“…the only way to combat chaos is to impose order! And the greatest way to impose order?
Violence.”
Keep reading for a review of Transformers – Wreckers: Tread & Circuits #1.
(Some spoilers below.)
Out in the Cybertronian colonies, good entertainment is hard to find. Fortunately, there’s always the Wreckers—brave Cybertronians broadcasting death-defying stunts and action—all as a cover for undercover operations!
When I first saw the promos for the issue I thought it was going to be the well-worn 1980s TV trope where the main characters have to solve the problem and someone says “I know, we’ll put on a SHOW!”
And that’s exactly what it is. Well, sort of.
The Wreckers, as Aileron puts it, “solve problems too dirty for anyone else to know about.” They hide in plain sight as an entertainment group, performing stunts and broadcasting live. (Another 80s trope: the band is just the superheroes in disguise!)
They get sucked into some intrigue when an entity named Mayhem hijacks their broadcast feed. Mayhem is sick and tired of Velocitron being ruled by whoever won the last Speedia 500 race. He hates that the masses are placated with cheap thrills and the government is run by entertainers, rulers who care less about the masses and more about glory and gain.
(…I assume this is a comment on the current state of politics in the real world?)
While Mayhem may have a point, he loses a bit of credibility when he executes someone on camera to prove he’s not screwing around. Enter the Wreckers, to save the day. By putting on a SHOW! Literally.
Thunderclash’s plan is to join the Speedia 500, since Mayhem hates it so much, and from there track down the killer. Aileron takes up the familiar job of “speaking truth to power” (which sounds better than “being shrill”) and tells him this is a terrible idea, it puts them way too much in the public eye, especially since Thunderclash called a full press briefing to announce it.
Thunderclash is pretty mellow in the face of her disapproval and doesn’t really offer much of a defense, other than to say “Maybe this was the wrong decision. But it’s the one we have to live with now.” (Translation: I decided this without your input and you’ll have to suck it up.)
While all this is going on, a member of their group is wandering around Velocitron, basically having a pity party. They run into a couple different kinds of trouble, which I won’t spoil here, but I have to admit I’m not familiar with the bots involved, and I had to check TFwiki (bless you TFwiki) for answers. (TFwiki also pointed out that the title “Tread and Circuits” is the Cybertronian equivalent of “Bread and Circuses.” Nice.)
But the art, man alive the art. I’ve missed getting to see Jack Lawrence’s artwork every month, and in this issue it was just stunning. Everyone looks amazing, detailed but clean, with great faces and poses; an animation-worthy style that’s (blasphemy!) even better than the G1 cartoon. Jack Lawrence is right up there with Sarah Pitre-Durocher and Alex Milne in my book, and the colors by Candice Han were icing on the cake. And if you get a chance, check out the variant cover by Anna Malkova, it’s lovely.
All in all this was a lively, lighthearted issue, which is a nice switch from the darker, more serious plot over on the main Transformers book. I’ve never really gotten into the previous Wreckers books, but this one looks to be fun. I’m curious to see what happens next so I’m in for the next issue, but that was a given anyway, since I’ll take all the Jack Lawrence art I can get.
