Low-Key Comeback
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
This is it: the final stand for Cybertron! Will Starscream and Windblade’s gamble finally pay off or will all of Iacon be destroyed by the zombie titans?
This is where we started
Story
We know how this story ends. We know from solicitations and other ongoings that have a differed timeline in the storytelling. We know that the Titans are defeated, and that something happens on Cybertron and Caminus that requires the Mistress of Flame to show up, and wider repercussions. But we did not know it would happen like this.
..ummmkay
This is the culmination of an action sequence that started three issues ago, one that began much earlier, and one sustained excellently through the arc, while trying to deal with one landscape of scenarios so crowded and multi-sided that anything wrong would've tipped it all off. It didn't. It doesn't.
Very apt, Chosen One
The most surprising part? Metroplex is the one voice running through the story, as the ties he and his kind have to Carcer/Vigilem are the ones that Windblade must use, exploit and endure to bring an end to the Titans' return at the hands of Infinitus/Sentinel and Sovereign (yeah, remember them, that long while ago?). And it works, in such a powerful, moving, way. The connection is palpable.
geddit? connection?
There are two stories being told here, through Windblade and Carcer, Vigilem and Metroplex: one has to do with Titans Return, and the end of that story arc; the other has to do with the entire TFverse, and digs much deeper than some of Windblade's moments have done so far (go back to the Revolution tie-in, for example). Both are poignant, neither detracts from the other, and they deliver blows of equal violence - as only Scott's evil writing can do.
Art
Sara Pitre Durocher truly, really shines in the issue. She combines the use of layers and contrasts, playing with negative space and foregrounds, sizes and overlays in such a way as to convey the scale - and not just in a tangible sense - metal warfare, as well as physical, are exquisitely portrayed in a very concrete way, and the designs of some newcomers (of sorts) only add to that.
The Boy(tm)
Those uses of negative space and contrast? They wouldn't be as effective without the perfect synchronised work of Joana Lafuente's colours, playing with the layers, adding shadows and light where the two can bring the most to the panel, shutting out either where only one suffices. Adding transparency to some overlays. Allowing us to savour the art on its many battlefields.
just look at it
TAAO has always brought some fascinating ways of using Titan brain modules and captions into the storytelling, and with Metroplex taking centre narratorial stage, Tom B. Long has some significantly hefty work on his plate, which he also delivers, as usual, effortlessly. And cover-wise, we have seen two out of three with Pitre-Durocher on the looming main, Priscilla Tramontano on the thumbnailed ominous silhouette, and Nelson Daniel (found in our database entry) taking the Awesome Twosome to front page material.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
The three current ongoing series from IDW Publishing all have their degrees of excellence, and appeal to slightly different readerships perhaps: Till All Are One, for me, maintains the perfect balance of lore shaking/building, character development, sustained action (it just did so for over four issues) and the more light hearted sides - even with darker humour - of the series. And it does so with such glee and revelling in its twisted, even darker plot turns.
welp, there it is
What has just happened may probably not be revisited soon enough, as there will be a settling arc and story to follow this up as we find out what happens to its key players. There will be more, so much more to come now that some of the even BIGGER players are on the board; or perhaps, starting to move from outside the board altogether. I am most definitely in for the ride - you coming?
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- out of
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