One/Zero
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisWith Elita One's influence closing in around Starscream, he's desperate to make any alliances he can. Turns out, a powerful ally might already be within his grasp. But is he willing to risk his own sanity to reach them?
Or maybe yesPenultimate issue. I'm still letting that sink in. Penultimate. The story of the characters in
Till All Are One will of course continue, but this particular iteration of space robo-politics will be over in a month. However, if this issue is anything to go by, it will be doing so with an implosive, impressive bang.
With a side dish of creepyI have not been shy about my appreciation for Mairghread Scott's handling of darker humour, politics, general social interactions and how the three can mix with the more action-based sequences as part of a new, almost entirely original episode within the frame of a long-standing story. Because that's what the Council, and actual Starscream ruler, and the ex-colonies, are. New stories.
Now easily readable in Windblade voll.1 and 2In those new stories, we have a very very old one that comes back to the fore since the end of Revolution, and teased all the way through multiple series before then. With Carcer/Vigilem, Liege Maximo, and the Primes showing up something fierce, the wider landscape of these stories has changed drastically - as a Cityspeaker, one with a connection to Metroplex, Windblade is perhaps at the centre of an involuntary storm that (corporate events notwithstanding) might change everything even further.
SadbladeThe other major storyline, and the one framing the central events, is focused on Starscream of course, and how he is handling ..everything happening around him right now, and how he is in fact the eye of the storm in a different manner than Windblade, but central nonetheless. Aftermath of last issue is coming back to haunt him, and even the Camien's inoperativeness somewhat stings - at least he has friends, right?
ArtSara Pitre-Durocher shines in this issue, even more so than in previous work - and even despite a similar setting and 'battlefield', if you will, in-story. The expressions that Starscream has throughout are both emotionally compelling and amusing, but one sequence layout in particular tugs at sparkstrings quite loudly. That, and the Windblade sequence, are a testament to her skill and talent brought into this book and the TF art scene in general.
I'd rather you appreciated it in full by yourselvesWithout of course forgetting Joana Lafuente's colour work for those same sequences - not that you can ignore it even if you wanted to. If the wider shots of the framing story use an abundance of neutral, light colours to highlight the space around Starscream, the Windblade sequence does something entirely different, and eye-wateringly good at that, adapting colours and lighting to the tones and shifts in linework.
SadscreamThe lettering is still in the capable hands of Tom B. Long, who has a fairly straightforward placing of dialogue to work on, plus some fun word layouts in certain sections - and everything looks clean and accessible, never to underestimate in content heavy books. The thumnbnailed cover is the variant by Priscilla Tramontano, hinting at some more of the story that we might see next issue too, and all three are to be found in our
Comics Database entry. You can also take a look at James Raiz talking about the creation of his Supreme Leader cover (with colours by JP Bove), too, right
here!
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadI personally adored the art direction and structure of the story, given how much of it concerns inner scapes (though on such a large scale) the cinematographic approach of zooms, panning, focusing on smaller changes and poses especially for Starscream - though some voices on staff had the opposite reaction to some of those elements too, especially towards the end and in the hallway scene. That said, everywhere and anything concerning Windblade's sections is truly outstanding.
One more.Take the grand action of the previous story arc, the scale of the Titans arriving and the response to their threat, with everything it took and everywhere it led to. Then move that scale into inner battles, inner turmoils, and dark alleys of the mind, as played with in the previous issue and Blast-Off's mind. That's what this story is dealing with, and where it'll ultimately play out in the next month, consolidating just how similar Starscream and Windblade actually are. I'm (not) ready.
