Another two weeks, another issue of Transformers, I’m getting so spoiled. If they ever go back to a monthly schedule I’ll…I don’t know what I’ll do. Probably stalk tumblr for Soundwave fan art to tide me over OH SHUT UP YOU DO IT TOO.
Sorry. Keep reading for a review of Transformers #6 (2019).
I want to start with the art this time, because I gotta tell you I really enjoyed Beth McGuire-Smith’s work. It’s a G1 style and it’s so, so pretty, but it’s also, I don’t know, relaxed? Everything just feels so natural: the faces, the poses, the colors, the shading…it’s gorgeous work but it’s got a balance to it. I really felt very comfortable with every line. I don’t think I’m explaining it right, but I know it must take a ton of work to produce something that looks so effortless.
To get into specifics, McGuire-Smith is one of those artists who can take a character that doesn’t actually have a face, like Optimus, and pull tons of expression out of him just by how he tilts his head. (Seriously, Optimus looked fantastic this issue.) And then you’ve got someone like Megatron, and you can tell she had a lot of fun with his expressions, which in this issue was mostly friendly sneers in Optimus’ direction. (Oh my goodness I can’t wait to see what she does with Starscream.)
I loved the colors too, especially the rich blues and greens when Optimus was talking to Codexa, there’s some fantastic gradients and shadows in those panels, it was lovely.
(And before I forget, the main cover this week was by Jack Lawrence, and it’s so nice to see his work again. He did an excellent job with Megatron and Optimus: with the shadow over his eye and the positions of his hands, doesn’t Optimus look almost timid? And the details of his fingers are just mesmerizing.)
Speaking of Codexa, this issue is a flashback in more than one sense. For one, we’re going back to the moment we saw a few issues ago when Optimus went to talk to Codexa. He doesn’t learn much from her (other than to see she’s been absorbed into Cybertron so much she’s not really noticing much in the “real” world anymore) but we as the readers learn a little more when he remembers his former friendship with Megatron.
First we see the two of them “two megacycles ago.” How long ago is that? TF Wiki says it depends on what continuity you’re going by, and that Simon Furman said in a forum post (no longer available) that in the IDW comics a megacycle is 93 hours. Hm. I’m thinking it’s been longer than an an Earth week. (Unless a Cybertronian hour is really long? My head hurts.)
It’s after the war involving the Threefold Spark that several people have mentioned, recently enough that there’s reconstruction going on, but long enough that nobody seems traumatized, they’re happy things are going so well.
Megs and Op share a moment of camaraderie, working together in the rubble, and you can tell that if they’re not “good” friends, they’re definitely friendly.
We next catch up with them “three hundred kilocycles ago.” (TF Wiki doesn’t have anything on that one, but you can tell some time has passed since the reconstruction.)
Megatron is chafing against the Energon restrictions, and we’re slowly learning exactly why he’s leading a movement in modern-day Cybertron. Well, the Nominus Edict is a pretty big giveaway too. You can see that in the preview pages below, or an abbreviated version here:
No further colonies.
No Energon harvesting on Cybertron where any sentient life lives.
The Senate will decide when new Cybertronians will be forged.
“Sufficient” levels of Energon will be maintained in storage at all times.
The Senate determines how that Energon will be distributed.
Lethal weapons will be prohibited on Cybertron.
You don’t have to read between the lines much to see why Megatron’s ticked.
He knows everyone was skittish after the war, but that was a long time ago, it’s time to stop being afraid, time to stop hoarding Energon, time to expand the empire. (He doesn’t say so, but the fact that some Energon reserves can’t be mined because non-Cybertronians are living on top of it probably grates.)
Optimus doesn’t feel like he understands him anymore. Op is still very much a rule-follower. He wants to go explore off-planet, but it feels more like a kid taking a gap-year to go backpacking, rather than someone who has a need to push boundaries.
So the story this issue doesn’t move forward a lot, but we do get a better handle on Optimus and Megatron’s alignments.
(…I suddenly realized I’ve been calling him Optimus Prime instead of Orion Pax for the last six issues. I know you know who I meant, but in my heart of hearts Orion Pax is the little guy that Alpha Trion saved in the cartoon, Optimus is the guy with the faceplate.)
Moving on, (SPOILERS) remember that cliffhanger last issue? It’s not mentioned even once this issue, darnit. I’m not too mad though, because with any luck we only have two weeks till next issue. (See? I’m already spoiled.) And, seriously, the art this issue was awfully good.
