It feels weird to take a break from the San Diego Comic-Con coverage to review some comic books, but since we’re down to the last handful of issues of IDW’s Transformers, I’ve got a limited window for gushing over artists and yelling at writers who break my heart. (Or writers who confuse me. Which is sometimes worse.) Click the jump for reviews of Lost Light #21 and Unicron #2.
Mild spoilers below (for both the current issues and last month’s issues): I’m going to try and keep things vague but you might be able to read between the lines, so if you’d rather read the issues first and then come back here, I promise I won’t mind.
Lost Light #21
I was really glad when I read a recent tweet by James Roberts: a fan asked “do you feel the fans could find out who the grand architect is with enough theorizing and snooping for clues?” James Roberts answered “Yes.”
I felt better because the entire time they were talking about the Grand Architect I was afraid I was supposed to know who it was. It turns out it’s a puzzle. I’m okay with puzzles I can’t figure out, it’s better than an obvious fact I was missing. And beyond that I’m not saying anything, because some of you might be able to figure it out on your own. James Roberts thinks you can.
Also, there’s a conversation halfway through between Tyrest and Skorpinok:
“What’s all this building towards? He tells us SNIPPETS, but never the full story.”
“You’ll find out soon enough, we just have to trust his judgement.”
That, my friends, was James Roberts speaking directly to the audience. So if, like me, you’re finding yourself in the weeds a lot lately, hang on for five more issues (counting this one) and let’s hope our faith’s rewarded.
And…I really can’t say much else about this issue, because I don’t want to spoil it. Except that I may have been hoping Rodimus would act differently near the beginning of the issue, but only because sometimes I enjoy a little spite. Also, I loved Crankcase’s reaction to Ultra Magnus. And also: that last panel was really worth waiting for.
Speaking of amazing art (because that last panel was really something) I also like what Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente were doing with the backgrounds this issue: there were a lot of times when the main characters were sharply defined and in color, but the backgrounds had a limited palette and a sort of faded look. It made things seem wonderfully surreal, and also helped to ramp up the tension in dramatic moments.
And can I JUST SAY how nice it is to see Geoff Senior’s work on the Cover B variant? I know I’ve said it before but I loved his issues of the original Transformers comic back in the late 80s/early 90s, and seeing our favorite Lost Light crew in his style is all kinds of fun.
Unicron #2
I think my only problem with the story is that by the end of Till All Are One, we’d gotten a lot of character development for Starscream. He was still a jerk, but a jerk trying to do something more than lie and scrabble for power. And now he seems to be back to his usual, back-stabbing self. Never mind that Windblade’s only been Cybertron’s leader for a whole minute, he’s trying to take over, again. And even though there’s a monster the size of a planet bearing down on them, he wants to get all the credit for saving everybody; at the slightest suggestion that the Autobots would join in he immediately clutches his pearls, going “NOT THE AUTOBOTS WE DON’T NEED THEM DECEPTICONS ONLY GO AWAY LA LA LA LA LA.”
And what’s up with Windblade? Granted, she’s probably traumatized by Caminus, but we don’t really see that. I’d understand her letting Starscream grandstand all over the place if she was in mourning, but she doesn’t look like she’s grieving. I’d guess it’s dealing with the fallout from last issue, and the fact that she really hasn’t been leader for long, that keeps her from slapping Starscream down, but I would’ve rather her reaction be closer to Elita’s.
But never mind all that, Starscream’s got a plan, based on the searching he’s been doing for years that we just found out about now.
Oh, what we found. Worldburners, War Worlds, World Sweepers – every combination of “world” and a menacing word we ever used against you, Optimus.
Starscream is absolutely 100% sure he’s got this under control. The rest of us who’ve read comic books with overconfident characters before, we aren’t so sure. I’m guessing this annoying buildup of ego is supposed to lead to a satisfying crash as Starscream has his dreams killed, again. I hope not, though. By the end of Till All Are One I was really pulling for the guy, I’d rather he finish out the series on a good note, not a “well in the end he was a conniving weasel and deserved what he got” note.
Beyond that we get some information about the Omega Sentinels (and an info-dump about a prophesy? I think?) but I’m not sure how that plays into the story, though Bumblebee sure seems to get an idea from it.
(I’m going to have to read up on the Maximals: every time they show up it’s this Huge Dramatic Moment, very Significant and Important, and I don’t know enough about them to understand what’s going on, which isn’t the fault of the writers of course.)
And Alex Milne’s art? Gorgeous as always, especially with the amazing colors by Sebastian Cheng. All the bots are beautiful, of course (Starscream’s looking particularly sexy. Did I say that out loud? I regret nothing!) but there’s also some mind-blowingly complex backgrounds: space battles and explosions and other worlds being pulled apart by Unicron. And Unicron himself of course, who takes up so much landscape he’s practically a background all by himself.
And there’s one panel near the end that’s going to be very familiar to anyone who loved the 1986 movie. (I could practically hear the etherial, high-pitched soundtrack of that moment when I looked at the page.)
