What Do I Do Now?A Review of
Transformers #30A Few Spoilers Within
Transformers #30 was released one week ago Wednesday digitally and the week before that, it was available in its printed monthly floppy form in local comic shops. As part of our review catch up here at Seibertron, we'll get into looking at whether or not it's any good.
I've got to start with a disclaimer that may save some readers time on this review, by freely and openly admitting that this series has lost me, with my last care evaporating about four issues ago. It's going to be a monumental task for it to overcome my ennui at this point, so keep that starting state in mind during this review. Of course, if you've been enjoying the series thus far, then you're safe to ignore this review - issue #30 is more of the same.
Chances Scatterspike is in the next several issues: 2%One of the major problems in the series is a lack of maintained focus on, well,
anything. In
Transformers #29, Optimus Prime tells Perceptor they're not done talking about how Perceptor aided and abetted previous Primes' decisions about how to handle Titansparks. Instead of following up on that particular point, made memorable by its placement at the end of that issue, Perceptor does not appear. Instead it's time for yet another narrative thread among the already dozen of them in the series, this time with the Torchbearers.
Yep, it's IDW's Transformers 2.0. I can tell by the stairs and the talking.Yes, the already over-booked cast gets even busier, with Pyra Magna joining the fray properly along with her "companions" as they're called at one point. This initially ends up being an invitation to lay down a few of
Transformers (2019)'s greatest hits: Optimus Prime and Megatron arguing about an entirely pointless conflict, Optimus Prime and Megatron sucking the life out of everything on the page, and Optimus Prime and Megatron using a great deal of words to say nearly nothing at all. At this point, charisma parasites would be welcome over these two charisma vacuums.
Ok, this part was coolNot everything is terrible, as the action scene in the middle of the issue (roughly speaking) is very well done and saved this from being a complete waste of time. Sunstreaker gets to look cool but gets upstaged by Windcharger being amazing. Sure, they ultimately just lay the smackdown on a couple of red-shirt seekers, but it was fun to witness them do so and it provided a timeless quip where Sunstreaker reminds everyone that Nacelle just plain
doesn't matter. Whatever mojo was flowing for this part? More of that, please.
Optimus in "pearl-clutching politician" pose? C'mon man!I can't fault Anna Malkova's art as some of my least favorite panels have everything to do with my dislike of the characters (or
specific version of, in the above case) within and nothing to do with the actual quality or appropriateness. If I had to make one quibble, it'd be to stop drawing so many scenes on stairs. Add a roadway, flip them to alt mode, have them talk as cars - something like that. David Garcia Cruz handles the colors on this one and everything works pretty well, though Megatron would probably go for a more purple hologram than the pink present here. Jake M. Wood, our now-usual letterer, is back again and while mostly just fine, there's a page with a flashback to a space battle where the second through sixth bubbles feel like they belong on the left side of the page based on art and flow of the dialogue thereafter, but they're on the right. Based on their indentation, this could have been an actual mistake in production, but it's hard to tell.
Stefano Simeone provides the "A" cover which looks like it belongs to issue 29 based on its content, so this review's news story thumbnail image features Priscilla Tramontano's "B" cover since it depicts characters from the issue in a manner somewhat related to how they appear. A ten-copy retailer incentive cover by Blacky Shepherd and Sid Van Blu is also available on a limited basis from your local shop. As always, you can find all the cover images and full credits for the issue through our
Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers #30.
Verdict
Then he noped out Transformers #30 is another poor issue of what's become a stale comic series, which is saved from being a total disaster by one scene. In many ways it epitomizes the series itself, jumping from plot to plot, catching up with previously introduced characters before immediately introducing anywhere from 2-8
more of them all while putting you to sleep with pretentious dialogue. There's a small, anti-climactic payoff to some of Cyclonus' story in this issue which leaves him saying "What do I do now?" That short phrase and all its hopelessness is an appropriate symbol of how I felt after reading another issue of this slog of a series. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.
This issue is out now, and you can pick it up at the
Seibertron.com eBay store or at your local shop,
check here to find the closest shop to you.
½ 
