Constructicons Rising!A Review of
Transformers: Galaxies #1Spoiler Free-ish
Fighting about who's the leader is forbidden A brief editorial note: while most of our comics reviews are published just around an issue's day of release, IDW Publishing provided Seibertron.com with an advanced review copy of this book. The release date for this comic book is September 25th, 2019.The first expansion of IDW Publishing's 2019 relaunch is set to arrive soon with
Transfomers: Galaxies #1 providing a first look into both the Constructicons as well as this new ongoing anthology series. Many readers dissatisfied with the pacing of
Transformers "bold new era" have found themselves already looking for something else new for a monthly Transformers comic fix. Will this first four issue arc fill this need for Transformers fans? In a word, yes. Read on to find out more!
Constructicons, construct?One of the primary challenges in creating a combiner team is clearly defining each character within the team while not relying on shallow archetypes to prop up a member or three. With limited page space as an additional challenge,
Galaxies takes an approach here that provides the basics of each member in a no-nonsense head shot sequence that's great for those not already generally familiar with the Constructicons. The basics are more-or-less faithful to their original incarnations, but it's a smart move to present said basics close to the start as new readers are less likely to have familiarity with a 35 year old cartoon with each passing day.
Actually hilariousHook and Scrapper are the stars of the first issue and are no doubt the characters with the most depth realized after 20 pages. Their interactions and conversations also help build up the definition of one another and I was left with a sense that these two have been very close for a very long time. Contrasting actions and reactions leave the reader with a clear idea of who these two are and what their place is within the larger unit that is the Constructicons. Long Haul and Bonecrusher have supplementary moments as well that provide substance to their personalities, leaving Mixmaster and Scavenger to fight for panels and dialogue. While these two aren't totally ignored by any means, there's not much to them here yet, but what is provided is enough to give me faith that this is merely a consequence of this being one issue out of four rather than an indication of what to expect in the future.
Hey it's that one galOne thing that may be daunting to new readers is that this is part of a wider universe, regardless of the fact that said wider universe is only 11 issues and four months deep at the moment. These fears can thankfully be disregarded. While characters already seen in
Transformers do appear, the nature of their presentation within this story is handled in a way that requires absolutely zero prior knowledge of their other exploits. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Termagax's prior appearances are enhanced and now mean more to me than they did upon my initial readings of her chat with Megatron over in
Transformers #8. The interplay between the books is subtle enough that it manages to have importance while not at all being an obstacle to a new reader's enjoyment of the story.
Foreshadowing, just not literally. You know, from the art standpoint. The foreground is ok you know what nevermind this too much explanation of a bad joke.Listeners of our
Twincast Podcast interview with writer Tyler Bleszinski and artist Livio Ramondelli will recall their mention of the collaborative process used to bring this story to life. This really shows throughout with both the layouts and actions shown in the artwork supplementing the dialogue and vice versa. I can say without hesitation that
Galaxies #1 is up there with Ramondelli's best work on Transformers and might possibly be his finest hour to date. While the sense of scale, lighting and coloring are what readers have come to expect, much of the line work is extremely crisp and suits these characters appropriately. The facial expressions are spot on, even on characters like Scrapper and Wheeljack without a true "mouth" to supplement their emotion. The letter work from Tom B. Long is exemplary as always, with a particular sequence featuring all six Constructicons on the page simultaneously using a dash of color within the speech bubbles to help the dialogue and art with their clear conveyance of precisely who's doing the speaking.
On covers, there are six available but most folks will only have two choices, those being the Livio Ramondelli A Cover featured in this review's news story thumbnail and the Nick Roche and Josh Burcham B Cover. George Caltsoudas provides a highly stylized 10 copy incentive cover with Casey Coller and Burcham chipping in with a tougher to get 25 copy incentive cover. Retailer exclusives are out in force as well, with both still available for preorder as of this writing! For the
Clayton Crain Scorpion Comics exclusive click here, or
look here for the Torpedo Comics Livio Ramondelli exclusive. Both are limited to 500 copies. As always, you can also find all the cover images, full credits for the issue and a list of all the characters that appear in the book through our
Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers: Galaxies #1.
Verdict
It is until the Robosmasher shows up at least Transformers: Galaxies #1 does most everything that a first issue can do and does it well. An easy introduction to the characters provides an accessible path into this new Transformers universe and the final page hook (no pun intended) throws a curve ball that makes you want to read more without feeling dishonest or random. While I did find one page featuring Termagax and Wheeljack a bit slow its place in the issue is still deserving and it helped to clarify their perspectives on the other events witnessed. The fact that Scavenger really doesn't get much characterization keeps me from putting a perfect score on this one, but that's probably due to the fact that it's a first issue
and my generally being stingy with said perfect scores moreso than anything else.
Transformers: Galaxies #1 is the finest work delivered so far in IDW's Transformers relaunch and provides great entertainment for both old-timers and anyone brand new to these comics. Look out for this issue on September 25th where 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.
