Chaos (IDW)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Chaos" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Chaos (disambiguation). |
"Chaos" was the title of the "event" storyline that concluded IDW Publishing's ongoing Transformers comic book. Built towards over the course of 2011 with several prequel mini-series and tie-in stories in the ongoing series, the main "Chaos" story was initially intended to be published as a four-issue mini-series, but the higher sales of the ongoing versus those of the tie-ins saw editor Andy Schmidt decide to combine the two. "Chaos" was then published in alternating issues of ongoing series, which was released bi-weekly from July to November 2011, alternating with chapters of the Earth-based tie-in story, "Police Action".
| "Chaos" chapters: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
"Road to..."
"Police Action":
"Chaos":
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Contents |
Overview
Prequels
January 2011 saw the beginning of the build-up to "Chaos" with the release of The Transformers: Infestation, a two-issue tie-in to IDW's franchise-wide zombie-crossover. This story brought Galvatron back to the fold, following his resurrection some eighteen months prior in All Hail Megatron #14, and established that he was up to something. That something was soon to be expanded on the month after Infestation ended in the four-issue Heart of Darkness mini-series, which covered Galvatron's exploits between All Hail and Infestation, revealing he had discovered the existence of an evil entity known as the D-Void within the Dead Universe, and, following the urgings of the Heart of Darkness, had raised an army to battle it. The publication of the final issue of Heart of Darkness in June 2011 dovetailed with Galvatron and his army's appearance in issue #20 of the ongoing that same month—both issues bearing cover banners that proclaimed them part of "The Road to Chaos"—in which Rodimus discovered he had returned to Cybertron.
Rodimus's discovery was the cue for the immediate build-up to "Chaos" to begin, as the ongoing started to ship twice a month, and the event's logo appeared on the cover of issue #21, letting readers know that "Chaos Begins Here!" This issue contained two stories that would set up the two strands that the ongoing would split up to follow for the event's storyline; the first saw Rodimus return to Earth to alert Optimus Prime to Galvatron's return, followed by Prime depating for Cybertron with most of the Autobots to stop him, while the second followed a small contingent of Autobots remaining behind on Earth with Skywatch to investigate accusations of murder against Spike Witwicky. The journey of Prime's Autobots back to Cybertron then served as the backdrop for the next two issues, the aptly-named "Chaos Theory", the second part of which sported another "Road to Chaos" banner.
"Police Action"
Promoted as "The Last Story on Earth," "Police Action" ran in issues #25, #27, and #29. The story focuses on a pair of cases for Prowl, as he gathers evidence against Spike Witwicky for his execution of Scrapper back in issue #8, and investigates the mysterious Ben Simpson, an activist fostering anti-Transformer sentiment. Attacked by Brawl, who then deactivates upon capture, Prowl suspects the hand of another Transformer in these mysteries—a hand soon discovered to belong to Swindle, who has been controlling Simpson (actually a facsimile construct), and sold weapons to Spike to arm Skywatch. Spike goes on the run, and Jazz—disgraced after killing a human in issue #17—exploits his compromised position to dissolve the Autobot/Skywatch alliance, leaving Prowl to doubt what the Autobots have to show for their time on Earth.
"Chaos"
Published in issues #24, #26, #28, and #30, the main event, the big kahuna, "Chaos" itself, joins Optimus Prime's Autobots as they arrive back on Cybertron and confront Galvatron, who is planning to use the Heart of Darkness in conjunction with Vector Sigma to destroy the D-Void before it can emerge. Little does he realize, the Heart is actually an extension of the D-Void, and is manipulating Galvatron into opening a portal that will allow it to consume the living universe. On the cusp of emerging, the D-Void takes control of the Decepticons (teleported to Cybertron by Megatron) and Galvatron's army, fusing their bodies into a gigantic avatar, which Megatron engages in battle. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Rodimus pursue Galvatron to Vector Sigma's chamber, where Optimus opens the Matrix of Leadership and eradicates the D-Void.
Aftermath
The final issue of the ongoing series jumped forward in time many years to serve as an epilogue for the run; the direct fallout of "Chaos" would then be dealt with in the Death of Optimus Prime one-shot, which revealed that the opening of the Matrix had healed the damaged Cybertron and returned it to a primordial state, setting up the two new series that would follow, More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise.
Creative team
The "Chaos" event was predominantly written by regular ongoing series writer Mike Costa, who scripted "Space Opera", "Police Action", and co-wrote "Chaos" itself with James Roberts. Roberts wrote the two-part "Chaos Theory", seeding many plot points that he would later explore as the writer of More than Meets the Eye. Both Infestation and Heart of Darkness were written by the team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, in advance of the fact that they were supposed to become regular writers for Transformers at IDW following this, but plans fell through. It's not unfair to say that Heart of Darkness, in particular, feels very disconnected from "Chaos" as a result, as one quick info-dump at the start of the event's fourth chapter is essentially dedicated to saying that everything Heart of Darkness told the audience was wrong.
Livio Ramondelli (right) handled the art duties for all four parts of "Chaos", pencilling and coloring in his unique painterly style. Brendan Cahill delivered lineart for "Police Action", Nick Roche for Infestation, Guido Guidi for "Space Opera", and Alex Milne for "Chaos Theory", all of which were colored by Joana Lafuente. Heart of Darkness was illustrated by Ulises Fariñas and Andrew Crossley.
Collections
- The Transformers, Volume 4: Heart of Darkness (September 14, 2011) ISBN 1613770510 / ISBN 978-1613770511
- The Transformers, Volume 5: Chaos Theory (November 2, 2011) ISBN 1613770901 / ISBN 978-1613770900
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #19–23.
- Bonus material includes art from most covers.
- Trade paperback format.
- The Transformers, Volume 6: Police Action (February 15, 2012) ISBN 1613771649 / ISBN 978-1613771648
- The Transformers, Volume 7: Chaos (March 14, 2012) ISBN 1613771401 / ISBN 978-1613771402
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
- Bonus material includes art from most covers, plus B&W art sketches from Livio Ramondelli.
- Trade paperback format.
- The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume Eight (May 7, 2013) ISBN 1613776276 / ISBN 978-1613776278
- Collects Heart of Darkness issues #1–4, and The Transformers (2009) issues #19–31.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 50: Heart of Darkness (May 31, 2017)
Volume 4: Heart of Darkness – cover art by Ulises Fariñas and Andrew Crossley
Volume 5: Chaos Theory – cover art by Nick Roche
Volume 6: Police Action – cover art by Brendan Cahill and Priscilla Tramontano
Volume 7: Chaos; cover art by Livio Ramondelli
The IDW Collection Volume Eight – cover art by E. J. Su
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 50: Heart of Darkness – cover art by Guido Guidi and Ulises Fariñas
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime (December 13, 2017)
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31, and The Death of Optimus Prime.
- Bonus material includes an interview with James Roberts on how he worked his way up to become an ongoing writer, and character design sketches by Livio Ramondelli.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 51: Chaos Theory (December 11, 2019)
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #21: "Police Action: Prologue", #22–23, #25, #27 & #29, and Spotlight: Bumblebee.
- Bonus material includes a one-page article exploring the origins of the "Chaos" arc and beyond, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 52: The Death of Optimus Prime – cover art by Don Figueroa and Livio Ramondelli
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 51: Chaos Theory – cover art by Don Figueroa and Alex Milne
Japanese reprints
- The Transformers: Chaos Theory (February 28, 2018) ISBN 978-4-86491-370-6
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #19–23, #25, #27 & #29.
- Trade paperback format.
- The Transformers: Chaos (October 31, 2018) ISBN 978-4-86491-400-0
- Collects The Transformers (2009) issues #24, #26, #28, & #30–31.
- Trade paperback format.
Chaos Theory – cover art by Kazumasa Yasukuni
Chaos – cover art by Nagi Miyako
