Long before finding the AllSpark on Earth, or defeating the Fallen, or being discovered in the Dark of the Moon, the Autobots and Decepticons were influencing the American Industrial Revolution. Or, at least, that''s what writer Chuck Dixon and artist Guido Guidi would have you believe in Evolutions: Hearts of Steel. Young inventor Tobias Muldoon didn''t impress Mr. Twain or Mr. Verne with his submarine prototype, but his dreams of finding financing and support to build fantastic machines comes to pass with the help from some unlikely supporters -- Starscream, Shockwave, and a host of Decepticons. Meanwhile, Bumblebee is the lone Autobot roused from stasis by a small group of combatants hidden below ground for millennia. But time has greatly changed the surface of the planet they once waged war upon, and the wheels of progress have brought industry. Soon Bumblebee will befriend a human -- a man named John Henry -- and begin a frantic lesson in living amongst humans during the Industrial Revolution. A lesson that will teach both Autobots and Decepticons not to underestimate the power of man.
