[go: up one dir, main page]
Personal tools

The Transformers: Spotlight

From Transformers Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
(thumbnail)
Extremely logical that I was given the first Spotlight!

The Transformers: Spotlight (later The Transformers Spotlight), published since 2006, is an semi-ongoing series of one-shot comics published by IDW Publishing and set in the 2005 IDW continuity. Each issue focuses on a particular Transformer.

Initially intended only to consist of five issues, the series evolved into an intermittent "ongoing" of sorts until the end of 2009, at which point it was shelved. One additional issue, Spotlight: Prowl, was published in April 2010. The series returned for a final six issues starting in December 2012 as part of a tie-in with the Generations toyline.

Transformers: Spotlight issues:

Contents

Overview

The Spotlight series is set within the 2005 IDW continuity. The format allows more free-ranging story settings—many issues are set on alien worlds—and serve to give a wider view of the overall IDW Transformers universe. As such, the issues are not set in any kind of absolute chronological order, taking place at various points in the 2005 IDW timeline, sometimes expanding upon pre-existing plot points, sometimes setting up ideas to be explored later, and sometimes—get this—just telling a story.

For the vast majority of its first three years, during Simon Furman's tenure as the chief Transformers writer at IDW, in addition to spotlighting singular characters, the series served to visibly set up plot points that would tie into the main ongoing story Furman was telling at the time. Roughly speaking, five issues were released per year across 2006, 2007 and 2008, collected into three trade paperbacks; Nightbeat, Hot Rod, Sixshot, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave and Kup were also reprinted in hardback library editions and sold through ABDO Publishing Group and its aptly named subsidiary, Spotlight. After this, when Furman's run on the Generation 1 universe was truncated, four additional Spotlight issues published at the end of 2008 played home to the finale of his story, "Revelation".

Spotlight continued to run concurrently with the new "main" series, All Hail Megatron, publishing another set of five issues in 2009 which were collected as All Hail Megatron Vol. 3, despite having almost nothing to do with that series itself. Following this, the launch of the ongoing series, Last Stand of the Wreckers, and The Transformers: Bumblebee miniseries led to Spotlight being put on hold. A planned spotlight for Cosmos was canceled, and only one further issue was published in 2010: "Spotlight: Prowl", containing a story intended for the ongoing series itself which was only released in this format as a means of quickly addressing fandom concerns about the characterization of the title character.

The Spotlight series returned in late 2012 as part of a joint effort between IDW and Hasbro, developed first for release to comic book stores, and then as pack-in comics included with new Generations figures of the IDW characters' designs. These six issues again told stories that fleshed out moments of characters' lives at various points in the IDW timeline—broadly speaking, two of the six were set in the distant past, two during the ongoing series, and two in the "present" era of publishing—filling in key moments in their history with a connecting thread between issues that centered on a Decepticon search for Metroplex and the space bridge technology in his body. In addition to promoting the high-profile new Generations Metroplex toy, the six issues together served as something of a stealth prequel to the "Dark Cybertron" crossover event.

Creative teams

Of the first nineteen Spotlights, all but three were written by Simon Furman: the exceptions were Spotlight: Kup by Nick Roche, Spotlight: Ramjet by Stuart Moore and Spotlight: Mirage by George Strayton. Klaus Scherwinski co-wrote "Spotlight: Wheelie" with Furman.

All Hail Megatron writer Shane McCarthy penned three of the Spotlights that accompanied that series—Spotlight: Blurr, Spotlight: Drift and Spotlight: Cliffjumper—while Josh van Reyk & Shaun Knowler wrote Spotlight: Jazz and editor Andy Schmidt handled Spotlight: Metroplex. The writer of the ongoing series, Mike Costa, wrote Spotlight: Prowl.

When Spotlight returned in 2012, writing duties were predominantly shared between the two writers of the current series: More than Meets the Eye's James Roberts, who scripted Orion Pax, Trailcutter and Hoist, and Robots in Disguise's John Barber, who penned Thundercracker and Bumblebee. Nick Roche wrote and drew the sixth, Megatron.

The list of artists throughout the series is diverse; please see each issue for credits.

Collections

  • The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 1 (May 30, 2007) ISBN 1600100686 / ISBN 978-1600100680
    • Collects Spotlight: Shockwave, Nightbeat, Hot Rod, Sixshot and Ultra Magnus.
    • Trade paperback format. The spine bears the number 1.
  • The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 2 (February 20, 2008) ISBN 1600101542 / ISBN 978-1600101540
    • Collects Spotlight: Soundwave, Kup, Galvatron, Optimus Prime and Ramjet.
    • Includes covers art for each issue and bonus art for each issue.
    • Trade paperback format. The spine bears the number 2.
  • The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 3 (September 17, 2008) ISBN 160010245X / ISBN 978-1600102455
    • Collects Spotlight: Blaster, Arcee, Mirage, Grimlock and Wheelie.
    • Includes covers art for each issue and bonus art for each issue. The cover is an unused incentive cover from Spotlight: Grimlock, art by Marcelo Matere.
    • Trade paperback format. The spine bears the number 3.
  • The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 4: Revelation (February 4, 2009) ISBN 1600104215 / ISBN 978-1600104213
    • Collects Spotlight: Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer and Sideswipe.
    • Bonus material includes each A and B cover, and sketches of the 4-part image, Cyclonus, Nightbeat, Doubledealer (including a dragon-like alternate mode), Grindcore and Straxus (the last 2 in robot and alt mode).
    • Trade paperback format. The spine bears the number 4, putting it clearly in the Spotlight series rather than in the "-ation" series.
  • The Transformers: The Premiere Collection Volume 2 (June 17, 2009) ISBN 1600104371 / ISBN 978-1600104374
    • Collects Devastation issues #1–6, and Spotlight: Soundwave, Kup, Galvatron, Optimus Prime, Ramjet, Blaster, Arcee, Mirage, Grimlock, Wheelie, Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer & Sideswipe.
    • Hardcover format.
  • (thumbnail)

    All Hail Megatron Volume 3 – cover art by Trevor Hutchison

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Volume One – cover art by E. J. Su

  • (thumbnail)

    The Best of Optimus Prime – cover art by Livio Ramondelli

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Volume Two – cover art by E. J. Su

  • (thumbnail)

    The Best of Grimlock – cover art by Klaus Scherwinski

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Volume Three – cover art by E. J. Su

  • The Transformers: The Complete All Hail Megatron (July 27, 2011) ISBN 1600109551 / ISBN 978-1600109553
    • Collects All Hail Megatron issues #1–16, and Spotlight: Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper & Metroplex.
    • Hardcover format.
  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Volume Four – cover art by E. J. Su

  • (thumbnail)

    The Complete All Hail Megatron – cover art by Trevor Hutchison

  • (thumbnail)

    Volume 6: Police Action – cover art by Brendan Cahill and Priscilla Tramontano

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Volume Six – cover art by E. J. Su

  • (thumbnail)

    Complete Drift – cover art by Trevor Hutchison

  • (thumbnail)

    Dark Prelude – cover art by Nick Roche and Josh Perez

  • The Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus Volume 1 (April 15, 2015) ISBN 1631402463 / ISBN 978-1631402463
    • Collects Spotlight: Shockwave, Nightbeat, Hot Rod, Sixshot, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave, Kup, Galvatron, Optimus Prime, Ramjet, Blaster, Arcee and Grimlock.
    • Bonus material unknown at this time.
    • Trade paperback format.
  • The Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2 (September 9, 2015) ISBN 1613779429 / ISBN 978-1613779422
    • Collects Spotlight: Mirage, Wheelie, Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer, Sideswipe, Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper, Metroplex and Prowl.
    • Trade paperback format.
  • (thumbnail)

    Spotlight Omnibus Volume 1 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 2 – cover art by Saren Stone

  • (thumbnail)

    Spotlight Omnibus Volume 2 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 3 – cover art by Marcelo Matere

  • (thumbnail)

    The IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 36: Stormbringer – cover art by Don Figueroa and Guido Guidi

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 37: Escalation – cover art by Don Figueroa and E. J. Su

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 39: Hearts of Steel – cover art by Don Figueroa, Guido Guidi and Aaron Leach

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 40: Maximum Dinobots – cover art by Don Figueroa and Nick Roche

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 33: Megatron Origin – cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne

  • (thumbnail)

    Origins & Empires – cover art by Livio Ramondelli

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 45: Last Stand of the Wreckers – cover art by Don Figueroa and Nick Roche

  • Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 42: Revelation (October 17, 2018)
    • Collects Spotlight: Arcee, Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer, Sideswipe, Jazz and Metroplex.
    • Bonus material includes an "-Ations" retrospective, sketchbook art from Alex Milne and E. J. Su reprinted from individual Spotlights.
    • Hardcover format.
  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 42: Revelation – cover art by Don Figueroa and Nick Roche

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 53: Liars, A to D – cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 41: Drift – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Burcham

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 48: Revenge of the Decepticons – cover art by Don Figueroa, Nick Roche and Len O'Grady

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 38: Devastation – cover art by Don Figueroa and Robby Musso

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 34: Autocracy – cover art by Dreamwave Productions and Livio Ramondelli

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 51: Chaos Theory – cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne

  • (thumbnail)

    Best of Hot Rod – cover art by James Biggie

  • (thumbnail)

    Best of Shockwave – cover art by James Biggie

International Printings

Spain

Transformers: Spotlight was translated and released in Spain by NORMA Editorial

Japan

  • The Transformers: The Complete All Hail Megatron (March 23, 2015) ISBN 978-4796875141
    • Collects All Hail Megatron issues #1–16, and Spotlight: Blurr, Jazz, Drift, Cliffjumper & Metroplex.
    • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and the art sketches from previous collections.
    • Trade paperback format.

Unreleased

Spotlight Octane unused.jpg

References

  1. ↑ "In 2007, @jroberts332 and I attempted to pitch Spotlight: Octane. Here's the cover and character design. https://t.co/5fS4W2grfz"—NickRoche, Twitter, 2016/05/30
  2. ↑ "Not a script, but James wrote a very extensive outline which he then hacked down. Some of it has shown up in MTMTE. https://t.co/7sjztgmVv5"—NickRoche, Twitter, 2016/05/30
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Transformers:_Spotlight&oldid=1689502"
Advertisement
TFsource.com - Your Source for Everything Transformers!