Transformers Issue #4 Review: Full Speed Ahead

You are given warning right here and now, SPOILERS are ahead for Transformers Issue #4. 

The excitement over the current Transformers series from Skybound/Image Comics continues to rise as the fourth issue hit stores this past Wednesday. With the Decepticons using the crashed Autobot ship, the Ark as base, the Autobots are at a clear disadvantage. As of now Starscream, Skywarp, Soundwave, and his cassette minions are overpowering Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Cliffjumper at every turn. What is worse, Starscream is reveling in his role as commander of the Decepticons. 

I said in an earlier review, imagine if evil Decepticons came to Earth and dealt with the pitiful, fragile humans that we are? We see it in full force. As Optimus rushes his human friend to a nearby hospital, the insane Starscream follows suit. His next actions are horrific in nature, and I don’t think I’d ever seen anything close in comic form. Ever. 

He shoots up the hospital. 

Again, while controversial, this is based in a reality where evil didn’t ignore the insignificant, inferior creatures who inhabit Earth. Those who grew up in the 80s and 90s were treated to Autobots and Decepticons blasting each other, but then hitting the repair bay and back for another go-round. Humans were mostly ignored or somehow easily ran away. Hell, later on Decepticons would align with other villainous humans as a means to an end (Remember Carbomya? Tell me that wasn’t an eyebrow raising name for a fictional country!). But no humans died. In the Dreamwave comics humans did die, but their deaths were not as gruesome, and most were implied or off-panel anyway, which was a continued trend once IDW acquired the license. 

Forget the live-action movies, death was everywhere.

Here we are, in 2024, and Starscream shoots up a hospital simply because he can. Thankfully, Cliffjumper and the sudden arrival of Jazz evens the odds. A dismayed Prime is told by medical professionals that not only will Spike die because of the drained power, but many others. Each panel shows the face of someone nameless, and also helpless. 

Without hesitation, Optimus uses the Matrix of Leadership to power the hospital and save human lives while Jazz falls. This is an act which is questioned by Ratchet, the Autobot medic. The conversation between them is serious in nature, questioning what their role will be in this world. Prime makes his decision to defend the defenseless. Ratchet presents the heavily -damaged Optimus with a tool of sorts to even the odds. This is shown in contrast to Starscream who horrifically rips apart one of his own to power the Ark’s supercomputer to revive more fallen warriors. 

Prime is then seen with an instrument of destruction, now as an instrument of defense. Prime now wears the arm and Fusion Cannon of Megatron. 

The final panels of the issue, which reveals the fate of the missing Decepticon Leader. We find Megatron somewhere frozen in ice waters, I imagine the arctic, where their ship The Nemesis has crashed. 

Starscream is The Joker. I love it. 

Comics are different, special, unique. To see this savagery was shocking to me, but felt real. If Daniel Warren Johnson’s goal was to make the reader feel, to have hearts sink and kip-up with hope, he did it. It’s rare for a comic to pull a reader’s heart in so many directions, but DWJ and Mike Spicer have been bringing it since Issue #1. This is a consistency not seen since James Roberts, Alex Milne, Nick Roche, Josh Burcham, Joana LaFuente and others in IDW published More Than Meets the Eye and Lost Light. 

If you have not picked up the all-new Transformers series, you are completely missing out on one of the most creative, unique, and masterful stories in years. 

Transformers Issue #4 is now available at your local comic book store.