New IDW title on the block,
'Revolutionaries', is trying to add more to the
mythos of Transformers, GI JOE, Action Man, Micronauts and the other IDW Hasbroverse comics. How will issue #2 tickle your nostalgia fancy? It certainly continues to take a good shot at it!
Recap: Action Man and the sought after talisman got transported to somewhere unknown and Ayana’s Joe team members were zapped into alien creatures along with a townful of innocents.. What do you do? Who’s in kahoots? And Kup wants his little buddy back…
This Issue: Did you check out the preview?
ENTER THE SHADOWAction Man’s been transported to the moon (via a familiar GI JOE device). A seemingly abandoned bad guy base happens to be there as well—and not abandoned— not to mention a whole squad of dead Cobra soldiers. We also have tiny people/aliens trying to elude very large people and an even larger alien.
Whatchamadoodles > PetrorabbitsKup, Mayday, and Blackrock are trying to catch and talk to (and not squish) the Micronauts to ask them for help in using the talisman to hopefully: (a.) find Action Man and (2.) change the alien-zapped Joes and townfolk back to normal. The talisman has been recognized by Blackrock as microverse tech, thus, the ‘watcha-ma-doodles’ should be able to use it- hence the needed help by the Micronauts. The ‘nauts are still very nervous about getting involved in these matters… in their experience, alien meeting alien = destruction/havoc/capture/torture. Thank Primus, Micronimus, and all the other deities and Primes that we have a universally recognized greeting to rely on and an older wizened bot who knows it!
"Now offer them some energon goodies..."
"Don't worry, they'll reciprocate..."
Progressing and Layering: Pieces are getting pulled together from the different involved franchises. There’s a few familiar surprises -used in a new way- new bad guys, and some old, as well. Perhaps, no one familiar bigger than the inclusion of Stormshadow and HER Red Shadow ninjas who are also alien symbiotes. Yes, that’s right. Red Shadow Alien Ninja Warriors…(and that other thing).
Storm SHE-adow joins the fray...It’s not just all fun for Joe fans (or not depending on how you react to the above information). There are plenty of other cool elements splashed into the story. Kup and Blackrock are there for Transformer fans to appreciate (note Kup’s Titanmaster deluxe toy form), and by the way, the microverse tech seems to also be ancient Cybertronian…
ART:The art by Ossio is consistent with what we’ve seen before. Excellent action scenes and vehicle design work, I really loved his Kup flyer design, and Ossio seems to be finding his rhythm becoming more familiar with drawing big robots and people much more consistently. As much as I like what has been done, I’m still not a fan of how Blackrock has been designed in his Cybertronian form, looking more like Iron Man (“Iron Man sucks…”) than a titanmaster- and then when you add in his ‘billionaire’ human head image the likeness seems even more intended-.
Computer, password 'Blackrock Sucks!' Password Accepted. Welcome home Kup.Ossio and the art team also have a very large task (and tiny) -especially in this issue- trying to show the different scales of the characters- from teeny, tiny micronaut people and ship to large Cybertronian-scaled Kup; scale and size are a huge element, and I think it’s no easy task to effectively portray the character’s size in relation to one another in the panels, but are they doing it? Sort of. I think they rely more on your understanding of the character’s size rather than other devices to show the scale. I often feel like Acroyear is the size of a regular Cybertronian, or at least Rom, and that the Micronauts are regular human-sized alien people, not 3 3/4 inch action figure size (or 6 inch whatever). Not a big deal, and I may be being a bit too picky on this, which is why I mentioned that it would be quite hard to do!
Tom B. Long is always making his presence felt in very meaningful ways. It’s hard to imagine the books he works on without his special touch.
WRAP UP:I wasn’t sure where to begin with this review. The concept of this comic being such an amalgamation of the different worlds and franchises coming together, and I’m just not used to it yet— or where all the other involved franchises were prior to Revolution. It’s a lot better than the introductory crossover story that it spawned from, being focused on a much tighter and smaller group, and working to relate the different titles together.
New Buckethead bad guy on the block that I do not yet feel threatened by.Kup and Action Man are a fun pair. A bit like Hot Rod’s generalized relationship with Kup, Action Man seems to fill that role of young, hot shot go-getter to Kup’s experienced war vet. Action Man is very capable on his own, as is Kup, but together they both seem to be getting something that they both need…
I’m not sure what to think of Mayday yet, or Blackrock. I seem to have a lot of personal problems with Blackrock and what he is (and isn’t) that I can’t get to really trying to enjoy or hate this character yet. I lean more toward hate right now.
The story definitely has something good going for it. I’m not sure we are far enough in to the series to really understand what this book’s characters and plot ‘do’ other than bring together pieces/histories of the IDW/HASBRO-verse. As the Revolution story line showed us, this is not an easy task, but Revolutionaries seems to be going in a positive direction.
WRAP UP 2:Joe fans may be cringing, but at least IDW is calling GI JOE the flagship title and it’s getting more exposure. Transformers fans still have lots of other fun in other places. Revolutionaries, so far, is a capable add-on, but it still has a long way to go to approach
‘Optimus Prime’,
’Til All Are One’, or
‘Lost Light’ for that group of fans.
Kupgrade!
