This book opens with 9 pages of Big Red killing 700 or so beings. It’s ok though because;
a) The things he wipes out are essentially big robot spiders and
b) It’s cool to watch
Yes, as every action movie has taught you since you first watched Commando in 1980something, mass loss of life is ok if it’s cool and the bad guys have little or no character. Especially if there is quippage.
Which – sort of – serves as an analogy for this book; aspects of it are slightly troubling, but it’s sufficiently entertaining that it doesn’t really matter. Actually this also serves as an analogy for a lot of what is wrong with western society but I have sexy robot vs. robot action comics to review so hey, who cares, right?
The story primarily works due to two things, both of which have been largely lacking from Mike Costa’s previous Transformer’s work.
The first is that the art is employed to tell the story in such a way that pages don’t feel wasted. While the opening pages are largely dialogue free they don’t feel squandered as we are treated to a fantastically rendered battle between Ironhide and the Insecticon mutants he has been tasked with clearing from Cybertron. Mike Costa has been good enough to admit that the composition of this battle was the work of artist Casey Coller rather than dictated by the script – judging by the results (and in comparison to the boring Combaticon scenes in the last issue of the ongoing) this is an approach Costa should consider more often. On a related note the art overall is stellar and it’s a real shame that Casey Coller has decided to take some time away from interior art.
Hopefully this won’t be a permanent hiatus as the story telling here is exemplary and belies the fact Coller is a relative newcomer.
The second boon, as with last issue, is the rich character interplay (some of it knuckle based), especially between the gruff Mr Hide and the brilliantly pompous Alpha Trion. Decent character moments have been in short supply in the main Transformers series, but here, possibly due to the smaller cast, the principles stand out as well defined characters and interact as such.
Finally, as an added bonus, we get some continuity wrinkles (created by the series All Hail Megatron, which respected continuity in much the same way Thierry Henry respects fair play) ironed out with a few simple but welcome bits of commentary. Once more it’s hard not to notice the ease at which this is achieved compared to the main book which has often felt poorly juxtaposed with what has gone before.
As suggested above, it’s not flawless – Alpha Trion’s plan seems rather weak and its success equally implausible but the strengths listed above are enough to overshadow this. On a similar note the strong second half of the series makes me more inclined to forgive the rather slight (if pretty) first two issues.
Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay this book though, is that this is one of the better books I read this week. A certain limited series aside, it has been rare in the last 24 months for me to feel that IDW’s Transformer’s output has competed well with the Marvel, Vertigo and Dark Horse books I snack on, but this week was a pleasant exception.
More please.
Story 7/10
Art 9/10
