Spinning out of events from the one-shot, Simon Furman, along with Guido Guidi and John-Paul Bove on art and colors, respectively, bring a four-issue limited series, continuing the prequel to the original Marvel Comics Transformers continuity.
Once again, the theme of espionage and events taking place as “more than meets the eye” continues as plots are in place and of course, agendas and double-crossing become a theme amongst Decepticons. The real draw is how Furman writes with nods to the original run. In the back of this and following issues, are explanations for how things came to be, how characters are featured prior to events which have already been told, yet still prominently featured here. Main characters familiar to casual fans, as well as those fans of the original will be happy to see characters which didn’t get much love in the cartoon but thanks to Furman got some time in the pages.
As a reader of the original saga, I appreciate how Furman and company have been able to craft a story which is not a re-hash of events we know, but what feels like a completely new story which fills in answers to unanswered questions. It should motivate anyone who has not read the original series, to pick up some trades and get reading.
Modern fans may take more time getting into the story than a Transformers veteran, but it is worth the ride.
Once more I praise the art by Guidi and the coloring by Bove. A huge part of the nostalgia trip is not only Furman’s eloquent writing, but the artwork. Very rarely do I purchase the Retailer Incentive covers as they tend to be on the expensive side, but the two variants, featuring art by Nick Roche and Geoff Senior as artists for their respective covers, with Josh Burcham pulling double-duty as colorist for both.
Transformers ’84 Issue #1 earns 4 out of 5 Energon cubes.
Comments are closed.