Comic Review...

Transformers Spotlight:
Jazz

Writer: Josh Van Reyk and Shaun Knowler
Artist: E.J. Su

(covers by E.J. Su and Andrew Griffith)

Summary: The setting is Cybertron, during the Autobots hiatus in All Hail Megatron. As the troops are restless (specifically, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee), Tracks gathers them all together and relates a story from his early days in the Great War... His unit was attacked and destroyed on his first combat mission and his optics off-line from damage. Jazz retrieves him but their evac vessel is shot down by the Predacons before they can board it. Razorclaw and his unit watch them, deciding that they should take them out hand to hand instead of remotely
since it's more honorable. Tracks is sure they'll die out there but Jazz keeps his spirits up... the Predacons attack them then and he uses Tracks to distract them while he attacks from behind, taking out three of them in the ensuing battle. Jazz and Tracks escape long enough to hide from Razorclaw and Divebomb (I think). Jazz decides to take on the two remaining Decepticons himself to protect Tracks but he's so inspired by Jazz's heroism that he transforms and rams Divebomb, taking both of them off-line in the process. Jazz fights Razorclaw, who escapes when Autobot reinforcements show up. Tracks was never sure who that Autobot that saved him was--but he knew he inspired him and taught him about courage and what it means to be an Autobot. Many of the Autobots are listening to his tale and all are cheered up by his words. Jazz comes along afterward and tells him thanks for telling that story--it helped him out too.

Comments: This appears to be Tracks first real appearance in the IDW-verse (that is, his first relevant appearance. He was likely in the background somewhere before now). This is a simple tale that wraps up in one issue and I appreciate that aspect of it. It also has the Autobots without Optimus Prime doing something useful to keep their spirits up (instead of being helpless children without Optimus, like seems to be case usually). I like how not only is Jazz's reputation as a bad-ass in the IDW continuity reinforced but Tracks does something useful too for the first time in, um... forever, that I'm aware of (usually he just preens about his image). Not sure who the writers are (I'm leaning towards fans) but this is a solid tale.

Recommended.

Comic Review...

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #9

Writer: Shane McCarthy
Artists: Robert Deas and Emiliano Santalucia

(covers by Casey Coller and Trevor Hutchison)

Summary: The human survivors are assembled in a old department store and discuss things. There, they encounter Spike who explains why he's there--to obtain a prototype weapon and use it against Megatron. He needs their help--they know the city and the Decepticons movements. On Cybertron, Ironhide tries to apologize to Mirage but he understandably tells him off. Ratchet tells Kup everyone is up to full specs now but morale is non-existent. On Earth, Spike gets the prototype weapon. Outside Rumble attacks them and Spike leads him away on a motorcycle... he gets the drop on Spike but one of the other rebels shoots Rumble in the face then, taking him out. On Cybertron, the Autobots whine some more about their fates... On Earth, Soundwave retrieves the fallen Rumble. On Cybertron, Sideswipe whines some more and wonders what it's all been for, etc. Optimus Prime shows up then and rallies the troops, telling them they have to keep fighting no matter what, etc. On Earth, Spike contacts his father and finds out that the other nations are intent on nuking New York, no matter what he does.

Comments: There were different artists on this issue and their art was not so great... I would've preferred the entire series to have one artist. Failing that, at least good stand-in artists if Guidi is unavailable. I think modern comic companies generally put too much emphasis on art and not enough on story. Still, a notable change in style and/or poor art can really ruin a good story too (see many of the later Marvel G.I.JOE comics, for an example). Aside from that, not a lot really happened this issue after three issues of progress. Yeah, Optimus is back (somehow) and we saw more of Spike finally but otherwise, it was just more filler. More Autobot whining, more humans deliberating, etc. For the entire story, repairing Prime was impossible--now it's not? Huh? I wonder if they'll bother explaining that one or not... Also, this issue highlights a legitimate problem with G1 based Transformers stories--how the Autobots can't function without Optimus Prime to guide them. All they all idiots? Sheep with no minds of their own? It always seem to come back to Prime getting injured/dead and the Autobots being lost without him. Surely someone can pick up the slack. Otherwise, their side would have inevitably lost the war some time ago the minute the Decepticons figured out that all it took was killing Optimus off.
It really is time someone quietly abandoned the whole "Optimus is our everything, we are lost without him" thing and tried something new already.

Mildly recommended.

Hiatus until April 2009

...as the title implies I won't publish anything, Warlog or Otherwise until April 2009.
call it schedule hell......
-Johan

Comic Review...

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #8

Writer: Shane McCarthy
Artist: Guido Guidi

(covers by Guido Guidi and Trevor Hutchison)

Summary: Flashback--Ratchet asks Sunstreaker how he is after being separated from Hunter. The other is unresponsive, lost in his own world. Now--Kup asks Ironhide what he was thinking, attacking Mirage like that. He tells him Mirage is not the traitor and tries to get through to him...They're interrupted as the Swarm has attacked their base and the others are outside fending them off. On Earth, Reflector destroys some humans while Starscream watches in disgust/fascination. He goes to the Insecticons and tells Bombshell he's sorry for Thundercracker's earlier behavior. He tells him they should talk (which means, a zany scheme to defeat Megatron is under way). Elsewhere, Perceptor and the others fight off the Swarm on the run. Perceptor shoots some explosives they'd rigged to slow the Swarm down. The Autobots reach a solitary bridge that when cut off will significantly slow down their pursuers. Perceptor is injured before he can destroy the bridge, leaving the others in a quandry. On Earth, Starscream tells someone off-panel that the time is now... On Cybertron, we learn Sunstreaker is willing to sacrifice himself to save the others. He tells Ironhide he is the traitor--he was willing to help Starscream take down Megatron, since Megs is such a monster. And he hates Earth and it's people (probably due to the Headmaster process). Just then, the Swarm shows up and attacks. Drift arrives and helps Ironhide get away while Sunstreaker sets off the explosives, destroying himself, the bridge and some of the Swarm. Later, Drift tells Ironhide that Sunstreaker couldn't have been the only spy--he simply couldn't have known all of the codes and such necessary. On Earth, Bombshell looks up at a machine. It contains Hunter O'Nion plugged into it!

Comments: Okay, I was wrong about Drift (which is good--that was too obvious anyway). Sunstreaker makes sense, all things considered. Even though he's technically dead, there were a million clones of him and Hunter is still alive, so... is he really dead? I wonder what Drift meant--was he referring to the element that Hunter represents or is there still another spy/somebody we haven't seen yet? I suspect the latter but we'll see... I also wonder if this was really all planned from the beginning or if they've been changing the story on the run. I'd initially heard this wasn't intended to be a mainstream continuity story but obviously it is. Was the initial idea different or was the story written and then altered later on to link up better with Furman's stuff? Not that it really matters, but... The art continues to be decent/good (this issue was all Guidi, thankfully. I hate it when more then one artist works on something, like with last issue).
Generally, I liked this issue and the story is improving immensely now that something is actually happening. Looking forward to next issue...

Recommended.

Comic Review...

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #1

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Nick Roche

(covers by Nick Roche and Marcelo Matere)

Summary: The story catches us up on what has come before. Grimlock is stranded alone on Earth, his fellow Dinobots missing and his ship is damaged and unusable for the time being. He attempts to contact help--which will come, for a price. Meanwhile, Skywatch deploys the remaining "thunder lizard" units, believing the control problems they had with Grimlock and the Recordacons to be fixed now--little do they know Scorponok's minions have tricked them into playing right into their hands. Elsewhere, Sunstreaker and Hunter O'Nion have tracked down one Machination facility but come up empty. Sunstreaker is distraught that his real head is out there somewhere and under Scorponok's control. Hunter reassures him they'll find it and put things back to normal. Sunstreaker is repulsed by the idea of being a Headmaster while Hunter seems to be somewhat fascinated. Hot Rod tracks Scorponok to his base somehow but Scorponok knows he's there and is ready for him... Grimlock is attacked on a glacier (where his ship is) by a legion of multicolored Headmaster Sunstreakers. They attack his ship and he uses the distraction to take them on! Shortly after, one of them attaches a module to him and he is teleported away to Fallon, Nevada, where the other Dinobots are deployed to apprehend him.

Comments: One thing I can't fault Furman for here--stuff happens in this story, right off the bat. Compare this with the parallel series of All Hail Megatron, where the first five or so issues ran at a snail's pace (yeah, yeah. It works better in TPB format--so what? It should work as individual parts too). Thanks to AHM, we already know Sunstreaker is back to normal in the future which works against this story slightly. Roche's art is mostly pretty good--I don't care for his neo-Dinobot designs though. They just seem wrong to me. Once again, I'd just prefer the classic G1 designs and don't see why IDW must reinterpret everything (then ignore it in AHM anyway). The story is a good serial story so far. Furman is a classic style comic writer, doing an issue at a time of an overall arc, not this new-fangled crap of stretching out a threadbare story over multiple issues. I mean, it's not high art but it's entertaining and at least I didn't read this story and feel like I would've wasted my money buying it (I have a copy on the way too, so technically I did buy it).

Recommended.




***

(As previously stated, I've not seen this series in comic shops where I live, due to Diamond's screw-ups in sending adequate stock out. I do not have issue #2 but did luck out and find a sole issue of #3 at a comic store--finally).

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #3

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Nick Roche

(covers by Nick Roche and Marcelo Matere)

Summary: Skywatch dispatches Shockwave to find the other units (the Dinobots and Recordacons respectively), intent on keeping him on a tight leash. He warns that he will still have more then enough time to cause lots of damage in the twenty four hours they've given him. The director of the operation and his subordinate look at each other worriedly. In Fallon, the Machination's clone Sunstreakers come to attack the Dinobots. The other Dinobots are tough and feel like Grimlock's abandoned them.... Swoop even starts to fly off. The Headmasters strike Grimlock then and eventually start wearing him down, prompting the other Dinobots to turn and aid him after all. Elsewhere, Scorponok watches along with the beaten Hot Rod... he tells him he wants to see all he's accomplished before he has Hot Rod put to death. Elsewhere again, Shockwave detects Soundwave's lifesigns and goes to investigate... the Dinobots are being hit with everything the Machination has at it's disposal. Just then, the Monsterbots show up and aid them. It turns out Grimlock called them for help--and they will help, in exchange for some price (which is not spelled out in the story). Elsewhere, Scorponok has tired of Hot Rod's insolence and orders him to be taken and executed. Once free of Scorponok, Hot Rod uses the last of his energy to take out his two Sunstreaker-clone sentries. He collapses and then Sunstreaker and Hunter arrive.

Comments: I've not read issue #2 so this is a bit jarring but it's not hard to figure out what happened in-between issues. The Dinobots fought, check. Hot Rod fought Scorponok and lost, check. This is very much a middle issue of the story with fights and plans and counter-plans... a typical Furman story, to be honest (which can be good or bad, depending on one's perspective). The art is consistently good (save for my complaints about how the Dinobots look). I do hope M.D. wraps itself up as much as possible and leads into the AHM-era without too much trouble (I know, I know. There's another series coming at some point to bridge the gap--but I meant wrap things up as much as reasonably possible, considering the overall continuity and such). I also forgot to mention that I like the multi-colored Sunstreaker clones--it helps distinguish them, of course, and may or may not be a Diaclone homage at the same time.
(I'm going a bit easy on this series because it was hard to find around here and I welcome another TF story fix in contrast to AHM, which I don't much care for).

Recommended.

WW 2009-06

Warlog Weekly 2009-06: valentine day Special
Featuring the everloving characters from Beastwars and BeastMachines, Botanica & Rattrap. Enjoy and have a nice day !


Since many of you may not have read the first parts I am providing an opportunity to catch up.

To download Warlog Weekly collected, click on this link.(2.4Mb)

Greetings, Enjoy, and see you soon !
-Johan

WW 2009-05

Warlog Weekly 2009-05: Kasmun part 03 - Enrichment part 04

recap:Soundwave arrives in Larry's cell -uhm- room. but suddenly there is a visitor.......We now proceed....


Since many of you may not have read the first parts I am providing an opportunity to catch up.

To download Warlog Weekly collected, click on this link.(2.4Mb)

Greetings, Enjoy, and see you soon !
-Johan

Toy Review...

Transformers Universe (Classics series, G1)

Cyclonus


I haven't done a toy review in some time but I just got Classics Cyclonus and wanted to share some thoughts. The toy is already out in the States (and theoretically here or coming soon--but haven't seen it around where I live, so I bought a pricier one at a local toy shop that had it). I hope they do up a Scourge to go with this and Cla-Galvatron.

The Good: A nice toy all around. Looks like the Cyclonus of old (not some bad homage toy that has little in common with the original namesake). Relatively easy transformation (despite being a "level four" on the package). Stands easily and not too kibble-y (not that I worry about that all that much on my TFs, but...) The U.S. version is a dark purple and well suited to the character in my opinion (the Japanese one will be more of a powder purple color scheme. I have one on order too since both look nice). Good articulation and detailing. Comes with Nightstick Targetmaster partner--a nice touch and awesome! Adds to the play value of this piece. (Despite the pics below, Nightstick's leg are black, not grey).

The Bad: For a deluxe, this toy seems a bit smaller then the original Cyclonus toy was. Conversely, the original was a brick compared with this one so I think I'd rather have the added articulation as opposed to a bigger and more static toy. Left hand is a solid plastic piece with no hole, unfortunately, which means he can only hold his gun in the right hand (I'd rather have both open and see no reason why they didn't do that).

Verdict: Do yourself a favor: if you find this toy, BUY IT! IT IS AWESOME! It's every bit as good as the pictures make it appear.






(Japanese version)





(pics courtesy BBTS.com website. Visit BBTS.com for all the latest toys and collectibles today!)

Comic Review...

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #7

Writer: Shane McCarthy
Artist: Guido Guidi and E.J. Su


(Covers by Casey Coller, Trevor Hutchison and Guido Guidi)


Summary: A Flashback to when the Swarm was created on Cybertron. A generic car Decepticon tells Megatron that they've finally had success. He introduces him to Bombshell--apparently the first truly intelligent bug drone (as opposed to the rest of the Swarm). Satisfied he is all they say, Megatron tells him there is somebody he'd like him to meet... In the present on Cybertron, Jazz relates what happened to his unit to Kup as the Autobots travel along. There'd been a stalemate between Autobots and Decepticons... the Autobots had been fed information that the Decepticons had a schism between Megatron and Starscream and went to exploit it, by taking on Starscream's troops. Little did they realize it was all a trap--they were outnumbered and massacred. The Decepticons used their newest weapon--Devastator to finish them and capture them all. The Decepticons mock them, telling them they were betrayed by one of their own and then send them all to Cybertron via a portal to rot... but before they can finish their plans, Optimus Prime makes one final play and destroys the portal machine while getting critically injured in the process, but assuring the Autobots safety on the other side. Meanwhile, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have a talk--he tells Sunstreaker he hasn't been the same since being a Headmaster back on Earth, etc. Sunstreaker refuses to deal with it and storms off. He goes to Ironhide and both decide to finally confront the Autobot traitor--Mirage. He beats Mirage senseless all the while Mirage tries to proclaim his innocence. Ironhide storms off as the others arrive and see what's happened.

Comments: And with that ending, we now know for an absolute certainty that Mirage is innocent (in case we had any doubts before). I had a thought--I wonder if Bombshell tortured or used a cerebro shell on Drift so he'd betray the Autobots (that way, when he's revealed as the traitor we can still reform him and keep him in future stories as a good guy. I had this thought when Megatron said he had somebody he wanted Bombshell to meet and we never see who).
I'm surprised to say this was a good issue--the first in the series so far. We actually had some real story in it. Yes, it was a flashback mostly but at least it moved things along instead of going at the snail's pace the rest of the series has so far. This series is now on issue seven and only now have we really gotten any story movement. If it had only been six issues, we could've gotten a far better paced story out of it... I bet Ironhide won't get any punishment for his treatment of Mirage (just a feeling. They'll likely schluff it off as a mistake/stress when Drift--or whoever--is revealed to be the traitor). I also wonder something: with all of this careful planning on the Decepticons' part, they beat the Autobots but then just assume the Swarm will deal with the remnants instead of going and making certain they're all dead? That seems sloppy to me (and reminiscent of that joke in Austin Powers. "I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death..." then without watching assume it all went as planned). Of course, a lot of stories do that, so...
The art was okay this issue but with both Guidi and Su doing some of it, it was a bit inconsistent in places. I would've rather seen Guidi do it all to retain the same style (I like Su too but it should be one way or the other, not both).


Recommended.

Warlog Weekly 2009-04: Kasmun part 03 - Enrichment part 03

Warlog Weekly 2009-04: Kasmun part 03 - Enrichment part 03



so here we are, back to the regular story after the intrigue from last, uhm 2 weeks ago. As you may recall Larry woke up in pain when Mixmaster notices him and warns Soundwave.
We now proceed....



Since many of you may not have read the first parts I am providing an opportunity to catch up.


To download Warlog Weekly collected, click on this link.(1.7Mb)


Greetings, Enjoy, and see you next week !
-Johan