Review of First Strike Issue #2 - A Hasbro Comic Event -(or is it 2nd strike now? or Strike 1.1?), it's got a couple of spoils.
“The hardest part of this whole mess is knowing that you’ll be the one to try and stop me.”
“So I see this as my chance to tell you, this isn’t what I wanted,” wrote the mentor to the student…
-Last time-Earth was about to be officially ‘welcomed’ to the intergalactic council on Cybertron with Marissa Fairborne being sworn in as the ambassador. Then everything went about the exact opposite of how they all wanted it to. Baron Ironblood and his allies of evil infiltrated the grand event and started to attack the populace of Cybertron. But, what’s the main play here? Surely, even a seemingly infinite group of cyber- wraith red ninja and some rowdy dreadnoks, Iron Grenadiers, and BATS wouldn’t really be threatening for very long, right?
-This time-“...I hope you take what happens next as a compliment.”Be a tad leery if you are worried about continuity alignment, released materials, and chronologically happening events. Revolutionaries #8, the final issue, was supposed to be completed before this came out, as was MASK #10, which also hasn’t been released yet. This issue continues to reveal things that might have been uncertain at the end of the Revolutionaries series, or that MASK issue, but none seemingly as big as the ruined revelation issue #1 provided.
Amongst the chaos begun last issue- Baron Ironblood’s force of ninjas and dreadnoks attacking Cybertronians- and the human delegation; the larger plot begins to unfold as the other evil allies involved advance the real threat- poisoning all the inhabitants of Cybertron via the food supply -their energon. A seemingly simple, but effective plan— at least that is their evil hope— using Shazraella (of the evil Micronauts) and her enerchange abilities, and the talisman which was the focus of Revolutionaries, in some as yet, unclear way. Genocide them before they genocide us. If there is anything we find out from Coltan's inner-thoughts its that he's on what he believes is a last possible solution for the Earth's robot problem.
Oh yes, and on the more political side, the Solstar Order gets involved to make things even more difficult, but perhaps not how you might expect. The council delegates all start trying to pin blame, and not do much problem solving. Marissa loosens her sassy ambassador chops on Elita One after taking one too many jabs about being a tiny useless flesh-covered bug. There’s no crying in intergalactic politics Elita! Suck it up! You've been served...
*add choice cliche here*
As Srgt. Savage would say, 'Boo-YAH!'Meanwhile, on the planet Earth, Scarlett, the Joes, MASK, Soundwave, and some of the Earthbound Autobots look to find a way to travel to Cybertron to help out those already there. Victorion twins, Skyburst and Stormclash, show their engineering prowess and build their character as they work to get the group to their goal, not entirely completed by the too-quick-in-coming end of the issue.
-Art- The art by
Max Dunbar (lines and inks) are gorgeous! Lots of detail, well-crafted battles with jumbles of red ninjas, BATS, and Iron Grenadiers seemingly everywhere, and yet he makes it work, and it never seems TOO over the top, or any more messy than one would want to portray this chaotic moment. I love most of his panels, be it humans or robots. I thought the first pages were a bit more polished than the last, but I also think that’s nit-picky, of me. The shadows and line work, the clouds, explosions, movement implied, facial expressions, and weapons fire all come off beautifully. Just when you think you might be having some trouble comparing the depth, weight, and size of all the varied characters, low and behold, here comes a panel that helps to make size relationships clear.
I wonder what I should have for lunch today? Did I turn the lights off before leaving and lock the doors? I've got to remember to pick up my other dry-cleaning after the incursion.Max couldn’t have accomplished the visual story-telling as well as he has without the colors by
Andar Zarate which do very well in making Max’s work come to life. Cybertron is mostly bright, which seemed kind of odd, and Earth was very dark most of the time, being underwater, and at night for most of its action. BUT it all works well together to visually tell the story.
Never forget,
Tom B. Long does the art team's letter work and I think it’s almost always a job taken for granted (except when it doesn't work - then you really notice) even though our review team does try to always recognize the entire team’s efforts in the storytelling, as well. I gush on Tom all the time.
Ka-thoom, brother,
Ka-thoom.
-Writing-As you can tell, I wanted to focus on the word-smithing a little bit at the beginning of the review. The versatile
Mairghread Scott and
David A. Rodriguez are crafting a very fun, and action-filled Hasbro crossover here. It’s only the second issue so we don’t know all that the duo have planned for this series, but it’s starting out promising, and doesn’t require the setup that Revolution had to do for the Hasbro-verse. Say what you will about Revolution, it and the individual comics that sprung from it, have already introduced what needed to be done for First Strike, and now we can just get to the evil plots and lots of action! It seems like there’s certainly more coming that not even the ‘poisoning of the well’ is meant to be
THE complication and climax of the series. Oh, there’s more coming, but the set up has been really nice.
Talk to the hand! (I couldn't resist)I’ve enjoyed reading the expounded mid-combat banter between the Joe forces on Earth and hearing the inner dialogue from Baron Ironblood as he continues to justify his actions of siding with the very enemies whose ideals he fought for so long. So far, he hasn’t really had much strife about it. But I wonder if he and his protege might have a bit of moment soon…one that may turn his thinking again.
-Add-On- The Origins of Evil Part Two: A Game of Chess-There’s a secondary story in this issue, just like in the last, that works to explain how this group of evil doers came to side with one formerly super do-gooder, Joe Coltan. Enter Destro- who should probably hate Joe Colton and dispose of him on the spot. So does he? There’s money to made somehow of course…so probably not (and that little 'Colton's still alive' detail). Read it to find out the nitty-gritty. And by the way, there’s a whole other creative team to recognize for this tale that includes pencils by
Netho Diaz, tight inks by
Walden Wong, and
David Garcia Cruz throws down the deep dark colors, of this short, written by
John Barber. These pieces have supported the more action-oriented piece of the main story very well, offering the origin of the group that’s attacking Cybertron, and delving into their motivations. It’s a great companion that might have been fine interspersed among the ‘regular’ story, but I’m sure they thought about that, and might have considered what it might do to interrupt the pacing, and comprehensibility of the overall issue(s).
Show me the MONEY!-Final Thoughts-I have really enjoyed the first two issues of this series so far! The art has been superb, the story-telling well-paced, fun, and dramatic, and enough eye candy for Hasbro-universe folks of all kinds to enjoy. I LOVED seeing the
VENOM Outlaw, and the
Cobra Razorback show up this issue. I just hope that we get to see them in a bigger combat situation later on! Bring on more treats as such.
I'd like a burger, fries, small soda, oh and a chocolate milk shake, please...The hardest part of suspending my disbelief for enjoying this series so far is that war torn, experienced vets like Optimus Prime, and Ironhide are retreating (literally running!) from a gaggle of cyber-ninja (a naggle?), BATS, Iron Grenadiers, and those crazy, moralless dreadnoks albeit with some high tech weapons. I know there’s a LOT of those baddies (effectively portrayed visually), and the heroes are thinking of the safety of the Earth delegation, and the peaceful Cybertron populace, but really, Ironhide and his ‘badgeless’, or his new security forces, aren’t a match for this? I understand an initial surprise, and possible panic, but really? Ah well, I’m still going to enjoy it, and I won’t let this bother me too much, as I’m pretty sure the diversionary attack will get quelled pretty quickly in the next issue (combiners? pest control?) and the focus will be on the secondary threat.
RECOMMENDED READ for TF fans (it is happening on Cybertron; lots of bots involved)!
Optimus wants me to give it 5 of 5, but I'm going with... 
1/2 out of
Plenty of awesome covers to choose from, but I really enjoy COVER D by
Rob Duenas. Very bulky, big detailed figures, and the inclusion of fat tankor and Sigma Six looking weapons…love it! Check out these close ups, and the full image in the thumb nail!
