21 years later and the war begins anew.
21 years have passed since the death of Unicron, the defeat of the Decepticons, and the unification between Autobot and Decepticon. While there is peace on the planet Cybertron, remnants of the Decepticon force are far from happy about this and Soundwave is determined to begin the war again with small terrorist attacks. Optimus Prime on the other hand, is turning a blind eye to these things hoping to maintain the truce. The powder keg is close to exploding and it appears nothing can be done about it. -summary
In 1991 the original Transformers series which was originally under the Marvel Comics banner had been canceled. The series wasn't exactly left hanging though, as it did continue in Transformers: Generation 2, in which that storyline allowed writer Simon Furman free reign to do whatever he felt like. To this day, that is probably the best Transformers storyline ever written and I really hope to see it make TPB form. That was the way Transformers was meant to be, a brutal, gritty war, with two armies trying their best to kill each other. Many fans have always thought of Furman to be a true fan of the Transformers; he knows what fans want in their stories and he almost always delivers. Transformers Regeneration One picks up 21 years after Generation One, in which it appears that Generation Two may have been erased, although some of its influence is intact. When I first heard this was happening it indeed put a bad taste in my mouth, but I trusted Furman with the series and believed he was putting out something good. He did just that, Transformers: Regeneration One is an outstanding sequel that will probably satisfy all fans whom followed the comics up until issue 80, plus it can make a good jumping on point for new fans. This book collects issues 80.5 - 85.
The book opens up with an explosion of fan nostalgia as nearly the entire Marvel line is chronicled in only a few pages, with references towards all of the popular story lines such as the Underbase Saga and Matrix Quest. Then the story begins with Soundwave planning the new war. There are plenty of sub plot elements going on here; while some are cleared up immediately along with older ones from 21 years ago, there are newer ones developing and it all looks promising.
The plot continues to move at a fast pace taking the Autobot Wreckers to Earth as they receive a stunning surprise, meanwhile on Cybertron, Soundwave forms an alliance with Bludgeon to strike a devastating blow. The book has a pretty good amount of character development. We learn that Prime's attempt to uphold the truce is even causing dissension within the Autobot ranks, as Kup is vocal on taking down these Neo-Decepticons before things get ugly. The story makes so much sense though; it's impossible to buy into that these two factions could ever live in peace. They had been fighting for nearly ten million years, the war has clearly effected all of them in a negative way. It makes sense also Prime would be tired of the oil-shed, but it's apparent that the universe is too small for these two armies, someone has to be wiped out. I also loved the whole connection between Prime and Megatron that feels almost like Batman and Joker, they are just forever linked through a very bitter hatred. Megatron is convinced that one cannot live in peace while he knows the other is still alive, hence his decline towards borderline insanity needing to get his hands on Prime to settle things. There's so much truth to this, as Prime wastes no time abandoning the cease fire to take him out.
Everything comes full circle, as this series features the same creative team whom ended the series. Andrew Wildman is back with the artwork, and Stephen Baskerville follows up with the inks. Between the two of them, this book is firing on all cylinders visually. For those out there whom read Transformers: For All Mankind, and were put off by Don Figueroa's unbelievably ugly designs which gave off the appearance that the robots were falling apart, with despicable facial designs on top of that need not worry. They almost resemble the designs from The War Within; drawn with a smooth finesse and fine details with references to the Generation One animated series. Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Ultra Magnus, they all look awesome and Megatron looks great too despite sporting the gray head piece from the original comic series. The backgrounds are great with faded violet and dark orange skies giving off this ominous feel on Earth that hope is long gone. The action segments can be brutal when they want to be. The final battle between Prime and Megatron just couldn't be any better with a homage or two to the original animated movie. My only gripe here is that it actually could have used more action, the set up was there for some truly horrific robot on robot mayhem.
Overall I'm pleased with this, very please, Transformers: Regeneration One is awesome stuff if you're a fan of the comic at all. It's not necessary to backtrack to the original stories that were reprinted as Classic Transformers, but it wouldn't hurt to check them out either in order to get the craze behind this. Casual fans will likely enjoy this, unfortunately nowhere near as much as a hardcore fan. I highly recommend this to fans whom followed the entire original series. It's a sequel that works.
Pros: Artwork, story and plot, fans will love this
Cons: Fans will love this more than anyone else, needed more action