Review: The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, Volume 2 by John Barber, James Roberts, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2014 (contents: 2014)
Acquired March 2015
Read May 2017

The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, Volume 2

Written by: John Barber and James Roberts
Art by: James Raiz, Atilio Rojo, Livio Ramondelli, Andrew Griffith, Alex Milne, Brendan Cahill, Brian Shearer, and Phil Jimenez
Colors by: Josh Perez and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by: Tom B. Long

This reminds me of nothing so much as DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths (see here and here for my takes on that story): a giant crossover premised on a universal threat that dwarfs investment in or by any particular character, which shifts in such a way that it feels like its vamping to fill up space. After volume 1 spent way too long on the Necrotitan threatening Iacon, the evil zombie city robot is destroyed in this volume, then everyone stands around for a while, then Shockwave reveals his real plan of merging the universe's time and space into a single point. It reminded me a whole lot of the lurching plotting of Crisis, where the Anti-Monitor would be doing one thing, then a different thing, then no thing, then traveling back in time to undo time itself! Only as skilled as they are, John Barber and James Roberts are no Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. And I mean that in the kindest of ways: Wolfman and Pérez could never do the stuff that Barber and Roberts do in the Transformers ongoings, but similarly, Barber and Roberts's skills don't lend themselves to omniversal destruction-style storytelling.

A girl!?!
from The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #26 (art by James Raiz)

When Dark Cybertron does shine, it's in the character moments, though sometimes these are crushed under the weight of the story, and I'm more interested for what implications these character moments will have in More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise than for what's done with them here. Despite having twelve issues to play with, too many of Dark Cybertron's story arcs move too quickly; what happens with Bumblebee and Megatron, for example, feels underdeveloped, as does Orion Pax's decision to reclaim the mantle of Optimus Prime. On the other hand, I look forward to seeing what happens to Megatron and Rodimus and Prowl based on events here.

EVERYTHING YOU KNEW REALLY IS WRONG!
from The Transformers: Dark Cybertron Finale (art by Phil Jimenez, Brendan Cahill, and Brian Shearer)

Next Week: After a whole seven months (I started writing these up last October!), I'm all caught up on my Transformers comics reviews-- I'm still reading volume 6 of More than Meets the Eye-- so it's time to cycle onwards to a new "reading project." In this case, my attempt to read all of the finalists for the 2017 Hugo Awards!

Review: The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Volume 5 by James Roberts, Alex Milne, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2013)
Acquired March 2015
Read March 2017

The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Volume 5

Written by James Roberts
Pencils by Alex Milne and James Raiz
Inks by Brian Shearer, Alex Milne, and James Raiz
Colors by Josh Burcham
Color Assist by John-Paul Bove and Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long

No actual tears this time, though I did feel my eyes misting up at one point.

I read a review that described volume 5 as the perfect jumping-off point for More than Meets the Eye, and though I haven't read what comes after yet (before we get to volume 6, there's a crossover with Robots in Disguise, Dark Cybertron), I can see why. Most of volume 5 is given over to "Remain in Light," a story about the Lost Light making it to Luna-1, the lost moon of Cybertron, and what they find there draws together a number of the ongoing character and plot threads of the series: Rodimus's often misguided brashness, Ultra Magnus's love of the rules, Ratchet's lack of confidence in his own abilities, Skids's inability to remember large chunks of his own past, the mysterious "legislator" robots from way back in volume 1, Tailgate learning about the importance of semicolons, the missing Circle of Light on Theophany, Fortress Maximus's postwar aimlessness, and so on. It's not quite as good as volume 4 (but it seems unlikely to me that anything could be), but it is a solid tying up on the main ideas of this series-- yet at the same time it sets up revelations for future issues.

Admit your love, Cyclonus!
from The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #17 (art by Alex Milne)

The emotional core of this volume was Tailgate. Tailgate has been a wannabe and and outsider this entire series. He woke up from a four-million year deactivation in volume 1, having missed not only the Great War, but even its political context, and volume 4 revealed that he wasn't the bomb disposal expert and potential Ark-1 crewmember he had claimed to be, but a waste disposal expert who was supposed to prepare the Ark but not crew it. Tailgate is obviously in love with Cyclonus, who's from the same time period as Tailgate, but lived through that four million years, much of it as (if I understand correctly) a resident of the Dead Universe and sort of a zombie(?). Tailgate is excited to be on the Lost Light because he finally belongs somewhere doing something, but Cyclonus would rather be nowhere at all. He hates everyone else, and he hates himself, and he hates Tailgate for trying to get him to open up. Yet sometimes they bond (in one of the previous volumes, they sang songs of ancient Cybertron together).

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXVI: "Equals & Opposites" by Nathan P. Butler and James Raiz

Digital comic issue, 58 pages
Published 2004
Acquired December 2014
Read June 2015

Star Wars Tales #21: "Equals & Opposites"

Script: Nathan P. Butler

Art: James Raiz

Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Michael Heisler

Year Four of the Invasion (Month 8)
This issue of the Star Wars Tales comic contains another New Jedi Order-era tale, specifically, "Equals & Opposites," which takes place between volumes I and II of "Force Heretic." This story is about Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors, stars of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight computer games, which I've never played-- but I have read the novellas and heard the audio dramas based on them. They're en route to an intelligence conference in the Empire, following the alliance forged by Luke and company in Remnant, when they divert to help an Imperial platoon save an insignificant planet from the Yuuzhan Vong and the Peace Brigade.

This story is, as far as I know, Nathan P. Butler's first and only professional fiction work; he and I used to be members of the "fan audio" community together, where Butler wrote a timeline, was a prolific podcaster, and wrote/directed/edited a number of fan audio dramas. Unfortunately, "Equals & Opposites" is a bit on the clunky side. Like this:

KYLE KATARN FACT: Kyle Katarn doesn't feel pain, pain feels Kyle Katarn.

Like, maybe the reason he mentioned the first kid is because she was standing right in front of you. It's an attempt at subtlety in characterization that sledgehammers in its actual consequences. Aside from that moment, there's not much to this 14-page story, which features two multi-page fight sequences and a number of banal aphorisms from Kyle to a green Imperial lieutenant. Of course, this might not be Butler's fault entirely: he is trying to make use of a character primarily designed as a blank for videogames, not as someone with a lived interior life. James Raiz's artwork is often equally clunky, as you can see from Kyle's extremely wonky proportions in the second panel above.

Next Week: Back to Luke and Mara, Leia and Han, Nom Anor, and companies in Force Heretic II: Refugee!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part IX: Blood and Circuits

Comic trade paperback, 206 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2006-07)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2013

Birds of Prey: Blood and Circuits

Writer: Gail Simone
Co-Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencillers: Nicola Scott, Paulo Siqueira, James Raiz
Inkers: Doug Hazlewood, Robin Riggs
Letterers: Travis Lanham, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Ken Lopez

Even though there's no year-long gap in the middle, Blood and Circuits feels divided in much the same way as its predecessor. The first half continues the Birds of Prey's encounters with the Secret Society of Super Villains that began in Perfect Pitch, as they compete for control of Black Alice. Dinah considers her membership of the team, because of the girl Sin she adopted in that volume, and Helena has another showdown with a mobster from that story. On the other hand, a mysterious wannabe-Batgirl has appeared in Gotham. It's an okay story, worth it as always for the characters' interplay and growth, which wraps up with Dinah really deciding to leave. She also publishes a book about her career, which is charming, though I found it hard to believe that Barbara wouldn't have noticed until it came out!

The second half gives us a very different approach, as Dinah recruits widely to find a replacement for the Black Canary. Huntress and Lady Blackhawk on a mission with Big Barda turns out to be every bit as amazing as you'd imagine, and we also get to meet Kate "Manhunter" Spencer for the first time. She is awesome;  I look forward to reading her solo series someday. We also get a villain matched to Oracle: the Spy Smasher. She seems good so far, though the fact that she went to college with Barbara is a bit much. Unfortunately, the story is hard to judge, as the book ends when it's only halfway over. In retrospect, the last few collections of Birds of Prey could have been handled a bit better, I think, with something like:

• first half of The Battle Within (taking down rogue vigilantes; issues #76-80)
• second half of The Battle Within and first half of Perfect Pitch (up against the Gotham mobs, ending just before the Infinite Crisis; issues #81-90)
• second half of Perfect Pitch and first half of Blood and Circuits (Dinah and Sin, all after the one-year jump; issues #92-99)
• second half of Blood and Circuits and... whatever comes next? (issues #100+)

The best part of Blood and Circuits, by the way, is definitely the little story in the middle, where Dinah explains her history to Sin. Well written by Gail Simone and Tony Bedard, and probably the best art that Paulo Siqueira and Robin Riggs did on the title. The second half introduces Nicola Scott on pencils and Doug Hazlewood on inks, and she's my favorite of the artists paired with Simone thus far; I look forward to seeing more of her work in future volumes.