Revisitation 69: Nice.

17/4/2022

Happy Easter! And like a bunny throwing chocolate, here I am chucking out comic reviews as Revisitation moves to Sundays.

So throw up your Jazz hands and read about Spotlight Tracks (Featuring Jazz).

3 Comments

Llama God

17/4/2022 10:05:29 am

Certainly something of an oddity, this one. Not a bad comic, but certainly one that doesn't feel like it fits in at all with either of the ongoing series. And given how well at least one of those is going, this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

Whilst it doesn't really seem to fit in with how things are in AHM (or indeed were given where this story appears to be set), it's nevertheless nice to have a story with a positive message where everyone actually ends up in a slightly better place by the end of the story. Considering how both AHM and Maximum Dinobots are going - and Transformers comics in general - this is pretty unusual. And certainly not unwelcome.

The art is certainly...confusing. I had to check to see who was on art duties for this one, since it really doesn't recall Su's previous work at all. Maybe it's the colourer, or maybe it's Su trying something different, as you suggest, but it just doesn't quite work. It's not bad at all, just not as great as his other work.

The only real negative that I'd give to this story is that it doesn't advance the AHM narrative at all. I know it's not meant to, either, but being published when it has been, when I think we're all quite fed up of the Autobots moping around on Cybertron, and going back to that scenario, doesn't really work in its favour. And given that we've seen how things went subsquent to where this tale would have occurred does somewhat detract from the relatively upbeat ending.

But taken on its own and on its own merits, this is a nice little story. And certainly one that might end up being considered more favourably than next week's will be...

Stuart

17/4/2022 10:27:37 am

I think the colouring is definitely a bit odd, maybe it had to be done in a rush?

Luckily Su will be back on stronger ground next time we see him...

JeremiahEcks

11/7/2025 10:30:03 pm

I agree Stuart - not sure why these guys weren't called up again and honestly, IDW's naivety in backing the wrong writing team for longer than they ought is going to Cost-a lot.

Otherwise... I like this Jazz to the Costa / Barber awful version we're going to get. A like a LOT of IDW takes on characters, I adore a lot of IDW. But Jazz (like the Dinobots and in fact like Bumblebee and Galvatron) is what I consider, an awful reinvention for unclear reasons and massive narrative losses.

I say unclear reasons... to get verrrry serious... I've heard rumours online about why Jazz is now an albatross to Hasbro.
Jazz has been slowly deconstructed or de-emphasised since the 2007 Bayformer movie because his increased mainstream visibility showed him to be a possibly offensive black stereotype which makes Hasbro uncomfortable. Hence, avoiding him or de-emphasising his G1 persona.

All I can say, if that rumour is true, I'm not the target of the apparent stereotyping so maybe I just don't get it. 🤷‍♂️ But I have friends who don't find him offensive or a caricature and even as far as feel he represents them and their culture in a way other Transformers just never have. IIRC wasn't G1 Jazz linked with New Orleans? I wonder if this Blog's readers from the Big Easy agree with Hasbro, or these other fans?

I don't know if any of that is true and I don't know what people's thoughts are. No easy answers I guess.

To bring this back onto topic, I can see a lot of fans liking the Jazz of this comic but I can't see many liking the hapless, confused trigger-happy human murderer from Costa / Barber. And that's a different type of shame.

Mind the Predacons aren't at their best here either. Again, the 'best Decepticon Hunters, capable of killing Autobots en masse' and they can't handle Jazz and blind Tracks... hmm. I know that's the point of the story but it's not a good first showing for the Preds here is it? But that's them all over, always. I remember Predaking has 'no weaknesses' according to his bio, but I can't remember a single fight Predaking has ever won in the cartoon or the comic...

Revisitation 69: Nice.

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