IDW The Transformers #48 Review

Synopsis
CONQUERORS, part 3! It all comes down to this… the fate of the AUTOBOTS, the survival of the human race, and the existence of a post-war CYBERTRON depends on the two greatest heroes in TRANSFORMERS history: BUSTER the dog and D.0.C. the drone.



Story

We've had two parts of this new storyline already in the ongoing The Transformers series from IDW Publishing, and John Barber has chosen to take a peculiar type of break while not putting anything on hold. At all. But how does the strange POV issue work, you might ask? Find out some thoughts below.



It's impossible to escape the similarities with the Eisner-winning Fraction/Aja Hawkeye issue of Pizza Dog with this chapter of The Transformers series, and for a comics fan, this works suprisingly well without falling too much into heavy-handed homage. (Much like Redemption and Fury Road, really.)



Having two points of view, undoubtedly, helps the narrative to flow, and switches between two characters that have found their way into the fandom and the new followers of the series. Buster, as an Earth dweller close to Thundercracker, and D.O.C. as a Cybertronian AI close to the Autobots do both bring a new perspective on the characters surrounding the otherwise main cast.



Which leads quite nicely to the crux of the story, really, and something that I am obviously not going to spoil here, but has a lot to do with several theories that many fans have been speculating on for a while now, revolving around long-established lore and recent developments in ..well, everything.


Art

I have to commend Griffith on the clear work on an otherwise extremely hard script to master in terms of layout. The smaller amount of dialogue and narration means that most of the story has to be told with the visual component of the medium, and he does a stellar job with the frames and angles from both character perspectives.



The same perspectives are maintained, solidly, throughout their different takes in the book, by the magnificently subtle (though not that much once you realise) colour palettes and coding for the two. In the case of Buster in particular, Josh Perez' chromatic contrasts and blending of greys is just really well done, and makes the foreground even more prominent and incisive.



Also to be commended is the work of letterer Tom B. Long, as Buster and D.O.C. occupy two very different styles of font, tone and voice, which are worked incredibly well with a truly complex script for human dialogue during the Buster segments. The covers, on the other hand, have very little to do with the issue, though are pretty excellent in both the Archie tribute by Andy Pepoy and the Alex Milne/Perez triumphant Starscream (thumbnailed).


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Is the reveal present at the end of the book that surprising? No, not really, not at this point in the series. Is it pleasing? Yes, actually. It's brought about in a satisfying manner, with some good power and attention grabs, and a sustained if lighthearted narrative throughout the whole issue.



The real treat, however, is how the book looks, from the layouts and art to the colours and lettering. Griffith, Perez and Long work wonders together to really convey the multiple angles and pairs of eyes/optics through which we're looking at this small world growing bigger and smaller in equal measure. If you take anything from this, it's a treat for your own image processors.