Transformers Comic Review- Nefarious #2- !Spoilers!

WARNING!!!! SPOILERS AND HONESTY ARE AHEAD!!!!

Coming to your local comic shop tomorrow!!! Or possibly a few days later!!!

This Simon Furman written movie continuity title continues its baby steps forward introducing the new hidden TRANSFORMERS enemy, THE INITIATIVE. Having six issues means you don’t need to rush things though. As the tortoise-bot told the petrorabbit (or was that Mike Costa TFONGOING telling Simon Furman NEFARIOUS, or vice versa?), slow and steady wins the race (Don't tell Blurr!). Different bots, different strokes, as the text may be vocalized.

"Watchoo' talkin' bout Willie?" Credits, Daniel, my boy, credits, and here are those responsible for this issue.



PLOT/CHARACTERS:
Moving along, as is to be expected Optimus Prime gets long-winded, reflective, and concerned. Then he kicks some Decepti-aft named Soundwave...


"F-A-T-A-L-I-T-Y"

...creating a tenuous alliance of sorts with him at the same time, as Soundwave looks to stay relevant in the quest for control of the Earth by having the Autobots believe he is worth something to them in their goal to identify the third party string pullers, and the motivations of this new human group.

It was that or being cryo-frozen Han Solo style, so you can understand Soundwave’s motivation here. Plus, the communications officer still wants to learn more about how ol’ Ravage survived Bumblebee’s spinal readjustment in the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen movie -- I know you probably missed that part, right? That’s right Ravage is back, and Soundwave, and the rest of us don’t know why--but we have our theories.

Government jerks (namely Mr. Galloway, same pest as last issue) decide that N.E.S.T. (if you’ve been hiding under a rock, N.E.S.T. is the Autobot and government allied taskforce, hunting for Decepticons on Earth) failed, according to Galloway, and is no longer needed. Reassignments forthcoming.


"I feel really badly about your loss. He was like a son to me."

Sound familiar? These plot ideas are not new, previously Sector 7 played third party controller, which coincidentally THE INITIATIVE now owns all Sector 7’s assets. Weird.


How was Hugh Jackman not the voice of Sideswipe in the movie? Oh right, he might need to speak to need a voice?

We learn Sideswipe is still Wolverine with Silver Samurai armor, and that Decepticons are still mostly lazy, and dumb which continues to lead them to failure. Autobots are still overconfidents who seem to know nothing, which is why they need the humans to tell them what to do and how to go about doing it.


*Speaks for itself--Dumb 'cons--

WRITING:
Simon Furman promised character development when he was trying to sell this series back in July. Really the only character getting developed is Soundwave (so far), all the other characters really seem to just be holding to what we already know about them, and not really creating any new reasons for us to want to be interested in them, or giving us more background knowledge. The Tales of the Fallen series was much better at that aspect up to this point.

Furman does throw in a lot of two dollar words, so those looking to impress your friends at the country club with some neat-o words, you definitely will enjoy this issue.

ARTWORK:
I do have to say, continuing off my feelings from issue #1, Carlos Magno still manages to impress me a lot with his art. Well drawn humans, great use of line and detail--but not overuse of line in MOST cases, really makes looking through this comic a pleasure. I’d like to see what he can do with G1 related characters and designs for the robots. If I did not have to try to swallow the bitter movie-verse dialogue and plot, and believe that these aliens were Transformers, I could really enjoy the art. Magno does get a little crazy with some of his Decepticon designs, making them uber insect looking and scary-faced (looking your way ‘ol #26).


"What...the hell are yoooooouuuuuuu?!?"

The color work is bright and appropriate, if not a little too bright at times. But the color and line do work well together, especially if you look at the way the artist renders foreground compared to background, and how the colorist treated it.

MORE CHARACTERS:

ROTF Brakedown (Breakdown) toy fans rejoice. If you’ve had a hard time finding this Stunticon nut in retail stores, you may be able to find him in this month’s TF: Nefarious issue. Keep a sharp optic out. But look quickly because Sideswipe... Wow, two TF comics reviewed in two weeks, and we have two issues where Brakedown (Breakdown) is of somewhat limited importance in both of them, and a very short and sweet appearance in Nefarious for sure (hint, hint)!

Another bonus of the in-continuity movie series comics... toys and characters not in the actual movie tend to make it into the books, in some way. From shelf to page, it does help generate some interest from one medium of enjoyment to the other (here's hoping Mindwipe, Brawn, Lockdown, and Bludgeon all make it in at some point). Unless you just don’t like the movie version of either. Than you are axled (isn't replacing slang with robot slang fun?). Is anyone reading this book besides me?

Be sure to check the five page preview so you can see some of the action yourself.

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