trechos da trama

Um 4.5 de estrelas.

[Luciana Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me costó entender debido al dibujo, los diseños de los personajes secundarios también bastante flojos, en algunas partes (por no decir en todo el comic) me fue muy dificil diferenciar tanto a los autobots como a los decepticons. Por otra parte, la historia de Megatron me pareció buena

[Icarus · Rating 2 out of 5]

art was pretty as usual, lowkey didnt know who was talking sometimes or what was really happening but megatrons a baddie so ill excuse its flaws. i think it went by wayyyyy too fast and noone really got the time to shine not even Megatron tbh.

[David Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the way to tell Megatron's story. Gripping, dark, violent, and powerful in many ways, it takes an otherwise two-dimensional villain and adds real depth to his motivations and personality.

[Fuchsia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This seems to be the new canon that the franchise is working with and I'm glad. His story is inspiring, sympathetic, and inexcusable. The perfect villain origin story! The art is very good as well.

[Dylan Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

For what it's worth, this helped to flesh out Megatron more than anything before.

[Wikszy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Megatron did nothing wrong

[Isiiii · Rating 5 out of 5]

De minero humilde a gladiador a líder revolucionario/terrorista.

Buen origen se le da a uno de los villanos más reconocidos!


Camarada Megatron 🫡 (broma)
Tenía un club de la pelea xjjwhdbd

[Rayhan dinkleberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great origin to Transformers' most iconic villian. A great alagory for today's world issues and adds great depth to Megatron, who is usually written as a power hungry tyrante.