Revisitation 150: Blue Moon.

26/11/2023

After an unplanned two-week break, I'm back with Wheeljack trying to work out a similarly erratic pattern.

Plus, meet beloved long-running character Barrel Roll in my look at Robots in Disguise issue 3!

2 Comments

T-Wing link

27/11/2023 12:32:28 am

Barber does a fantastic Wheeljack, and one that you can just about hear Chris Latta's performance coming through the dialogue.

We get another couple angry outbursts that go from zero to a hundred here, which will become a Barber trademark. It's a lot more noticeable here because it's Silverbolt and he's not one to that type. One wonders if it might have been better if Slingshot or Air Raid was the one lashing out, and Silverbolt would sadly and calmly agree with them before leaving with the entire team.

The thing I most take from this issue however, is our beloved Barrel Roll's freaky eyes under his visor in that one panel. Aigh!!!

Llama God

27/11/2023 07:52:46 pm

A very solid and issue this one, and one that's perfectly placed in this first arc to really sell the idea of this new Cybertron and its inhabitants being an actual place and people with real day-to-day problems that they need to deal with to survive. It's also a really smart idea that the "big bad" of this issue is just a natural phenomena, and not the usual conflict or anything.

It's also a really nice counterpoint and companion to Roberts' #3. Whilst that issue went into overdrive with building what feels like a detailed Cybertronian history, to give a sense that these people do actually have a culture, this issue shows that they have current day lives too, which is equally important. And although it's not as exciting or epic next to Roberts' super-charged name-dropping, it's just as important and an often-overlooked aspect of Barber's work.

The focus on Wheeljack is very nicely timed and done as well, since here we also have someone who's not as interested in continuing the previous animosities as some of the other main characters might be, and this different point of view is refreshing. Although it's safe to say that Starscream steals the show as usual with his politicking and actual common sense, making this the most interesting version of Starscream we'd seen to date.

All this combined with some really great artwork by Griffiths, including the lovely "fireworks" scene you've already mentioned, make this a very enjoyable issue.

I would finish by saying "so more of this, please", but we already know what's coming next week. So instead I'll just have to agree that, yes, I'd rather vote Starscream than any of the currently-serving batch of Tory MPs...

Revisitation 150: Blue Moon.

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