Witness them
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisINTO THE WILD! The DINOBOTS engaged in some of the most brutal missions of the war—which made them damaged goods in the peace. Now, a mission to change the face of CYBERTRON offers a chance for something they never imagined… redemption.
..for what? StoryAfter
Punishment came out, it was clear that John Barber was itching to tell another story of the post-war kind, looking at how some of the pre- and during the war misfits may have adapted - or not - to a time of peace, with still increasing tensions now that the universe is a much bigger place. You do not have to have read
Punishment, but there are definitely leads into this story.
Ah, casual discrimination And it's, in fact, a story that picks up some of the threads that both Windblade and The Transformers have been playing around with, including an overt crossover with
issue #46 of the latter - but from the Dinobot perspective this time, as has been known for a while now, and their still badly fitting shapes and temperaments in the brave new planet that is Cybertron, with its expanded borders.
Overlaaaaaap There are some pleasant, and fully aware, parallels with gritty cop stories, but most especially with the Mad Max series, and overtly so with the latest instalment of Fury Road, and they're not painful to see develop, and compare how Barber's story of redemption compares to that of the film, with their very different casts of characters.
Max? The parallels, however, also open the book to more criticism than if they had not been there in the first place. The relationships and bonding, for example, formed between the characters in the book can feel a little contrived, or lack the depth of chemistry of other pairings in the TFverse. Some of the poignancy of certain scenes is lost as a result, unfortunately, and feels as though could've been set-up differently.
ArtLivio Ramondelli returns to the TFverse for this one-shot, too, and brings his trademark style more into the light than usual - which is only a good thing, even with the tone of the book and the potentially confusing angles that could arise with the variety of characters, both background and fore. There is much more clarity, in the lines and composition, and they allow...
SHINY... ...for the visual effect of the Mad Max references and inspiration to really shine through. Even the colours, which rotate through an intriguing choice of palettes for each region encountered by the main cast on their mission, convey enough setting for the reader not to get lost in the fogs of Rust or fights, though without ever leaving the grittier shades required.
..AND CHROME While the title is not the work of Tom B. Long, I always admire what he does with a a Barber/Ramondelli script and layout. The dialogue changes according to the tones, and the interactions are made more emotive by just a few modified letters, even more so than with other books. Only two covers present this time round, with Ramondelli taking charge in the main variant, and James Biggie (also the logo designer) covering the alternate image (thumbnailed) playing very nicely on the same themes in different style choices.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadJohn Barber likes to play around with references, but sticks to a couple per book rather than packing them all in. He's a tone-setter, rather than tone-masher, and Redemption definitely plays to those trends and to Ramondelli's visual strengths - and is clear and explicit when doing so, as shown in the back matter of the issue (definitely worth a read, if you're so inclined).
Heh indeed As mentioned above, however, it's the inclusion of those references that points out the lapses not as much of the story per se but of the surrounding narrative and character interaction. I can't help but think that an either more explicit link or just a nod to the material would've increased my enjoyment of the book overall. Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable ride, and a good companion to the ongoing, Combiner Hunters and Punishment, with some good links to Monstrosity, and other past TFverse books.