IDW TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE #33 - Review

Synopsis
WHEELJACK REBORN! After months unconscious, WHEELJACK awakens to find a strange, new CYBERTRON! STARSCREAM rules—OPTIMUS PRIME has made peace with MEGATRON—and WINDBLADE controls the city. What’s a scientist to do… but uncover the greatest mystery in TRANSFORMERS history?



Story

In the previous issue, Earth was exposed, Galvatron revealed, Prowl came clean and many many shots were fired, as Thundercracker continues his screenplay. But.. in the previous issue, Starscream retakes control of Cybertron, Chromia comes clean, and Windblade agrees to maintain the status quo just a little longer. Robots in Disguise #33 picks up a lot more from where Windblade ended than #32, and Wheeljack is finally back.



And it is with Wheeljack that we rediscover Metroplex, Iacon and Cybertron, touching base with players from earlier stories and plots, re-establishing some of the relationships between the current Cybertronian rulers, personalities and gatekeepers. And we get an interesting look at Starscream from a John Barber perspective, as well as a quite sweet moment of reconnection with Ironhide.



And you know what? Barber's writing in this issue is a very different tone from previous RID stories - there's a light-heartedness, an empathy and a running streak of humour and positivity, even in the aftermath and stage of what is actually the plotline bubbling beneath the surface, that brought several smiles during every reading of the issue.



After the revelations of #32 and the machinations of Prowl, whose influence is very much still felt on Cybertron, after the horrifying and shocking happenings of MTMTE's latest arc, not only was this issue welcome, it slipped in quite comfortably in the overarching story, cleverly playing a very very long game.


Art

If there is a style that could really suit the tone that Barber took for Wheeljack's view on the world, it is Sarah Stone's. We've seen her big scale multi-panel, multi-page spreads, and those come in very handy with recaps. But we've come to know her work also for the sheer expressivity of teh characters, in body language and facial reactions. Even with faceplates.



And if the tone of the writing can't do the job, then it's down to hues of colour and background work to spruce it up a bit. Stone's rendition of the new Cybertron, something that is constantly pointed at throughout the story, definitely plays with the gritty, grim reality of a war-torn planet which is both relieved and a little at a loss as to what to do with itself.



The lettering, in very subtle touches, works very well with the lighter feel of the issue asa whole ,and Tom B. Long does a commendable job of highlighting what is needed without being intrusive or distracting at all. As for the covers, we have seen the Casey Coller and JP Bove convention exclusive, and spotted the Coller and Priscilla Tramontano variant in the solicits. Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez take over a brilliant Lazarus pit main cover, and Stone offers a gorgeous 30th Anniversary Fisitron treat (thumbnail). Gotta catch 'em all?


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Some readers might be put off by the return of the running caption monologues device, even though it is from the perspective of one of the brightest, and nicest, minds of Cybertron. And there is virtually no action to claim that name - except for party-action - as we follow Wheeljack's refresher journey through the last six months (in-universe) and current, Starscream-led, Cybertron.



So what does this issue do, then? It does start building a stage for Combiner Wars. It does recap on where we are in the Transformerverse, Earth briefly included, and reaching quite far back. Both of which are big things, yes, but some might complain it's not really that much. But it does it so well, so light-heartedly, and freshly, in both style and art, that it's enough to provide a breath of air between two heavy story arcs for the two series.