Transformers Continuum review

Given that IDW is about to start a new ongoing monthly Transformers series, and given that they’ve published a good number of Transformers comics in the past four years, it makes sense to offer readers a book like Continuum. This one-shot comic does two things. It sums up “the story so far…” including events from the various mini-series and spotlights, as well as All Hail Megatron. It also contains a list of all the various mini-series and spotlights in chronological order according, so the new reader (or long time reader for that matter) can accurately place any given story within the fictional history of the Transformers since IDW took over the property.

The book itself is comprised of art from all the various series combined with summaries of events. The art is recycled, but there’s nothing wrong with that given the context of the book as a “historical document” and story summary. The copy itself is new, and it’s here that the book starts to stumble a bit, given that some of the ‘facts’ presented within the summaries conflict with what was seen in the actual comics.

I haven't read every comic published by IDW, but I've read enough to know when some facts have been changed or left out, and it's puzzling. It's not just one or two things, but multiple contradictions with past stories, such as saying that the final battle with Thunderwing took place on Nebulon, when it was actually on Cybertron. There's no mention of Jimmy Pink at all, just Hunter and Verity (though Jimmy makes a cameo in one panel, unidentified). Skywatch and the Machination are confused to the point that the Machination is never even mentioned, and Skywatch is blamed for the kidnapping of Hunter and Sunstreaker. The Autobots are said to believe that both are dead. The book is riddled with errors like this, and it's hard to understand.

I want to be kind here, but I have to be blunt: either author Andy Schmidt made a ton of mistakes while doing his research, or else we're getting some blantant history revisionism here. Either way, I don't really care for the end result.

In short, I appreciate what’s been attempted with Continuum. IDW have built up a lot of continuity and story in a few short years, and it’s bound to be daunting to the new reader. This brief summary of major story points and characters is a good idea, which will hopefully draw in some new readers. On the other hand, it’s a disappointment to the long-time reader like myself when so much of what's in Continuum is wrong. It doesn’t jibe with what’s already been published. IDW gets credit for a good idea, but it looks like they botched the execution. I hate to say that, but sadly it's the case.