...fallen?
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisEND OF THE ROAD! Trapped between Shockwave’s attack and Unicron’s onslaught, Optimus and the Autobots struggle to make sense of what’s left of their world. Shockwave reveals ancient truths—as an old friend tries to reconnect with Cybertron.
just, generallyThe Falling is over, now comes the fallout. As we pick up the pieces of what took place during the latest story arc in the Optimus Prime ongoing, we also finally connect to the story continuing over in the mini-series that is the Unicron event finale - even with the lateness and repercussions that this has, more so than previously in this book specifically.
err.. surprise?Other than the return of both Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, with the former's troubled and questioning ethical and personal issues about how the entire universe may be right in not being that happy with him or Cybertron after all, both being utterly spoiled by now by the Unicron book, there are some interesting aspects of returning characters and intersecting universes that work well in the issue.
heads up: recap punsIn particular, we get to see how Rom is involved in the situation at hand (before the events of Unicron #0), along with many of the other characters previously seen in the Hasbro Universe and still/back on Earth since they were last shown in the series in recent months. And, for someone who mildly enjoyed the titular series, there was some stand out, emotional beats that entirely justify the inclusion in the story.
...There are other peaks in terms of how the extremely large cast is being placed in relation with one another. Pyra Magna in particular leans even further into her role, as played pretty much against every major Cybertronian - something that will continue in Unicron - Bumblebee being used as exposition in the best way possible, and Optimus pretty much just taking it all in for the whole book, his silence actually quite tangible.
ArtSara Pitre Durocher is the sole artist on the issue this time, and her work on the eyes of the characters (as well as what seems to be thicker inks, to me) is what stands out in particular on the page. From the very opening of Optimus' awakening, running through several close-ups, the layouts bring us closer and closer in to the story and how it's affecting the characters
starting pointI am still impressed by how much of the series' tone has been given by the tonalities that Josh Burcham brings to his colours, which mark it as its own unique thing even when different artists are concerned, and this issue is no exception to that. With the multiple different settings and scenarios, the lighting strikes just right, and some on staff didn't even realise the artist had changed again!
coldAs for the lettering from Tom B. Long, we only have a couple of particularly visible elements of font work, but the script is one of those exceptions to Barber's style which don't take captions to tell the story, and rather rely on dialogue - meaning that the job may not be as striking, but the careful laying out of the speech bubbles is meticulously done, and precisely on point.
In terms of covers, you can find all three in full size in our
database entry, but the Pitre-Durocher one in the thumbnail in particular highlights my point about this book's character focus, while the Zama/Burcham main variant dwells on the story.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadWhat initially seemed to be mostly exposition, as I pointed out above with Bumblebee, and as is partially also true with Shockwave, is also deployed by Barber really quite effectively as it sets in motion a number of cogs that the book itself remarks upon, though quite subtly, and it's probably the most intriguing hook from an issue that would otherwise be utterly flattened by knowing the general conclusion - and which may be the sole biggest fault of the book.
*curses against scheduling*On the other, very positive hand, it was a pleasure to see how Rom and other Hasbro Universe characters and storylines are being brought in finally without it feeling like a strain. Dinobots, Jazz, the Council and Marissa, Trypticon, the colonists on Earth - all pieces being set up for the next in the game, which OP's removal from the conversation actually shows how much his presence can be a hindrance to their development. (That sentence itself may have foreshadowing hues on what is left of this story.)
