Struck Out
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisWar for the Core! Deep within Cybertron, the ultimate weapon to kill all Transformers is about to be activated! Meanwhile, Elita One plans to stop the weapon—by killing every human on Cybertron! Either way, looks like some species on Cybertron is going down unless Optimus Prime and Scarlett can save the day…
That's one way of tryingAnd so, the final issue of the second multi-franchise crossover of Hasbro properties from IDW Publishing comes to a close, with some definite repercussions on the satellite stories it spurred - and a distinct flavouring of corporate mandate that taints an otherwise not-that-bad story, if a little by the numbers in the overall plotting. Read on for some specifics!
This whole page was fun, reallyThe issue does conclude pretty much as expected the bigger of the various threads set up by Mairghread Scott and David Rodriguez, with Scarlett and Joe Colton facing off against each other as the rest of the cast sort of feel accessory to the main showdown - but the sustained action sequence is very pleasing, as we've seen before from Scott, and the interactions make it perhaps more poignant than expected.
Hammering the pointThe coda story, which I mention this early as it picks up the main event of the issue and the arc, is probably the real treasure of the event and the actions of Colton and his band of villainous misfits - and it wonderfully built to fit previously explored and teased moments across the Transformers books in particular - including some from before IDW's presence.
Hey Armada fansThe consequences, then, are varied, but they suffer from the sudden inclusion of property management and company announcements seen in the news cycle until now - see my opening comments - only really allowing the writers to do a lot with what little creative liberties they had in terms of ramifications and character storylines (can't remove all the players from future books, and got to introduce the new ones at some points)
ArtThe artwork by Max Dunbar, with colours by Ander Zarate, is on par with the previous issue's efforts - even though some expressions, Colton especially, sometimes suffer from bizarre angles - and there is one particularly well-executed sequence that highlights really well one of the major themes running through the event, and which we've touched in previous reviews too.
Spot the parallelThe coda story, on the other hand, brings veteran James Raiz together with David Garcia Cruz - and oh my, do they deliver on something which doesn't really need that much of an introduction, but still do it beautifully. The script only acts as voice-over for this tiny scene, but the payoff is big indeed.
Just.. gorgeousTom B. Long handles the lettering throughout the book magnificently, with the positioning of the script and effects making sure points are heard and jokes land, and in a long action sequence that is never to be underestimated. All the cover variants can be seen, with credit, in our Comics
Database, plus you can enjoy the one by Alex Ronald as thumbnail for this piece, too.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadThere have been flaws in this event, from editorial (typos included, especially when it comes to Kreiger's name) and company perspectives, that I feel have held back a lot of what the writing team could've done having seen their previous efforts. As I mentioned above, what they were able to do was good in the limits of what they could do, and it's a shame that some of the repercussions were a bizarre, sudden introduction to the next chapter in the IDWverse as this book shows...
Introducing: Brian GoldnerThe book was able to keep together a fairly big cast of assorted properties, and I was glad to see some of them sidelined to allow for the main story to be told. I really appreciated the parallels between Colton and Optimus Prime, and both of their failings are something I'd like to see revisited soon. And while I am intrigued by the beginnings of the next two major players, the blight of these books (like Revolutionaries, some of the tie-ins, and more before them) confirms itself to be the marketing machine: we knew who both of them were, and we knew it would happen eventually. I wanted to enjoy it much more.
