I enjoyed Transformers #25. Then Transformers: Galaxies #12 and Transformers: Escape #1 came out and I enjoyed them as well. It felt like things had finally turned around, or at least that the overall new-ish reboot series had started to. This feeling has been betrayed. By what?
Walking and talking. They're back, and I am not pleased.
Even he looks bored and he's the one talking
That's right, if you missed your monthly dose of robotic characters talking at one another in the midst of all the actual things happening in the last few issues, well hold on to your easy chair because that will mean you aren't having to hold this comic and read it. This series has had a problem with momentum almost from the beginning, and any fears it had turned a corner on this have not been assuaged. Sometimes it's good to have a break from the action, to take a beat to reset things and let the characters react to and stew about in everything that has occurred. That's what this issue attempts to do, but it hasn't earned it yet. The battle in issue 25 presumably just ends and everyone goes back to their bases. It's like if Hot Rod opened the matrix from within Unicron then popped back over to Autobot City to regroup. I don't get it.
My bad, there's also standing and talking
Maybe it's a "me" thing, but I'm not the only one on staff just disillusioned with this book, so maybe it's an "us" thing that doesn't apply to you, reader of this review. An extremely cursory look at Amazon reviews for the second hardcover volume of the series shows it has an audience, and if you indeed prefer Transformers to not be an action series then this issue is probably for you - and you should ignore my score at the end if this applies.
Features special preview of Botbots Titan Class
It's not just a lack of fighting though, Transformers can do cool things outside of that. However, very little of that is present here either, with only some last page "please come back next month" reveals doing anything remotely within the realm of on-brand for the Transformers franchise. There are also some plot progressions that are significant, all surrounding Megatron, so while the issue's not a total dud its density still leaves something to be desired.
At least it still looks nice
The visual presentation is excellent regardless of what it's depicting, with Anna Malkova again on line art providing some long-due consistency as well as continued improvement. David Garcia Cruz is now handling colors and while my limited art vocabulary won't be able to articulate this very well, there's a depth he's given to the linework here that I really appreciate. The sunset lighting effect throughout is a great touch and used appropriately for the environment in which the characters are present. Jake M. Wood has the unenviable task of fitting in some super dense word balloons within limited page space, but does well at placement and in addition of beats in between paragraphs. Perhaps the editorial grouping of David Mariotte and Riley Farmer can work with writer Brian Ruckley to make some of those a bit more succinct.
As always, you can find all the cover images as well as full credits for the issue through our Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers #26.
Verdict
That's not how these scores work
That's not how these scores work
I'm so tired of this. My apologies to the artists and other creative personnel doing their best with the provided script and plot.
Again, please ignore the below score if you are someone that prefers the slow-paced, vapid, dialogue heavy style ever-present in this series.
Final Score
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out of
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out of
This issue is out now, and 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.
½ 