Transformers: Windblade #4 – Review

By: Mairghread Scott (writer), Sarah Stone (artist)

The Story: Windblade runs up against one of the key problems of representative government – if you’re not willing to seize power, there’s someone else who will.

The Review: It’s hard to use words like best when you’re talking about the current IDW Transformers line. Robots in Disguise is rather underrated in my opinion, More Than Meets The Eye is acknowledged genius, but somehow there’s something special about Transformers: Windblade that makes it one of my favorite books month after month. Sadly this is the end for our little miniseries that could, but it certainly doesn’t go out quietly.

Transformers: Windblade #4 admittedly suffers from a common comic malady, the overstuffed conclusion. There’s a lot going on here and, if this were a movie or a TV show, it really should come after the climax rather than just starting off the issue. Nevertheless, it’s like that because it would be a shame to lose any of the action that Mairghread Scott has laid out for us.

Part of what’s made Windblade such a success is the infectious optimism of our title heroine. While it may have been a bit much for Windblade to start entirely ignorant of Starscream’s reputation, she’s generally avoided being pure maiden of pure purity while remaining hopeful for the future of Cybertron. Like most of us at some time or another, Windblade feels out of place, like she doesn’t quite belong, on Cybertron, but what’s so charming about her is the way that she earnestly, but not fearlessly throws herself into her new role and opens herself to the people of Cybertron, despite being a Camien. This issue, that’s going to be tested.

As readers we possess the necessary distance to see the flaws in both the Autobot and Decepticon ideologies. We see the tragic flaws that have doomed Megatron’s rebellion and the cracks in the Autobot myth that Optimus Prime is desperately trying to hold together and redeem by force of will alone. As an outsider, Windblade has a similar distance. She has the opportunity to show Cybertron a better way, but, if she can’t, Starscream has his own way of creating the Cybertronian Utopia, one that has always been at war with Eastasia.

Transformers: Windblade #3 – Review

By: Mairghread Scott (writer), Sarah Stone (art)

The Story: Starscream wants to know what Windblade’s agenda is. Windblade’s all to happy to share it with him…

The Review: With a gaggle of friends from Maccadam’s in tow, Windblade has stumbled across a conspiracy that she believes could make Starscream more dangerous than Thunderwing, Shockwave, or Megatron. But if she’s going to stop him, she’ll need to make it back to Metroplex’s surface and Starscream’s none too keen on that.

The first obstacle is a squad of Terrorcons. Mairghread Scott’s battle scene is a little chaotic at times and fairly simple beneath all its bluster, but she does an excellent job of using the fight as an opportunity to add personality to the issue. Windblade’s inner monologue tells us a good deal about her without feeling expositional and deepens our understanding of her character and her world. Likewise, Scott uses the circumstances to urge Blurr and Chromia into choices that instantly reveal their character.

While the battle is solidly written, things don’t truly take off until it ends. Scott clearly takes enjoyment in writing Starscream and the book comes alive the minute he comes on the scene. Yes, I’m a fan of old Screamer, but whether you love or hate the ex-Decepticon Air Commander, you’ll have to admit that he’s an impressive adversary by the time this issue is over.

Transformers: Windblade #1 – Review

By: Mairghread Scott (writer), Sarah Stone (art)

The Story: Typical, Starscream ran on a platform of bringing change, and yet he’s still a jet…

The Review: Despite a slow start “Dark Cybertron” came to a triumphant conclusion, one that leaves the Transformers universe in a particularly interesting place. That said the changes were centered around a few important characters. Unlike “The Death of Optimus Prime” very little was torn down by “Dark Cybertron” and instead we find ourselves in a period of building. As the Lost Light prepares for another voyage and Robots in Disguise prepares to return to a more traditional setting, what will become of Cybertron?

Thankfully, despite my worries and a bit of ambiguous dialogue, Transformers: Windblade #1 finds Starscream still in control of Cybertron. The series treads familiar but lively ground for the franchise, setting our titular heroine up as an idealistic civil servant within the hierarchy of a corrupt Cybertron – very much in the tradition of Orion Pax.

Although she fits a familiar archetype, Windblade is thankfully original. From the first panel Mairghread Scott sends a tidal wave of characterization crashing over the book’s pages. Windblade may not have been particularly well-defined during “Dark Cybertron” but after just one issue you’ll feel like you’ve known her forever. She’s an everyman without the neutral mask that normally plagues the concept. She’s optimistic, nervous, grounded, naïve, and eager to do something meaningful, all standard heroic traits but Scott combines them in such a way as to carve out an incredibly specific character for her. The result is endlessly charming.

Transformers: Dark Cybertron Finale – Review

By: John Barber and James Roberts (writers), Phil Jimenez (layouts), Brendan Cahill (pencils), Brian Shearer (inks), Josh Perez (colors)

The Story: At the end of time all things are possible. Up is down, black is white, past and future are one and the same, and Megatron even finds himself indulging in “heroic nonsense.”

The Review: “Dark Cybertron”. What a long, strange event this turned out to be. I remember reaching the half-way point and thinking that this was only really exciting because it was supposed to be. This was the culmination of my IDW Transformers, in the late Furman days, and yet it dragged on. Could a story come back from an opening that sluggish?

With a smirk worthy of Starscream, himself, John Barber and James Roberts have answered, “yes.”

To quickly address the content of my opening paragraph, this issue does not redeem six, eight, ten issues of bided time, though it provides important context for much of it. Indeed this whole affair might have worked better without the branding, as this is less a finale for “Dark Cybertron” and more of one for the whole of IDW’s phase 2, possibly even one for the entirety of this universe so far.

There’s a lot going on this month but Barber and Roberts do an excellent job of keeping the action clear. Transformers; especially Transformers filled with Headmasters, comics-only characters, and other relatively obscure bots; can sometimes have trouble differentiating among their larger casts, but not only are all of the characters visually and narratively distinct, many of them are effectively reintroduced for new and confused readers – and not an infodump in sight!

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #23 – Review

By: John Barber & James Roberts (writers), Atilio Rojo & James Raiz (art), Josh Perez (colors)

The Story: Starscream gets a thumbs down from the Necrotitan as Ultra Magnus gets the universe’s most intense thumbs up from Metroplex.

The Review: Three issues into Dark Cybertron half of the notable Decepticon commanders through G1 history have shown up and many look to be siding against one another. In fact, the Autobots play a fairly limited role in this issue. Honestly, that’s the way I like my Transformers, but that twelve part timeline means we’re still firmly in this story’s rising action. Indeed, while the infighting within the Decepticon cause looks to be a large part of this event, right now we don’t get to see much of it. This issue spends most of its time moving pieces around the board, setting up for the arc’s second act.

Starscream is back in the spotlight this month, but he spends a lot of the issue reacting rather than acting. It’s fun to watch Screamer adapt to his circumstances, but it’s a shame to see him on the ropes so quickly when the premise of Starscream in power held so much potential.