Transformers '84: Secrets and Lies

Transformers '84: Secrets and Lies (2019) #0-4

by Simon Furman

An all-new miniseries in the original Transformers comic universe! What shocking revelations will forever change what we thought we knew of the beloved '80s series? As the Cybertronian Civil War rages between Optimus Prime's Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons, Shockwave has encountered a new obstacle to the Decepticons' victory and subjugation of the Megatron himself! As Optimus and his recruits take off to stop an even deadlier threat—an asteroid belt powerful enough to destroy the metal world—Megatron leads a team of Decepticons after in hot pursuit! But what other motivations does Prime have for this mission? How does it benefit Shockwave's goals? And what does it all have to do with a secret on Earth in the eleventh century? Collects the four-issue Transformers '84: Secret and Lies series, plus the Transformers '84 #0 one-shot.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2020

About the author

Simon Christopher Francis Furman is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro/Tomy's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel's initial comic book to promote the toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on the Generation 1 minifranchise.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new recount of the Transformers trip to earth told by the double agent Punch / Counterpunch. Not a fan of Optimus Prime's new motives. There's not much to this mini in general that's interesting other than the art. I do like how it looks just like the Transformers comics from the 80's.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who grew up with the 80's Transformers comics, I knew this was going to be a bit of a campy nostalgia trip. But to have the likes of Simon Furman craft a conspiracy theory that sort of fuzzes the original story of why Optimus Prime took the Ark to Earth and other story points REALLY made for fun reading. Plus they told the story from the perspective of the literal spy Punch/Counterpunch with some delightfully cheesy dialog.

I super enjoyed this series from that to finish. It's not award-winning writing or anything, but it's certainly a lot of fun.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun look at some activities happening between the launch and crash of the Autobot Ark. This book gos out of it's way to corrupt the assumed-positive intentions of the Marvel Comic version of Optimus Prime, and for that, I'll never forgive the one-shot. Art is beautiful, writing is nostalgic.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the Transformers comics written under Marvel Comics...you MIGHT dig this.

It looks and feels like a story straight from the 80's. The coloring of the pages even has that old school feel. Marvel UK and Marvel US both wrote separate series back in the day (oh, and the TV show had a separate continuity as well) and this looks like it's trying to smooth out the questions that we all have about the continuity. Lots of things were left unanswered...or one company took the ball and ran with it, making some huge leaps in logic.

This 'prequel' pries more into the hidden agendas of both forces and is told by a Transformer that is a 2 in 1 spy/counterspy. Interesting idea. Don't know if it answered the questions or made more of them for us.

Bonus: the end of the collection has a book by book breakdown of what they were trying to add/explain.

[Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning art and plot that reads as a love letter to the Marvel comics era of 80s Transformers. It is reminiscent of the spotlight episodes, putting most of the tale on the back of Punch-Counterpunch, who seldom comes to the forefront of the franchise.

I can't say I care for some of the revisionist story telling; the idea that Optimus Prime willingly sacrificed the lives of some 40 Autobots for the greater good flies in the face of the general "all life is sacred" outlook of Optimus.

It does retro in the best way possible; it's not about how the stories or characters actually were in the 80s. Its about how you remember them. This captures how I personally remembered hand me down Transformers UK comics as a child.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

My nascent exploration of the Transformers runs via IDW continue to leave me often perplexed about what I’m even reading. I can generally follow the story but there are SO. MANY. CHARACTERS. This gets particularly bad at the end of this run because the ending feels forced, I didn’t really fully understand the significance of any of the characters “resolutions,” the double agent frame narrative had no payoff, and I don’t really understand where this fits in any particular timeline (which might be my fault, though I figured this was a prelude or successor to the animated tv series?). The art in this is fine, but Johnson’s recent run on Transformers just does all this infinitely better when it comes to visuals, storytelling, pacing, and character.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel to the original Marvel Transformers comic, with a strong "secret history" feel. Furman introduces a number of interesting retcons, but puts effort into making sure they don't directly contradict anything from the original comic. Despite that, some retcons still seem especially contrived (such as with Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust) or are certain to rankle long-time fans (such as the supposed true purpose of the Ark). The series works best in the earlier issues, and starts to feel overstuffed with references near the end. I suspect fans of the Marvel comic will have very mixed feelings on this series, but it's an interesting experiment. (B+)

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really just an attempt to tie up loose ends, settle some continuity errors, throw in characters missing from the comic book (Ultra Magnus in particular who was not in the US run save one throwaway issue), and add a few twists. The art is a great throwback to the 1980s comic. The writing though is uneven in places and the tale introduces its share of continuity errors. I do not think Optimus Prime's suicide mission is an idea that fits in nicely with the Marvel comics. Still, its good all around, particularly the Decepticon stuff.

[Chris Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really plucks the nostalgia string hard. I enjoyed that aspect, but it sometimes felt that the “secrets and lies” were forced in. I know “all you knew before is wrong” is a draw, but I didn’t think Optimus Prime would withhold a suicide mission from his warriors. Also, a no-one home- Megatron fighting Grimlock after the Shockwave battle was just not needed. Nice art, style straight out of the old comic.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retro backstory that adds plenty of details

Told from the POV of CounterPunch, an Autobot spy, it’s the never before revealed backstory behind the Ark and what was happening on Cybertron when it left and was stranded on Earth. I thought this was excellent and loved the retro artwork. Definitely would have been great to have read this before the whole Dinobots vs Shockwave story arc so I understood it better.

[Bryan Variell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

It's a mini series that focuses on Punch Counterpunch. Overall I found it to be a good read. My only complaint is that certain things feel out of place in the stories such as Optimus prime plan and the lack of split personally that punch counterpunch normally has.

[Simon J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brisk, enjoyable, and startlingly refreshing, actually, both as nostalgia and for its clever storytelling device. Furman practically invented this genre, and he remains the master of it. 42 year old Simon loved it just as much as 12 year old Simon would have.

[Mark Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great nostalgic fun!

[Bo Malpas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't understand any of it, entirely my fault, marvelous stuff!

[Mateo V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty fun read! I was struggling with it a bit in the beginning, but I'm glad I kept reading. Also, seeing Megatron with the Kirby Crackle was pretty awesome too.