It’s finally here: the final issue of IDW’s Transformers (this current incarnation anyway, the reboot is scheduled for next year sometime.)
I can’t really talk about the issue without spoilers, so if you haven’t read it yet you might want to go read the issue first. (And you should read it even if you don’t come back for the review: it’s the end of an era after all.) If you’re okay with spoilers, see below for a review of Optimus Prime #25.
This was definitely a quieter, epilogue of an issue. No explosions (except in flashbacks) and no surprising reveals. But also no “gotcha” moments: no last-minute heartbreaks. (Though a few lingering looks at some of the heartbreaks we’ve already had.)
Get ready for a lot of history: Optimus Prime looks back to the literal moment of his birth, and goes forward in time step by step, trying to explain to himself why he is the way he is. In between the flashback pages are pages from the current timeline, as everyone moves forward from Optimus’ death.
It’s a very introspective issue; it’s not just Optimus Prime looking back at the choices he made, every character in the book is looking at where they are and how they got there. Some of them have changed a lot (I was surprised during a flashback where Prowl actually defended Megatron) and some not much at all (Ironhide has been Ironhide for a really long time.)
But probably nobody’s changed as much as Optimus, who started out a wide-eyed idealist, turned into the warlord who annexed Earth against Earth’s will, fought his own apathy and cynicism and in the end turned back into the idealist who threw away his life to save the universe.
(Speaking of his death, I should mention now, there are several of Kei Zama’s images that I really liked this issue, and one of them is Optimus and Arcee, staring up at the giant, screaming face of Unicron. It’ll give you chills.)
In the end, the survivors of Cybertron and all the colonies are settling on Earth, and I wonder how the heck that works. One human grandstands that there’s now a billion Cybertronians on the planet, and that’s got to be an exaggeration, right? (Possibly a dig at certain politicians wildly exaggerating the number of South American refugees at the border, perhaps?) (And once again a reminder of why I hate humans in my Transformers books.) But even if it was a fraction of that number, I wonder how the planet can fit them all, seeing as how most of them are at least ten times the size of a human. I’d say “it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out” but with the reboot I guess it’s up to us to imagine it.
I like how things stand with Arcee and Alieron: they’re both blissfully happy, but they’re not really the type to settle down. Arcee’s on Earth while Alieron goes off exploring sometimes, and they seem pretty content with that. (Though the sight of Arcee sitting down to tell a story to a room full of kids didn’t feel entirely realistic, but maybe it’s because most of them were human kids and okay fine, one last time I promise: I don’t need humans in the Transformers books. But it’s nice she’s not a homicidal maniac anymore and they trust her with kids.) I was afraid this issue might have one more heartbreak, but it leaves them both in a good place.
It leaves everyone in a good place, actually. Pyra Magna and the Torchbearers are adjusting to their new roles; Pyra is going to be a much more down-to-Earth (…heh, literally…) Mistress of Light than the last one, Jazz is no longer villainized, Shockwave is neutralized, Thundercracker is following his dreams, and Buster is fine.
I said in the Unicron #6 review that I really liked Starscream’s last words, but we do get a little more from him this issue. And I’m still happy with what we got, especially the final image. (Which would be another one of Kei Zama’s pages that I really, really liked.)
As for Optimus? (SPOILERS.) He really does seem to be dead. I half thought they’d bring him back (seeing as how the current series really hit its stride with his return after The Death of Optimus Prime.) But no, and I’m glad. With the reboot we know he’ll be around, in another incarnation, but his sacrifice wouldn’t have meant as much in this universe if he turned out to be Just Fine. It’s a fact of life in comic books that few popular characters stay dead for long, but Optimus went out like a hero, full stop, and now his legacy in this universe is safe.
(And the final panels of him were really wonderful.)
I’m looking forward to seeing how the reboot treats him, but it’ll be tough for them to make him into a more layered, conflicted, “human” character (and I mean that in a good way) (promise) than he was here.
