Buy this book, or I'll kill you, man!
The Transformers: Infiltration is the first in a line of miniseries by IDW Publishing set in a re-booted Generation One continuity. The series brings the Transformers' presence on Earth into the present day and places the "robots in disguise" concept firmly in the forefront of its narrative.
It is issues #0-6 in the IDW overarching "sub-numbering" (shown by a number in an Autobot-sigil shaped shield beside the bar code on each issue).
| Infiltration issues: |
|---|
| #0 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 |
Followed by: Stormbringer
Overview[]
The most immediate shift from original continuity is the nature of the Transformers' presence on Earth. In this continuity, there was no ancient starship crash, nor robots awakening from a four million-year slumber; the Autobots and Decepticons have arrived on Earth fairly recently and on purpose, operating undercover for at least four years. The story is told through the eyes of four main characters: Verity Carlo, a young drifter; Hunter O'Nion, a conspiracy theorist; Jimmy Pink, mechanic and Verity's net-friend; and Ratchet, a medic who puts his conscience over his mission.
The series quickly and consistently establishes a strong Cold War, cloak-and-dagger theme, where secrecy and rules of espionage are as important as, or perhaps even more than, vanquishing the enemy. Thundercracker and the Battlechargers attack the humans and Ratchet to retrieve data on a palmtop PC that might reveal their existence; Ratchet is arrested by Prowl for breaking cover to rescue the humans; both Autobot and Decepticon operations are small cells instead of full-fledged armies. Also, a third faction is at work: a secret human organization known only as the Machination which appears to be aware of the Transformers' presence on Earth and has its own plans, as yet unknown, for the robots. Finally, it becomes evident to the Autobots that the Decepticon operation is up to something unusual, and their new human allies may have a part in unraveling the mystery.
The series has taken an interesting and rather unique approach to the standard Transformers story: introducing only a few new characters with each issue. This enables each issue to focus on a small selection of leads (Ratchet, the humans and later Bumblebee) without overwhelming them and gives each issue space to explore their characters.
The series culminates in a battle between Starscream, who leads the Decepticons on Earth, and the recently arrived Megatron attempting to put his house in order. Their animosity seems to be a constant in any Transformers continuity!
Creative team[]
Infiltration was scripted by long-time Transformer writer Simon Furman and penciled by E. J. Su. The two also worked together on multiple follow-up miniseries including The Transformers: Escalation and The Transformers: Devastation.
Items of note[]
- Each of Infiltration's seven issues were released in a choice of multiple covers—some issues had as many as ten. As this was apparently too many to include in the normal trade paperback, IDW released an Infiltration cover gallery book which included every cover.
Collections[]
Manga cover, wait what the hell is the difference!?
- Infiltration TPB (Sep, 2006) ISBN 978-1600100109
- Bonus material includes sketch art by E. J. Su. It wields the number #1 on its side.
- Infiltration Manga (Nov, 2006) ISBN 978-1600100192
- The Transformers: The Premiere Collection, Volume 1 (Dec, 2007) ISBN 978-1600101182
- Includes Infiltration, Stormbringer, Escalation and the contents of the first Spotlight collection.