Singular Relics
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisCONQUERORS, part 2! OPTIMUS PRIME ventures into the SEA OF RUST, looking for the truth about his role as a PRIME. Instead, he comes face-to-face with the new female combiner, VICTORION, who has some questions of her own!
I want one of all of themOf the two series from IDW Publishing running right now, The Transformers is undoubtedly the currently most interesting, maintaining a sustained and mostly narrative in a way that More Than Meets the Eye has kept subsided for a while now - and with John Barber at the helm, those narratives run deep, and way into the past.
Join me, LukeThis issue brings together several strands we have already encountered, and briskly moves them forward towards the next big step in the series - and I am seriously hooked onto what that may be - by referencing some of the older events in this incarnation of the Transformers universe, from Heart of Darkness to Dark Cybertron, via Combiner Wars.
Haaang on a secondWhile some of those may rest uneasy with the established readership, newcomers to the story will find them useful enough to go back and rediscover previous stories, or take the information and run with it - much like Starscream seems to do in the book. Which does not lack several wider scenes with key and major players in Cybertron's ever-changing scape, from Blackrock to Needlenose, to Soundwave and Galvatron, to all of those caught in between.
Off to see the wizard..?The highlight of the issue, for me at least, was the fantastic sequence with Optimus Prime and the Torchbearers/Victorion (with Aileron playing support). The voices are fresh, the interaction sparking some serious food for thought, and once more a lead into new directions yet to be explored in the series.
ArtThe newest addition to the artistic team at IDW Publishing makes her second debut here, as Sara Pitre-Durocher approaches the interior artwork with a fresh brush and some excellently dynamic takes on established designs and characters. The art is clean, the stroke is fine, the layouts are pleasing...
Gravity powers (tm) !...and Josh Perez makes sure that the transition into a new style is seamless, smooth and slick, as only Perez can do. After the alternative, pastel take on Combiner Hunters, seeing his vibrant (but also contrasting where needed, such as the Victorion scenes) work on the new lineart is a good touch.
Dat ArkDespite one significantly, and poignantly, silent scene, the lettering runs true all through, as Tom B. Long works once more his magic, capturing the new tones, balances and dynamics of the major players in the book. The covers are slightly different this month, featuring main art by regular Andrew Griffith and Perez, with Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente giving a scene that we never see in the book (thumbnailed), but speaks to Soundwave's plans, and Livio Ramondelli teases next week's Sins of the Wreckers debut.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadNot only in The Transformers the most interesting, to me at least, of the two books right now, it is also the best example of not needing to refer, any longer, to the established Transformers lore outside of what IDW is creating. Barber, Scott, and Roberts have woven an intricate universe, and the former handles the multiple factions extremely well.
Ominous, us?It is excellent to see that universe expand, both in-story and beyond the limits of the page, with new artist Pitre-Durocher back on interiors after her stint on Combiner Hunters. There are many many leads for the stories being told, and I, for one, cannot wait to find out more next month. It'll be a woof wait.
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