Megatron: Origin # 3
Written by Eric Holmes
Penciled by Alex Milne
Colors by Josh Perez

Summary:

In Kaon, Soundwave leads a trio of other Transformers to a secret lair that Megatron and his followers are currently using.  Swindle greets them at the door, warning Soundwave that Megatron is in a bad mood; he lost an arm in a fight just recently.  Soundwave and his compatriots enter the main room, where the maimed Megatron is sitting in a chair being repaired by Hook.  Various other gutted Transformer bodies lie in disrepair on other slabs in the room, and the other Constructicons are cannibalizing the dead bodies for parts.  As Hook fits a new arm on him, Megatron regards Soundwave and the blue communications officer introduces him to new recruits Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.  Megatron had requested a combatant with flight capabilities and Soundwave has brought him three of them.  Somewhat in awe, Starscream immediately kneels and pledges his eternal loyalty to Megatron.  Megatron appears amused with this gushing display of hero-worship and inquires as to Starscream’s flight capabilities.  Starscream proudly claims that he and his friends can fly “beyond three times the speed of sound”.  He continues by saying it will be an honor to fight alongside Megatron in the arena.  Megatron, however, dismisses that notion and claims that he has a different purpose in mind for Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.  Megatron examines the new arm that Hook has attached to his frame; the hand slides in and a new energo-mace is produced from the wrist socket.  Impressed, Megatron orders Hook to begin modifying Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp for the task he has in mind for them.  Meanwhile elsewhere, a funeral service is being conducted for Bumper and Fastback.  Sentinel Prime and most of his security force is in attendance.  Sentinel Prime gives a short speech, the gist of it being that Bumper and Fastback’s murder has made taking Megatron’s gang down their top priority.  Some time later in another city-state, Senator Decimus is the guest of honor at a public recognition ceremony for his contributions to the state.  Suddenly, the sky splits open as a portal is formed and Skywarp emerges in jet mode, strafing the crowd in attendance.  He vanishes, only to reappear in robot mode behind Decimus and his bodyguards.  Skywarp quickly guns both guards down and teleports again, sending the rest of the security forces in the area into a state of confusion and disorganization.  Starscream and Thundercracker fly in and shoot the rest of the security forces down, as well as knocking Decimus to the ground.  Starscream regards the terrified senator and tells Skywarp and Thundercracker to complete the “secondary objective”.  The other two fire on something off-panel as Starscream reaches menacingly for Decimus.  Moments later, the three are lifting away in jet mode, having abducted the senator.  Carved over a large security (Autobot) symbol on a structure is the badge of Megatron’s little group.  With Decimus kidnapped, several other teams of Megatron’s followers undertake a terror campaign over a short span of time, enacting sabotage, poisonings, riots, and bombings all over the planet.  Senator Ratbat combs over all the incidents in his chamber, realizing that things have gotten out of hand.  Some time later, a large gathering of Cybertronian malcontents is taking place in a secret location.  The crowd awaits for Megatron to appear, while several conversations take place.  Sideswipe pleads with his brother Sunstreaker not to take part in the arena fights.  Dead End and Wildrider eagerly wait for an opportunity to prove themselves.  Divebomb and Rampage grouse over how the room is filled with amateurs as Razorclaw’s gaze lingers across the room to one he apparently does not consider such.  Grimlock catches Razorclaw’s look and advises his own compatriots to be alert; in a large crowd like this, the fighting might start before an arena match officially begins.  Nearby, Megatron and his entourage walk together to the area from which he will address the crowd.  Rumble and Frenzy seem unhappy about something, as Megatron states that both of them have been modified for a reason.  As they continue to question him, Megatron simply slams his fist violently into the wall.  Rumble and Frenzy quickly ceases their complaining and agree “Soundwave, it is!”.  Starscream approaches Megatron and informs him that the “task” is complete, although he doesn’t understand why it had to be done.  Megatron just reminds him that they agreed on something and that they’re sending a message.  Moments later, Megatron appears before the crowd, who eagerly cheer when they see him.  Megatron launches into an inspiring and passionate speech, walking down into the crowd and identifying the regions of Cybertron they hail from.  Megatron points out that they can gather in Kaon and work out their aggression and misery, but after a point it is done and they all go home.  He asks of the crowd what would happen if they stayed together, united under one cause, under one badge.  Megatron proposes that they stop fighting each other and restage their arena on the surface, fighting those who made it necessary for them to gather like this.  The crowd does not seem opposed to this idea, and Megatron has Thundercracker and Skywarp drag Senator Decimus out in front of the crowd.  Megatron tells the crowd that they are going to make an example of Decimus, to leave their mark and show those in power that those assembled here do not fear them.  The crowd roars its approval and several menacing Transformers in front begin advancing on the hapless Decimus.  Suddenly one of the Transformers menacing Decimus gets his head blown to pieces as Sentinel Prime’s security force raid the gathering.  Thick smoke is blown into the area, blinding the crowd as Prime orders his troops to subdue and arrest everyone who resists.  Restraint nets and inhibitor claws are fired off, disabling many of the gathering’s attendees.  Soon, the crowd has either dispersed or been disabled by Prime’s security forces.  Megatron claims that if they can’t get out, neither will the senator and rushes Decimus.  Several of Sentinel Prime’s troops tackle Megatron, desperately trying to down him, but he puts up quite a struggle.  Finally, Megatron is hit with an inhibitor claw and restraints as Sentinel Prime himself walks over and regards the organizer of the arena fights.  He scoffs at Megatron, claiming “I thought he’d be bigger”.  A short time later at the Kaon security main HQ, the prisoners from the raid are being interned and they are quickly running low on cells.  Sentinel Prime orders them to start throwing multiple prisoners in one cell.  Megatron, Starscream, and several others are herded into one cell.  Megatron says something privately to Starscream we are not privy to as Sentinel Prime is presented with a data pad which says that Soundwave gets to walk free; a direct Senate order.  Starscream pushes his way to the front of his cell, telling a guard that he needs to tell them something.  Megatron suddenly yells at those prisoners near Starscream to “kill him!”.  Panicked, Starscream has the guards usher him out of the cell as he claims that he has vital information for the Senate.  Megatron grimaces as another prisoner asks him what he told Starscream.  Megatron simply states “everything”, as Starscream is led away by the guards, a smirk on his face.  TO BE CONCLUDED!


Slagged!:

-Megatron lost an arm in an altercation he had prior to this issue beginning.  It’s okay though, because the Constructicons have a whole load of dead Transformer bodies to scavenge replacement parts off of.

-The “pre-Decepticons” unleash a terror campaign which includes kidnapping senators, destroying transportation hubs, poisoning the general populous, and attacking security forces.

-A hapless bot intent on doing something nasty to Senator Decimus gets his head sniped off by Sentinel Prime.


Sightings:

-Soundwave uses a “rub symbol” to identify himself to Swindle at the beginning.

-The symbol of Megatron’s little organization has evolved by this point to the modern Decepticon insignia.  Megs wears one on a chain around his neck.

-Starscream and his pals look mostly like tweaked versions of their War Within designs, and after Hook tinkers with them, they are pretty much dead ringers for those designs.

-Megatron’s new arm contains his classic “energo-mace”, which he used in the first three-part cartoon episode “More Than Meets The Eye”.

-The (pre-) Autobots in attendance at Bumper and Fastback’s funeral service are, from upper left counterclockwise to upper right; Air Raid, Topspin, Ratchet, Red Alert (just the tip of his head, but you can see it’s him on the next page), Warpath (wearing one of those black and purple security guard “power suits”), Brawn (also wearing power suit), Sentinel Prime (holding his helmet in his hand), Chromia (just some of her head), Ironhide, Wheeljack, Gears, Prowl, Windcharger, Optronix/Orion Pax (whatever you wanna call him), pre-Ultra Magnus (Just a white double of Optronix), Elita-1 (Orion/Optronix’s arm is around her), Cliffjumper (slightly off-panel), Bumblebee, Hubcap, and Powerglide (in power suit, but you can tell from his head that it’s him).

-You can see Fastback and Bumper’s names written in English on their caskets.  Also, Hubcap, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper are grouped together in mourning likely because they shared the same basic Minibot toy mold as Bumper did.  As Sentinel Prime addresses the crowd, we can see Alpha Trion there as well (for some reason more fanwanky that logical, no doubt).

-Chromia and Elita-1’s presence there, after Simon Furman said he wouldn’t be dealing with female Transformers, is notable.  Of course, this is millions and millions of years before Furman’s stories, so it’s plausible that maybe female Transformers either went extinct or emigrated from Cybertron in the interim between this issue and present day material.  Or equally plausible that they still exist in present day, but Furman won’t be using them.

-Sentinel Prime toggles his armor’s appearance from orange to black-colored, obviously as a visual representation of his mourning for his two deceased soldiers.  Yeah, that must be it.

-On the screens that Ratbat reviews, we can see Ravage going about a sabotage mission.

-The Cybertronians that come to hear Megatron’s speech gather under a huge statue of Nova Prime.  They include future Autobots Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and most of the Dynobots (although you can only really properly recognize Grimlock and Slag as the others are horrendously mis-colored).  Alex Milne confirmed that Sludge is the bot complaining to Grimlock that his tank is “rust-dry”, but that word bubble was erroneously assigned to Sludge when it should have been to the bot behind Sludge, who I can only assume is Swoop.  However, both Sludge and maybe-Swoop are completely mis-colored and would have been impossible to ID without Mr. Milne’s say.  Future Decepticons Motormaster, Dead End, Wildrider, Razorclaw, Divebomb, Rampage, and Tantrum can also be seen on that same page and some on later pages.  I’ll catalogue the other mistakenly-assigned color schemes on this page in Wreck and ROT.

-Megatron is now wearing a black helmet where previously he was wearing a white one.  It’s been established through art in most of Furman’s present day stories that he’s worn a black helmet in the past.  He probably just alternates weekdays- white helmet Monday, black helmet Tuesday, and so forth.  Nah, I dunno.

-There are several “Diagnostic Drones” from Beast Machines floating about as Megatron addresses the crowd.

-As Megatron walks through the gathering crowd, mentioning the city-states they are from, we can also see future Decepticons Hun-Grrr, Runabout, Runamuck, Onslaught, Blast-Off, and some other guys I can’t peg.  The guy in the panel between Motormaster and Hun-Grrr and company might be Sixshot or Snaptrap, only mis-colored.  Geez.

-Blades is seen attacking Motormaster during Sentinel Prime’s raid on Megatron’s gathering.  The “inhibitor claws” used on the attendees match the design and function of the device of the same name from the original Marvel comics.

-Flying outside of the Kaon security HQ, we can see the vehicle modes of future Autobots Cloudburst and Waverider.  Maybe.


Hearings:

-Dead End seems rather excited and confident, a sharp contrast to his usual personality in present-day stories.

-Razorclaw hints at a rivalry between his team and Grimlock’s team- a rivalry that will continue long past the point that factions have been established.

-Megatron mentions that Rumble and Frenzy have been modified and their own mention of Soundwave is likely implying that they’ve been given reformatted cassette-esque alt-modes to fit in the blue guy’s chest.

-Megatron namedrops a bunch of Cybertronian city-states.  Vos and Tarn have their origin in the fiction from way back in the original Marvel comic days, and Altihex, Uraya, and Kalis were all mentioned in Dreamwave’s War Within series.

-Soundwave garners a “get out of jail free” card likely because of his employment under Senator Ratbat.


Wreck and RULE!:

-I must note that a Cybertronian funeral service isn’t something we see very often in the fiction, and it was a nice surprise.

-Some neat bits of characterization here and there.  We get Megatron and Starscream’s first meeting, and their relationship started off quite differently than where it eventually ends up.  Megatron’s gathering of like-minded individuals produces some interesting attendees, like Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, the (pre-) Dynobots, and various future Decepticons.  It was also cute to see a seemingly-positive attitude coming from Dead End.  Grimlock shows that he hasn’t changed much and the hints of the rivalry between his team and Razorclaw’s lot would be neat, if the coloring mistakes hadn’t ruined that scene.

-Megatron’s speech to the crowd is pretty cool, showing him to be charismatic and inspirational even in his youth, and able to sway many to his ideology.  His first face-to-face/verbal exchange with Sentinel Prime is a memorable moment as well.


Wreck and ROT!:

-The plot is pretty fragmented at this point, with everything held together with only a few common strands and fanwanky details.  I think Holmes is focusing on the wrong things.  He should be showing us how Megatron became who he is, but by this point, Megatron is practically already there.  A little more self-control and he’s the same as the Megatron running around in Furman’s present-day stories.

-Milne’s art is still too cramped and difficult to follow in most places, but I’m starting to suspect it isn’t totally his fault.  His previous work on the Energon comic and the “Games of Deception” Botcon comic was fairly clear and capable of being easily followed.  Some of the problem then must lie with Eric Holmes’ scripts.  In fact, in a recent interview, Milne said he had suggested several times to Holmes to cut down on the panel count per page.  I would say that editorial possibly made a misstep in thinking that Milne’s details-laden style was suited to a story like this.  I guess Holmes needs to learn how to better pace comic stories (this WAS his first effort writing a comic series) and Milne needs to better frame his panels and properly scale characters in smaller frames.

-Several little details only serve to confuse and muddle the storyline even more; Megs gaining the mace-arm was hinted at last issue, and really shouldn’t have needed a scene to be established.  It seemed like overkill of an insignificant development in the larger scheme of things.  The Sentinel Prime “color-change” scene is pointless and confusing; thanks to the murky coloring, I barely even noticed it until several re-reads later.  Again, it just wasn’t something wasting panels on. 

-Some cameos only serve to raise confusing questions, like the aforementioned female Autobots and Alpha Trion’s appearance.  In every fiction thus far, Alpha Trion has been depicted as more of a sage-like character that remains on the sidelines to offer aid.  So what is he doing at the funeral, taking in Sentinel Prime’s speech?  Speaking of Sentinel Prime, he really needs to hire better speechwriters.  He denies that Bumper and Fastback’s deaths were a tragedy, then REFERS to it as a tragedy not two lines later.  Then he claims it has given them a crystal clear purpose and course of action, then asks the crowd what their course of action should be.  Geez.

-Starscream and his boys kidnap Decimus and then apparently fly off without him; we’re made to assume that Decimus is inside one of them, I suppose.

-There was a fill-in colorist for pretty much the whole crowd scene that comprises the second half of the book, uh, Mark Bristow, I think.  Well, he doesn’t do so good of a job.  When Razorclaw is looking over at the would-be Dynobots, all of them are mis-colored, so we can’t exactly tell he’s looking at them.  When we cut over to Grimlock, who returns the look, Razorclaw and his team are all mis-colored, as well as Sludge and who I think is supposed to be Swoop.  Gah!!!  A potentially cool scene ruined by these coloring mistakes.  Hopefully they’ll be fixed in the trade.

-When Skywarp and Thundercracker drag Senator Decimus out in front of the crowd, he’s mis-colored as Sentinel Prime!  And he remains colored as Sentinel Prime for the rest of the issue!  Ga-aaaaah!!!

Final Judgment:

This series is looking to be IDW’s “Micromasters”, as in interesting bits of characterization, but lacking something in art and overall plot.  Milne’s art could be good if the script gave him room to breathe, but unfortunately it’s all tiny details, subtle actions, and easter eggs, none of which Mr. Milne can pull off precisely crystal-clear.  Eric Holmes has a good amount of knowledge of the mythology and there are some good bits of dialogue and characterization, but the plot seems to be slowly trudging through mud and I’m not even sure where it’s trudging to.  Disappointing, but there’s still an issue left.  I hope something can be salvaged from what it turning out to be an overall weak outing.  Peace.

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