Last Stand of the Wreckers #1
Written and drawn by Nick Roche
Covers by Nick Roche and Trevor Hutchison
Never before have I so awaited an issue and never before have I been so disappointed. There is a very massive flaw with this issue, and it’s not Hutchison’s variant cover which I used for the thumbnail. That’s gorgeous. It’s not even Roche’s hit-or-miss art. I rather thought it worked well in this issue. His writing isn’t too bad, either.
But where are the Wreckers!??
OK, I mean, sure… the Wreckers are in this issue. For a book called Last Stand of the Wreckers, however, they’re fairly scarce. Instead, we see a whole lot of also ran Decepticons fighting Fortress Maximus. Then, when we finally do get the Wreckers, they’re saddled with Verity Carlo (one of the humans from pre-All Hail Megatron IDW books) and Ultra Magnus, as well as a quartet of new recruits. Percetor, Kup and Springer have maybe 10 lines between them throughout the whole book.
The story is also hurt by the flashbacks. The timeframe each time we cut to a flashback is clearly established; however, you’re left figuring out for yourself when you’re back in the present. That’s not too difficult, but the fact that you have to do it at all distracts from trying to figure out what D-listers you’re looking at. And it wouldn’t matter if they were complete unknowns, but these guys have popped up at least in the toy line, before, and that prompts me to try to decipher their identities. Unfortunately, the art isn’t quite crisp enough to make that an easy task, and many go unnamed in this issue at least.
There’s hope, however. This may have just been the awkward introduction to a story with great potential, so I will hold out hope and keep reading. Springer, Kup and Perceptor are three of my favorite ‘Bots since their IDW makeovers, and I’d really like to see them get the attention and treatment they’re due.
But, for now, Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 gets 3 out of 5 rebellious Decepticon subcommanders.
