This is your father’s Autobots
This review is spoiler free aside from the mention of the presence or some characters or lack of. I keep thinking of that big bold line from the original G2 comic with “
this is not your father’s Autobots” and how the strategy for franchises has changed since the Poochie filled era of the 90s. The recent era of deconstructing heroes is now past as well and instead what people want is nostalgia, like a reboot to G1. BUT, while nostalgia can seem like an easy sell, it must be done right, which is very tricky. There must be familiarity but it can't just be a retread.
After having read the first issue, I can confidently say that writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson gives us a G1 reboot in glorious loving fashion. While it can easily be seen as a reboot to both the G1 show and the G1 comic, it is also a new story, and made accessible to all types of Transformers fans. Fans of the original G1 comics are bound to get a kick out of Johnson’s art since it is very reminiscent of Geoff Senior at times. There is a great panel of Ratchet getting an action scene which reminds me of how Geoff Senior would juxtapose a dynamic and fluid scene with such simple shapes making up blocky and angular characters. We get that same contrast here in Johnson’s art. The bright colours from Mike Spicer are the icing on the cake, complementing the art perfectly for a classic feel.
The story itself is very familiar, as intended for the opening of a new saga reinventing G1. But within the first issue, Johnson makes it clear that it is not a simple retread of G1, with a significant character death. This, along with the mysterious lack of a particular villain, sets the rest of the comic in uncharted waters. The familiarity now rests simply with the characters. This is the opposite of deconstructing characters and it reminds me instead of seeing Peter B Parker in the first Spider-verse movie, where we have characters in a new story and new continuity, but written in a way that you can instantly recognize them in a classic portrayal. While there have been a lot of different versions of Optimus Prime, Jetfire and Starscream throughout the brand’s 40 years, consistent traits have lingered throughout, creating specific personas we attribute them with to the point where we can tell when a character isn’t acting as he should (or as we think they should). And in this comic, these characters feel like the ones I know and love. Optimus is as heroic as we all know him to be, Starscream is as malicious as you’d expect him to be and Jetfire battles with the familiar internal conflict.
One last point I want to address is a change to the chronology by Johnson that I find very significant for the brand. He reduces the time for both the war and the main bots’ slumber from millions to hundreds of years. It’s just a change to the dialogue, with no other repercussions, but that’s all I needed. Interactions make more sense now, I can better imagine the length of the war, and there being little change from when they crashed, if that is revealed to be the case, will make more sense. But this is just a personal nitpick I had with storylines in the past and Sci Fi in general (paging Doctor Who), so I was glad to see it addressed here.
Overall, I recommend this issue to any Transformers fan who wants new G1 content in their life. It is a really meaty issue too, leaving you both satisfied and wanting more. Plus the humans present are not annoying, nor remove any of the spotlight from the bots (if ever there was any concern).
4.5 out of 5 stars
You can pick up this comic today at your local comic shop or grab it at our toy and comic store (along with thousands of other products) at shop.seibertron.com. We also have
an exclusive cover for Transformers #1.
