Comic Review...

Transformers Spotlight
Blaster

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Emiliano Santalucia
(Cover by Emiliano Santalucia)


Synopsis: Blaster floats through space with a large wound in his chest. He is rescued by some aliens who return him to the Autobots. Thanks to his internal monologue, we learn he was the "voice of the resistance" for the Autobots, cheering them on and keeping their spirits up--until he was betrayed by one of their own and left for dead, floating through space for years. He reviews old data tracks and attempts to recall who it was that tried to kill him... in the end, he sets up a trap for the killer and confronts them when they return to finish the job.

Comments: Another pretty good spotlight issue (I think Spotlight is my favorite of IDW's various TF efforts). This version of Blaster is both the free loving cartoon personality (at least on the surface for his brethren) and the Marvel comic's devout Autobot persona--a good meshing of the two. The art is good--I've never heard of/seen Santalucia's art before but it's a good match for the IDW stuff. The story is a simple "who tried to kill" me tale but it works fine.

Recommended.


***
Transformers: Devastation #4

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Robby Musso
(Covers by E.J. Su and Nick Roche)

Synopsis: Prologue: In Skywatch Headquarters, the secret government facility discover they've lost control of Laserbeak and Ravage because a counter-signal has asserted control of them (guess who? :) Elsewhere, Sixshot and the Autobots fight it out with Sixshot being large and in-charge. Meanwhile, Wheeljack and Hot Rod reach the junkyard begin their search for Ironhide--but it's a big yard and they don't have a lot of time before the Sunstreaker clones find them again. At Machination H.Q., Hunter decides the only thing he can do is undergo the full Headmaster process himself to help out the Autobots. He steps into the machine and is in pain as it begins... The Autobots and Sixshot fight it out some more... Verity and Jimmy realize the area is to be bombed by the government and realize they must warn the Autobots before it's too late. The junkyard owner arrives later and call the cops because there's been a break-in. The clones pick up the signal on the police scanner and go to intercept them. Verity and Jimmy steal a powerboat and go to warn the Autobots... the Autobots and Sixshot fight some more while Sixshot brags about how powerful and unstoppable he is. The humans arrive and tell Ratchet what's going on and he warns Optimus. Prime contacts Nightbeat and tells him to beam the Autobots out--which he does. Upon arriving on Ark-32, Ratchet is shocked to realize the orbital jump was too much for Verity and Jimmy--they're both dead! In Oregon, the Reavers(?) arrive and begin to attack the Decepticon base. Megatron has Sixshot recalled and he flies off just as the bombardment by the planes begins... Prime is beamed out in the nick of time too. Epilogue: The Decepticons are scrambling to repel the attack... Astrotrain sneaks off to talk to Starscream, who says he sees an opportunity here and this time, he'll be the one standing when the dust settles.

Comments: Not a bad issue... one thing I noticed in there right away was when they initially ask Nightbeat how long it will take, his exact words are a quote from Aliens (the thing about prepping the drop ship, etc. is an exact quote of what Bishop says). I thought the entire issue was fairly good overall but as I've previously said, I'd like to see a bit more resolution to some plot threads in play (although I think we're slowly getting there). One thing that shocked me was the apparent casual deaths of Verity and Jimmy. I admit they didn't have much to do story-wise but they could've found something for them to do (or even ignored them for the time being). This coming after all the initial "we need humans to show the scale of the war/relate better to the Transformers" stuff from the company. At Botcon 06, IDW brought up the idea of killing all the human cast off to appease a small vocal percentage of the fandom. Personally, I feel this is an easy cop-out--if you're going to introduce a story element like humans then have something for them to do in the story and stick by your guns instead of listening to a bunch of whiny fans that don't know what they ultimately want. I hope their deaths aren't permanent but if they are then IDW wasted a good story opportunity with them. The art was pretty good and I look forward to the next issue.

Recommended.