FLATLINE

With Tales of The Fallen #6 set to hit stores tomorrow, I'm glad to see such a positive reaction to the new character, FLATLINE. Truth is that Flatline was originally going to make his appearance in the Reign of Starscream story's first draft. Basically, he would operate on the monstrosity that was Devastator (who was made with the fused bodies of some construction bots like Mixmaster, Huffer, etc.), turning him into the first gestalt. Since that idea was not approved, he had to wait.

The character stuck with me and while I was kicking around ideas and trying to figure out a way to get into the G1 universe with a story, I asked artist-extraordinaire, Ben Templesmith, if he wouldn't mind sketching up a rough of what Flatline might look like. Ben has a wicked sense of a humor and a taste for the macabre, so he was perfect. What you see here is that G1 version. Based on a 1960's model Hearse, Flatline is ready for some battlefield resurrection.

Oh, and a well-deserved plug for Ben. If you haven't checked out Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse or Welcome To Hoxford, do it. You don't know what you're missing. Besides, they're the perfect appetizers for his upcoming Choker series by Image.

Enjoy.

ARCEE - 5 PAGES

Happy New Year, everyone. To start this new year, and new decade off, here's the first 5 pages of the upcoming Tales of The Fallen #6: ARCEE story. Artwork is by Alex Milne with colors by Josh Perez. Can't say how happy I was to be able to work with these two again.

This issue also features a new character I created named FLATLINE. He's a Decepticon medic, basically their version of Ratchet. While Ratchet may work to save lives, Flatline merely gets his soldiers operational again. Because as I'd like to think of him saying "to cease to serve, is to cease to function."

The story takes place after Reign of Starscream #5 and before the Alliance series. Set on a remote Decepticon outpost on a distant planet, Thundercracker is left thinking that he's one of a few Decepticons left. With the help of Flatline, some protoform "hatchlings," and a few unlucky Autotbot "donors," their aim is to create their own platoon and eventually take the fight back to Cybertron.