Transformers #1
Nov 28th, 2009 | By Jason Kerouac | Category: IDW, Reviews
Written by Mike Costa
Art by Don Figueroa
To borrow a line from our friends at C2E2, this is the Transformers book fans deserve. It’ll be hard to get into why, exactly, without getting into some heavy duty spoilerage - but, trust me on this one.
Figueroa’s art has to be the first thing we discuss. Pat Lee is one of the most definitive artists of the G1 style. The dude GETS mecha art, and he absolutely makes love to those original designs. Guido Guidi took us to the next step in Transformers evolution, mixing in some of the subtle tweaks brought about in Hasbro’s Classics line. But now there’s Don Figueroa bringing a whole new feel to the Transformers. These are predominantly G1 designs, but they’re heavily influenced by the look of the bots in the films, and the end result is actually pretty phenomenal. The Bots and Cons are more skeletal now, but still maintain the appropriate bulk in all the right places. Figueroa’s humans are drawn well enough, as well, though I don’t know if I’d be thrilled to have him on a non-mecha book. That’s fine, however, because this is a mecha book and he’s hitting it out of the park.
While we’re on the topic of home runs, let’s talk about Mike Costa writing the book he’s been waiting for. This is what the man has apparently always wanted to do, and boy does it show. What we have here is the beginning of perhaps the single most intricate chapter of Transformers history. We’ve seen the groundwork that was laid down throughout the latter Spotlights and the second half of All Hail Megatron. There’s a lot that’s going on, and a lot that’s going into this story.
The PoP! faithful may have heard Andy Schmidt’s appearance on PoP! Cast #15 where he told us that this book would be about the Autobots finally, truly transforming. I can tell you with no hesitation that this is absolutely the case. The decision that Optimus Prime ultimately makes within the issue is a bold one, and promises an exciting new direction. The rest of the cast is fleshed out pretty nicely, too, but with plenty of room to expand as the series goes on. And, for one of the first times since IDW’s taken the reigns, the human characters are poised to be a truly interesting and integral part to the story as a whole.
Whether you’re a long time TF fan, a newly inducted Cybertronian voyeur, or a complete novice, this book should offer up enough to hook you for the ride. With fan and critical response mixed on all of IDW’s previous TF offerings, it remains to be seen if this series will deliver. After seeing this first issue, however, I remain hopeful.
Transformers #1 gets 4.5 out of 5 robots in disguise
Need to get caught up on your IDWverse Transformers? Check out Previously in… for the whos, whats, whens, and wheres - then catch up on the rest of the action with reviews of All Hail Megatron, the Spotlights, and more!
Pat Lee is a fucking chode, but the man can goddamn draw. Glad you’re not one of the billions of TF fans that hates his artwork.
Never heard of Guido Guidi, but now I really want to see his artwork.
I love Don Figueroa, and so glad he’s drawing this.
(I will wait until TPB to read this, though…)
http://www.smactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ahm4gg.jpg
Not the best example, but… still. The man’s great. Figueroa, however, could easily become THE definitive TF artist of all time, I believe.
I don’t know if I could disagree more with all of this.
I can acknowledge that the art is very well done, but I still don’t like it. I never enjoyed the movie design style, and the last thing I want is for it to be incorporated into Gen1. Like I said, I can see that a lot of work went into it, and it came out great for what it is, just not my thing.
It’s hard for me to complain about the story much without spoilers, but I’m sick of insecure Optimus. I just don’t see that being Optimus’ reaction to Ironhide’s ordeal. I think they could have made Optimus still go through with it, but without making him look weak. I know he has reason to feel that way, but this is Optimus, the symbol of freedom. He shouldn’t be acting that way in front of his fellow Autobots. If he had maybe been more professional with it I could see it happening. “Today’s events have brought to light that we need a new strategy with dealing with the humans. I’m going to try and negotiate with them.” or some crap like that.
I just really am sick of insecure Optimus. It seems to happen once a year now in one continuum or the other.
Z-ROE… I TOTALLY see where you’re coming from on this. My rebuttal to your points is thus:
The biggest problem with past Trasformers artists, in my mind, is that they made the bots look too organic… too clean. For a robot to change into a truck and function as both, there’d need to be more going on than there was in the old Takara/Hasbro toys. While they, and their G1 looks, may have become iconic, they’ve also become a bit outdate for a grown up fan who begins to question how it works. I love that pic from Guido Guidi I threw up the link to, but… look at the faces. They look like they’re made of liquid metal. These new bots have faces made of enough components that they look like they COULD emote, when necessary. The bodies DO nod to the movie look, and while I don’t love that look, these retain ENOUGH of their G1 charm (for me) to be the best of both worlds. I DO think they changed Bumblebee a bit too much, and it looks like Chee will be drawing him all old school in his own book, which is a bit frustrating.
As for Optimus, as the leader of the Autobots, he doesn’t know what to tell them, but as the leader of the Autobots, he knows his responsibility is to do right by them. So he’s going to go “sacrifice” himself to the humans, because that’s where he feels he can do the most good, and he’s stepping down as “leader” in the meantime, because they’ll need someone else telling them what to do while he’s gone. He feels this is the best way he can help both his people, and humanity. Look at it this way… the President of the United States doesn’t his men as a general on the battle field - which is what the Autobots have come to expect from their leader - he makes policy, he has summits with other world leaders, he sets the stage. I see this issue as the start of Optimus graduating from General of the Autobots to President of the Autobots. To me, that’s a very cool thing. They’ve been so reactionary in their IDW appearances, and Optimus realizes that’s not enough anymore. He’s reaching beyond the role of battlefield commander to try to establish a real place for his people here on Earth, and create a reality more like the G1 cartoon. At least, that’s how I see it.