Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Robby Musso
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
Release Date: January
Warning: The following review contains spoilers that may, well, spoil your enjoyment of the forthcoming issue.
Ultra Magnus is a rather strange character for such a prominent Autobot. Depending on what you were brought up on, he can be a great leader, a rubbish leader, or a Optimus Prime toy with more clothes on. The animated movie saw Magnus as the leader in waiting with the demise of Optimus Prime, only to find he was not worthy of opening the Matrix and was blown to pieces by a bunch of Decepticons (he got better). He fared a little better in the Marvel UK stories where he basically came over as an all-action leader from the future (and the present), frequently going toe-to-toe with Galvatron. Well, until he fell in a volcano. Anyway, the point is that the character is generally portrayed as a rather reluctant leader-type, with this Spotlight issue, writer Simon Furman takes the opportunity to re-position the character and his role to better fit with the IDW continuity.
The Ultra Magnus we are presented with here is essentially an officer of the law, seeking out those Transformers - Autobot or Decepticon - that are being naughty. Which is a bit anal considering the two factions are at war with each other, but we are led to believe Magnus is some sort of super-MP, or bounty hunter without the bounty bit. His unwavering devotion to his principles is his backbone, and obviously the interesting part of the story.
We open on the planet Zull, where the Decepticon Swindle is holed up hiding from Ultra Magnus who wants to question him regarding the sale of Critical Mass weaponry to people who really shouldn’t have their hands on it. Needless to say it doesn’t take Magnus long to handle the situation and apprehend Swindle. Swindle offers some information to Magnus if he will let him go. Magnus knows he shouldn’t take Swindle up on the offer because it means he will be stepping over his tightly drawn line, but the information is too tempting, involving as it does, the whereabouts of Scorponok…
As is fitting, Magnus’s pursuit of Scorponok takes him to a planet called Nebulos where the Decepticon is working with a man named Zarak in bio-engineering transformable men. For any transformer fans this will all sound a little familiar, which is not a bad thing. If anything it’s a shame it is only really briefly touched upon, the situation demanding a showdown between Ultra Magnus and Scorponok rather than exploring the possibilities of what the Decepticon was working on. The interesting diversions from the Marvel tales comes with the fate of the Zarak character and the positioning of the injuries sustained upon Scorponok. Furman does a masterful job layering the main characters sensibilities with lovely little Transformer nuggets, something he’s been dropping into all the Spotlight comics.
The artwork is very good, Ultra Magnus looks statuesque throughout and the alien worlds and landscapes are varied and engaging. Musso has managed to walk the very fine line between all-out robotics and actual character shapes especially in his rendition of Scorponok, almost like a good mix of Pat Lee and Geoff Senior that doesn’t include the extremities of style of each of the famous Transformer artists.
In terms of niggles, the main ones are the re-working of the Ultra Magnus character, although I can see the benefits of having him fulfil such a role. The other is the fact that Magnus would be bringing Decepticons in to be judges by fellow Decepticons. What exactly does a Decepticon have to do to be tried by his peers? I thought they were the evil inter-planetary black hat wearing guys? Also, I can’t imagine an Autobot rounding them up and dropping them off. But then, I would have liked to have seen Death’s Head here, like he was back in the old Marvel UK stories, yes?
Where the previous Spotlight books have contained plot developments for the whole IDW Transformer universe, this one seems a little more ambiguous. This may be deliberate in order to bring the characters used into the main titles without having to explain their roles in too much depth. In terms of the actual plot here, nothing would seem to really lay any foundations apart from Scorponoks genetic meddling with on Nebulos, but the conclusion to the book seems to suggest against this. Curious. What can be stated is that this is a good Transformer book, and it’s good to see Magnus kicking ass again.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.