Means of CreationA Review of
Transformers: Lost Light #5As spoiler-free as I can make it.
If there's light, there's shade. Here we are on part 5 of 6, "Modes of Production", the latest chapter of author James Roberts' massive Transformers tale. With just forty pages to go when you start
Lost Light #5, you may be wondering just how much will end up resolved by the end of "Dissolution". After all, there are several plots all running concurrently: a whole crew of characters from the book's namesake ship that have been displaced twice-over to the point of finding themselves in another reality, a new duo of characters that fans have been trying to figure out, tension between former Decepticons and parts of "Team Rodimus", a Whirl/Tailgate/Cyclonus soap opera side-plot, Nightbeat and Rung's ongoing conversations, Megatron and Terminus' interrupted reunion, the return of Roller to action, mysteries of the Functionist Council, more clarification to get to on Rung, and then finally there's the whole part where the alternate Cybertron our heroes are on is slowly being torn apart by a Luna 2 that's been converted into some sort of gigantic galactic recycling unit.
Phew. I've probably missed something.
Why is he suddenly Rick instead of Brainstorm?With Mr. Roberts clearly going for some kind of plot-juggling world record, it falls to this review to try and decide how it's working out (that is the point of these, right?) It took some careful reflection and multiple reads, but to be completely honest, it's just impossible to know how good this issue is without being able to read issue 6.
Before you accuse yours truly of going for the review-cop-out world record, hear me out. Is the pacing of this issue justified, where very dense pages jump from point to point interspersing some of the main focus with secondary stories where needed, sometimes tangentially in Roller's case? Are the interludes, including one heavy exposition dump with respect to Rung, worth the space they're taking up in a book with so much going on? To repeat a question one can find in spades over both our own Energon Pub Forums and out there online: Is the space given to Anode and Lug in this arc deserving of its inclusion? I don't know because I don't know
what they're for yet. "Knowing what someone
turns into is not the same as knowing what someone's
for", indeed.
The catch is that your friends stopped reading.While the paragraph above wasn't directly critical, it does bring up a point that I'll just come out and say explicitly: "Dissolution"
feels written as a trade paperback and the month-to-month reading cycle is suffering for it. I felt this way before during "Elegant Chaos", and that turned out quite amazingly well in the end. This issue has a healthy amount of effective, meaningful, and downright quality material that gives hope that everything is, indeed, fine.
Rescue Bots! Roll(er) to the Rescue!One of these highlights involves an A-Lister of the Transformers franchise. Megatron and Terminus are one of the more fascinating duos in an issue/series/meta-series/universe of sometimes-robo-monogamy (platonic and otherwise) that Roberts has created. In this issue we see things progress logically, with some moment
s including Roller that are simply fantastic. Morality, peril, specters of the past, and peace through the tyranny of choice are all examined when these two are on the page. In a book with a big cast this is the kind of material that serves as an anchor, especially in this case as we're reminded of the ultimate reason that Megatron is caught up in all of this to begin with. Even readers jaded with this story - you know who you are and it's ok to have opinions - will have a hard time not wanting more of these two in my opinion.
That's a question you should ask yourself, Megatron. Wait...Then there's this. Quite possibly the biggest mystery in Transformers comics of the past five-plus years is beginning to be brought into the light. Will this issue tell you what Rung does? Yes, and you'll need to read it to find out whether or not the answer is "Drilling! Takara Tomy
loves drill tanks after all."
Lost Light #5 stops just barely short of giving the total 360° answer about what Rung is for. If you've read the issue, you might take pause at that statement, because there was a
very great deal explained. However, when reflecting on the last scene of the book I began to wonder if, perhaps, there are more to Functionist Universe Rung's present desires than... there appear to be.
What? What happened?
Those Lunabots would be handy now, yeah?Comics are a visual medium and I've said little about that side of this issue so far. This is probably worthy of at least a night in Fan Jail because it's almost perfect to me from this standpoint. Artist Jack Lawrence's characters continue to evolve visually in this issue in a pleasing way. In some cases, this evolution brings characters closer to looks established by Alex Milne while in others, Lawrence continues to put his own touch on the series. The line work, aided by Joana Lafuente's tonally appropriate color palettes and Tom B. Long's usual lettering masterwork, gives a book that is by my count 96% pure eye candy.
The 4% that's not? The final panel. I think this needed either a big splash spread or perhaps some different posing by one of the characters involved. The point is still made and wow, what a moment! That is a thing that has been built up since 2012! Unfortunately, the visual delivery came across somewhat underwhelming. Of course, maybe that is the real point and I don't truly grasp it, but that's the kind of fun chatter we can get to in course when you reply to this post to debate, opine, and converse in our
Energon Pub Forums.
Returning to the good stuff, there are four really and truly outstanding covers available for this issue, including another installment in Nick Roche and Josh Burcham's beautiful series of character vignettes that you'll see in this review's News Story thumbnail. As always, you can find
full credits and covers in our database entry for Lost Light #5, along with a list of characters that appear in the issue so do be aware of possible spoilers.
VerdictSome Spoilers Present Below
When reviewing
Lost Light #4, I said that scores don't feel fair to big multi-part works. I stand by this even moreso for #5 as a standalone work. Taken as part of the whole, it's quite good, but with so much going on and the finish line so close, it ends up being partially victimized by its purpose and by the need for some of the resolutions occurring. The Anode interlude stops the pace dead for a reveal that, rather unfortunately for involved fans like myself, was guessed by the fandom at large two months ago. Brainstorm somehow became a wisecracking parody of himself at some point and I find myself missing the brutally clever scientist we used to know. There's more I could pick out for criticism but it wouldn't change the point, that being that despite all the good stuff in here, there's also just enough that
feels off the mark to drag down the finished product.
This needs #6 and it needs it soon. Very possibly, this is an inappropriate score to give something that deserves much, much higher, and in moments it really genuinely does. However, without knowing what everything here was for this is all I can commit to from a strictly
critical perspective. I will freely admit if this was too low in #6's review. For now and with a dose of hesitation -
Bonus! James Roberts' soundtrack suggestions for this issue:
- Orlando - "Just For A Second"
- Pedro The Lion - "Of Up And Coming Monarchs"
- Tarwater - "All Of The Ants Left Paris"
Encore Bonus? Uniclock Update? Unfortunately, actual real world scary things and warmongering would make it a bit insensitive and tone deaf for me to continue including this little feature, which was intended to be a fun and possibly self-deprecating bit of humor. If that doesn't make sense to you, please do realize this was not inspired by 'Watchmen'.
