Transformers: Armada (comic book)

The Transformers franchise was created by American toy company Hasbro, based on the Japanese toylines Diaclone and Micro Change from Takara.[1] Hasbro would partner with Marvel Comics to develop the world and mythology of Transformers, with Marvel also publishing a comic book series that ran for 80 issues, from September 1984 to July 1991.[1] Concurrently with Marvel's comic, a cartoon series titled The Transformers aired from 1984 to 1987.[1]

Following the airing of the cartoon series Beast Wars: Transformers, Beast Machines: Transformers, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise, none of which had any concurrent comics being published, Hasbro would grant the license to Dreamwave Productions in the summer of 2001 to create new Transformers comics.[1] Dreamwave was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 by artist Pat Lee and his brother Roger Lee.[1]

Following the end of Beast Machines, Hasbro and Takara partnered to reboot the franchise and create a new cartoon series and toyline; the Transformers: Armada anime series would start airing on Cartoon Network in 2002.[1] Dreamwave would first publish a Transformers comic in April 2002, with the Transformers Preview one-shot featuring two stories, both written by Chris Sarracini, the latter of which acted as a preview for the Armada comic, and was drawn by James Raiz.[1]

Starting with issue #6, the series was written by veteran Transformers writer Simon Furman, with Pat Lee tackling coloring duties.[2] Furman, who had previously described Armada as a "solid series", was approached by Dreamwave to take over writing duties for the comic.[3] As he had only seen a rough cut of the anime's first episode at BotCon 2002, he had to catch up with the anime series.[3]

The final story arc in Armada, titled "Worlds Collide", started with issue #14.[4] According to Furman, Armada #13 would act as a lead-in to the story arc, with the Minicons playing a significant role and the revelation they have been withholding information from the Autobots.[4] Furman further described "Worlds Collide" as a "big, epic, [and] world-shattering" storyline that would involve a variety of familiar antagonists.[4]

1. [5] (Simon Furman Interview; about "Worlds Collide" arc)

Following the conclusion of the "World Collide" arc with issue #18 in December 2003, Armada was replaced with Transformers: Energon, which began publication in January 2004 with issue #19, continuing Armada's storyline.[6]

Tom Speelman of Comic Book Resources praised Dreamwave's comic and described it as superior to the anime series of the same name, highlighting the ability of the Minicons to communicate properly through speech, rather than beeping sound.[7] Randy Lander of TheFourthRail.com gave the first issues a score of 7/10, particularly for its presentation of the characters which "plays up their colorful and cool side".[8] Lander also praised Sarracini's writing for being "action-packed", as well as Raiz's artwork, particularly the designs of Cybertron.[8] Lander also argued that although he found Transformers: Generation One as a better series overall, Armada was better for new readers.[8] Sam Windholz gave the first issue 3.5/5 stars, stating that although there were a few issues with it, issue #1 proved to be a "promising start".[9] Windholz also praised the comic's artwork, especially the depiction of Cybertron.[9] Concerning the writing, Windholz compared it to Generation One, described Armada's writing as simpler and using more exposition.[9]

Transformers: Armada #1 was the best-selling comic in July 2002, according to Diamond Comic Distributors' ranking for that month, with around 145,567 copies distributed.[10] High sales continued with #2 being the third best-selling comic of the month.[11] Issue #3 was the first one to sell less than 100,000 copies,[12] while #4 was the first one to not rank in the top 10.[13] Sales continued to plummet from that point on. Issue #8 scored out of the top 20,[14] #10 scored out of the top 30,[15] and by #14 the series failed to rank in the top 50.[16] By the end, Transformers: Armada #18 sold 28,059 copies and ranked 70th in Diamond's rankings.[17]

The series' first trade volume, First Contact, had 2,549 units accounted in Diamond distributed comic shops during its release month, April 2003, placing it 22nd on the trade paperbacks chart.[15] The second trade, Fortress, had 1,952 units accounted in September that same year, and place 37th on the chart,[18] while the third and last trade, Worlds Collide, sold 1,358 units in April 2004, scoring 59th place on the charts.[19] The omnibus published by IDW Publishing in August 2010 sold 707 units and scored 132nd on the list.[20]