IDW Publishing Transformers #38: Days of Deception Full Preview

Live and learn indeed, Blackrock. Live and learn indeed.

I'm just happy Buster is safe.

I've spent the last month catching up on the IDW transformers story line from All Hail Megatron. I'm fairly invested right now.

That poor dog Buster must be heavily traumatised !

There's so much heat and noise from jet engines, energy weapons and giant robots yelling at each other. Being so close to all that noise could make a dog permanently deaf, if nothing else.

Oh, I just remembered, there was Buster Witwicky in the Marvel continuity. Buster the dog could be a little joke about that.

snavej wrote:That poor dog Buster must be heavily traumatised !

Oh, I just remembered, there was Buster Witwicky in the Marvel continuity. Buster the dog could be a little joke about that.

What's funny about Buster is that she's surprisingly nonplussed by the whole giant robot thing. Must be like animals bred for war, they just get used to it.

Shuttershock wrote:

snavej wrote:That poor dog Buster must be heavily traumatised !

Oh, I just remembered, there was Buster Witwicky in the Marvel continuity. Buster the dog could be a little joke about that.

What's funny about Buster is that she's surprisingly nonplussed by the whole giant robot thing. Must be like animals bred for war, they just get used to it.

or maybe Thundercracker really is a gentle soul, we, spark.....whatever.

Synopsis
THE ONYX INTERFACE! The AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS face down human forces—and strange battlelines make for strange allies. Who will emerge with the ancient ENIGMA OF COMBINATION… and who will usher in the COMBINER WAR…?



Story

On a very different playing field from MTMTE, the 38th issue of The Transformers also brings a storyline more or less to its conclusion, and finishes setting the stage for the Combiner Wars event due to begin next month, alongside revisiting some of the characters and power plays we hadn't seen in a while. And it does it very well.



The most obvious, and personal highlight of the issue, is John Barber's writing of individual characters and interactions, rather than general team/theme work - with Thundercracker, Soundwave, Arcee and Galvatron in particular standing out among the rubble. The humans have some nice moments too, but the more ambiguous players really take the spotlight.



Of course, that is not to forget Prowl, the Constructicons and the strange dynamics of Devastator as it currently stands, and as it will stand for the next three or four months. The development on gestalt technology, plotting and writing has been a great thread to follow since pre-Dark Cybertron, and there are very interesting developments in this issue that might affect the wider concept.



There were some misgiving about some of the more plot-device heavy moments, but overall, the issue serves really quite well to seed even further plotlines and potential, and we may see some of those potential lapses come back in Barber's continuity-magic at a later stage. That, and Thundercracker is still a wonderful piece of writing work.

Art

What really has to be said for this issue, is that artist Andrew Griffith undoubtedly kills it from an artistic perspective. The poses, settings, expressions (robot, dog and human alike) are spot on and fantastically execute everything at play in the script. Galvatron in particular is stupendously sinister, and the pain and confusion found in some Prowl/Devastator and Thundercraker scenes is actually quite moving.



Josh Perez' colours, on top of that, allow for a wider range of emotional charge that blend fantastically well with the linework and script. The bigger scale moments do not dwarf the smaller, personal scenes; the Soundwave situations in particular which both show nothing of what is actually happening and the pure anger that the true Decepticon must be feeling, are stunning.



Tom B. Long is still as font-abulous as he can be, and Devastator's speechbubbles, any title or caption and the impressive amount lettering in the more explosive sequences is carefully controlled. Again, we have encountered the RI cover by Jeffrey Veregge yesterday, though still beautiful; the thumbnail then is the B cover, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente helps with a sense of scale and stakes for this and the coming story.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Once again, ScottyP was a good sounding board for some of the points I made in the review, and his thoughts also come through in this piece. Personal highlights, however, are the return to Soundwave's own schemes and plans, which may or may not be working with/alongside/for Galvatron and the Decepticons, and the wonderfully poignant conflict within the Constructicons - and of course, Thundercraker.



Hoping that Combiner Wars doesn't slow down the great pace and development in the post Dark Cybertron era of exRID too much, this issue shows just how much change Cybertronians and Earthlings have gone through, all the way since the -ations and All Hail Megatron, and with both positives and negatives considered, it is a lot. And definitely worth the read.

I can also now point out that yes, indeed, that Soundwave is now in a body that's a repaint/retool of Combiner Wars Voyager Motormaster/Optimus Prime.

Neat!

thundercracker is taking role of majin buu being nice he found puppy what will thundercracker do if evil transfomrer or human kill puppy will he turn evil fight against humans?

ScottyP wrote:I can also now point out that yes, indeed, that Soundwave is now in a body that's a repaint/retool of Combiner Wars Voyager Motormaster/Optimus Prime.

Neat!

SOON i will be able to trade in my pRID sound wave in for CW Sound wave then get a second copy and paint it white and blue with a red insignia causewhy not ?!

what will be the combined forms name be , Soundblaster?

Foof indeed.

dragons wrote:thundercracker is taking role of majin buu being nice he found puppy what will thundercracker do if evil transfomrer or human kill puppy will he turn evil fight against humans?

Uncool to even suggest offing Buster, or having any sort of sad ending. There's plenty else they can do to get to the end while leaving Buster as a happy cool companion to a character that keeps getting better.

You know what, here's how it will go down. Thundercracker has to leave for some reason and can't return for a long time. Then,






You made me do this

God damn it scotty; you brought up one of two things from TV that continue to break my heart to this day.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:God damn it scotty; you brought up one of two things from TV that continue to break my heart to this day.

I know, right? This is exactly why we need nothing close to an equivalent in Transformers fiction.

A combiner made from a Soundwave torso should totally be named Megahertz.

Autobot tap out wrote:

ScottyP wrote:I can also now point out that yes, indeed, that Soundwave is now in a body that's a repaint/retool of Combiner Wars Voyager Motormaster/Optimus Prime.

Neat!

SOON i will be able to trade in my pRID sound wave in for CW Sound wave then get a second copy and paint it white and blue with a red insignia causewhy not ?!

what will be the combined forms name be , Soundblaster?

Eh, while a CW Soundwave would be a cool next step (Earth form) to FOC Soundwave, I can't bring myself to replace PRID Soundwave as a truck for as long as I am using United Rumble/Frenzy and GDO Laserbeak as his minions. A Predator attack drone working with Drone aircraft and tanks is too fitting for me.

Flashwave wrote:Eh, while a CW Soundwave would be a cool next step (Earth form) to FOC Soundwave, I can't bring myself to replace PRID Soundwave as a truck for as long as I am using United Rumble/Frenzy and GDO Laserbeak as his minions. A Predator attack drone working with Drone aircraft and tanks is too fitting for me.

I totally see your point, but I'd like to see a new soundwave...but not a retool of the CW mold. Im not too big on that.