In
light of certain recent financial restrictions, I am only reviewing comics that
I would normally purchase during a given week for the foreseeable future. We dip back into the Transformers well again
this week, reviewing the newest issue of probably my favorite book being
produced right now.
Cover:
It took
two comic stores for me to even find this issue (Syracuse comic shops, what are
you gonna do?) and when I did, I grabbed the last copy available. I didn’t have my choice of covers, but I
think I got the better end of the deal anyway as the Sean Chen cover is very
well done. The cover is actually more
than just a pinup of two characters (in this case Whirl and Cyclonus) and
actually depicts a part of the story from the comic itself (as many of the
Transformers comics tend to do). All of
the angles present here, between swords and Whirl himself do more to help the
eye move around the page than they do to hinder it (which is the exact opposite
of what you would assume). Those angles
serve to frame the figures and take what could have been a very static, boring
cover and jazz it up a bit. Don’t get me
wrong, it still feels a little generic, but the flourishes that Chen provides,
including the details on the swords themselves, serve to distract, at least
momentarily from the relatively standard cover.
Something
should be said for the linework and detail put into the characters. While it’s a bit of a departure from what we
are used to seeing in the interiors (which are usually left more open for
color) this works incredibly well, and I would buy the shit out of a Sean Chen
illustrated Transformers book.
8/10 – Incredible art jazzes up a generic cover. In the hands of a less experienced or
talented artist this would have been a flop of epic proportions. Chen makes it work with an almost Travis
Charest level of attention to detail.
Story:
The art
on Transformers comics rarely disappoints, but I’ll tell you something: the
writing on this batch of titles is some of the best I have ever read (and I’ve
been reading comics for a looooong time).
This issue is right up there with the old Claremount-era X-Men books in
terms of fitting so much together into one issue. James Roberts has been building this universe
and everything feels like it is starting to pay off as old mysteries are
starting to be solved (what’s up with the lack of memory for Skids) while new
and interesting narratives are being started (the fact that Ultra Magnus is an
ideal, not a person anymore (that was incredible), the Ratchet/Pharma dick
measuring contest that takes an unexpected and unfortunate turn, Whirl and
Cyclonus finding and freeing the Circle of Light, and the artist formerly known
as Ultra Magnus confronting Tyrest take place in this regular sized issue. All
of this is on top of the fact that we are still watching the clock tick down on
Tailgate in terms of his life expectancy, and it just keeps you on the edge of
your seat for the entire book.
Roberts
does an incredible job of juggling every single storyline without letting any
feel jilted in any way. He takes what
could have been mass confusion and chaos and uses that to craft a mood where we
feel like we are with the captive Autobots.
He expertly handles every big reveal (and there are a lot of them) while
moving the story along naturally and with all of the humor and flair that you
are used to when he puts pen to paper.
10/10 – Roberts continues to live up to the lofty
expectations he has put into place throughout the series. Between plot, pacing and dialogue he is
firing on all cylinders.
Art:
Alex
Milne (with inks by Brian Shearer) do an incredible job of keeping the artwork
at a consistently high level throughout the book. The settings are all the same, but there are
so many characters and so many moments that you could easily see the art team
focusing on their favorites and letting the quality slip in other parts of the
book. Milne is as consistent as they
come, providing crisp, clean artwork that works so well with the coloring (done
by Josh Burcham) that you would think he does it all himself.
Actually,
I need to take a minute to single out Burcham because of the work he does on
this title. Milne’s pencils cannot be
the easiest things to color and still maintain some semblance of separation
based on the lack of solid black in his artwork. It pretty much all falls to Burcham (there’s
not much Shearer can do in terms of spotting lacks without taking away from the
style of the artwork in general) to provide us with the feeling of space,
grounding each scene in “reality” while also providing separation between
objects in the foreground and background (both with so many components that
most normal colorists would either go crazy or say to hell with it and just
start throwing solid colors around). Burcham’s
design sense as well as his ability to interpret the artwork is something that
cannot be understated here. For a visual
sample of that, look no further than the sequence where Whirl and Cyclonus are
infiltrating a weapons cache. There is
an alarm sounding and a red light flashing, bathing the entire scene in a red
glow. Without the ability to use various
colors as separation mechanisms, the characters tend to get lost in the
background elements. Burcham is kind of
hamstrung by the color palette, I understand that, but it does a good job of
highlighting what Milne’s artwork could be like in less capable hands.
9/10 – Never underestimate a good artist-colorist
combination. These guys are at the top
of their game and the art itself marries perfectly with the script from Roberts
to create a cohesive masterpiece.
Overall: 9/10 – There’s a reason this hasn’t relinquished the
crown of “favorite comic” in my current library. All of the creators involved are performing
at a high level, and the fact that Hasbro and IDW are letting the characters be
(seemingly) killed off and altered significantly shows that they believe in the
creators, which goes a long way when it comes to licensed comics.
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