GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN - THE FINAL ROUND

And so it begins again. In 2014, I reviewed the first four volumes of Vertical, Inc.'s GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN manga. Last year I covered the next three volumes. Now, with Vertical having completed publication of the full series this past December, I'll move along with volumes 8 through 12.

The manga was originally serialized in Japan for over a decade beginning in 2001, and was written and illustrated by the original GUNDAM TV series' character designer, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Vertical began their translation in 2013 and I've picked up each volume dutifully as they've come out, one per quarter over the past three years.

The first four volumes comprised one "act", following the Earth Federation battle cruiser White Base as it journeyed from deep space to Federation headquarters in South America. The second act was a three-volume excursion into the past, filling in origins and backstories for key characters and scenarios in the storyline. Now we reach the third and final segment of the saga, which will follow White Base and her crew across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, and ultimately back into space for the war's final conflicts.

If you need a refresher on what's gone before, please feel free to check out my reviews of the first seven volumes. Then be back here on Friday for the beginning of the remainder of GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN.

Available now at Amazon (and highly recommended!):
Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6
Volume 7 | Volume 8 | Volume 9 | Volume 10 | Volume 11 | Volume 12

TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE #11 AND BEYOND

Though the Dreamwave TRANSFORMERS ongoing series ended in 2004 with issue 10 when the publisher went bankrupt, issues 11 through 14 were all solicited and a number of penciled and inked pages from #11 have made the rounds online. These issues are covered here for the sake of completion. All solicits courtesy of the Transformers Wiki, though they can be found elsewhere online as well.

Plots: James McDonough & Adam Patyk
Artwork (unpublished pages): Don Figueroa & Elaine To

Issue 11 house ad

Issue 11 Solicit: Because YOU demanded it: The return of the Dinobots! The hot-tempered cavalier Hot Rod finds himself in over his head when a mysterious group of Transformers-like warriors interferes with a standard transfer mission. What are these mysterious agents truly after, and what hope do Hot Rod and his team have of stopping them? Featuring the return of the fan-favorite Dinobots, the first-ever comic book debut of some of Generation One's most desirable characters, and much, much more!

Issue 12 Solicit: This is it: the return of the most popular Transformer of all time! Yes, the indomitable Optimus Prime is finally back, ready to chew Energon and kick bumper-and he's all outta Energon! But the question is: where is he? Find out in this thrill-packed anniversary issue, as the greatest Autobots leader ever faces off against the ravenous Sharkticons and their cruel masters, the Quintessons! Don't miss this special birthday issue, a perfect jumping-on point featuring Optimus Prime himself ushering in an all-new era of Transformers greatness. The countdown to 2005 begins now!"

Issue 13 Solicit: 2005 is here - and the battle for the universe begins! Created by the sinister Unicron, the lone Cyclonus has been dispatched to search the galaxy for the missing Alpha herald, Scourge. But when his mission leads him to a top-secret storage facility on Earth, will Cyclonus find the end of his quest or the business end of several high-caliber EDC-issued blasters? This initial arc - "Detection" kicks off the biggest, baddest Generation One storyline ever! Get in on the ground floor for a front-row seat to the beginning - of the apocalypse!"

Issue 14 Solicit: "The Enemy Within": The humans fight back as the “Contact” arc continues! Recovering from Cyclonus’ violent assault on their facilities, the EDC tries to equalize the odds by activating its top secret defense plan—Project Centurion! Suspecting something sinister, Marissa begins to explore the real motives behind the EDC’s newest operation. Fearing the worst, the recently revived Autobot leader Optimus Prime rallies his troops on both Earth and Cybertron for the dark future looming on the horizon.

FANTASTIC FOUR #238

"THE LADY IS FOR BURNING!"
Words and Pictures: John Byrne | Lettering: Jim Novak | Coloring: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Frankie Raye reveals to Johnny that she has a golden costume which vanishes when she's wearing clothes and reappears when she isn't. She explains her past to Johnny, which causes her to suddenly “flame on” and unlocks repressed memories of her childhood, when she was accidentally endowed with fire-powers by her stepfather. Johnny begins to teach Frankie control over her abilities, then takes her to the Baxter Building, where Reed runs some tests on her.

Meanwhile, in Benson, Arizona, a doctor named Jake and his wife, Penny, peform an autopsy on a man who was frightened to death. Penny persuades Jake that they must contact the Fantastic Four for help.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: A footnote on the first page reminds us that the FF were recently prisoners of Doctor Doom.

The majority of this story is a recap of Frankie’s life. In a nutshell: she originally had no memory of her life before she was fourteen years old. But when her memories are unlocked she recalls her stepfather, Thomas Raye, a repairman who became distraught when the Fantastic Four first appeared, and took Frankie to his hidden lab with the intention of building a new Human Torch.

FANTASTIC FOUR #237

"THE EYES HAVE IT!"
Words and Pictures: John Byrne | Lettering: Jim Novak | Coloring: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The FF return home from Doctor Doom’s castle and the Human Torch departs to check in with his girlfriend, Frankie Raye. Meanwhile, Reed places Doom into stasis and heads out for an afternoon with his family while the Thing and Alicia remain at the Baxter Building, where the Thing engages in a workout.

On a horse ride in Central Park, Reed, Sue, and their son Franklin run across a group of hobos, accompanied by a nine foot-tall alien woman, knocking over a jewelry store. The alien uses vertigo-based powers to allow the group to escape. Reed and Sue track them to a pawn shop, where they capture one hobo before the others escape again. The prisoner explains that the alien appeared in their camp days earlier and the hobos’ leader, Archie, determined she was looking for silver. Archie took advantage of her quest to begin a crime spree.

Reed and Sue pick up their universal translator at the Baxter Building, then locate the hobos and the alien again. Reed determines that the alien is intoxicated and confused thanks to the excess oxygen in our atmosphere, and went looking for silver when she really needed indium. When Sue uses a force field to thin the air for her, Reed is able to calm her down.

Later, Reed and Sue bring the alien back to her crashed spaceship where her crew welcomes her return. Reed provides the aliens with indium to power their ship and they depart Earth.

HOW TO DO A TRANSFORMERS COMIC RIGHT

So we're done with Dreamwave's TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE comics. I still maintain that James McDonough and Adam Patyk have come the closest to a perfect translation of the Transformers to the printed media, but they still had some misses in the process. To varying extents, Sunbow Animation, Marvel Comics, and IDW Comics have pulled it off as well, but the perfect TRANSFORMERS series would be a mix of elements from all these various continuities.

Several years ago, around the time IDW's comics started to lose me, I wrote the below, detailing just what I think the ideal TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE comic book franchise would be. I had no blog back then, of course; this was something for my own entertainment, to get it out of my head.

But now, since I just wrapped up my reviews of the closest-to-ideal G1 comic book continuity I've seen, I figure I'll present the following, with minor edits since I first wrote it in 2011, for your pleasure:

TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE #10

"THE ROUTE OF ALL EVIL"
Written By: James McDonough & Adam Patyk | Pencils: Don Figueroa
Inks: Elaine To | Colors: Espen Grundetjern & Rob Ruffalo | Letters: Ben Lee

The Plot: Starscream conducts war games, pitting his Combaticons against the captive Sky Lynx, but their exercise is interrupted by the arrival of Predaking. Meanwhile, Megatron arrives at Decepticon headquarters beneath the sea, where Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy pledge their fealty to him.

In Washington D.C., Marissa Faireborn reports to her commanding officer, who reprimands her over losing her team and cooperating with the Autobots. The General orders Marissa to reactivate "Project: Centurion" against her wishes. In Alaska, Ratchet, Jazz, and the other Earthbound Autobots reunite with Prowl and his group, who have arrived on Earth and begun construction of Autobot City.

The Combaticons merge into Bruticus but even combined, their might is no match for Predaking. Starscream retreats to Decepticon headquarters, where Megatron reveals himself and reassumes the mantle of leadership from his traitorous lieutenant.

On Cybertron, Blitzwing's corpse is discovered by an unknown Transformer, while at Autobase, Ultra Magnus hands out assignments to the Autobots who had remained with him on their homeworld. The Quintessons observe this meeting and prepare to send their female Transformers out on a mission.

FANTASTIC FOUR #236

"TERROR IN A TINY TOWN" | "IF THIS BE DOOMSDAY!"
Words & Pictures: John Byrne | Letters: Jim Novak | Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Reed, Sue, and Franklin Richards, Johnny Storm, and Ben and Alicia Grimm go about their daily lives in the town of Liddleville, where Reed is a university professor and Ben owns a tavern. But Ben, Sue, and Johnny are plagued by similar nightmares in which the group is bombarded by cosmic rays aboard a rocket ship and endowed with superhuman abilities.

Eventually, Reed realizes the dreams are true and that he and his friends are the Fantastic Four. He convinces the others of the truth and they confront Ben’s “father-in-law”, Phillip Masters, a.k.a. their old enemy the Puppet Master. He admits that this was all his idea as a way to give his daughter, Alicia, a happy life. But, unable to carry out the plan alone, he enlisted the aid of Doctor Doom.

Doom gloats over the FF, revealing that they actually reside in unpowered miniature clone bodies in a scale model of a town, and that he occasionally visited them as well in the guise of Victor Vaughn, Reed’s boss at the college. Doom departs, leaving the FF to live forever as prisoners of Liddleville, but Reed concocts a plan to return them to normal. He empowers their cloned bodies, which allows them to exit Liddleville and rig up a trap. Sue lures Doom back to the model town, where his attacks serve as a catalyst to restore the Fantastic Four, Alicia, and Franklin to normal.

Doom is rendered apparently comatose, and Puppet Master is nowhere to be found. The FF depart, taking Doom with them, unaware he has transferred back into the robot body of Victor Vaughn in Liddleville. But before he can return to normal, Puppet Master smashes his “transferral ring” and sics a townful of reprogrammed robot citizens on him.