For the last few years, people have asked us about producing a conventiion exclusive for Auto Assembly. While we would have loved to have produced a toy, the economics simply wouldn't allow it to happen. Not just because of the logistics of working with Hasbro, but the sheer quantity we would have to produce (several thousand toys) would make it almost impossible for us to afford to do it. So, apart from our exclusive postcards, pin badges, etc, the idea of a convention exclusive seemed pretty limited... until NOW!!

We contacted Chris Ryall of IDW Publishing to discuss the idea about having an Auto Assembly excusive variant cover version of one of their forthcoming comics as a convention exclusive this year. Chris seemed up for the idea but explained that as IDW don't handle sales directly the only way we could do it was if we had a Diamond trade account... so we needed to find a partner to make it happen. Remembering that Apocalypse Comics had worked with IDW before with their exclusive comics and were interested in attending Auto Assembly again, I approached them to see if they wanted to co-operate to make the comic a reality with them handling the production and sales on our behalf.

After a few chats with Mario Coleman from Apocalypse, we sorted that side of things out so we got to work on working out plans for the book... there were a couple of likely books that were due to be released at the same time as the convention - Spotlight: Metroplex and All Hali Megatron: CODA Issue 1. Naturally, we thought that Coda #1 made sense giving us a number one as our exclusive! So once we figured that out, we set on sorting out the creative team and after talks with Mario, IDW and talking to some of the AA guests, we had settled on Nick Roche for the pencils and a very enthusiastic Liam Shalloo to handle the colours.

As with a lot of the exclusive covers that Apocalypse have done in the past, they wanted to take an iconic scene known to fans everywhere and put a Transformers spin on it, so this cover took the closing scene from Jurassic Park with the t-rex and set it somewhere a little more familiar...

The story itself doesn't focus on Grimlock, but naturally, we wanted to have the comic reflect the convention more than anything else!

When it came to the book, there were some changes late in the day. Rather than being titled Coda #1, IDW decided to continue the All Hali Megatron numbering so the book is now All Hail Megatron #13. Not ideal for us, but we felt that the content more than made up for it as IDW explained on their release... "The 12-part story was so popular we had to keep it rolling out for four more special issues! The two stories here set the stage for the next Transformers mega-saga (stay tuned, folks!). This is the ground floor! IRONHIDE and OPTIMUS PRIME deal with the fallout of last issue! Meanwhile, the DECEPTICONS begin to probe the mysteries of the AUTOBOT Matrix of leadership - that can’t be good..." The best part about that... the Optimus Prime and Ironhide story is being written by none other than SIMON FURMAN!!

Anyway, back to the Auto Assembly book, and Liam was finally able to get to work on Nick's inked artwork. Liam said he wanted to make this one of his best pieces and he took much longer than usual to give us a cover to be proud over and we think you'll all love the finished piece...

We can't thank Nick, Liam, Mario and Chris enough for all of their hard work for making this happen. It's a stunning cover and we think that it's something that you'll all love and want to add to your collection as a fantastic souvenir of the convention as being the first ever comic produced by IDW for a European Transformers convention (and hopefully not the last!).

It is limited to a print run of just 1,000 copies and sales will be limited at the convention to a maximum of just 2 per person to make sure everyone has a chance to get this book! Don't forget that Nick and Liam will be at the convention and will be able to sign your copies as will Gregg Berger (who makes a rather interesting cameo appearance on the cover too...!). The comic will be available all weekend (while stocks last) from the Apocalypse Comics stall.