Transformers, Vol. 1: The World In Your Eyes (Transformers

Transformers (2019) (collected editions) #1

by Brian Ruckley, Ángel Hernández (Illustrator), Cachet Whitman (Illustrator)

A new era dawns with a new Transformers universe, as leaders Orion Pax and Megatron vie to win the hearts and minds of utopian Cybertron.

In the infinite universe, there exists no other planet like Cybertron. Home to the Transformers, and a thriving hub for inter-stellar commerce, it is a world brimming with organic and constructed diversity. Immense structures line its landscape. Mechanical giants roam across its surface. Starship-sized titans orbit its skies, keeping a constant protective watch above and below. Ancient Transformers merge into its very fabric. Small, mysterious creatures skulk in its shadows. It is a truly amazing realm, long untouched by war, and exuberantly reaching for the stars. This is the Cybertron that Orion Pax and Megatron compete for in this bold new origin--a world of seemingly endless peace.

All that changes when Bumblebee and Windblade take a newly-forged Cybertronian on his first voyage through this world of wonders, only to discover the first murder to occur on Cybertron in living memory! Soon, they'll face the hard reality that the planet is on the brink of an unprecedented shift, and nothing will ever be the same.

IDW Publishing and Hasbro proudly present a bold new vision of the Transformers universe that will excite longtime fans while serving as the unequivocal best place for new readers to begin their obsession.

Collects issues #1-12 of IDW's new Transformers saga by writer Brian Ruckley and artists Angel Hernandez, Cachét Whitman, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Andrew Griffith, Anna Malkova, and Beth McGuire-Smith.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2019

About the author

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh. After studying at Edinburgh and Stirling Universities, and after a good deal of displacement activity (varying from spending three months in the rainforests of Borneo trying to record the dawn chorus of gibbons to briefly working in a tea warehouse / factory), I moved to England to enter the world of full-time employment.

As much by luck as judgement, I had a series of on the whole enjoyable and interesting jobs, mostly based in London. All of them save one have been in the charity sector, and at various times they have involved extensive overseas travel, environmental and community projects, nature conservation and fundraising.

Writing was a big feature of my childhood, and has ebbed and flowed as a spare-time occupation ever since. I sold a couple of short stories in the 1990s, but didn’t really start thinking seriously about writing novels until the 21st Century had got underway.

At the start of 2003, I turned myself into a freelance consultant on environmental projects, partly in order to devote more time to writing; since then, the writing side of things has taken over almost completely.

I am now back in Edinburgh, where I live with my lovely wife, and miss the excitement of London only a little, and only occasionally.

Reviews

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit a TF comic that's actually approachable to new readers?? That builds the homeworld and history of Cybertronians as a whole? Directly covering how reproduction and parenthood works in a metal species? Fuck yes.

All I knew going in was that it opens with a murder mystery and I was not even slightly disappointed. Okay, I was a bit disappointed with the identity of the murderee, but everything since has been an absolute delight.

[Gavin Wask · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transformers was a huge part of my childhood, so I thought I'd give this reboot a read to see what they have done to my childhood.
So far, 12 issues in, they have introduced some new characters, kept some from the last few years of Transformers and centred the story around the mainstays of the original 80s comics, Optimus Prime(Orion Pax) and Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream, Prowl and Soundwave, Ironhide and Shockwave and have given glimpses of others. Which is good for the older readers such as myself!
They have taken the story back to before the war and giving the series a new origin start, a nice way to introduce new readers to the world.
I'm biased when it comes to this as a read as I will always read it through my rose tinted glasses, but am happy with this new start and hope it introduces these characters and this world to the imaginations of millions more children and continues to give us oldies a smile.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The scope of the worldbuilding is cool, but the plot is somehow both glacial and prone to skipping over things. Like why the Ascenticons are so worked up about the lack of new 'births' and rationed energon, when neither of these things seem to make any difference. Nobody's shown hungry and no population shortage is mentioned. A political story like Til All Are One can be great but the politics have to make sense and these are still very shaky after 12 issues.

[Alex Prijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I am a huge comic book fan, I’ve only recently begun to scratch the surface of the world that is American comic books. I’ve always been overwhelmed by the sheer number of comics and never dared to make the leap to just jump in. Since I started reading the Marvel Star Wars and Lady Mechanika comics, I’ve been doing more and more jumping in. Marvels Ultimate Universe, DC’s Metal, Monstress, Saga and now Transformers. Luckily for me IDW recently rebooted the Transformer universe, and as a huge Gen 1 and Beast Wars fan, I was eager to dive in.

I wasn’t disappointed, seeing the elaborate origin, with political machinations that are not unlike that which we’ve seen on Earth, was great. Characters old and (at least for me) new are introduced, and I’m eager to continue this adventure which harkens back to my Gen 1 childhood.

I love the artwork, and I feel it’s all really close to what I know and love. A new beginning showing obvious love and respect for the franchise.

I guess the biggest downside of jumping onto something new, there’s waiting times. :-)

[Will Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5

I’ve been in the mood to read some Transformers comics, but found IDW’s previous run really intimidating and awkwardly collected, so I decided to give the reboot a try! It’s a slow burning political thriller that escalates very quickly when the first murder on Cybertron in eons comes to light. The deliberate pace and lack of action might turn people away, but the setting here is absolutely fascinating with Cybertron already recovering from a long devastating war and a young Optimus Prime and Megatron trying to keep the peace and navigate the various cultures and political factions to bring about positive change. It’s very different from what I read of the previous series, but it has great character moments and the political factions feel very well thought out. It’s also a HUGE volume at over 200 pages so you’re getting good mileage for your dollar. Definitely worth checking out!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having missed out on a lot of the original transformers comics I was excited to be able to jump on at a new starting point. I think this is definitely a book for anyone looking to get into transformers as a comic, though as someone who loved the original tv series/movie it was quite an adjustment to art style and pacing.

A lot of this book was very political and reminded me of the game ‘war for cybertron’ it’s always interesting seeing transformers on cybertron before it’s inevitable fall - but it was a slow burn.. it would have really benefited from a quickness of pace. Those looking to see a story all about optimus will be sorely disappointed as I didn’t think he featured much at all (which for me personally was a disappointment)

I will certainly be getting the second hard cover when it releases just to see where the story goes because this first book definitely plants the seeds of future plots, hopefully IDW have a good plan for the future...

[Tia Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is absolutely gorgeous however other reviews weren't kidding when they said this started off slow. Depending on what you're looking for, I'd say this is a good introduction if you haven't read IDW's first run of Transformers, as this book is very atmospheric when it comes to worldbuilding and lore. Its main drawback though, is unfortunately, the slower pace. I could see this being a major turn off for some hardcore fans. For a new fan though who is more curious about the culture and world of Cybertron itself, I'd still say its worth a read.

The book is not terrible by any means, just don't think you're immediately going to be getting any action right out of the gate.

[Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I collected this month-to-month prior to the pandemic, I really didn't like it. It replaced a continuity I had grown to love, and it was a really slow burn. So when 2020 happened and I had to cut down my physical issue purchases, it was an easy cut to make.

Reading these now as a 12-issue book, it's a lot better than I remembered. It's classic "writing for the trade" structure, but that doesn't change the fact that it works better as a meaty political graphic novel than a monthly serialized comic.

I enjoyed it enough to look forward to volume 2.

[Neurocomp · Rating 3 out of 5]

only some of the characters i'm accustomed to.
Not a fan of windblade/Chromia as main story lines, didn't like them in PHase2 either. Nautica was interesting story. Like that they use the toyline characters...except on Optimus (not sure why they used the ULtraMagnus look)....but i guess taht form is for earth.

As a reboot, wish they pull the star-wars intro , but all will probably reveal over time.
Do like that they start from freshly forged perspective.

[Kavinay · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of pastoral walks through Cybertron.

It was always going to be tough following Barber and Roberts run at IDW, but the pacing on this book is exceptionally slow. There's promise, Ruckley seems to have a plan and the art and colours remain superb. But hopefully the book starts to move faster as it develops further.

[Jarred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got 2 story arcs, about 6 comics per arc. Nothing groundbreaking, mostly setting things up, but that’s to be expected as this starts/reboots a new continuity. It is nice to see cybertron before the war some, but it still keeps an adult/dark feel to its story telling which I like. I’m definitely interested to see where it goes.

[Bryce Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the previous IDW Transformers series, this volume is a very, very slow burn. I understand that it's meant to be the beginning and that there is a lot of expository track that needs to be laid down but dang, this is a LOT of expository track laying. Still, it was good enough that I've already pre-ordered the next volume in the hopes that these tracks are leading somewhere fun and exciting!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is definitely a slow burn, I am really enjoying this series, so far. It reminds me a lot of what Till All Are One was doing and I loved that series. I get that some people just want to watch robots punch each other in the face. I love that, too, but Ruckley has crafted an interesting world in this first year. Can not wait to see where it goes.

[B.J. Fantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standout Issues: #1, #2, #4, #6, #9, #10, #11, #12

[Carola · Rating 3 out of 5]

How is it not illegal to kill Rubble?!

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm both excited and confused about this new series. The decision to reboot IDW's Transformers continuity probably wasn't an easy one and I don't think any of us were prepared for just how different this story world would be. This is a strictly Cybertron story and it may not even reach Earth somewhere further down the road. So it's a lot of the same characters with updated alt-modes that match the current Siege toyline but man so much is different. And this is definitely the more serious side of the Transformer story world and I am missing me some zany More Than Meets The Eye adventures.

This takes getting used to, but there's a lot of potential for a whole new story world given the continuity reboot.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading it all together rather than weekly really helps. This series has a greater scale and pacing than any other transformers property before it. If you think it's slow, that's because this is not first and foremost an action series. It's about public tensions that lead to war, a bit like the real world feels right now.