It’s a short review this week, because I’m avoiding any and all spoilers and it’s hard. See below for a few thoughts about Optimus Prime #9.
Kei Zama and Josh Burcham return this week to give us that awesome, 1980s-G1-comic-book-except-much-better art, with the sepia tones to the whites, heavy saturated blacks, and almost angry slashed lines in the expressions that really match the emotions in this issue. The art makes me a little nostalgic for the old Marvel comics, and I’d dig them out of the box if I didn’t know that they’d never compare to the art here. It’s the best kind of tribute, in that it’s like a more perfect version of what it represents.
For all that the book is called “Optimus Prime,” we don’t see a lot of him this issue. We only get a few humans too, and only in the first few pages (but I’ve said it before, Kei Zama does a nice job with humans.)
This issue is the story of Sideswipe’s relationship with Sunstreaker, at least on the surface anyway. It’s all the resentment and mistrust and stubborn loyalty boiled down to one chapter. But along the edges it’s also about what the war did to Sideswipe, and what he thinks of Optimus, the Decepticons, and Cybertron. And Arcee, but you’d never get Sideswipe to say anything about her directly. You’d just have to notice all the times he says he ought to be nicer to her, if he was any good at that kind of thing, which he isn’t. Or you’d have to notice that even Sunstreaker couldn’t make him go back to Cybertron, unless Sideswipe could convince himself it was Arcee’s idea anyway.
Beyond that I really can’t review this issue. Anything I say will be a spoiler. Do yourself a favor and pick this issue up, because I think you’ll like it. Not for the reasons you might think, but it was awfully well done.
