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Moscow, Constantinople (now Istanbul), and Rome itself are vitally alive in the present and are magnets for tourists. Also going back a long way, each lives in history. These cities have their points in common, each wanting to rule the world and establish Rome of the Caesars, Constantinople of the Emperors, and Moscow of the Tsars were also the Rome of St. Peter, the Constantinople of the Patriarchs, and the Moscow of the Orthodox Metropolitans. These were cities on earth that aspired to heaven, kingdoms that succeeded each other as standard-bearers of Christianity from the fourth century on. Indeed, the Russian monk declared to the Tsar: "Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth shall never besh the kingdom of heaven on earth. People, recognizing this, link them together as the Three Romes. These cities differ, though, in their understanding of man's nature and business. The Three Romes are three places and also states of mind. Now, with a new introduction which describes the contemporary significance to these cities this book will be assessable to the modern reader at all levels. This fascinating book weaves the past and present in a narrative that is sometimes harrowing, always vivid, and even, at times, amusing. Russell Fraser shows the reader each city as he himself saw it. He shuttles easily between today and yesterday, between today's Central Committee and Ivan the Great, between Turkish Istanbul and the golden Constantinople of Justinian, between today's Roman politics and the splendid Caesars. Great historical events, intellectual concerns, and artistic riches define the three Romes. Fraser goes beyond the facades, images, and myths to lay bare the three great psychologies still vying for the mind of man. The Three Romes is an utterly original book--a celebration of the past and an urbane guide to the present.… (meer)
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Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog in two parts here and here.
This collection opens with a set of stories that slot in and around what was happening in the US strip at the time they were published.
Race with the Devil This story is okay. A group of Autobots called the Triggerbots is assigned to shadow some Decepticon mercenaries, Darwking and Dreadwind; it turns out that the mercenaries are trying to recover Starscream's corpse, since it contains the Underbase, the collected knowledge of the Transformer race. (This is all due to the Underbase saga, from the US book.) Starscream kind of becomes a zombie and the Triggerbots stop him and save some humans. I guess if I ever could remember who the Triggerbots were, I might have cared about this more.
"Fallen Star!" This vignette is focused on Starscream who, thanks to events in the US book, has been brought back to life... but is feeling like he's lost his mojo in the process. But then he realizes that maybe after all, he's still got it. Told in the first person, this is a fun story of Starscream at his best. (Well, worst.) Nicely done.
"Mind Games" It's hard to talk about this story without getting into the weeds on continuity. Basically, when Simon Furman took over the US book, he decided he wanted to recurrect Megatron. But Megatron had already been resurrected in the UK book. He didn't want to alienate US readers by suddenly revealing Megatron had already been resurrected, so he wrote a story for the UK strip explaining that what everyone had thought was a resurrected Megatron was actually a clone of Megatron created by Straxus. Anyway, not much happens here; it's mostly to set up the next story.
"Two Megatrons!" The "real" Megatron and the clone Megatron battle it out. Transformers fans have written whole dissertations on how this causes more problems than it solves, continuity-wise, but if you ignore all that, this is a great story with a perfect climax. Megatron is dead, love live Megatron!
After this, the collection suddenly jumps ahead to a set of Decepticon-focused stories from the "Earthforce" era, when the UK strip abandoned continuity with the US one. I wish Titan had just collected the era in publication order, but as they're the only publisher to collect it at all, I have to take what I can get.
"Flashkcab!" What's that, Megatron has a time machine and is attempting to rewrite the events of the Underbase saga? Okay, sure. With five pages per story, Furman can't waste time on setting things up... or ever using these concepts ever again! This one is maybe overdoing the exciting standalone adventure thing (which became standard in the Earthforce era), but it's fine.
"The Bad Guy's Ball!" There's been a Decepticon Civil War brewing, Shockwave versus Megatron, so the Decpticons call an "enclave" (should be "conclave," surely?) to settle who should be in charge. One of my favorite stories in this run: the whole idea of a Decepticon cease-fire social meet is a delight, and then the Autobots show up to cause problems in secret, preventing the two sides from reaching an accord. The only thing I don't like is I feel like this could be a premise for a whole twenty-page issue! Imagine this in the hands of James Roberts.
"Secrets" / "Bugged!" / "Internal Affairs!" These three stories continue this collection's focus on the Decepticons, and they are all pretty fun. First, it turns out Soundwave is spying on Megatron for Shockwave, but he plays on a fellow Decepticon's paranoia to throw suspicion off himself in a masterful move. Then Starscream makes his own play, uniting with Soundwave to depose both Megatron and Shockwave. It's so complicated you've got to love it.
"Assassins" / "External Forces!" / "The Lesser Evil!" More on the complicated shenanigans of the Decepticon civil war. Shockwave and Megatron team up to assassinate Starscream, making it look like Soundwave is responsible; the Mayhem Attack Squad attempts to kill Starscream and Soundwave; the Autobats have to save Starscream because they need a transfusion from him to defeat an illness Snarl has (we saw this illness in a flash-forward story in the 1990 annual). Enjoyable, but alas this is end of this plotline as the series itself is almost over. Shame, because I think there was a lot of mileage in it.
Moscow, Constantinople (now Istanbul), and Rome itself are vitally alive in the present and are magnets for tourists. Also going back a long way, each lives in history. These cities have their points in common, each wanting to rule the world and establish Rome of the Caesars, Constantinople of the Emperors, and Moscow of the Tsars were also the Rome of St. Peter, the Constantinople of the Patriarchs, and the Moscow of the Orthodox Metropolitans. These were cities on earth that aspired to heaven, kingdoms that succeeded each other as standard-bearers of Christianity from the fourth century on. Indeed, the Russian monk declared to the Tsar: "Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth shall never besh the kingdom of heaven on earth. People, recognizing this, link them together as the Three Romes. These cities differ, though, in their understanding of man's nature and business. The Three Romes are three places and also states of mind. Now, with a new introduction which describes the contemporary significance to these cities this book will be assessable to the modern reader at all levels. This fascinating book weaves the past and present in a narrative that is sometimes harrowing, always vivid, and even, at times, amusing. Russell Fraser shows the reader each city as he himself saw it. He shuttles easily between today and yesterday, between today's Central Committee and Ivan the Great, between Turkish Istanbul and the golden Constantinople of Justinian, between today's Roman politics and the splendid Caesars. Great historical events, intellectual concerns, and artistic riches define the three Romes. Fraser goes beyond the facades, images, and myths to lay bare the three great psychologies still vying for the mind of man. The Three Romes is an utterly original book--a celebration of the past and an urbane guide to the present.
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(3.75)
1
This collection opens with a set of stories that slot in and around what was happening in the US strip at the time they were published.
Race with the Devil
This story is okay. A group of Autobots called the Triggerbots is assigned to shadow some Decepticon mercenaries, Darwking and Dreadwind; it turns out that the mercenaries are trying to recover Starscream's corpse, since it contains the Underbase, the collected knowledge of the Transformer race. (This is all due to the Underbase saga, from the US book.) Starscream kind of becomes a zombie and the Triggerbots stop him and save some humans. I guess if I ever could remember who the Triggerbots were, I might have cared about this more.
"Fallen Star!"
This vignette is focused on Starscream who, thanks to events in the US book, has been brought back to life... but is feeling like he's lost his mojo in the process. But then he realizes that maybe after all, he's still got it. Told in the first person, this is a fun story of Starscream at his best. (Well, worst.) Nicely done.
"Mind Games"
It's hard to talk about this story without getting into the weeds on continuity. Basically, when Simon Furman took over the US book, he decided he wanted to recurrect Megatron. But Megatron had already been resurrected in the UK book. He didn't want to alienate US readers by suddenly revealing Megatron had already been resurrected, so he wrote a story for the UK strip explaining that what everyone had thought was a resurrected Megatron was actually a clone of Megatron created by Straxus. Anyway, not much happens here; it's mostly to set up the next story.
"Two Megatrons!"
The "real" Megatron and the clone Megatron battle it out. Transformers fans have written whole dissertations on how this causes more problems than it solves, continuity-wise, but if you ignore all that, this is a great story with a perfect climax. Megatron is dead, love live Megatron!
After this, the collection suddenly jumps ahead to a set of Decepticon-focused stories from the "Earthforce" era, when the UK strip abandoned continuity with the US one. I wish Titan had just collected the era in publication order, but as they're the only publisher to collect it at all, I have to take what I can get.
"Flashkcab!"
What's that, Megatron has a time machine and is attempting to rewrite the events of the Underbase saga? Okay, sure. With five pages per story, Furman can't waste time on setting things up... or ever using these concepts ever again! This one is maybe overdoing the exciting standalone adventure thing (which became standard in the Earthforce era), but it's fine.
"The Bad Guy's Ball!"
There's been a Decepticon Civil War brewing, Shockwave versus Megatron, so the Decpticons call an "enclave" (should be "conclave," surely?) to settle who should be in charge. One of my favorite stories in this run: the whole idea of a Decepticon cease-fire social meet is a delight, and then the Autobots show up to cause problems in secret, preventing the two sides from reaching an accord. The only thing I don't like is I feel like this could be a premise for a whole twenty-page issue! Imagine this in the hands of James Roberts.
"Secrets" / "Bugged!" / "Internal Affairs!"
These three stories continue this collection's focus on the Decepticons, and they are all pretty fun. First, it turns out Soundwave is spying on Megatron for Shockwave, but he plays on a fellow Decepticon's paranoia to throw suspicion off himself in a masterful move. Then Starscream makes his own play, uniting with Soundwave to depose both Megatron and Shockwave. It's so complicated you've got to love it.
"Assassins" / "External Forces!" / "The Lesser Evil!"
More on the complicated shenanigans of the Decepticon civil war. Shockwave and Megatron team up to assassinate Starscream, making it look like Soundwave is responsible; the Mayhem Attack Squad attempts to kill Starscream and Soundwave; the Autobats have to save Starscream because they need a transfusion from him to defeat an illness Snarl has (we saw this illness in a flash-forward story in the 1990 annual). Enjoyable, but alas this is end of this plotline as the series itself is almost over. Shame, because I think there was a lot of mileage in it.
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