Ultra Magnus
Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Robby Musso
(cover art by Klaus Scherwinski and Kieran Oats)
Synopsis: Ultra Magnus is a bounty hunter, charged with hunting down the worst of his kind. The type of Transformer that has no regard for their laws and blatantly interferes with other races. Upon hunting down Swindle, he is offered a great opportunity--for releasing Swindle this time, he can have an even greater prize: Scorponok!
Comments: I have to say this was the weakest TF spotlight to date. Ultra Magnus is a cool enough character but here he's presented as law enforcement for some reason and even that isn't really expounded upon enough to make him truly interesting. The tale ends on a murky note, which seems like a set-up for a future story. Alas, the story as it is doesn't really hold up that strongly by itself, making it all just seem like a prologue to some future tale instead of something good on it's own. The internal artwork was good but the cover choices were a bit bland--neither convey the story within the comic very well and neither are that exciting as a result (I got the Scherwinski one).
Mildly Recommended.
***
Transformers Escalation #3
Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: E.J. Su
(covers by E.J. Su and Klaus Scherwinski)
Synopsis: Megatron uses his human facsimile (clone) to attack an oil pipeline in Russia, sparking off a military conflict between the rebels and government there. The Autobots discover what's going on and Optimus leads a force to the nation to try and engage the Decepticons. Meanwhile, Ratchet and the humans discover a possible lead to Sunstreaker's whereabouts and Ironhide tells them he'll join them on their mission.
Comments: Some action in this issue and the promise of more to come. Could we, hopefully, be about to see a real Autobot/Decepticon fight here? I sure hope so... this series needs to, er, ratchet up the action a bit more. A decent issue and the set-up for more to come.
Recommended.
