My LCS loves you Nick Roche. Your fantastic covers left me in a difficult position, so naturally I had to buy both A and B covers last week. Joana Lafuente and E.J. Su kept up with stellar artwork.
Of course, it all comes down to James Roberts. Damn you Roberts. Knowing this series will wrap up in the next few months makes this more painful. You’ve taken a bunch of warring Transformers and turned them into near-human characters who one can relate to.
Before the review, let me explain this. Roberts and IDW faced thankfully, only a little backlash with humanizing these characters. No one ever questioned whether Transformers would have feelings of love or even have the notion of a relationship. The concept of robot genders was toyed with in this and in the other Transformers titles. In the end, I feel the story outweighed any negatives, and ultimately enhanced the saga so far.
So far, with Rodimus and crew fighting off their own. Not in the way one would think. The story has taken such a dark and serious tone, I wouldn’t have believed this was possible a dozen issues ago. The mix of seriousness and humor is something most media companies will either find success or failure. IDW made it a success. Who doesn’t love cynicism and sarcasm? Robots stating the obvious, as though it were making fun of the story they are part of.
The action heats up, and the death toll climbs drastically. Mostly characters we never got to know, but with each death, I often felt a bit bad Autobots are killing Autobots, and whether IDW is going for shock value. Either way, the issue is a success in drawing out some “oh my Primus” moments.
Next issue features a big bad fight between Rodimus and three big bads. Very big bads.
