The City Speaks
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
WHO IS WINDBLADE? In the aftermath of DARK CYBERTRON, WINDBLADE takes the planet by storm! But where did she come from—and what does her secret mean to the future of the TRANSFORMERS? A powerful new chapter in the TRANSFORMERS saga begins here!
Enter Windblade
Story
So, that was it for Dark Cybertron. Things happened, characters died (for now), and other, new names showed up across the Transformers board. Make sure to check out the latest Twincast Podcast for some further thoughts on all of that too! Somewhere along the line, we encountered three apparently gendered, and of female gender, characters, introduced by John Barber and James Roberts during the crossover: Nautica, Chromia and Windblade. And here begins the story of the latter two, and their coming to terms with the new Cybertron, eons after their departure.
Eons ago, I tell you
Mairghread Scott is at the writing helm for the first issue in the (as yet) mini-series of four, and she shows the same flare for dialogue that early issues of the Prime: Beast Hunters comics run had. The main cast, Starscream, Windblade, Chromia, Ironhide, Rattrap, even Metroplex and Blurr to an extent, all have their own voices, and interact actually quite well - good humour, nice set-ups and overall decent action, too.
Chromia is one tough cookie
I've seen complaints about Windblade's naivete towards Starscream in particular, but I believe that is what makes the comic work so well. The readers, mostly, *know* what everyone on Cybertron is already like. We know them, all of them. Chromia and Windblade have yet to learn, and believe you me, by the end of the issue they have an idea of what awaits them.
*shivers*
As a first issue with entirely new characters dealing with an unknown scenario, it definitely hit all of the buttons I wanted it to. It does world-building with Caminus and the home and roles of Windblade and her companions, links it all in to the current continuity, and it doesn't feel stretched or shoe-horned in. Add to that the good dialogue and actually good monologue too, and you've got me very interested. And oh the bar scenes.
Art
Now, the artwork. We knew it was going to be quite different from what we've seen so far in the franchise, and we saw how good it could be from the covers - but newcomer Sarah Stone hits it so far out of the park that it comes all the way back and slams you in the head. Artfully. There's character expression, and excellent panelwork, good personality to the designs and the art really fits Scott's storytelling.
Ironhide looks so.. glum
The colours, you might ask? It's still Stone, working her magic through lighting, shading, gloss and darkness. The blackouts running through, the different environments, the switches between settings and moods - Stone gets them all perfectly in her colours, with some amazing stuff happening while inside Metroplex and during the random power cuts. And that one page. Wait for that page.
I mean, come ON
Really exceptional lettering work by Chris Mowry too, with some particularly creative and poignant effects in the 'after' sequences (you'll see when you read it). Other than Stone's subscription cover, we get some excellent stuff from Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente on A, and Livio Ramondelli on the interlocking incentive one too!
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
So, is it a buy? Yes. Gods yes. You will not regret picking this one up, especially after the strange feelings that came with Megatron's return all the way back in Robots in Disguise #12. Transformers: Windblade in this one issue has done what RID wanted to when it started: political intrigue, games of exhaust fumes and chromed steel, one of the sexiest, most devious Starscreams to this day, and all with *two* entirely new characters added to the mix.
Onwards, for more!
And then, just to top Scott's writing off, we get the icing of Stone's artwork and colours, with some nice little decorations from Mowry. The story is frustrating, anger-inducing, enticing, funny, intriguing and full of excellent moments of backstory without hamfisting it out or sledging in hammers. You'd do yourself a disservice by not picking it up, it's a beautiful piece of work.
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½ out of
½ out of 
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]) and in general, particularly with regards to Transformers, I LOATHE comics. The main reason being the sprawling story lines that change direction at the drop of a hat because a new (or old) writer gets a wild hair up his/her butt to redefine the universe, make everything a 'dream' (or alternate universe/alternate reality/alternate timeline/alternate dimension/alternate [insert any other pitiful excuse for one artist failing to recognize and respect the existing worldbuilding and creativity by past authors and their longtime fans here, including and ESPECIALLY reboots, though those aren't always necessarily bad]).
) and I'm not sorry at all that I did. It's a really neat story and Windblade is a fascinating, sweet and playful character who views Cybertron through fresh, and somewhat innocent (naïve, at least at first maybe?) eyes. I love the artwork too. It's abstract without being obscure/indiscernible and the pastel colors are vibrant and really work with the style and bring a lighter tone to a sometimes dark/bleak story and strike a very nice balance. It also creates a very 'Windblade' vibe to me if that makes any sense at all (this being based on my impressions of her character so far after having read the first book in this series).
. In fact lets add windblade to the TFwiki ruined forever page, looks good near oooh lets everything else in TF history 
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