A Seibertron.com Review of IDW Go-Bots #1
Synopsis
Go-Bots have changed our way of life. Leader-1 is a self-aware fighter jet on a hostage rescue mission with his partner, Commander Nick Burns. Scooter is the personal transport and best friend to undergrad A.J. Foster. Turbo is Matt Hunter's transforming race car in the hottest sport in America, Go-Bot Racing. Cy-Kill is the champion of the illegal, underground Go-Bot Fighting League. A sophisticated sci-fi epic from the visionary creator that brought you Transformers vs. G.I. JOE. They say they're here to help us, but are they here to replace us?
I will be up front and honest with all of you right now: I know practically nothing of Go-Bots. This is an entirely new experience for me with characters I know absolutely nothing about. If this comic series is not true to the Go-Bots lore, I don't know it. This is my introduction to the world of Go-Bots, so lets see how the premiere issue turned out.
I didn't know what to expect from the series. Tom Scioli did some fantastic stuff with Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, albeit some very strange and unique stuff. So coming into a series about Go-Bots, and basically reinventing the franchise, there were a lot of different ways this could play out, good and bad.
And having read issue 1, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that Scioli really seems to have hit something good.
The issue itself was not lacking in character introductions that flowed well and action outlining this world of Go-Bots that will last for 5 issues. We start right off with action missions starring Leader-1, Go-Bot world building with Scooter that also provides us some necessary background, a pretty cool introduction to Turbo (who became a favorite of mine in the course of this issue), and a totally metal introduction to Cy-Kill, who certainly lives up to his name and reputation.
The Go-Bots world is built up so fast in just 1 issue, and not in a rushed way. It flows, it feels natural, it gives someone like me who knows nothing of the franchise some background into this strange world. We get to see the line between partners and superiors/inferiors, and how it sets up the big conflict the story is set to tell. Cy-Kill is awesome too, I loved his intro and his characterization so far.
As was the case with TF vs G.I. Joe, Scioli does his own art and lettering, and he keeps up the same art styles that he did with the previous series. And it works really well with the Go-Bots universe. The art has an old-fashioned look to it that really lends itself to packing in action in each page with some pretty spectacular coloring. The scenes that are from Leader-1's view are really cool to see, and the human characters are drawn pretty well too. I appreciate how plain yet still so full the art on the pages can be. And the opening introduction to Cy-Kill was masterfully done as well. Everything about that section of the book was amazing.
So for an introduction to the Go-Bots, this series was pretty spectacular. The writing was pretty tight and packed with information that doesn't feel rushed in any particular way and gives a lot of necessary information to understand this Go-Bot land. The writing of the characters was convincing and the Go-Bots themselves were pretty fun in their varying personalities. The art was a pretty neat retro style that made me feel like I was reading an 80's era comic and enjoying it for the fun that it is meant to be.
So good job to Tom Scioli, you gave us a great introduction, and I'm really looking forward to what you have to give us next.