For the third issue in a row we’ve only had to wait two weeks for the next installment, which on the one hand is awesome because we’ve had a ton of dangling plot lines and they’re getting (sort of) resolved lightning fast. But on the other hand I am not going to be a pleasant person to be around when we go back to the usual four-week wait between issues, because my expectations are now ridiculously high. And on the other hand (I’m running out of hands) the accelerated schedule is making me worried, when you take into account what we found out this issue. But seeing as how I’m not entirely buying this piece of information, maybe I’m worried for nothing. Maybe. I hope.
See below for a review of Lost Light #16. (I’m only going to spoil one piece of information for this issue, but it’s a big one.)
(Last warning, big ole spoiler below.)
I can’t possibly sum up the previous issue better than James Roberts did on page one, so here it is:
Desperate to escape Necroworld, hunt down the mutinous Getaway and reclaim the Lost Light, Rodimus used displacement technology to enlarge a dead Decepticon, Skip, who turns into an astropod.
Life aboard the cramped ship is tough, and when news of Tailgate’s death reaches Cyclonus, tensions boil over. The Tetrahexian accidentally wounds Rewind, provoking an attack from Chromedome. Ratchet goes to intervene, but starts to fade away and sink through the floor. As panic begets more panic, the Legislator Ten steps in to restore order…by telling everyone that the fate of the universe is at stake.
Got that? And what’s the giant piece of information that everything else in this issue hinges on, the information I promised to spoil?
Everyone in the ship is dead and they’re now in the afterlife.
My first instinct is: I don’t buy it.
There’s a lot more information in this issue, which I’m not going to spoil, but I can’t believe that everyone’s dead, because that’s not how comics work. Also, it’d be an instant end to the series, and we still have to see Getaway get his comeuppance, which will be tougher if Rodimus has shuffled off this mortal spark. So no way, I’m not buying it.
Except..
The accelerated schedule. Four issues in two months. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’ve never seen that in Lost Light or More Than Meets the Eye. There has to be a reason behind it, right? What if there’s stuff going on at IDW and the series has a limited amount of time to wrap up because it’s cancelled!?
Okay, now I’m just starting rumors. I googled it and there’s no word about an impending end to the series, so I don’t believe everybody’s dead.
(…but if the series gets cancelled you heard it here first and ARRGH.)
As for the rest of the story (which I’m not going to spoil) it’s lovely. It’s full of quippy back and forth comments, insights into Cybertronian afterlife, and at least one moment that kicked me so hard in the feels I stopped breathing. Everyone reacts to the afterlife exactly the way I’d expect them to. Even Rodimus. Especially Rodimus.
I love it when James Roberts throws us a tidbit of Transformer etiquette, like when Drift can’t tell what expression Brainstorm’s wearing.
“Oh…sorry, the mouthplate makes it hard to…”
“Oh, don’t face-shame me. Face-shamer.”
(Also I’m one-hundred percent convinced that the dead Decepticon is named Skip just so James Roberts could include one specific line. I think he’s been waiting to use that line for months.)
As for the artwork, I thought Jack Lawrence (with Joana Lafuente’s excellent colors) knocked it all the way out of the park this issue, it was beautiful. G1 except better. Incredibly dynamic, excellent expressions, just wonderful stuff.
And that one scene that kicked me right in the feels? Gorgeous and perfectly done.
