Seriously, not G2
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisINVASION! And it's the Autobots doing the invading! RODIMUS PRIME takes action, leading an armada into the heart of JHIAXUS' forces—but is he playing straight into the villain's hands? Plus, FORTRESS MAXIMUS re-enters the fray, but on whose side? Oh, and STARSCREAM's past comes back to haunt him… big time!
BIG time StoryThree left. Then it's actually over. For realsies. We swear. In the meantime, feast your eyes and minds on this rather action-packed issue of
G2 ReGeneration One, penned by your friendly neighbourhood Furminator! It's quite the ride, including some of your favourite 'what the..?' moments and cliffhangers, but let's go with order...
Not G2. Nope Three major plotlines: Optimus on Earth and Fort Max on Nebulos - conflated. Rodimus and the Autobots versus Jhiaxus in the Hub. Starscream's spidey-sense tingling, with Shockwave still playing HAL. And it's the first two that really take the stage for most of the issue, with some fairly big moves stepping up in the final pages. Literally. Both the big and the stepping.
But no spoilers Simon Furman actually throws in quite a lot of references to previous work, some more some less subtle, but all still enjoyable. The plot is very action driven in all its branches, while still maintaining a sense of the overall war scenario and multiple Underbase arc. And we get quite a few meta-moments too, which still make me chuckle.
Bitter? Naaah The final section of the issue is just a massive tease, from Jhiaxus' response, to Fort Max' retreat, to Starscream's actions, to the final final pages. It's all about to go down, and it's going to ignore all whimpers and bangs - the
sheeeaaagghs will be innumerable.
ArtGuido Guidi, you magnificent bastard.
Ma quant' si' bbello?. Seriously, as much as he has a penchant for faces, the contrast between Jhiaxus' liquid silver troops and the blocky Cybertronians is marvellously executed, and there are some seriously impressive perspective shots of Fort Max and Jhiaxus.
Sleek vs box But credit where it's due: Stephen Baskerville's inks complement Guidi's pencilwork masterfully, keeping the new school old school, yet still fresh and sleek and regenerated. And to top it all, John-Paul Bove adds another magical multicolour touch, in the skies, in the explosions, in the battles, glows, dots, bashes, action talking and pzazzing. Make that several magical touches.
Sigh. To round off, Chris Mowry does a pretty nice job with the lettering too, embellishing Furman's sound scripts with nice chunky letters where needed. See pzazz above. The three covers are also brilliant, with Andrew Wildman bang on target on A, Guidi screaming into B and Geoff Senior smacking the incentive.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadThat was.. quite a ride. Possibly the most hectic issue of the run so far, with space battles and scheming alike. Furman manages to keep it more or less in control, and the clean artwork definitely helps to keep track of it all. A lot is being put on the plate for the final two issues, and I really hope it holds up.
That.. does not sound good It may not be the ending that old-school fans and readers wanted, but it's building up to be a pretty big one, and I really really hope it does not disappoint. Furman and the artistic team have quite a lot to play out in the coming months. I'm holding on.