Review: The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1 by Shane McCarthy, Guido Guidi, et al.

Another day, another audio drama review: one of my favo[u]rite Doctor-companion teams by one of their best writers in Doctor Who and the Paradox Planet and the Legacy of Death! (It's not really called that.)

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Acquired August 2014
Read July 2016

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 1

Story by Shane McCarthy
Art by Guido Guidi and Casey Coller
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Chris Mowry and Neil Uyetake

I wanted to like this book more than I did. "The Decepticons actually do conquer Earth" is a great premise, and unlike the devoted fans who write articles on the Transformers wiki, I don't really care if the depiction of Cybertron here is consistent with past ones in IDW, or whatever. It's just that: 1) the human military characters dominate the first few chapters of the book, and they are as generic as all get out, like too-hotshot-for-you-I-don't-obey-orders-but-never-get-in-trouble generic, and 2) the Autobots are back to being an indistinguishable mass of non-characters for me when they do turn up, all hanging out on Cybertron and moping, but what's the difference between Prowl and Jazz anyway. I like the idea of a dark situation that reveals these robots' inner characters, but mostly that just turns out to be snarling at each other.

This book was supposed to be a jumping-on point, but no one ever says the name of the guy on the right? What if I wasn't four years old when the G1 cartoon went out? Not much of a jumping-on point, then.
from The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #4 (art by Guido Guidi)

There a just a lot of scenes, on both Earth and Cybertron, that I think are meant to build tension, but just go nowhere, spinning in circles. That Megatron has got hold of the SPOILER is a pretty good twist, though, and the hints we get of philosophical and moral disagreements among the Decepticons now that they've achieved their goals are pretty good, too. I didn't hate this or anything. But what happened here didn't need to occupy six issues, and it should have been better than it was. Guido Guidi is a surprisingly good artist, though-- like E. J. Su, he can make these robots come to life.

C'mon Megatron, genocide should make you happier than this!
from The Transformers: All Hail Megatron #3 (art by Guido Guidi)

Next Week: Time to save the Earth and Cybertron, when the Autobots strike back in All Hail Megatron, Volume 2!