Review: The Transformers: Primacy by Chris Metzen, Flint Dille, and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2014)
Acquired November 2016
Read August 2018

The Transformers: Primacy

Story by Chris Metzen and Flint Dille
Art by Livio Ramondelli 
Lettering by Tom B. Long

I was surprised at how much I liked Monstrosity. Similarly, I was surprised at how much I did not like Primacy. I didn't dislike it; I just didn't find much particularly likeable about it. While the first two parts of this trilogy, Autocracy and Monstrosity, captured some of that prequel energy, making you excited to see those raw, early moments in Transformers history, Primacy feels too much like the kind of Transformers stories you've seen a million times. Megatron has an evil plan, Optimus Prime angsts about something but wins anyway, rinse, repeat. This is set millions of years before the majority of IDW's work, but would slot into it just fine, which is disappointing. A prequel should capture something different about an ongoing story, but Primacy is too much of the same old thing.

Here it was the interaction of naturally occurring gears, levers and pulleys that miraculously brought forth sentient beings.
from The Transformers: Primacy #1

Next Week: Until I start in on the final stretch of Lost Light, I'm all caught up on IDW's Transformers, so I'm rotating to a different reading project: tea time tales for time tots, the Time Lord Fairy Tales!

Review: The Transformers: Monstrosity by Chris Metzen, Flint Dille, and Livio Ramondelli

As always, a quick note. My journey through Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield stories continues apace, with the beginning of their most epic story, Resurrecting the Past!

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2013)
Acquired November 2016
Read August 2018

The Transformers: Monstrosity

Story by Chris Metzen and Flint Dille
Art by Livio Ramondelli 
Lettering by Tom B. Long

Autocracy, the book to which this is a sequel, was the very first IDW Transformers comic I ever read. Monstrosity picks up right where Autocracy ends, with the beginning of the millions-year-long Autobot/Decepticon war underway. I found Autocracy a little difficult to follow, but over two years later, I've read another fifty-one(!) volumes of IDW Transformers comics... so you might say I have a bit more understanding and context now.

I like that Young Prowl had nowhere near the confidence of his older self. He's so panicky!
from The Transformers: Monstrosity #8

Monstrosity might take place at the beginning of the continuity, but it actually is nice to read it later on, because I can see the seeds for much of what's followed. Monstrosity shows the great exodus of nonaligned Transformers from Cybetrons (those who would be called "NAILs" when they returned in More than Meets the Eye, Volume 1); one key character is Dai Atlas, leader of the Circle of Light (the group the Lost Light was seeking until More than Meets the Eye, Volume 5); and we see the beginning of Cyberton's ecological devastation (discussed in Infiltration and All Hail Megatron, among others).

The smug asshole Dai Atlas is portrayed as here kind of makes me glad Star Saber killed him.
from The Transformers: Monstrosity #4

The story deals with various kinds of monstrosity: the Dinobots (called "Dynobots" here because they aren't dinosaurs yet) have alt modes that threaten to overwhelm them, there's a monster buried under the surface of Cybertron, the people of Cybetron themselves begin to turn ugly, and Megatron continues his transformation from principled zealot to genocidal maniac.

What a guy!
from The Transformers: Monstrosity #2

When reading a synopsis ahead of time, I was skeptical of these parts all fitting together (particularly the Dinobots), but to my surprise, they did. I particularly liked the sense of tragedy to the whole thing. Optimus Prime might be Cybetron's greatest hero, and the first Prime to carry the Matrix in many centuries (millennia?), but that's not enough to save his planet or his people. With crushing inevitability, everything falls apart. In addition, Megatron is pretty badass here, tearing up Junkion (the Planet of Junk) to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons, and willing to do whatever it takes to depose the Autobots and lay claim to control of Cybertron.

Okay, he is kind of awesome.
from The Transformers: Monstrosity #7

Though sometimes his action scenes are hard to follow as they occasionally are, and the art's murkiness makes identifying characters difficult, Livio Ramondelli has really defined this period of Cybetronian history. His art is good at capturing the era's mythic nature and its violence. Overall, this was an enjoyable read, an appropriate story to finally experience as IDW's Transformers universe winds itself down.

Next Week: The final piece of backstory, in Primacy!

Review: Transformers: Salvation by John Barber and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2017
Acquired and read August 2018

Transformers: Salvation

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long

I have basically given up on John Barber's Transformers, but given I'd read the first two installments of the "Redemption of the Dinobots" trilogy, and given each is only forty pages long, it seemed worthwhile to finish it off.

This was a very predictable page-turn moment.

Well, maybe it was or maybe it wasn't. I like the idea of the Dinobots, bred for war, trying to find their place in a postwar universe, and I like the idea of them finding that in defending Cybertron's first field of new sparks. But the actually story here is disjointed and confusing, and like too many Transformers tales from the late IDW period, revolves around an ancient evil coming back to haunt the present. Like, the emotional meat of the story is not that! Give me the Dinobots! Instead, they feel lost on the edges of a story that's got too much going on for its page length.

Next Week: Meanwhile, also on Cybertron... Starscream finds himself swept up into an unexpected belief that he's waiting until Till All Are One!

Review: Transformers: Titans Return by John Barber, James Roberts, Livio Ramondelli, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 118 pages
Published 2017 (contents: 2016)
Acquired January 2018
Read February 2018

Transformers: Titans Return

Written by Mairghread Scott, James Roberts, and John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli and Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by Livio Ramondelli and Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry

In this volume, recent events in the title formerly known as Robots in Disguise have repercussions for the whole Transformers galaxy, as an ancient Prime returns, reanimating Titans with him. This is more of the kind of Transformers stuff I haven't really cared for: ancient cosmic evils, big robot fights, blah blah blah.

The events of Titans Return connect to all three Transformers ongoings (the subtitle-less Transformers, More than Meets the Eye, and Till All Are One), but it is structured differently than previous Transformers crossovers. While Dark Cybertron and Combiner Wars had a unified story that alternated between the two titles involved in the crossover, Titans Return has a kick-off issue that involves all three series, then a two-issue Transformers story, and then a two-issue More than Meets the Eye one. This is good, because it lets each series maintain its own unique identity.

Sentinel Prime starts out on Cybertron, fighting Ironhide's new police force seen in Till All Are One, Volume 1, as well as Windblade and Starscream. There's some Windblade-Starscream banter, and both Tankors turn up-- it's not much of a role for TAAO, but it does allow for some reflection on how far Cybertron has already come, as Sentinel Prime views with disgust the achievements that Windblade and company have made in reintegrating postwar Cybertron. It does get a bit too technobabbly. (Relative spark temperatures are a significant plot point, and I would contend that this should never be the case.)

I do kind of like that Sentinel Prime's alt-mode is a gigantic, bad-ass space train with cannons. I mean, why not?
from Transformers: Titans Return #1 (script by Mairghread Scott, James Roberts, & John Barber; art by Livio Ramondelli)

From there, Sentinel makes it to Earth, where the by-now normal John Barber tediousness happens. I enjoyed this guy's character driven writing at first, but since the move to Earth, it has almost disappeared. And geeze, if Garrison Blackrock and Marissa Faireborn never appeared in this comic again, I don't think I'd even notice. But now there are G.I. Joes for some reason?

Review: Transformers, Volume 10 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, Livio Ramondelli, Priscilla Tramontano, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2016 (contents: 2016)
Acquired and read January 2018

Transformers, Volume 10

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith, Casey W. Coller, Livio Ramondelli, and Priscilla Tramontano
Additional Inks by Jamie Snell
Colors by Josh Burcham, John-Paul Bove, Josh Perez, Joana Lafuente, and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry

In this volume (which has "All Hail Optimus" on the cover, but not the title page, but finally does drop "The" from the title page even though it disappeared from the cover with volume 7), Optimus Prime essentially annexes the Earth in order to protect it from Galvatron, bringing it into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds that was established in Windblade: Distant Stars.

This could be interesting. People wonder if Optimus is doing the right thing, or if he's turning into a conqueror like the Primes of old; Camiens, on the other hand, wonder if Optimus is really a Prime after all, given that he no longer bears the Matrix.

At no point in reading a Transformers comic have I ever thought, Thank God they added yet another combiner.
from Transformers vol. 2 #53 (art by Priscilla Tramontano)

But what happens? Does the story examine this stuff? Instead, Optimus stands around in a desert a lot, reacts to what the humans are doing, and the whole thing ends with (what feels like) the one millionth fight with Galvatron, who in his brief run as this series's principal villain, has already been around too long. Plus it just feels like Barber is shifting gears to set up for the next storyline (Titans Return), even though this one never actually took off!

That's right, Prowl. Do nothing. Nothing at all.
from Transformers vol. 2 #50 (art by Andrew Griffith)

At the beginning I was worried that Prowl was going to be in it, but thank God it just turns out to be a one-issue cameo.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... Windblade learns that there are lot of challenges to be overcome Till All Are One!

Review: Transformers: Redemption by John Barber and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015
Acquired and read December 2017

Transformers: Redemption

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long

This follows on from the events of Punishment by the same creative team; after the events of that book, the Dinobots find themselves at a loose end before being hired to do some underhanded stuff by a Decepticon and some Camiens. Well, suffice it to say they find what's promised by the title. There's some interesting stuff (a romance between a Decepticon and a Camien demonstrates the increasing nuance of the post-Great War reintegrated Cybertronian society), but man if five different Dinobots (who have really generic robot modes) and a bunch of other robots too is too much for me to keep track of. That's over a dozen character models I need to distinguish! And all the Dinobots have the same personalities. I can't do this stuff, John Barber, you gotta make it easier on me.

This book probably features Livio Ramondelli's prettiest art, though.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Earth... G. B. Blackrock is up to the same old shit with those Robots in Disguise!

Review: The Transformers, Volume 8 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2016 (contents: 2015)
Acquired October 2016
Read October 2017

The Transformers, Volume 8

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith and Livio Ramondelli
Colors by Josh Perez and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long

There was no volume 7 of this series, you know that? I guess Combiner Wars: First Strike is being retroactively counted as volume 7, but that wasn't on the title page or cover. (Maybe it was on the spine; I'm reading the eBooks.)

Anyway, volume 8 primarily serves to confirm that the post-Dark Cybertron, Earth-focused approach of the series formerly known as Robots in Disguise is doing nothing for me. There's more obnoxious stuff about Prowl, continually making Optimus Prime the galaxy's most ineffective faction leader:

C'mon, dude, accept some personal responsibility. Optimus Prime was more convincing as a great leader when he wasn't actually leading.
from Transformers vol. 2 #42 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

Plus Galvatron does his evil thing, in a way that's incredibly obvious yet somehow his ideologically motivated followers fail to notice. I do like the focus of the post-DC era on Soundwave, as he's an interesting fellow, but he's also a bit of a patsy, especially considering his ability to monitor electromagnetic radiations. He should know better!

Spike cares as little about this subplot as I do.
from Transformers vol. 2 #45 (art by Andrew Griffith)

All the stuff with G. B. Blackrock and Alpha Trion and ancient Cybetronian artifacts is the complete opposite of what got me into More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise: a serious exploration of the issues raised by a civilization that's undergone millions of years of war. This is just tedious cod-mythology, lots of mysteries where there's no reason to care about the resolutions.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... Windblade must make overtures to some Distant Stars!

Review: Transformers: Combiner Wars by Maighread Scott, John Barber, Livio Ramondelli, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2015)
Acquired October 2016
Read September 2017

Transformers: Combiner Wars

Story by Maighread Scott & John Barber
Written by Maighread Scott and John Barber
Art by Sarah Stone, Livio Ramondelli, and Marcelo Ferreira & Corin Howell
Additional Inks by Corin Howell, Brian Shearer, & John Wycough
Colors by Yamaishi & Thomas Deer
Letters by Tom B. Long

Combiners, man... I dunno. I'm sure they're awesome if you're playing with the toys, but I think their very nature is intrinsically antithetical to telling good stories about groups of them. I mean, I liked what was done with Devastator back in Robots in Disguise okay, but Combiner Wars needs to feature multiple combiners warring. Thus five different combiners, each of whom consists of five Transformers. That's twenty-five different characters in a six-issue story! Plus all the usual regular characters like Optimus Prime and Windblade and Starscream and Rattrap and Prowl and so on, as Combiners Wars is actually a crossover between Windblade and the subtitle-less Transformers comic (formerly known as Robots in Disguise). There's even some minor interplay with More than Meets the Eye; a group of Lost Light crewmembers were shown shuttling back to Cybertron at the end of volume 8, and here they become a group (the "Protectobots") in two seconds, then stand around in the background a lot, then become a combiner who just shouts and fights a lot. Which is typical of the amount of focus any of these characters can receive in a story like this.

The hours must fly by with jokes like that.
from Transformers vol. 2 #40 (story by Maighread Scott & John Barber, script by John Barber, art by Livio Ramondelli)

It could be an okay story, but like so many Transformers plots of late, it gets derailed by a character of whom I am growing increasingly sick: Prowl. How many times can he concoct a secret plan and charge into a situation and make it worse for everyone through his interference? It's repetitive, it's boring, and it makes the other characters look stupid for not being able to stop him from doing it. The more these comics focus on him, the less I like reading about him. C'mon dude, if no one can tell the difference between normal you and controlled-by-Decepticons you, maybe you should change up your approach. But no, we just get the same thing with him again and again and again. Optimus Prime, you are a bad leader.

Just kill him!
from Transformers vol. 2 #41 (story by Maighread Scott & John Barber, script by John Barber, art by Livio Ramondelli)

Everyone else kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but there are some potentially interesting ideas about the lost Cybertronian colonies, and I do like Rattrap and Swindle. But, overall, meh.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Earth... something something something Blackrock!

Review: The Transformers: Punishment by John Barber and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2014)
Acquired and read September 2017

The Transformers: Punishment

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long

Given the plot of the book formerly known as Robots in Disguise seems to have permanently moved to Earth, I guess I'm grateful that IDW continues to update us on life on Cybetron, first with Windblade, then with the Cybertron-set single issue in First Strike, and now with Punishment: they definitely feel like their own sub-series, with the focus on Windblade and Starscream and the denizens of Drift's bar. In First Strike, Optimus Prime left Earth partway through to take care of something on Cybertron; in Punishment we see what that was, as he comes home to celebrate the anniversary of receiving the Matrix of Leadership, but ends up investigating mysterious murders in the Decepticon ghettos.

Don't go easy on him, Optimus.
from The Transformers: Punishment #4

It's okay. I like the continued exploration of an integrating postwar Transformer society on Cybertron, but the murder mystery is incredibly obvious. Like, could it be the never-before-seen* old friend of Optimus who's in the right place at the right time? What a surprise! Still, there are some nice moments between Optimus and Windblade, as she tries to come to grips with a planet emerging from a millions-year war, and Optimus tries to adjust to this brave new world. I particularly like the pair of moments above and below, where Optimus makes it seem like he suspects the Dinobots of being behind the murders. He's being deliberately misleading to draw the real culprit out (ah, that old chestnut), but as we find out, he's not exactly lying:

Always a laugh a moment with Optimus.
from The Transformers: Punishment #5

I like how this takes a heroic trait of Optimus that you could think of as naïve, and portrays it as more of a curse than a blessing, but also something Optimus can manipulate-- you don't get to lead an interstellar war for millions of years and not be as good as manipulation as Starscream or Prowl.

The art is also an above-average effort for Livio Ramondelli, with sharper linework than he usually uses and less muddy colors, well-suited to the story's vaguely noirish tone.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Caminus... it's time for planets to collide in the Combiner Wars!

* I guess technically he'd appeared in the IDW continuity before, but not as he'd register on you if you weren't the most hardcore of fans.

Review: The Transformers: Combiner Wars: First Strike by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2014-15)
Acquired October 2016
Read July 2017

The Transformers: Combiner Wars: First Strike

Written by John Barber
Art by Sarah Stone, Livio Ramondelli, Andew Griffith, and Brendan Cahill
Colors by Josh Perez
Additional Colors by Joana Lafuente and Thomas Deer
Letters by Tom B. Long

Unlike its sister title, Robots in Disguise didn't lose its leading article... it just lost the whole rest of the title! Now plain old Transformers, but at least it's gained full subtitles in lieu of volume numbers, as this volume is called Combiner Wars: First Strike. To my surprise, it actually opens with a Windblade continuation of sorts, keeping up that series's development of events back on Cybertron, and even using Windblade's artist, Sarah Stone. Awakening after his apparent death (back in volume 5, I think? I lose track), Wheeljack is confronted with a strange new Cybertron, ruled by Starscream and inhabited by women! (like Windblade), and he has to decide where his loyalties lie. It's slight, but I like Wheeljack.

A girl!?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #33 (art by Sarah Stone)

After that, though, it's just confirmation that the new direction of this comic book is not one that I am enjoying. Pompous journeys into Cybertronian history are becoming increasingly dull to me. They're just a cheap way of attempting to add weight to banal proceedings (so is Livio Ramondelli's artwork). And then we're off to four whole issues of Prowl being an asshole to everyone, another thing I have rapidly become tired of. It doesn't even make sense for Optimus to leave the mentally compromised Prowl in charge, something he seems to acknowledge:

Everyone says Optimus Prime is a Great Leader, but when I read scenes like this it's hard to believe it.
from The Transformers vol. 2 #35 (art by Andrew Griffith)

Prowl dominates the book so much in its current form that there's not much enjoyment to seek elsewhere. I've never really cared for this version of Spike Witwicky since he was introduced in All Hail Megatron, and though I liked Jimmy Pink in Simon Furman's stories, he's not really the same without Hunter and Verity alongside. I like Arcee, but she's mostly a bystander here, and the rest of the Earth-based Autobots are barely interesting at best.

Even when Prowl's not there, all everyone else does is talk about him!
from The Transformers vol. 2 #38 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I just don't get why the series has gone in this direction, throwing aside its unique selling points in favor of generic, uninspired Earth infiltration while everyone chases after some kind of generic, uninspired maguffin. Why make Optimus the leader of the Autobots and then send him out in the field? Why isn't he leading his people? Why can't he delegate? It's a weird and not very organic development of the series post-Dark Cybertron.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... even the Decepticon Justice Division can be More than Meets the Eye!

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: Robots in Disguise, Volume 5 by John Barber, Livio Ramondelli, Andrew Griffith, et al.

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

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 5

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli, Atilio Rojo, Dheeraj Verma, and Andrew Griffith
Colors by Livio Ramondelli, Priscilla Tramontano, and Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long, Chris Mowry, and Shawn Lee

This volume is sort of a mixed bag-- there's clearly a lot of set-up going on here for the imminent Dark Cybetron crossover. While in More than Meets the Eye, that was seemingly all done in a bonus text story at the back (and one throwaway comment in the final issue), a lot of what's here are stories about the secret agenda that Shockwave's been running in the background for almost the entire duration of Robots in Disguise. We get a flashback tale that integrates some of the revelations about Shockwave from More than Meets the Eye with the backstory shown in Autocracy (appropriately drawn by Autocracy's artist, Livio Ramondelli), yet another tale of Orion Pax and company chasing Shockwave's mentor Jhiaxus but failing to accomplish anything, and a two-part story that parallels Shockwave and Soundwave fighting in the present with their relationship in the past.

This stuff is okay. Some of it feels belabored and stretched out: Shockwave and Soundwave's fight, for example, was never particularly interesting. I did really like the insight I got into Soundwave's relationship with his cassette servants; probably the best bit of the whole two issues is where we see their first meeting. Soundwave has the power to basically hear all things, which leaves him overwhelmed, but the Cybertronians who will become his cassettes reach out to him and teach him how to filter his perceptions to make them manageable. It adds a bit of pathos to a Decepticon character I hadn't really thought about before. (I still don't get why his cassettes are cassettes, though.) Other aspects of the flashbacks, though, were informative, but not entertaining, more like reading the Transformers wiki than a story-- as always, Barber seems to be sewing up a lot of continuity details for the faithful.

And then they all became evil.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #22 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

Orion Pax chasing but not getting Jhiaxus is becoming dull, but I suppose this formula will come to an end with Dark Cybetron. It was fun to see a Beast Wars character make a significant contribution to the story in the form of Waspinator. Those are the Transformers stories I'm nostalgic for!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 by John Barber, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2012)
Acquired March 2015
Read February 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli, Brendan Cahill, Guido Guidi
Additional Inks by John Wycough
Colors by Joana Lafuente, Guido Guidi, Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by Shawn Lee, Chris Mowry

In comparison to More than Meets the Eye, any comic book is going to come up inferior, but even trying to step outside of that, I don't think Robots in Disguise lands as well as it ought to. It hovers somewhere between mediocre and good, with occasional flashes of brilliance. At least part of the problem is the feeling that there's some filler here, that not enough of the book is dealing with the problem of postwar Cybertron, which is ostensibly its whole reason for existing. The first story here is another adventure of Orion Pax, the second and third are set on Cybertron, but the second is about 50% flashbacks to the early days of Cybertron, long before Optimus Prime and Megatron.

The flashbacks are actually pretty entertaining; I love how John Barber and Gudio Guidi emulate the style of Marvel's early Transformers comics:

In the distant past, apparently Cybertronians spoke Exposition.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise Annual 2012 (art by Guido Guidi)

...but what do they have to do with anything, beyond providing some backstory? Amusing and interesting, but seemingly distracting.

That said, when these comics hit, they hit well. The moment where the Metrotitan reactivates and speaks to Starscream about his destiny genuinely gave me shivers:

NO, NOT YOU. YOU.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise Annual 2012 (art by Brendan Cahill)

And the last-page revelation has lots of promise, too. I also like the power struggle within the Decepticon ranks, as we start to realize that Shockwave is up to more than we thought. (And recent revelations about Shockwave in More than Meets the Eye have me more interested in him than I was before.)

On the other hand, isn't Starscream a little too nakedly mercenary for the supposed smooth political operator he's supposed to be? Like he's openly disdainful of Autobot lives when talking to Metalhawk, who is his greatest political ally. Or, if Prowl thinks the Decepticons are a threat and he's so ruthless, how come he waits until Starscream tells him something to wipe them out, since he's apparently capable of it all along? It's things like this that stop this comic from being as good as it should be. Like the previous volume of Robots in Disguise, I enjoyed this because it felt like set-up for something good, but I hope the something good turns up soon.

C'mon, Metalhawk, dude is trying on crowns and the election hasn't even been called yet. And c'mon, Starscream, maybe you should notice that he notices!
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #11 (art by Guido Guidi)

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... it's time for Transformers tragedy in More than Meets the Eye!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 2 by John Barber, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 98 pages
Published 2012 (contents: 2012)
Acquired August 2014
Read February 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 2

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli, Brendan Cahill, and Andrew Griffith
Colors by Joana Lafeunte, Josh Perez, and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Shawn Lee

Physically, all IDW trade paperbacks are thin. IDW as a company just doesn't like collecting more than four issues at once, and this is as true of The Transformers as it is for Star Trek, Doctor Who, or My Little Pony. And besides, I'm reading these Transformers volumes electronically. But despite that, this one collects four issues and still manages to feel thinner than most. Probably at least partially because the first issue collected here is not about the Autobots forging a new future on Cybertron, but Orion Pax nee Optimus Prime following up on clues from crazed Decepticon scientist Jhiaxus about Monstructor. Though I'm sure it'll play into events on Cybertron in the long run, it feels like filler: Orion is not a main character in this series, and I barely know who the other robots on this mission-- on either side-- even are. Livio Ramondelli's art doesn't help; his painterly style is attractive, but the storytelling is often difficult to follow.

Give him an amazing discovery in an ancient ice cavern, though, and he'll draw the hell out of it.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #6 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

The remaining three issues here advance some of the plotlines of post-peace Cybertron: Wheeljack investigates a mysterious Decepticon recently arrived on Cybertron, while Ironhide and the Dinobots brave the wilderness of post-reformatting Cyberton and Bumblebee tries to balance his desire to be inclusive with his fear of giving Decepticons a bigger role in the global government. The stories are decent if not great, enlivened by the stuff Barber and his artistic collaborators do with voice and structure. One issue, for example, parallels happenings in Autobot HQ depicted in conventional comics formats with Wheeljack's explorations in a sixteen-panel grid filled with narration:

Forget the nine-panel grid, Alan Moore. John Barber is here!
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #7 (art by Brendan Cahill)

Also, the little touches make it sing, like the former Decepticon who produces terrible poetry at open mic night, or just how goddamned smug Starscream is all the time:

I also dig every little crack he makes about the elections.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #7 (art by Brendan Cahill)

I've never really paid much attention to Bumblebee before, but I like him here-- a nice guy harried by every person, trying to live up to an impossible ideal in a difficult decision, always too hopeful that there will be an easy way out, and completely lacking confidence in himself. There's a lot simmering in this book, and it's an enjoyable simmer, but I look forward to seeing it boil over. Too often I feel like something interesting is about to happen, not actually happening.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... as always the Lost Light crew encounters something that's More than Meets the Eye!

Review: The Transformers: Autocracy by Chris Metzen, Flint Dille, and Livio Ramondelli

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2012)
Acquired August 2014
Read June 2016

The Transformers: Autocracy

Story by Chris Metzen and Flint Dille
Art by Livio Ramondelli 
Letters by Robbie Robbins, Shawn Lee, and Chris Mowry

This is the chronologically earliest story in the IDW Transformers Humble Bundle, taking place millions of years in the past, before the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons took off-- because there had only just become such a thing as Autobots (Cybertronian cops) and Decepticons (resistance fighters). Orion Pax-- the future Optimus Prime-- is a young but passionate cop trying to defend a system that he knows isn't entirely pure, but does believe is the best hope for peace. But Megatron believes that the system can't be saved from within; only by burning it down, can something more just come into existence. But both have to contend with Zeta Prime, embodiment of the old order who will hold onto his power by any means necessary.

Megatron: "NO. JUSTICE!"
from The Transformers: Autocracy #7

It's the moments between these two characters, where they debate the right course of action, and where you see how they could have been colleagues in different circumstances, where this comic really shines. It's not sophisticated stuff, but it's brimming with potential. On the other hand, while Livio Ramondelli's art is good at light and gloom and drama, I found the action sequences incredibly difficult to follow much of the time, and most of the Autobots-- as is almost always the case in the comics-- blended together as interchangeable robots. I did really like the depiction of Hot Rod as a beleaguered leader of an oppressed community, on no side but that of his people's. This is possibly the first time Hot Rod has ever been interesting to me.

Occupy Cybertron.
from The Transformers: Autocracy #11

Of course, Megatron goes all tinpot dictator himself, and Orion discovers the long-lost Matrix and becomes Optimus Prime, and the story loses some of its nuance. But this is more interesting than I expected a Transformers comic to be, and hopefully future IDW stories build on its foundations.

Next Week: More backstory, in The Transformers Spotlight!