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| Comic PDF eBook, n.pag. Published 2013 (contents: 2013) Acquired November 2016 Read August 2018 |
Story by Chris Metzen and Flint Dille
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Lettering by Tom B. Long
Autocracy, the book to which this is a sequel, was the very first IDW Transformers comic I ever read. Monstrosity picks up right where Autocracy ends, with the beginning of the millions-year-long Autobot/Decepticon war underway. I found Autocracy a little difficult to follow, but over two years later, I've read another fifty-one(!) volumes of IDW Transformers comics... so you might say I have a bit more understanding and context now.
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| I like that Young Prowl had nowhere near the confidence of his older self. He's so panicky! from The Transformers: Monstrosity #8 |
Monstrosity might take place at the beginning of the continuity, but it actually is nice to read it later on, because I can see the seeds for much of what's followed. Monstrosity shows the great exodus of nonaligned Transformers from Cybetrons (those who would be called "NAILs" when they returned in More than Meets the Eye, Volume 1); one key character is Dai Atlas, leader of the Circle of Light (the group the Lost Light was seeking until More than Meets the Eye, Volume 5); and we see the beginning of Cyberton's ecological devastation (discussed in Infiltration and All Hail Megatron, among others).
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| The smug asshole Dai Atlas is portrayed as here kind of makes me glad Star Saber killed him. from The Transformers: Monstrosity #4 |
The story deals with various kinds of monstrosity: the Dinobots (called "Dynobots" here because they aren't dinosaurs yet) have alt modes that threaten to overwhelm them, there's a monster buried under the surface of Cybertron, the people of Cybetron themselves begin to turn ugly, and Megatron continues his transformation from principled zealot to genocidal maniac.
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| What a guy! from The Transformers: Monstrosity #2 |
When reading a synopsis ahead of time, I was skeptical of these parts all fitting together (particularly the Dinobots), but to my surprise, they did. I particularly liked the sense of tragedy to the whole thing. Optimus Prime might be Cybetron's greatest hero, and the first Prime to carry the Matrix in many centuries (millennia?), but that's not enough to save his planet or his people. With crushing inevitability, everything falls apart. In addition, Megatron is pretty badass here, tearing up Junkion (the Planet of Junk) to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons, and willing to do whatever it takes to depose the Autobots and lay claim to control of Cybertron.
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| Okay, he is kind of awesome. from The Transformers: Monstrosity #7 |
Though sometimes his action scenes are hard to follow as they occasionally are, and the art's murkiness makes identifying characters difficult, Livio Ramondelli has really defined this period of Cybetronian history. His art is good at capturing the era's mythic nature and its violence. Overall, this was an enjoyable read, an appropriate story to finally experience as IDW's Transformers universe winds itself down.
Next Week: The final piece of backstory, in Primacy!
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