Unicorns on Eart
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
The battle against Unicron forces Optimus Prime's colonist soldiers to contend with a brutal reality-they have no homes to return to. But when they make a move against Trypticon, the human-controlled home of the next generation of Cybertronians... can the end be far behind?
always the same story, no?
Story
In what has finally become a parallel story being told between the Unicron mini-series and the Optimus Prime ongoing, we reach the splitting point in the latter, as the former makes its appearance on Earth - but the shadow of Optimus Prime's presence and legacy takes priority in terms of 'how bad the situation actually is for everyone involved'.
you want chaos? we got it
Working multiple points of view into one coalesced synthesis was an extremely ambitious narrative choice on John Barber's behalf, and I enjoyed looking at both all of them in their individual stories, and as a the final bringing together in the final acts of the book itself - but there was something a little too cacophonous about how it was executed, that can border on confusing.
Rum-Maj is still the best
That said though, once you put the potential frustration aside, and maybe give the whole thing a second read (with Unicron #4 also at hand), the added layer of perspective over Cybertronian history, its imperial, colonising past, the politics at play that Barber has never shied away from in all of his Transformers books, is a juicy reward.
..oof
Particular standouts for the issue, and about time for one of them too, are Slide and her pent up anger towards Optimus Prime, Rum-Maj and her majestic spiky self, Slug and his existence as Dinobot grunt, and - going back to some very very very early stories told about the entire Earth/Transformers stories - Jazz, and his sense of responsibility for just about anything he can, it seems.
Art
For this one issue, we get to see the return of Priscilla Tramontano as line artist, with her rounder style that perfectly fits the story of Devisiun told in flashbacks (though may not fully work on Trypticon, in two panels), and some surprisingly sharp, pointed, and poignant depictions of the anger, anguish and visceral confusion that the entire Unicron element brings to an already taut cast of characters. Slide and Slug in particular have some really touching moments.
One of said moments
Once more, the visual continuity support that Josh Burcham can bring to the pages of this series cannot and does not cease to impress me, as we have a very different line art style from the artists seen so far. In addition, we also get some of the very interestingly multichromatic excitement that we saw in Sins of the Wreckers, in the opening flashback of the issue, and what it does with the tone is nothing short of marvelous.
fluffy and mournful
Tom B Long and Curtis Fandango are hard at work on this issue, as it requires more narrative captions than ever a regular Barber script would need at its usual capacity - but the work pays off in some key moments preceding even key-er moments-er (?), and the final page, with the added font effects in some of the harder contrasts.
In terms of covers, you can find all three (admittedly two, given the Kei Zama retailer incentive in black and white lineart) in full size in our entry, though the Tramontano cover is the one taking the spotlight in the thumbnail, as it bears quite heavily on the story in the book itself.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
This is a seriously poignant issue, part of an ambitious series that takes its titular character to the very extremes of its definition, blurrs the edges, and smudges the entirety of its name and legacy - with reason. As an issue, it's one of the most successful in doing so, though at times frustratingly confusing by choosing to focus on the multiple stories overshadowed by Optimus' legacy so far.
The captions in the story pack the punch
That may get in the way of some readers' enjoyment of the amount of effort and work going into this, but give it the time to settle (and a second read at least): the pay off, I found, was extremely rewarding, and I'm still poring over some of the (social) ramifications of this narrative. As an added bonus, too, we're finally, utterly concurrent with Unicron series, meaning that the book can be read both before and after issue #4 of the series, also out this week, without spoiling either!
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- out of
- out of
