Transformers

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Home - a place to feel 'safe'... - Rated
Set, largely, just before Optimus Prime's swansong in the US story 'Afterdeath', the tales presented in 'Prey' give the noble Autobot leader a deserved, and hugely engrossing, final adventure, returning him to his home planet for the first time in four million years. The trouble is, he's not alone - his mortal enemy has tagged along for the ride...

Because of Titan's somewhat bizarre publishing order (although I guess it made sense to publish the legendary 'Target: 2006' and its direct sequels first), this is the eighth volume of UK stories but, chronologically, so far it's the third - following 'Dinobot Hunt' and 'Target: 2006', and slightly overlapping into 'Fallen Angel'. The stories here were written to tie in with the UK comic's 100th issue celebrations, as well as filling in the back story of where Prime, Ratchet and Prowl ended up during the course of 'Target: 2006' (lets just say that fans of The Matrix should read this to discover that the film isn't nearly as groundbreakingly original in its ideas as they may have thought) and what happened to Lord Straxus after Blaster appeared to destroy him in the US story 'The Bridge to Nowhere'. Because of this, 'Prey' does not entirely stand alone as a book - it is very much a sequel to the 'Target: 2006' and 'Cybertron Redux' volumes, and I recommend that they are read beforehand. And once you've read them, get ready for one of Simon Furman's greatest early storylines.

The writer, together with artists Geoff Senior, Jeff Anderson and Will Simpson, paints a hostile and dangerous picture of the Transformers' homeworld, building on what was seen in the US 'Return to Cybertron' stories with dedicated Autobot combat units (the Wreckers, seen in 'Target: 2006') and showing how, in war, it can be hard to see who your allies are - even to the extent of believing your army's greatest warrior is working for the other side. The character of Outback, whom Optimus Prime takes under his wing, shows once more Simon Furman's talent for taking an underused character (Outback, I think, appeared for a total of about two frames in the US comic) and creating a believable and engaging character, while the Wreckers really come into their own here. Furman also lays the groundwork for Bob Budianski's later idea that Ratbat should become a major player in the Decepticon ranks - an idea which was theoretically awful but, in practice, was something of a masterstroke.

Because the 'Prey' storyline only takes up about three quarters of the book, there is space for the welcome inclusion of 'The Chain Gang', featuring the Pretenders, and 'What's in a Name?' and 'Grudge Match', bringing the Dinobots and their Decepticon equivalents, the Predacons (more precisely, Divebomb and Swoop) into combat. The Predacons play a fairly large role here, and, as with many characters who featured prominently in UK-only stories (Blaster, Swoop, Fortress Maximus, Shockwave, the Constructicons), their toys weren't available in this country - which, of course, made anything associated with them highly desirable. The Americans may have got the toys, but we got the stories...