Comic Review...

Cover "B" by Nick Roche

Transformers: More Then Meets The Eye #12

Writer: James Roberts
Artist: Alex Milne and Brendan Cahill (pencils), Alex Milne, Atilio Rojo and Brian Shearer (inks)
(covers by Alex Milne and Nick Roche)



Summary:  AUTOBOTS VERSUS DECEPTICONS! The crew of the Lost Light confronts a band of rogue DECEPTICONS-with terrible consequences. As an AUTOBOT slips closer to death, a single decision sets in motion a chain of events that might just spell the end for RODIMUS and his band of travelers. 

Comments:  The gist of this comic is that it's set before and after a major battle between the Lost Light's crew and some Decepticons they encounter on a world (who they believe captured the Circle of Light). Appropriately, it's called "Before and After". 
   I found this issue dry and uninteresting. Several characters are seriously injured and we get some yap about "Innermost Energon", Spark compatibility between Spark types (say what?), and blah, blah, blah. I just don't care for the writing style of this series...it's not exciting or even interesting to me. It never has been, really. I want to feel like the comic I'm reading is going somewhere and this one always feels like it's meandering all over the place. This issue, for example, is about a battle but gets so bogged down with jumping back and forth explaining who's injured and, eventually, getting to a plot point about how some were injured. Mostly, I don't really care about any of it--in fact, I had trouble even remembering the plot to this issue before I sat down to review it.

Verdict:  Pass. I will likely be dropping this title. After a year of reading it I don't feel it's going anywhere anyway and I'm not prepared to devote any more time to pursuing it and hoping it will adhere more to what I want in a TF comic. 

Comic Review...

Transformers: Robots In Disguise #12

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


Summary:  THE RETURN! He's back and CYBERTRON will never be the same. Everything BUMBLEBEE and his AUTOBOTS have built teeters at the edge of collapse - and STARSCREAM has to make the choice his whole life has been leading to.


Comments:  Megatron is back! Tremble in fear! Our story begins as Megatron returns to civilization, where is greeted with a near-death when the Autobots mercilessly attack him. The Decepticons plead on his behalf so he gets thrown in a cell. And...that's it. Then there's a riot as the Decepticons survivors won't take it anymore and start to cause violence. Fortunately, Prowl is there--to arrest them. Lethal style, if need be.
   I don't really see the point in hyping up Megatron's return. He doesn't even do anything! What a waste of time! And then we get more of Prowl manipulating events behind the scenes so he can take down those evil Decepticons and maintain order. Twelve issues of Prowl arresting people and/or having them killed. Enough already! Try something new. Move the damn story along already! Prowl is acting like Hitler in this comic, seeming to want to annihilate the Decepticons completely so the Autobots can have peace and order on their world. If there's some actual point to it all, then I wish Barber would get on with it already. At this point in the series, it's just becoming repetitive (also, this is really ruining Prowl as a character for me. Yes, he's logical and strategic but this comic's turned him into the Autobot version of Shockwave).


Verdict:  Average. Needs to more the story along.

Cover "A" by Andrew Griffith

Comic Review...

Transformers Spotlight: Orion Pax

Writer: James Roberts
Artists: Steve Kurth (pencils), Juan Castro (ink)
(covers by Steve Kurth, Livio Ramondelli, Clayton Crane)


Summary:  BEFORE OPTIMUS PRIME—there was Orion Pax! Four million years ago, the future leader of the AUTOBOTS disappeared into the Cybertronian wilderness to save a friend. What happened next would take him to the very brink—and have startling repercussions on the current comics!


Comments:  Orion Pax gets a new body, temporarily, that resembles his G1 cartoon form and goes on a mission to rescue Ratchet from the Decepticons. He also gets strapped to a rocket and then escapes it before it hits Iacon and detonates. The end.
   I have to admit I have no idea what the point of this comic was. I get the impression it forms a larger story along with the forthcoming Thundercracker and Megatron spotlights. On its own, though, it's a largely irrelevant and unsatisfying. Like other Roberts comics, Rung gets a cameo and we also see Pax chumming around with Zeta Prime (the villain of Autocracy from earlier this year). Alphatrion also helps him out in the field. 
   The art by newcomer Steve Kurth is fairly good and tells the story visually quite well. It didn't blow my mind or anything but it's functional and that's all that really matters.

   My problem is that there's little characterization, heart or point to the tale. Roberts, of late, seems fixated on explaining all of Cybertron's prewar and early war history. He does it without any real story relevance in the bigger sense, though, and that ultimately makes it uninteresting. So what if Orion Pax did this or that? Did it ultimately affect him as a character? Did it make him the Autobot he is today? Does it relate to the greater story of More Then Meets The Eye? If not, why should the reader really care?


Verdict: Pass. A waste of time and money.

Cover "B" by Livio Ramondelli

Comic Review...

Transformers: Regeneration One #86

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


Summary:  DARK REIGN! The fallout from the devastation on Earth ripples outwards, all the way to Nebulos, where GRIMLOCK faces his own darkest demons and a fateful choice that may cost him his very Spark. The dark reign of SCORPONOK begins here, and nothing will ever be the same again! 

Comments:  To be honest, when this series was announced I had zero interest in what happened to the Headmasters' original heads on Nebulos (I had assumed they'd been disassembled and turned into the binary armor the Nebulans used). I am pleased to say I was wrong--the whole Scorponok sub-plot is beginning to take center stage now and I'm eager to find out what happens next. Now that the "Loose Ends" arc is over I want to get on to the meat of the story and this is clearly part of it. Will Grimlock change sides or is he playing Scorponok? Is Scorpy smart enough to know it? 
   And what is going on with the other Decepticons and Thunderwing's remains? (We find now that they possess some residual Matrix energy. Does that mean new Decepticon warriors? Or is something more sinister in store for our heroes).
   Bring on the next issue IDW!


Verdict:  Excellent.

Cover "A" by Andrew Wildman

 

Cover "B" by Guido Guidi

Retailer Incentive cover by Geoff Senior

 

Comic Review...

Transformers: Regeneration One #85 

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



Summary:  ONE WILL FALL! As the first Regeneration One arc concludes, two Transformers legends clash-for the last time! This one’s so packed with triumph, tragedy and everything in between, we can’t say much more. If you’re a fan of titanic, all-out action, this is the one for you. If you’re of a sensitive disposition-look away now!



Comments:  This issue saw the resolution of the Earth storyline and I was kind of glad it got wrapped up with the finality it did. Unfortunately two of the covers really blew an important plot point but oh well. There was really only so many ways this could've wrapped up anyway.
   I didn't really feel like I needed to have Megatron, Ratchet and the Ark's fate revisited in this continuation since the original series did a fairly good job of wrapping it off. Still, Furman did a fairly good job of squeezing some mileage out of it all despite it. I also still wonder if we'll ever see Shockwave again or if he's going to get shorted from the series (it seems like everyone else made it when the ship crashed).
   The story is still entertaining overall. Unlike the other two titles, I don't feel so much like they're taking a threadbare concept and stretching it out far too much. It doesn't quite match up with the story compaction the old comic had but enough still happens to make it feel like each issue is reasonably satisfying on its own merits. The art is also still fairly good overall.

Verdict:  Excellent.  

Cover "A" by Andrew Wildman

Cover "B" by Guido Guidi

 
 

Retailer Incentive cover by Geoff Senior

It's time!

At long last, Transmasters Magazine, Fall 2012 edition is up and ready! Comments and feedback are always welcome! :)


http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmmag/issue16/index1.html

(Due to time constraints, I had to forgo doing a TF video game review of the Prime video game this time around. I also ran out of time to get the next part of Crimson Destiny done up. Both will definitely be in the next issue however).


- Thunder