Beast Wars Issue #1

 

WARNING: This post may contain mild spoilers for the recently released Beast Wars comic series.

IDW comics have a long history with Transformers comics, having published several comics since 2005's 'Infiltration' series. To mark the 25th anniversary of Beast Wars, IDW has began publishing a new Beast Wars comic series written by Erik Burnham, who has previously written IDW's Transformers crossover with Ghostbusters.

This is not IDW's first Beast Wars comic, as they have previously published two Beast Wars miniseries in the mid-late 2000's written by Simon Furman. However, those comics took place within the same continuity of the TV series whereas this new comic is a complete retelling of the conflict between the Maximals and Predacons.

The first issue esentially serves as a new version of the show's opening episode with some key differences to keep the comic from feeling like a complete copy. Rather than opening with the Maximals and Predacons in combat, we instead open with Megatron and his group of rouge Predacons stealing the Golden Disk from Cybertron.

This additional backstory serves it's purpose of reintroducing the concept of Beast Wars to audiences, particularly those who are unfamiliar with this particular era of Transformers history. It also puts a new spin on the story for those who are familiar with Beast Wars so the story feels fresh. This time around, Megatron is initially going by the name of 'Galavar', and he begins by informing his superiors in the Tri Predacus council of his intentions of stealing the Golden Disk and then escaping Cybertron, only to then tell them that his operatives have already done so once the council refuses him permission to do so. This paints the picture of this version of Megatron being just as bold as his TV counterpart and, as a twist, has him adopt the name of Megatron after his G1 predecessor.

The Tri Predacus council were a group introduced near the end of the second season of Beast Wars - their early introduction here sets up the state of Cybertron and the Predacons at the time, establishing that while the two factions are at peace, the Tri Predacus council are planning to eventually seize control. 

We get some characterisation for some other Predacons as well. Dinobot, while being a Predacon, is shown to have a sense of honour when he prevents Terrorsaur from needlessly killing a foe when stealing the golden disk. This is setting up his eventual defection to the Maximals. The aforementioned Terrorsaur is also characterised as being pretty bloodthirsty which is an interesting take on the character who didn't go much further beyond 'Starscream stand in' in the TV series.

On the other side, we have the Maximals. Optimus Primal this time around is vastly different from his TV counterpart. He seems a lot younger, and yearning for adventure rather than transporting statis pods and science equipment round the galaxy, even if he is happy to be the captain of a ship. We also learn that he was kicked out of the Maximal peacekeeper acadamy for some undisclosed reason. This is incredibly similar to the characterisation of Optimus Prime in Transformers Animated, which is a pretty neat callback.

Speaking of Transformers Animated, the character designs really remind me of those from Transformers Animated, giving us more stylised versions of the characters from the TV series. This is a welcome and distinct design choice that allows this comic to have a distinctive style from the TV series.

Rattrap is very much the same as his TV series counterpart - being incredibly snarky and critical, effectively providing a sense of comic relief. We also get Nyx, a new character created for the comic and based on the original Optimus Primal toy which took on the form of a bat. She is the pilot of the Maximals ship, and so far, she seems to be a really fun character. She doesn't take any crap from Rattrap when he complains about her piloting skills, and then when their ship crashes and they take on their new animal forms, she seems incredibly excited about her new animal form which I thought was a neat character trait.

One great thing that this comic series appears to be doing is adding two new female characters to the cast. Nyx is added to the Maximals, and Skold (a snapping turtle is added to the Predacons. This is great since the TV show only had two female characters - Black Arachnia and Airrazor, and even then, the latter was barely in the show. Skold doesn't really feature as much in this issue, but the plan is supposedly for her to develop and come out of her shell more as the series goes on. The addition of these characters also helps to keep the reader unsure of where things will go since these characters weren't in the TV series, meaning that there's no way of predicting what will happen to them.

This first issue is a great start to the new comic, and does a good job of introducing things to new audiences discovering the series for the first time alongside providing enough twists and changes for Beast Wars veterans to appreciate. The comic ends with the two ships crashing on a prehistoric planet, and their crews taking on their new animal forms. While the story so far has been pretty similar to the Beast Wars TV show opener, from here the story could go in any direction, and I'm excited to see what form that will take.