Full Preview - IDW Optimus Prime #5

Daaaaaaaang. Prime's getting scary. Looks like more of Prowl's influence from their Optimus Maximus time is seeping in.

Va'al wrote:

WreckerJack wrote:I want the Sharkticon cover though. I don't know a comic store that carries it though. Bummer.

Ask!

I plan on it. I have been writing down some other titles too.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum; Prowl's settling down for a bit with Fort Max to step outside his usual boundaries and possibly stepping towards some sort of redemption arc. Heck, in Sins of the Wreckers he even showed some sort of compassion towards Hubcap, someone up until that point had been antagonising him. There's some Prime-y traits going on with Prowl imo.

Kurona wrote:Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum; Prowl's settling down for a bit with Fort Max to step outside his usual boundaries and possibly stepping towards some sort of redemption arc. Heck, in Sins of the Wreckers he even showed some sort of compassion towards Hubcap, someone up until that point had been antagonising him. There's some Prime-y traits going on with Prowl imo.

On the other hand, Mirage has basically not shown up again since he has yet to show back up in Lost Light. And Ironhide really hasn't seemed to have changed over in Till All Are One.

As for poor Sunstreaker, he's been part of 2 combiners, with Slugslinger, Sky Lynx, Cosmos, and Thundercracker to boot. If there were side effects, he would have lots

I can understand Optimus going a bit more ruthless, but the thought of him going truly bad and Megatron going heroic is too much for me.....!

I'll be honest -- when he shot Galvy in the face, I couldn't quite believe it....but I felt like he had no choice, and it was due to the millions of war torn years. But still, this was Optimus! I accepted it.

I've even come around to Megz sporting the Auto-brand.

But Optimus as a villain? I can't even....

Synopsis
It’s battleground: Earth once more, as the uneasy peace between Optimus’ forces, the Junkions, and G.I. Joe collapses amidst betrayals and subterfuge. Will Optimus Prime and Pyra Magna be able to put aside their differences—or is war really the only way forward?



Story

The turbofox excrement hit the ventilator last issue, as you might recall, with Sharkticons pouring out of the Junkion corkscrew ship by the thousands, Pyra and Optimus not entirely seeing eye to eye (and the complications, if you will, seen in the Ghost Stories annual), and the human side of the alliance still being the squishier part of the two - not ideal in most combat situations.



For an issue that is very, very much tense and building up to a potentially even bigger rupture point, John Barber manages to work in a lot - and I mean a lot - of humour: quips, side comments, snide comments, jokes, tension being maaaybe defused by the likes of Wreck-Gar, Cosmos, the captions, even Aileron and some early snark from flashback cameos. Prowl is undoubtedly not amused.



The narrating voice this issue belongs to Arcee, whose story is still somewhat being developed, and we get to find out more about her attachment to Sideswipe, why she needs him to live, how she might do that, and how her skills will turn in handy in this new fight erupting just over Earth again. The tone, at times, feels a little discordant with the action taking place, I'll admit, but not entirely distracting.



A number of readers and followers of the story have commented on the ruthlessness of Optimus Prime as seen in the preview, and speculation is running high on why he might be behaving this way after all. There may be more to it in the flashback again, as it develops both his motivations (next to omnipresent Prowl) and, in a very nice parallel track, Soundwave's. More on this below!

Art

Kei Zama returns to the artwork after the one month fill-in, and we get to see even more of her Sharkticons in action, plus the dynamism of the various action sequences in the issue are brought out in their wider framing without losing any of the detail that her style focuses on. Plus her Optimus looks truly menacing, with the broken faceplate and warlord stances.



Staying as the staple connector between artists is technicolour wizzzard Josh Burcham, and I still really appreciate the contrasts between flashback and current time, plus the paler palettes used to counteract the heavier inking of Zama's style - Junkions and Sharkticons both continue to look excellent, and battles are even more vicious as a result.



Where I mention above that the Arcee caption monologue can be jarring, the result is definitely tuned down by the lettering, marking them out as separate, in effect, from the action in the panels they show up; the lettering choices by Tom B. Long make it easy to separate and follow equally. Cover-wise, we have a full TF roster with week with some excellent Casey Coller/Joana Lafuente, Andrew Griffith/Josh Perez and EJ Su pieces to accompany the main Zama/Burcham one. All can be seen in our database entry for the issue, here.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

What started out potentially a just-action-fight-scenes sequence, turned out to be a pretty excellent chapter rushing towards the finale in the next issue, and a highlight for many characters involved in the cast: Arcee gets her moments, though I expect more next time; Jetfire, Aileron, the Colonists get some nice time, Cosmos is thrown about and even Optimus himself has a decent block of character added to him.



But it is Soundwave that absolutely shines here, and shows his true Decepticon ideological self - echoing some of the best revolutionary discourse, showing his actual political inclinations, deploying the skills that made his so valuable to the purple cause in what could've been a devastating new conflict - and resulting much scarier (if HECK YEAH) in the process. Suck it, Funny Truck.

I enjoy that the passage from "Towards Peace" used is the same one that Twincast 159 started with. My favorite lines that James has defined from the imaginary work, and Barber's usage here is dead on point and extremely complementary to the character of Soundwave that he's built up.

Cassette Sharkticons, please. Plz.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Anyone else wondering where Rumble and Frenzy are though? Or is Cosmos the only one who survived

Just another two Season 1/2 crew to chalk up to questionable status!

Rumble & Frenzy - Status unknown
Blitzwing - Status unknown
Dirge - We haven't seen him for years seriously where is he
Astrotrain - Status REALLY unknown what the heck is going on in MASK

Man, along with Shockwave, Thrust, Ramjet and Ravage being dead there's so few left. Megatron, Soundwave, the original 3 Seekers and the bird Cassettes represent.

Bounti76 wrote:I really enjoyed this issue, but.....for the love of Primus.....can we PLEASE be rid of the captioning of every individual in EVERY SINGLE issue?? I realize it may have been for "new" readers to the book, but five issues in, it's now just clutter. Zama's artwork is already fairly heavy and dense, and captioning everyone is really starting to work against it.

I still really like it in the Joe book because I'm bad at remembering their names. Also the captions on the captions are quippy and knowing that would irritate Prowl makes it entertaining! But yes, I can understand wanting a little less text bubble too.

I'm starting to warm to Zama's art, though it is still a bit heavy looking for my tastes.

Va'al, any chance we'll be getting a TAAO #8 review?