Comic Review...

Cover B by Brendan Cahill

Transformers #27

Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Brendan Cahill
(covers by Brendan Cahill and Marcelo Matere) 


Summmary: 'The Last Story On Earth' continues with shocking revelations into what the humans have done to Cybertronians and what they plan to do! Alliances between the two races are on the brink-can Jazz, an Autobot who killed a human, possibly bring both sides back before utter destruction occurs? Here's a hint: Not bloody likely!


Comments: This issue sees art by Brendan Cahill, which is easier to follow in some respects then Ramondelli's is. I wouldn't say he's my favorite artist either though (give me Roche, Guidi or Matere any day).
    So, Prowl survives a sneak attack thanks to Streetwise and they discover it was Brawl who attacked them. They incapacitate him and return to base. We also pick up another story thread about a woman who worked for Skywatch but betrayed them by ratting out that they were working with the Autobots in secret. Later, Prowl grabs her and tries to interrogate her to find out about who killed Scrapper. She hints at Spike and then he comes in and confronts them directly. Yes, he admits to killing Scrapper!  To be honest, I'm not even sure who this woman is (maybe I missed whatever story she was in? I skipped a few issues when they went to North Korea and fought the Decepticons). If she was in the second story arc, this is a long time later to come back to her since likely all but the diehard readers have forgotten who the hell she is. Or if she wasn't in that story, her part was so small I paid her no attention. Either way, this was a plot twist out of the blue...
    Finally, we get to the important part--Spike killed Scrapper and admits to it! The only thing is, who cares? In the issue (TF #9) where Spike committed his "crime", we learn Scrapper's actions caused human deaths so it's not like he went out and summarily executed an innocent party. Also, in case Prowl has forgotten, Scrapper is a Decepticon--his sworn enemy! At least if Spike had killed Bluestreak or something this story might make sense but as it is he did everyone a favor. This story highlights my disdain for this current series--it focuses on issues I just don't care about in a Transformers comic. I don't want more of the same per se, but I would rather the comic pull back and focus more on the bigger picture (like Furman's stuff used to) and less on touchy-feely characterization (or, at least, not so much on it all the time). Costa's approach works so much better for the GIJOE: Cobra comic (in part, because there are other comics in the same continuity being written about other things) but not so much here with only one title.

Verdict: Mediocre. 

Comic Review...

Transformers #26

Writer: Mike Costa and James Roberts (story); Mike Costa (script)
Artist: Livio Ramondelli
(covers by Livio Ramondelli)



Summary:  'CHAOS' rages on! A hole is punched through to the core of Cybertron itself-but what for? Where's Galvatron?! And why is Megatron, deep in the Autobot base and stuck in his cell, laughing? It all spells one thing-TROUBLE with a capital 'Crush the Heroes!' CHAOS part 2, in which things go from bad, to holy-hell-how-are-we-gonna-get-out-of-this-alive!!!


Comments:  The Autobots fly up to attack Kimia (the big space gun/space station thing the Autobots used to control until the start of last issue). Rodimus commands the space battle while Optimus Prime and the others attack Galvatron on the surface (after Wheelie tries to snipe him and fails). The space gun fires and begins destroying a spot on Cybertron's surface... finally, two of the Technobots (who are still on Kimia) blow it up and destroy it, averting the threat and whatever Galvatron had planned to do. We still don't find out whatever Galvatron is up to, of course. Meanwhile, Megatron breaks out of prison in Omega Supreme and inadvertently comes to Cliffjumper and Wheelie's aid.
    I still dislike Ramondelli's interior art and it's still too murky for my tastes. I also dislike this someone draws one issue, somebody else draws the next, the first artist does the third issue, etc. stuff. Why can't they get one guy to do a full run instead?
    The story itself is okay. Mostly a long battle with some minor movements along the way. After all this time, we still don't know exactly what Galvatron plans to do to stop D-Void and we still have the Autobots not even attempting to look at the bigger picture for purposes of moving the plot along. Granted, Prime says he senses something happening via the Matrix near the end of the story but we don't know what and his reaction is to go stop Galvatron rather then endeavor to truly find out what (I may be nitpicking a tad here but it feels like the Autobots are being short sighted for plot convenience). I also wonder why if the Autobots had Kimia in the first place why they didn't use it to swing the balance of power in the war their way (I hate it when super weapon stuff like this shows up for a story and no one bothers to consider the larger picture).

Verdict: Average.

Cover A by Livio Ramondelli

TFUK Titan comic review: issue 3.4

...it's been a while.....

Titan Transformers UK issue 3.4, October 2011.

Script: Robin Etherington
Art: Dario Brizuela


I recieved this comic by post on monday september 19th. I glanced over my free gift, which is a red 'disc shooter watch' including 1 autobot 'disc'.

On the cover, is a really just stock footage/film promotion of Vector Prime, mostly hidden behind all the ads for puzzles and the like.

The index is still pretty much the same and the art used for this seems like john McCrea's art showing the movie characters shown in the animated style.

A nice lowdown on Ironhide detailing his abilities and bio.

the strip:
At first, I was a little taken aback by the drop in quality seen here, the art looks like a cross between Geoff Senior and Charlie Adlard to me. What's wrong with that you ask ? well nothing really once you get used to it. let me explain: This is the first UK comic I've seen in some while since my move to the new house so I had Jon Davis-Hunt in mind when first seeing the strip. His art is more detailed than Mr Brizuela's art. like I said I got used to it.

the story is very simple but entertaining with the humans first being angry with all Transformers, later waking up to who their real friends are. This strip is split over two sections.

Inbetween we have the Sideswipe armoury section zooming in on wingsuits as seen in the movie, Ratchet's word search which is a puzzle, a Starscream and a Sideswipe Poster, another Ratchet puzzle-now a maze.

A competion to win Dark of the moon figures, 2012 annual(i'd like that), dangermouse dvd collection and a diary of a wimpy kid dvd.

Finishing off are 2 more puzzles, this time hosted by Starscream(match parts to certain transformer) and Bumblebee(word puzzle)

The letterpage(MEGA MOUTH)featuring Megatron gueststar: Sideswipe) containing some reader art and 1 letter.

on the last page is a preview for next issue hinting that it will be a Transformers PRIME issue, my guess is that it will switch from the Dark of the Moon subtitle to the Prime subtitle.

That's it.


Conclusion: For a comic i'd like it to have more art like it had in earlier/earliest issues but I guess it's more like a magazine. Still liked it though.

-Johan

cover doesn't seem to be uploading.....

Comic Review...

Transformers #25

Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Brendan Cahill

(covers by Marcelo Matere and Brendan Cahill)


Summary:  'The Last Story on Earth' part 1 of 3! While there is much 'CHAOS' on Cybertron, there's no less bedlam here on Earth as our remaining Autobots investigate the accusation that Spike, their trusted human ally, murdered a TRANSFORMER in cold oil(?) Now it's up to our heroes to find the truth and decide the fate of human/Cybertronian relations for years to come! Prowl and Jazz take center stage!

Comments:  Another Costa issue. I pretty much forgot half of the story after reading it (a typical reaction to his stuff). I'm sure he believed there was a real story left to tell on Earth but I for one don't see it. Okay, most of Megatron's Decepticons are still there but beyond that who cares about Spike's actions in killing a Constructicon? This is likely an attempt to reset the status quo for the two new series coming next year. Let us hope those series are more exciting and better written then this one, which has largely been dull and plodding. Anyway, this issue is a lot of talking between the Earth Autobots then Prowl and Streetwise covertly save Spike from an assassination attempt by Breakdown, more talking and a cliffhanger with Prowl. The ending was decent but the rest of the issue was dull. The art was adequate but that's all I can really say about it. It was clearer then last issue's murk but not particularly great.


Verdict:  Mediocre.

Cover "B" by Brendan Cahill

Comic Review...

Transformers #24

Writer: Mike Costa and James Roberts (story); Mike Costa (script)
Artist: Livio Ramondelli
(covers by Livio Ramondelli)

Summary:  CHAOS: PART 1! The long-awaited event that will have TRANSFORMERS fans talking for years and lasting repercussions on the lives of our heroes and villains gets off to a mega-start! The Autobots land on Cybertron to discover Galvatron's plan is already in effect-but what is it? What could he possibly want on a dead planet?!

Comments:  Basically, this issue is one long fight scene. The Decepticons conquer some kind of Autobot base in the opening, where Cloudburst and Downshift apparently die (why are all these obscure characters highlighted in these stories so they can die three seconds later? I know, death is melodramatic in storytelling--but not if we don't even get to know the characters and get to care about them at all. I'd rather it be generic characters unless the death has some real meaning behind it).
     The rest of the issue, the Autobots arrive on Cybertron and confront Galvatron. He starts to explain himself when Hot Rod interrupts then we go straight into the fighting. This is another one of those examples of storytelling where the whole conflict can be resolved in ten seconds if only someone communicates what their intent is but conveniently doesn't so the plot can be moved in the direction the writer wants it to go (i.e. lazy writing). Drift believes there might be some greater threat--why doesn't anyone else on the Autobot side though?
    The art is by Livio Ramondelli. The man is a master of that painted art style and his covers are superb. Having said that, some of the interior art is a bit murky due to the style and combining that with Don Figueroa's pointless IDW re-designs, it makes some of characters hard to identify. There's a white robot with a blue dot on his chest (I think it's Jetfire. Nobody refers to him by name in the story though). I really wish they'd dump these new TF designs and go back to the classic style--nobody liked EJ Su's re-designs (apparently) so they go and get Figueroa to make them look even more complicated and now all the other artists are trying to emulate his designs. 
    Also, Ramondelli's art makes it seem like all of Galvatron's minions are Sweeps but that contradicts the Heart of Darkness mini-series where most of his army clearly were not Sweeps (yes, it's a visual continuity thing but shouldn't that matter in a visual medium like a comic?)
    I'd prefer they keep Ramondelli for cover art duties and leave the interior art to Alex Milne or Nick Roche (but they'll likely milk it for all it's worth instead). On the plus side, all three of Ramondelli's covers (one is a Retailer Incentive) for this issue are beautiful. 


Verdict:  Mediocre.

Cover "B" by Livio Ramondelli

Comic Review...

Transformers #23

Writer: James Roberts
Artist: Alex Milne
(covers by Alex Milne)

Summary: CHAOS Prelude! Last issue, you discovered the first ever meeting between Optimus Prime and Megatron. And if the surprises there weren't enough-you won't believe what happens just hours later! Optimus Prime recounts the fascinating end of their introduction as he decides the fate of the jailed Megatron. This one's a keeper, folks! Now let the CHAOS BEGIN!


Comments: The sequel to the previous issue, this follows Orion Pax/Optimus Prime's story after the  last issue with Megatron's pre-war tale. We learn that even Optimus discovered that Cybertronian society was corrupt and made a show of his beliefs, becoming the first Autobot (technically). I liked the Megatron issue slightly better but the Prime story was a good look at his early personality then and his strong sense of justice. The present scenes are about his deciding what to do with Megatron and whether or not he can still make decisions with the presence of the Matrix (but it seemed like the past story was the primary part of it). Roberts has done an excellent job in only two issues of making the comic worth reading and he deserves kudos for that. 

Verdict: Recommended.

Cover "A" by Alex Milne

Transformers: Prime Episode #23

Teletoon in Canada is ahead of the Hub now for new episodes of Prime. The trend continues today with ep. 23!  Check it out on Youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zMSHP3MvwM


(This is not my doing, I'm merely passing along the information to get the word out. :)


-  Thunder

TM Mag Summer edition!

The Summer 2011 edition of the Transmasters Magazine is now up on the website!

Check it out here:
 http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmmag/issue11/index1.html

A special thanks to our contributors for this issue. We couldn't have done it without you! :)

(A note about my Opening Shots comic: Yes, it is there this time around. I had hoped to finish it off but ran short on time so I only have six pages up. I hope to get the remaining pages done soon-ish and I will post a message when they're done.)


Comments are always welcome! Praise, criticism, suggestions--let us know how you feel!

Thunder

Summer TM Mag deadline!

An update on the Summer Issue of Transmasters Magazine: The deadline for submissions (art, stories, articles, etc.) will be Monday August 15th. If anybody's got anything for it, feel free to email it to me: tkphoton at hotmail.com (also, if anybody needs more time, let me know. I can always push it back a bit if needed).

Thunder

Summer time!

The Summer Issue of Transmasters Magazine is in the works! Submissions (art, stories, articles, etc.) are always welcome. I don't yet have a submissions deadline in mind but I hope to have the issue ready in a week or so (I still have a comic to draw and that will take some work).  As always, submissions can be sent to tkphoton at hotmail.com

Thunder