Comic Review...

Transformers: Regeneration One #84

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Andrew Wildman
(covers by Andrew Wildman, Guido Guidi and Geoff Senior)


Summary: LAST STAND! Things go from bad to worse as MEGATRON tightens his remorseless grip on planet Earth. Can the Wreckers save Kup? Can they reach the Ark in time? The odds have never been more stacked against them. But you know what they say: 'when all hope is gone...' And what exactly is up with Starscream?

Comments:  The Wreckers execute their two-pronged plan. Springer, Sandstorm and Whirl provide the distraction and try to reach Kup while the others aid the Humans in their attempt to get to the Ark and shut its defenses down. Elsewhere, Hot Rod has a vision and worries about the future to come. Blurr rushes in and tells him Soundwave has attacked and is after Thunderwing's remains! Springer is shot down Starscream (who is not as zombified as he seems. A part of his brain is trying desperately to get through the inhibitor Megatron put on him). He manages to communicate to Springer that he should "kill Ratchet". Optimus and his Autobots show up then and confront Megatron.
   It's obvious that Megatron and Ratchet still share their psychic bond. If one dies, the other one likely will as well. I'm thinking this will happen next issue (I guess we'll see). A decent issue so far and it seems like stuff is actually happening (still waiting to see when they pick up the Grimlock thread again). This issue was better in some respects in that it wasn't setting up quite as much as it was moving stuff along instead.
  
Verdict:  Good.

Cover "A" by Andrew Wildman

Cover "B" by Guido Guidi

RI Cover by Geoff Senior

Comic Review...

Cover "A" by Alex Milne

Transformers: More Then Meets The Eye #9

Writer: James Roberts
Artist: Alex Milne

(covers by Alex Milne and Nick Roche)


Summary:  SHADOWPLAY begins here! One AUTOBOT connects the crew of the Lost Light with pre-war CYBERTRON and the rise of the DECEPTICONs. His name? OPTIMUS PRIME. The past and the present collide as Rewind begins telling his crew mates the most shocking story of all!

Comments:  Basically, a flashback story that the crew of the Lost Light tell in an attempt to get Rung's cerebral circuitry functional again (he has a head once more). The story involves a younger Orion Pax discovering a drugged out Drift (before he was Drift) and taking him to Ratchet. Later, Ratchet and Pax go to speak to his Senator friend. Meanwhile, Prowl and Chromedome investigate the death of a Senator. In the present, Red Alert's headless body (is he dead?) is retrieved and Rodimus believes it the work of Cyclonus.
   The bulk of this issue is the flashback. Unfortunately, we don't really learn all that much about where it's going, just set-up for the next issue. Also, we don't know why Rodimus expects Cyclonus of being behind Red Alert's apparent demise. Is he truly to blame or is it somebody else entirely?

Verdict: Average. Needed a bit more to be truly entertaining.

Comic Review...

Transformers: Robots In Disguise Annual 2012

Writer: John Barber
Artist: Brendan Cahill
(covers by Tim Seeley and Andrew Griffith)



Summary:  CRASHING DOWN! The mysterious Metrotitan from last month's More Than Meets the Eye Annual arrives on CYBERTRON-smashing into the ruins of the legendary Crystal City! Starscream and Prowl begin a battle of wills over the fate of this behemoth-and the outcome will shock you!

Comments:  The Metrotitan from the MTMTE Annual arrives on Cybertron, materializing beneath its surface, where the remains of Crystal City are. Much of the issue is a flashback, explaining Nova Prime's involvement with the rising of the Crystal City centuries before. How he tried to manipulate Omega Supreme and how Omega showed Dai Atlas the Metrotitan and allowed them (Dai Atlas and his followers) to use it to travel to a new world and start anew.
   Barber, as usual, does a great job weaving his and Roberts stories into a coherent tale as well as adding in older IDW elements such as Nova Prime, Omega Supreme and the Drift origin stuff. I think it was kind of unfortunate that the Metrotitan blows up in the end but the revelation about Starscream does set up some interesting things for the future.
   The old school Marvel style flashback art/coloring was a neat gimmick. The other Annual used it slightly but this one did it much more extensively and it invoked memories of the first Marvel mini-series.



Verdict:  Good.

Cover "A by Tim Seeley

Comic Review...

Transformers: More Then Meets The Eye Annual 2012

Writer: James Roberts
Artists: Jimbo Salgado, Emil Cabaltierra and Guido Guidi
(covers by Tim Seely and Alex Milne)


Summary:  THE ORIGIN OF THE KNIGHTS OF CYBERTRON! Rodimus and the crew of the Lost Light finally reach Crystal City, home to the mysterious Circle of Light. But what they find waiting for them is going to change everything-and not necessarily for the better!


Comments:  It's a long and involved tale but a couple of the highlights of this story were the crew of the Lost Light finding a Metrotitan underneath Crystal City (colored, naturally, like the Metrotitan toy from Japan). I also appreciated Roberts doing something different and trying a new origin for Primus and the Transformers. That was the sort of thing I'd initially been hoping for when Furman first started doing TF comics for IDW. Take an old concept and try some new spins on them. For a long time, too many of the various writers struck to the established canon and I'm glad he took a chance and went in a new direction here (I also noticed he kind of glossed over whether or not Unicron exists in this continuity).
   I'd not heard of Salgado or Cabaltierra before but their art seemed fairly competent to me. I hadn't really noticed the retro coloring style in the flashback until the RID counterpart used it more extensively (then it became much more obvious).

   A fairly good story overall.


Verdict:  Good.

Cover "A" by Tim Seely

Comic Review...

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #9

Writer: John Barber
Artist: Andrew Griffith
(covers by Andrew Griffith and Casey Coller)


Summary:  DINOBOT HUNT! Ironhide and the DINOBOTS journey deep into the Cybertronian wilderness and what they find is not what they expected! Meanwhile, the DECEPTICONS enact a dangerous plan with bizarre consequences!
 
Comments:  The Dinobots try to kill Ironhide but he escapes. Meanwhile, Bumblebee starts to assemble a search party for them as the Decepticons keep tabs on him covertly (and Arcee on them). Ironhide finds evidence of the missing Aerialbots and then eventually encounters Superion!
   I hate to say it but this storyline has been boring and nothing much really happened this issue. I had to go back and re-read it to remember the issue, after having read it only a couple of weeks earlier. We don't get any closer to finding out what affecting the Dinobots; it takes until issue's end to find the Aerialbots and not much happens back with Bumblebee and the others. Hoping next time is better.

Verdict:  Average. Probably one of the weaker issues of RID so far.

Cover "A" by Andrew Griffith