Welcome to DullA Review of
Transformers #10Spoilers and new character appearances will be referenced below If you read issue 7 (
the last one I reviewed) and wanted more shots of bots talking while walking up stairs, then you will be tickled pink with this issue. The first few pages are all about stairs and talking.
But that is far from the most boring part, because after Bumblebee and Elita One protect Megatron as he is going up some stairs, we get several pages dedicated to the meeting Megatron attends. This is easily the most exciting scene since the Jedi meetings from the Phantom Menace.
I know comparing something to the Star Wars prequels is old and tired by now, but that is really the best comparison to reading this comic. Not only are the scenes and their pacing ridiculously similar to what we saw in Star Wars Episode 1, but this whole concept of exploring a time before the era we know just brings the comparison home. There was even a scene with a drawn out discussion where the word "Decepticon" is being created before our eyes that reminded me of when Medichlorians were explained to young Anakin.
This same council meeting scene also brought upon loads of complaints from me about this series as a whole and what it was. We have some really deep cuts with an appearance of Heretech, a character only ever seen in the previous IDW universe (I once covered his first appearance
in a special feature), and I find his appearance aggravating on a narrative/world building level. Is he any different to the character he was (or will become) in the previous IDW comic? Because if he is not, then why should I care about seeing him here. And yet, if this is the same character we know, then what is the point of all this being a new universe anyway? In the end, this series is just an unexplored era of the previous IDW universe through a different lens while adding inconsistencies and boredome, just like the Star Wars prequels.
Does that mean this issue is all bad? Well, there is one good aspect with the introduction of Shockwave. Of course, this comes with the reveal that indeed nothing is new here and bad guys are bad while good guys are good, but at least we get Shockwave. And a well written Shockwave at that. I love how he was always a Decepticon simply because that's where his interests lined up more than any loyalty to Megatron himself and we see that here again. I do see the irony in me complimenting how this issue is now becoming completely complacent with the characters as we know them, but there is also a cathartic sense that we can now move on and no longer pretend that we are doing anything different.
Once again, we have 3 artists contributing to the book and there is no order to it. Just look at the how the comic is organized:
ANGEL HERNANDEZ (pages 1-3, 6-13)
ANNA MALKOVA (pages 4-5, 19-20)
BETH MCGUIRE-SMITH (pages 14-18)
I would say my favourite of the bunch was Mcguire-Smith. I liked their depiction of Shockwave and it's the segment of the comic that I felt the colourist (Josh Burcham in this instant) and artist gelled best together. Of course we do also get shots of Siege Megatron's tank mode which looks ridiculous in comic form with the feet sticking out. The fact that the tank barrel isn't included in the drawings only makes it look worse.
The covers available feature Beth Mcguire-Smith as the main cover artist. Thomas Deer drew the Starscream cover that has been associated to this issue since solicits. This Mohawk artist from near my hometown in Canada has been colouring Transformers comics for a while and it is great to have him contribute a cover. Jeffrey Veregge does the cover for the retailer incentive variant.
As always, you can also find images of all of the book's covers along with full credits for the issue in our
Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers #10.
Verdict
I didn't like this issue and it highlighted other problems I have with the series as a whole. It just doesn't feel like something worth spending our time and money on, especially when similar themes have been explored before and done better. At the same time, there was some comfort in characters finally showing their true colours and the fact that any pleasantries with this book being "a bold new era" would be put aside. I would have loved something new and exploring themes set up by James Roberts, but if this is what we are getting out of it, might as well just stick to the well known formula of good vs evil. As boring as it sounds, it can't be more boring than this.
