World in Shambles
Spoiler-ish review of Till All Are One #9
SynopsisAfter the costly victory against the Titans, Iacon is in shambles and Starscream finds himself on shakier ground than ever. The key to his political (and likely literal) survival rests in the outcome of a very unlikely event: the trial of the Council’s first official war criminal-Chromia of Caminus!StoryTill All Are One is a book that thus far has managed to exceed expectations. Between the first arc involving old fan-favourites the Combaticons in a grand political drama and the second arc bringing in a Titan invasion straight from Luna 1, the comic has not only managed to beat out its predecessors in the Windblade volumes, but arguably it has been the best of all three Transformers ongoings this year. However, after two world-shattering arcs, it's time for the book to slow down a little and deal with the aftermath - and it isn't short on things to deal with. This issue balances so many dangling plot threads - the aftermath of the Titan invasion; the repercussions and explanation of the Liege Maximo and Elita's crew; a trial concerning a Badgeless' allegiance with the Combaticons; a decision on what to do with Chromia, and where Starscream will stand in all of this. Oh, and they somehow managed to bring in a plot thread from Combiner Wars too. So after such a fantastic arc, it might be one's worry that this issue in trying to balance so many bullet points may not be up to snuff. But oh, my friends, there is no worry to be had. For this might just be the best issue of Till All Are One so far.
With Windblade ominously missing from this issue, the narrative mic is handed to Starscream - and as you'd expect from the silver-tongued manipulator he somehow finds a way to talk for ages and ages and ages... without mincing his words. The Windblade books have done a fine job of building up just the sort of person Starscream becomes when he's essentially gotten all he's ever wanted and this continues that development following the huge events in the last eight issues. I won't spoil it all here; but all the interesting introspection and dilemmas he plagues himself with throughout the pages makes it all the more satisfying when he finally reaches a conclusion on what to do and how exactly to play around all his foes - it's exactly the kind of thing that could only come from a guy called Starscream.
Talking of his foes, let me give this last little drabble to Elita One. Ever since she first appeared way back in 2015 the mystery surrounding her, the crew she commands and the ship she captains has been played up - and in the last arc it all came to fruition. And as the mysteries of 'Carcer' have now been borne to all the public, Elita lays out all the cards of her goals, her motivation and her backstory to Starscream and what remains of the council. While a lot of it does show her roots on working on the Aligned continuity, Mairghread Scott nevertheless manages to weave in some very interesting worldbuilding to an already very interesting world. And by the time it's done, by the time it's clear where exactly she stands; Elita has in this reviewer's opinion been turned into one of the most interesting characters in the comic.
ArtSara Pitre-Durocher and Joana Lafuente handle lineart and colours in this issue, respectively; as they have done almost the whole book. As such, a lot of what has been said about them the past issues can be said here - they're very good at what they do, they have a great understanding of composition and sequential art; and their style fits the book and helps make the characters pop. There is, however, one particular section of the issue very much worth commenting on art-wise - and that's the flashback to the age of the Primes.
This only goes on for two pages, but it shows they can go for another very different style
extremely well. The section stands out for its darker, sharper colours and lines; creating a great contrast between then and now - the blurred figures and misty panel separation help create an aura of mystery and wonder without veering too far so that it feels like a smudge. While I adore Pitre-Durocher and Lafuente's style employed for most of Till All Are One, this is some beautiful artwork the likes of which I would be very excited to see in future issues.
Final ThoughtsAs far as aftermath issues go, this is one heck of a good one. Starscream is interesting. Elita One is interesting. Chromia is interesting. The way the consequences of last issue are dealt with are interesting. This is an interesting issue! We got so much character development and revelations and story advancement in so few pages - this creative team has come a long way since Windblade volume 1 and I truly believe they're at the top of the game and know exactly what they're doing. And what they're doing is some truly excellent work.
And even with all it managed to give us, it still leaves me wanting more. The repercussions wrought by both Starscream and Elita are shaping up to be some very interesting development for Cybertron, and there's still characters we haven't checked in on yet. But if the upcoming issues dealing with said characters are anything like this one, then I can look forward to excellent storytelling with masterclass character studies and some absolutely stunning art.
