About Heroes

This Review Was Submitted by Spider-ben:

Writer: Simon Furman
Artists: Jose Delbo, Geoff Senior
Issues Collected: 56-62

Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare yourselves for one of the most amazing and powerful pieces of comic book literature ever! Simon Furman was granted the reigns of the United States Marvel Published Transformers comic book series with issue #56. Furman realized what a sensational honor this was, and decided to craft a saga so intense and mind boggling that it would defy all boundaries and expand upon what was going on with the Transformers taking elements from the television show, the animated movie, and the mythos created by Hasboro.

To this end, Furman decided he would tell the ultimate saga of his career, and what is more powerful and shocking that the coming of the evil God, the planet devourer himself, the treacherous Unicron! Now something this big and intense can not, I repeat not, be told within 6 issues. Hell, 12 issues wouldn’t give this saga justice! No sir, this saga would span 24 epic issues! The saga begins with this collection, the Primal Scream. In this arc, Ratchet is driven mad by the constant fighting with the Decepticons and the feeling of failure as he looks at his fellow Autobots who are lying in his lab in pieces. The Decepticons devise a sinister plan to capture Ratchet and the fallen Autobots in his lab and transport them to Cybertron. The trick is successful, and Ratchet and his lab are whisked away to the Transformers homeworld.

On Cybertron, Ratchet is shocked to see that Megatron is alive and well. Scorponok was the current Decepticon leader, and he was keeping Optimus Prime and his forces busy on Earth. Ratchet is forced to help Megatron by rebuilding outer “Pretender” shells for his warriors. Also, he has the remains of the treacherous Starscream, and Ratchet is forced to rebuild the vile traitor in a new and powerful form. Ratchet succeeds, but unknown to Megatron, he has also revived his fallen Autobot buddies into new powerful forms as well. Megatron learns of this, and Ratchet sacrifices his life to destroy Megatron and his lab when a huge bomb implodes and destroys everything in its path.

Meanwhile on Earth, Scorponok and his forces battle Prime. Starscream arrives, and the Autobots and Decepticons must unite to fight this powerful new foe. They attack him so much, Megatron’s mind control wears off and Starscream flees like the coward he is. He tells Scorponok he will serve him, and Scorponok accepts his offer. The other Decepticons are furious, knowing Starscream can’t be trusted. (Duh! The guy has betrayed pretty much everyone at one point or another!) Things get even worse when Grimlock and his fellow Autobots are transported to the center of Cybertron. There, they are surprised to find their maker, creator, and God Primus in a deep sleep. The one who guards Primus tells the Transformers their true origin (none of the Quintessons crap from the show) and explains the epic war between Primus and Unicron. To save the universe, Primus transferred both his and Unicron’s forms and spirits into two colossal asteroids. The asteroids morphed into new forms, and their spirits slumbered with the asteroids. Unicron transformed his asteroid prison into the planet devourer, and he could still morph to robot mode.

Primus grew into the planet Cybertron, and knew Unicron would find him one day. To this end, he created the Transformers, a race of his “children” who would one day stand against the evil God and defeat him. That day, however, has been long in coming since the Decepticon and Autobot Civil War has kept the Transformers from any kind of peace or alliance.

To this end, Primus must sleep. If Unicron found out he was alive, all of Cybertron and the Transformers would persish at his hands. A battle ensues between Grimlock and his forces and 3 of the Decepticon Pretenders. A stray laser blast hits Primus, awakening him and ushering out a deafening scream. The Transformers realize this isn’t good, and Unicron knows Primus lives. Grimlock and his forces must find Prime, and figure out what to do about this situation.

Across the stars, Unicron hears Primus’ scream and realizes he must know go to Cybertron and destroy it, and finally kill Primus and his children. The Autobots realize that the creation matrix must be found, since it is the one thing that can kill Unicron.
Unfortunately, the matrix is lost in deep space. Thus, the matrix quest must begin!

Final Thoughts:
I summed up how I feel about this amazing installment (and saga as a whole) earlier. It really is a wonderful piece of work. Next up, I’ll review the Matrix quest, part 2 of the 4 part incredible Unicron saga. Until then, this gets an A+! Time to transform and roll out, the matrix quest now begins.