IDW Transformers #3 Review

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The latest era of IDW Publishing's Transformers continues with its namesake book's third chapter, out today. Cybertron is increasingly in a state of unrest, and as the sole survivor of the three reviewers that started out reviewing this series with issue 1 last month, it is the readership as well? Is it really all that bad? No, but it isn't all roses either. Read on for more of what was good and what wasn't fortunate enough to be called such.

Plus, if you didn't already know, you can buy Transformers comics directly from Seibertron.com's eBay store! The A Cover, B Cover and Retailer Incentive 35th Anniversary cover are all available now, but don't wait on the incentive cover as it's moving fast.


The issue gets off to a pretty solid start, with a surprising introduction as seen in the preview pages published before release taking the time to explain another surprise appearance, the Decepticon Ascenticon Quake. Adding personality and depth to obscure characters is always an appreciated note and the opening of this issue is effective at succinctly establishing why Quake of all characters is someone that would take the Autobot security detail aback. Coupled with the mounting tensions of what's happening on Cybertron - with more Prowl helping too - the first six pages of the issue were a very promising start.


Then we get to Rubble and Bumblebee. Do you like naps? Just thinking about this stretch of the issue puts me to sleep. That's not good. Something here was not engaging or missed connecting and it goes on too long given what it ultimately accomplishes. Rubble and Bumblebee talk for about five pages and repeat some beats from earlier issues while adding a couple nice small elements to the world-building going on. I found it to be a couple pages too many, so when Rubble then gets seven more pages of walking and talking with some different characters it lead me to tune out. The new character of Geomodus was fun but again remained on the page entirely more than necessary. Nothing objectively bad is in here content-wise, but the pacing in this middle stretch of the issue reminds me more of Tom Bombadil in Fellowship of the Ring than a fun Transformers adventure. Some readers might find this to their taste, to be fair.


The last two pages did plenty enough to keep me interested in continuing to read the story, assuming they're a sign that business is about to pick up. Orion Pax takes a journey on his own out into the lands of Cybertron with intriguing sights seen along the way and graciously doesn't talk his entire time out there. Wanting to know more is good and the developments at the tail end of this issue were definitely noteworthy, though it may be that they just seemed that way after twelve pages of talking and walking.


The same creative team returns with Angel Hernandez and Cachét Whitman again splitting the line art duties, with Joana Lafuente providing the color-glue to bond the Tom B. Long lettering glitter. I have a feeling if I tried to make an analogy that falls apart like that, the editorial team-up of David Mariotte and Tom Waltz would be there to set me straight. There's not much to say that hasn't already been stated in the reviews for the first two issues, though it's worth noting that fans distracted by toy details will find this lets up on them somewhat, some of the time. Hernandez also provides some appreciated detail in the pages placed in a larger outdoor setting, and while some of this is attributable to precisely where the setting is for a given page or panel, it's still a notable way for the artist to contribute to the world-building that is still in full-force during this third issue.

The covers feature the professional Transformers debut of Anna Malkova, a special 35th Anniversary cover from Guido Guidi as the ten-copy incentive that is in no way indicative of the book's contents as is often characteristic of special incentive covers like it, plus a cover from long time fan-favorite Nick Roche with colors from Josh Burcham. This cover in particular is used for this review's news story thumbnail and deserved an extra note because it really can be a page 19.5 if you want it to be, and while that may have happened purely by chance it's a fun touch. You can also find images of all of the book's covers along with full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers #3, but please note it contains a character appearance list which may spoil you on something if you're really sensitive to the most minor of non-spoiler "spoilers".

Editor's note: there was a page at the start of our provided digital review copy indicating a third John Gallagher cover featuring Jetfire may be available, however a search at the retailers that carried his covers for issues 1 and 2 yields no results. Please let us know if you find this available so we can add it to our credits.


Have you ever eaten a sandwich that's pretty good, but the bread is entirely too dense and makes the whole thing take way too long to eat because you have to chew way more than you want to get another bite of the good parts in between? That was this issue for me. The issue's fun and fascinating details with obvious effort put into world building were marred by dialogue that was too dense without enough flavor to carry the issue through smoothly. No matter how outstanding some areas really were, just like a sandwich chain with fantastic meat but so-so bread, this issue brings the painful parts of this new series along with it in enough volume to drag down the final output. The score below reflects a little bit of leeway given since this is the third issue of a completely new series, but only a little.