Broken Frontier

With the recent release of new one-sheets showing the first official poster images of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON, fan anticipation for the big-screen TRANSFORMERS movie opening on July 4 continues to grow. This interest is evidenced in another way, too—the first two issues of IDW Publishing’s Transformers: The Official Movie Prequel comic book miniseries are officially sold out through Diamond Comic Distributors.

The Movie Prequel comic book, co-written by longtime TRANSFORMERS scribe Simon Furman and IDW’s Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall and featuring art by fan-favorite artist Don Figueroa, offered fans the first official look at the characters and storyline to come in the summer movie release. This all-new, four-part storyline spanned centuries and planets, taking the story from the TRANSFORMERS’ world of CYBERTRON through space to Earth, where players on both sides are gathering for a coming war.

IDW released a special WizardWorld LA convention-exclusive edition of issue 1, limited to 1,000 copies, and will also distribute a special Free Comic Book Day version of the comic in May. But otherwise, that first issue, and issue 2, which features MEGATRON’s arrival on Earth, have all been snatched up by anxious fans.

“This is especially gratifying to me,” said co-writer Ryall, “since we’ve been doing Transformers comics for over a year now, and I’ve got to see from the start how fan interest in the movie has turned from wariness to absolute fervor.”

Overall interest in THE TRANSFORMERS comics seems to be growing, too, as evidenced by other recent sell-outs, including:

- The Transformers: Infiltration TPB. A second printing is on press right now.
- Transformers Spotlight: Hot Rod
- The Transformers: Escalation issues 2 and 4

Additionally, IDW has seen a spate of other titles sell out completely, too:
- Zombies vs Robots issues 1 and 2
- Ashley Wood’s Grande Finale 1st and 2nd Printings
- All issues of 24: Nightfall
- Sparrow: Phil Hale

Issue 3 of Transformers: the Official Movie Prequel will be in stores on April 11. Issue 4 is set for May 2. Following that miniseries, IDW will release Transformers: The Official Movie Adaptation, by Kris Oprisko and Alex Milne, as a weekly comic book throughout the month of June. With both those projects in stores a month ahead of the movie itself, fans will find themselves fully armed as they head in to see the big-screen spectacle.