Transformers: Robots in Disguise #26 – Review

By: John Barber & James Roberts (writers), Andrew Griffith & Livio Ramondelli (artists), Josh Perez & Livio Ramondelli (colors)

The Story: Well That’s Just Prime or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Matrix.

The Review: As this issue opens, Iacon is infested with a death plague and Orion Pax finds himself at the mercy of Nova Prime. With only one-third of the crossover remaining, this would be a fine time for the climax to begin, or at least for things to finally start happening. Thankfully, that’s exactly what this issue provides, if not quite in the expected fashion.

This is probably the most exciting issue of “Dark Cybertron” so far, but it seems that no one told the writers. Though the content of the issue is a step above, the constant switching between settings feels more than a little artificial. Stepping away from the Orion/Nova showdown mid-punch is a strange choice, especially if it’s only to check in with Ultra Magnus. It also doesn’t help that the artists drawing the two halves of the book couldn’t be more different, but more on that later.

Barber and Roberts cushion the blow by having dialogue trail from one sequence into the next, however this technique is most effective when the dialogue comments on each scene differently and the issue is rather hit-and-miss in that regard.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #26 – Review

by James Roberts, John Barber (Writers), James Raiz, Atilio Rojo, Livio Ramondelli (Artists), Josh Perez (Colorist)

The Story: Prowl begins to strategize how to fight back, while those in Metroplex try to find a way to help the others.

The Review: It’s never a good thing when a storyline, an event or a crossover slows things down. Whenever a title get stuck with a story that isn’t normally its own, it’s hard not to anticipate the return to normalcy, to the regular casts and problems that the writer has planned for them.

This is majorly how I feel with the Dark Cybertron crossover, which in itself is not a bad thing, as it is filled with plenty of characters I enjoy and ideas that are genuinely interesting. The problem, here, lies in many smaller ones that manage to slow things down, with the execution being in the way of some of these concepts.

What this issue does exceptionally right, though, is the characterization. Be it the growing dissatisfaction of Bumblebee over how people treat his decisions, Megatron and his strange vision of how he serves the Cybertronian, Prowl and his decisions or Starscream and his growing despair, there are several character arcs that come to a certain climax here, which is in itself a very satisfying progress.

Another aspect which is rather great is in how the tension and some of the situations are being set up wonderfully, with the Metroplex situation reaching a new step, the war against Shockwave getting farther and the rampage being even higher. The stakes are high, which bodes very well in term of actions for what might follow up next.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #25 – Review

By: John Barber and James Roberts (writers); James Raiz, Atilio Rojo, and Livio Ramondelli (artists); Josh Perez and Livio Ramondelli (colors)

The Story: Spread across two universes, Bumblebee, Orion Pax, and Ultra Magnus all find themselves in the belly of the beast.

The Review: Things are looking pretty grim this issue; Orion Pax and Rodimus are captives of Nova Prime; the Lost Light and crew are beset by a horde of murderous mini-cons; Iacon is burning; Megatron has been bisected; and, perhaps worst of all, Shockwave informs us that “we are far from the endgame.”

Yes, even at this late stage, Shockwave still stands amidst his Crystal City headquarters twirling his metaphorical mustache, awaiting the beginning of his mysterious master plan. Luckily for the cyclopean Cybertronian, his scenes feature someone eager to steal the spotlight. Galvatron is a delight in this issue. His grumbling is simultaneously intimidating and humanizing and helps to highlight the line between the mostly Golden Age bots that are part of Shockwave’s conspiracy and the post-war factions who oppose them. The scenes in Crystal City are probably the issue’s most exciting and benefit from a cast that includes strong personalities like Megatron, Bumblebee, and Waspinator.

Atilio Rojo provides the art for the Cybertron sequences. His style has a clean, traditional Transformers look and seems well suited to some of the more dramatic compositions featured in the issue. That said, at times the bots don’t look quite mechanical enough, their slender forms resembling humans in armor a bit too much. This problem affects Galvatron far more than any of the others, but Starscream remains rather off model and the normally hunchbacked Jhiaxus is looking mighty generic. Despite these problems, Rojo does provide a number of lovely close-ups that not only avoid his misteps but are extremely expressive.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #25 – Review

by James Roberts, John Barber (Writers), James Raiz, Atilio Rojo, Livio Ramondelli (Artists), Josh Perez (Colorist)

The Story: The many mysteries of the titans are marching on as Nova Prime comes to gloat to the captive Orion Pax and other Cybertronians with him.

The Review: With the Dark Cybertron crossover having now reached its middle-point, it seems that fans might have a deal of reasons to be rather wary. Incorporating many previous subplots and other threads from both the two ongoing and previous titles into its narrative, there seemed to be a lot of ground in need of exploration here. This unfortunately did result in some chapters that aren’t exactly full of events, which did not make the huge story that much exciting altogether.

With the sixth chapter now being released, there seems to be some progress in terms of quality, with a certain evolution toward how the story is told and what some players might actually do to in the conflict at the heart of this whole thing. Sure, there are still some problems plaguing the book, but any general positive enhancement in some key aspect is always rather enjoyable.

The first thing that seems to be a lot more fun is what happens with the robots from the Lost Light as they explore the Titan underwater. Permeating their scene with the general lack of cohesion of the crew, the humor that is at the heart of their respective book and a good deal of pseudo-science that is always enjoyable, there are many things that are fun here. The way Ultra Magnus follows the law despite what happened to him, the attitude of Whirl, the intelligence and promptness of Brainstorm and other such traits are welcome in an issue where not everything is actually satisfying.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #24 – Review

By: John Barber and James Roberts (writers), Robert Gill and Livio Ramondelli (art), Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Livio Ramondelli (colors)

The Story: Shockwave proves that you don’t need a face to smirk as Cyclonus makes a new friend.

The Review: “Dark Cybertron” has been full of interesting moments but, so far, it’s moved at a fairly leisured pace. Though the stakes are increasingly apocalyptic, there’s definitely been a sense of preparation rather than action.

With its fifth chapter, “Dark Cybertron” is finally beginning to pick up steam. Shockwave’s plans have been millions of years in the making but finally they begin to come to completion. The consummate master planner, it doesn’t bother the cycloptic Cybertronian one bit when a joined Autobot-Decepticon coalition bursts through his wall.

Though it’s hard to tell what’s occupying some of the bots, especially as Shockwave’s troops are handily outnumbered, the issue opens with a suitably impressive battle scene. The book focuses in on individual conflicts, allowing for good character work and solid storytelling. It even has Waspinator. The team dynamics are strong and familiar, even if I’m getting a little tired of Prowl complaining and Bubmblebee…well, bumbling. Shockwave gets the best of it though, absolute arrogance apparently being eminently logical.