Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: EJ Su
Publisher: IDW
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 19th September
Warning: contains spoilers
It is difficult to avoid Cybertronians these days. The Transformers movie has made hundreds of millions worldwide and the shops are full of merchandised toys, t-shirts, lunch boxes and loin cloths. While the Transformers have always had a faithful band of fans, the movie will bring in a whole legion of newer fans that will not know, nor indeed care about, the difference between Generation 1 and Michael Bay Transformers.
IDW are playing to both sides at the minute, but it is their G1 work that is easily the most accessible. The current series is a continuation of the storyline that began with Transformers: Infiltration and takes the reader much closer to the inevitable war that occurs when too many Autobots share a planet with a requisite number of Decepticons.
EJ Su’s Bumblebee cover is colourful and vivid, but seems in contradiction to the fiery ‘DEVASTATION’ logo that adorns the foot of the page. The scene featured is a little too tranquil to be the opening image in this series. Nick Roche’s cover is much stronger, with lots of dramatic posturing from the Autobot protagonists, and is very much a superhero style cover.
The opening frame of Devastation issue 1 is a beautiful blue-hued full page of Nightbeat, busy investigating a PDA device. Straight away this feels like one of the American forensic science TV shows, all moodily lit with attractive genius scientist-types using technology to extract clues. Perhaps this should be known as CSI: Autobots. Nightbeat’s internal monologue is actually a little grating, and his multi-syllabic alliteration manages to distract from what he is trying to say. Words such as comparative, compromised, connections, conclusions and corroboration all feature on a single page. This is either showing the reader a well-educated robot or a writer stuck on the ‘C’ pages of his scientific dictionary.
The police TV show theme continues as the Autobots piece together the evidence in what, to all intents and purposes, plays like a police incident room scene. The assembled ‘detectives’ attempt to make sense of the forensics, etc and throw around theories. That said, Furman has really got his dialogue timing down to a fine art in this exchange, and the conversation between Autobots feels natural and fluent.
Hot Rod and Wheeljack give a little welcome comic relief, but the real treat, however, is seeing Wheeljack in his original Lancia racing livery, which still looks good after 20+ years.
Optimus Prime makes a strong impression in this issue, looking very much the in-control military commander of the Autobots. He is more aggressive than in previous outings, and almost seems hungry for war on a few occasions. While this surprises the troops as much as it possibly does the reader, there is no dissention shown to his change of attitude. If Prime says it is time to start a brawl, then the Autobots will get their gloves on.
In contrast to this, Megatron’s similar change of tactic is met with whispered derision by his fellow Decepticons. There is a nice artistic link between the two warring camps, and hopefully Su will draw upon this again later in the series, as both commanders are unavoidably drawn together in face to face conflict.
It is great to see Sixshot appearing in the series, very much the Boba Fett of Transformers. He is Terminator deadly and James Dean cool. As dangerous as Megatron, but without the lunacy and ambition, Sixshot’s appetite is all about destruction.
Also rearing his streamlined head in Devastation is Ravage, now reconditioned by humans to help them track down other transformers. Reminiscent of the Robot Master story from G1, but without the camp, this can only end badly for all the humans involved. Ravage padding out onto the Tundra looks fabulous, his glowing eyes and feline grace are framed by swirling dust and a sunset-tinted sky.
While Furman adds a little more notoriety to the infamous Starscream by banning the uttering of his name amongst the Decepticons, his actual appearance is underwhelming. Hanging in a fluid-filled stasis pod, Starscream looks bereft of menace, in stark contrast to Ravage, who seemed to be menace incarnate.
The images of the Ark leaving for Mexico are beautifully inked, but lack dynamism. Sixshot’s departure from the Decepticon HQ is, by contrast, awe-inspiring, all fiery aggression and Manga speed-lines.
There is a definite impending feeling of doom hanging over the scene with the Autobots on board the Ark. It is the calm before the storm, and lasts for only five frames before the destructive inevitability of Sixshot catches up to them. A stunning two-page explosion is only slightly marred by some rushed artwork in the small accompanying frames.
The last page is a piece of pure Transformers gold, depicting the burning Ark plunging earthward into a heavily residential area. It is a true cliff-hanger ending, with no apparent means of escape for the Autobots or indeed the several hundred humans in their crash path.
Greater care needs to be taken with the artwork in this series if it is to do the writing justice. Infiltration was a landmark Transformers series and looked as good as it read, with both Su and Furman firing on all cylinders. Su seems to be on two-thirds of his cylinders in this book, and it lacks the polish of earlier titles. The inking is beautiful, but some of the pencils are sketchy and untidy. This is a marquee title for IDW, especially now with the Transformers mainstream revival in full swing, and they have to make it look like a finished piece when it goes to press.
Overall, this is a promising start to what looks to be a very violent Transformers storyline. It is fantastic to see much-beloved G1 Transformers characters coming out of their retirements, and given more than just walk-on cameos. Whatever happens to that Ark descending in issue 2, the Transformers war on earth is most definitely on and here to stay.
Nick Carroll has a BA in English and History and lives in a field in County Meath.
He is a keen photographer and shares his home with two dogs, three cats and a goose.
His favourite comic book writers are Garth Ennis, Alan Moore and Mark Millar. His
favourite books of all time are Preacher and Walking Dead. When he's not reading,
writing or photographing, Nick trawls the web looking for cheap video games.