Rodimus’ crew is marooned in a parallel universe where the bad guys are still in control and about to destroy anybody who isn’t “useful.” In the regular universe the “lucky” folks are just getting their feelings eviscerated, if they’re not getting literally eviscerated. So, a typical Wednesday then?
See below for preview pages and a review of Transformers: Lost Light #4.
(Also, see the end of the review for the preview pages to Till All Are One #8.)
What Rodimus and co. have discovered is that Luna 2, Cybertron’s missing moon, is back. But they’re in a world where the Functionist Council were never overthrown, so you have to ask the question: moons control tides, but Cybertron has no oceans, so technically the moon has no function, and Cybertron is controlled by a council that says everything has to have a function or else. So what do you suppose they’d do to the moon?
(Hint: probably not what you’d think.)
There’s also a fight between Megatron and Rodimus that’s long overdue: months of having to work together just spill over into bitterness and epic sass. Okay, I guess it’s just Rodimus dishing out the sass, Megatron’s just coldly, loudly cynical, but whatever, it’s glorious.
Not to mention the fact that there’s a lot of sass coming from Rodimus aimed in Rachet’s direction, and I don’t see Ratchet putting up with that for long. (Though boy is it fun to watch.)
And also? Back in the regular universe a relationship in the crew has taken a really, really dark turn, and it’s also not who you’d think. Or what you’d think. But it’s probably going to get uglier before it gets better. (Is it wrong that I can’t wait to see how ugly? Probably. But this is going to get interesting.)
Jack Lawrence’s art continues to be excellent, a G1 style that would look amazing as an animation (…hint, hint, anyone who is in charge of such things…) Joana Lafuente’s colors work really well with his line work; she’s fond of strong gradients with defined points of light that give a lot of depth to the characters, and that separates them really well from the background (which has got to be tough, if you’re working with metal people standing on metal backgrounds.)
I can see why some people might find Lawrence’s work cartoony, because his expressions are a little more exaggerated than some of the other IDW artists. But not too exaggerated, as far as I’m concerned. James Roberts’ sarcastic wit really needs very mobile faces to match the tone and Lawrence’s art is a great fit. (Yes I still miss Alex Milne, not sure that I ever won’t. But I do like the art here.)
As a bonus, here’s the preview pages from Till All Are One #8: I wasn’t able to write the full review that this issue deserves, but the art’s excellent as always, and the ending floored me. What happened…can’t be what I think happened? Can it?
(Also I hope Metroplex pulls through. There’s something about his face that’s really awesome. I think I’m a little in love. Is that bad?)
