Transformers: Galaxies #1 - IDW Publishing

TRANSFORMERS: GALAXIES No. 1, September 2019

Spinning-off from the ongoing “Transformers” series by “IDW Publishing”, and apparently focusing upon some of the toy line franchise’s lesser known “secondary characters”, Tyler Bleszinski’s script for this twenty-page periodical probably does live up to the “Vox Media” co-founder’s belief that his penmanship has made “the hardcore Transformers fanbase happy”. Yet whilst such an “incredibly flattering” response from the die-hard readers is understandably “truly fulfilling” for the author, this comic’s persistently inaccessible attention to detail concerning “the fan-favourite Constructicons” must have put off any perusing bibliophile who simply happened to pick a copy of this publication up off the spinner rack so as to ‘dip their toe’ into the building of an Energon processing plant on Mayalx. 

For starters, the frequent time-jumps between life on Cybertron after the War against the Threefold Spark and the ever-grumpy Hook’s increasingly irritating modern-day moans on Planetoid #051075 incessantly jar the reader from enjoying any sort of flow to Bleszinski’s storytelling. Such repeated relocations arguably prove particularly perplexing when the jolts occur every few panels or so, perturbingly transporting the audience from the historic ruins of Iacon, the Central Architectural and Design Headquarters, “Mayalx. Now”, and “Then” within the space of a few seconds.

Equally as confusing are all the different robots thrown into the mix straight from this book’s opening. Having literally just been introduced to the likes of Scrapper, Scavenger, Hook and Mixmaster as they approach the completion of the final standing structure on Mayalax before “we can blow this wasteoid”, Tyler instantly adds the decidedly haughty Wheeljack and Termagax to the pot, before completely bamboozling the uninitiated with even more "mecha toys" in the shape of Bonecrusher and Long Haul; “If I melt a little of that with a hint of refined Energon, I wonder if I can’t create an even stronger alloy that’ll… Oh, yes. Hello.”

Sadly, even the artwork of Livio Ramondelli only seemingly augments this comic’s confusing storyboards, with the American illustrator’s frequent close-ups of the different automatons making it incredibly difficult to discern one Transformer from another. Admittedly, both Wheeljack and Termagax are still pretty recognisable from their triangular eye-lenses and somewhat Samurai-like aesthetic, but the same cannot be said for the plethora of Constructicons who all seem to have similarly-sized square heads with glowing shade-shaped visors...

The regular cover art of "TRANSFORMERS: GALAXIES" No. 1 by Livio Ramondelli

Transformers #1 - IDW Publishing

TRANSFORMERS No. 1, March 2019

Playing out more like a slow-moving chapter from one of the late Robert Grave’s politically-charged novels set within the ancient Roman Empire, rather than a "bold new era" for a comic book based upon a line of children’s transforming mecha toys, Brian Ruckley’s sedentary script for Issue One of “Transformers” probably proved a disappointing mix of seemingly pointless environmental exploration and impolite conversation to its readers in March 2019. In fact, with the sole exception of the "newly-forged" Rubble’s all-too brief encounter with some intriguingly weird-looking ape-like Voin Scavengers, absolutely nothing of any apparent significance occurs within this twenty-page periodical until its very end when the “small Cybertronian” stumbles upon a badly damaged Brainstorm just outside a transmission station.

Up until this point, it is hard to imagine that any long-term fans of the franchise would have gleaned even the smallest semblance of entertainment from a narrative which focuses far too much upon Bumblebee, and later Windblade, allowing “the youngest Cybertronian in the universe” to simply clamber over rocks, follow a trail of luminescent liquid, and watch a starship-sized titan orbit the sky. Of course, the “incoming” writer’s storyline does admittedly also spend a little time with senator Orion Pax and Megatron at the governmental heart of their planet discussing the activist’s plans to hold a reformation rally at Tarn. But this dreary, dialogue-heavy sequence does little except (once again) vividly demonstrate the fundamental differences in opinion between the soon-to-be Optimus Prime and the warlord of the Decepticons; “What does shared time matter, if the lives it measures are different? Nobody sees the same things as anybody else. Nobody.”

Similarly as unsuccessful as the Scottish novelist’s plodding plot is debatably editors David Mariotte and Tom Waltz’s dubious decision to utilise two contrastingly different artists with which to illustrate this “epic” book. Angel Hernandez’s ‘toon-shaded’ sketches appear entirely appropriate for a publication perhaps aimed at adolescents or “someone who’s never read a Transformers comic in their life”. Yet his somewhat simple-looking pencilling pales into comparison with Cachet Whitman’s work, when the American freelancer takes over to populate the panels featuring Pax, and almost inadvertently provides the reader with something actually interesting to peruse, such as all the complicated machinery etched onto the torso of the towering sentient robot and his companion, Ironhide.

Written by: Brian Ruckley, and Art by: Angel Hernandez and Cachet Whitman