I Can't get any Worse, People say, I'm Obsessed.
The Transformers Issue 7: All His Engines*.
He, uh…he did. He died.
*The issue itself accidentally left the title off, meaning we miss out on Costa’s latest attempt to look like a literate, sophisticated man with his Milton quote.
I didn’t really go into it with the Wreckers finale as that was a good book, but it has been very strange how everything since All Hail Megatron has been treating the top Decepticon as at least presumed dead, when that isn’t how that series ended with him.
Still, six months in and with a heavy focus on the Autobots, it’s a natural time for Costa to check in on the Decepticons that fled Earth and Megatron’s fate, is what is effectively a breather issue between arcs. It also brings E.J. Su back on art, and whilst subsequent artists will struggle with the Don Figueroa designs and how far to take it, Su proves his God tier status by just using his now regular style he’s refined on his return appearances and drawing everyone as they were in the …Tions era.
Which means, amongst others, Bumblebee changes bodies again, but who cares by this point?
He, uh…he did. He died.
*The issue itself accidentally left the title off, meaning we miss out on Costa’s latest attempt to look like a literate, sophisticated man with his Milton quote.
I didn’t really go into it with the Wreckers finale as that was a good book, but it has been very strange how everything since All Hail Megatron has been treating the top Decepticon as at least presumed dead, when that isn’t how that series ended with him.
Still, six months in and with a heavy focus on the Autobots, it’s a natural time for Costa to check in on the Decepticons that fled Earth and Megatron’s fate, is what is effectively a breather issue between arcs. It also brings E.J. Su back on art, and whilst subsequent artists will struggle with the Don Figueroa designs and how far to take it, Su proves his God tier status by just using his now regular style he’s refined on his return appearances and drawing everyone as they were in the …Tions era.
Which means, amongst others, Bumblebee changes bodies again, but who cares by this point?
Dread Tidings.
It’s not quite as gratuitous as the Ironhide miniseries, but we once again open on a lot of dead space, an empty desolate moon with three narration captions over it from Megatron, about how he will still fulfil his promise of “Peace through tyranny.”
Bold words as we see the state the Decepticons are in, as it turns out Costa is taking a big leaf out of the cartoon’s book, with an extended homage to the opening of Five Faces of Darkness, with the Decepticons trapped on a moon with no energon and fighting amongst themselves.
Though it turns out to be slightly grizzlier here, as we see a group hunt down Dreadwind for having stolen energon rations (something he tries to blame on his “Brother,” presumably Darkwing) and, after a nice “I’m calling an ambulance… for you!” moment, they them kill him and then break his body down for parts. Something expressly called cannibalism later in the issue.
And I can’t imagine anything Mike Costa did that could have annoyed Marvel UK fan James Roberts more than denying him the chance to write the letter’s page host in the future.
All as Megatron muses on how his people are basically crap without him, especially with Razorclaw watching over them as he’s a survivalist, not a leader, so he’s fine with all this.
Razorclaw has wound up in charge because Shockwave is locked in his lab (claiming to be working on reactivating the Space Bridge, but no one’s checking), Soundwave is stating in the ship that bought them there and Starscream…
Bold words as we see the state the Decepticons are in, as it turns out Costa is taking a big leaf out of the cartoon’s book, with an extended homage to the opening of Five Faces of Darkness, with the Decepticons trapped on a moon with no energon and fighting amongst themselves.
Though it turns out to be slightly grizzlier here, as we see a group hunt down Dreadwind for having stolen energon rations (something he tries to blame on his “Brother,” presumably Darkwing) and, after a nice “I’m calling an ambulance… for you!” moment, they them kill him and then break his body down for parts. Something expressly called cannibalism later in the issue.
And I can’t imagine anything Mike Costa did that could have annoyed Marvel UK fan James Roberts more than denying him the chance to write the letter’s page host in the future.
All as Megatron muses on how his people are basically crap without him, especially with Razorclaw watching over them as he’s a survivalist, not a leader, so he’s fine with all this.
Razorclaw has wound up in charge because Shockwave is locked in his lab (claiming to be working on reactivating the Space Bridge, but no one’s checking), Soundwave is stating in the ship that bought them there and Starscream…
|t's a bad day for 1988 Decepticon fans.
Well, Starscream is wandering about with the Matrix still round his neck, and with no one else to talk to, is treating Bombshell as his number one guy. Which may be a mistake, as Bombshell responds to his panic about losing troops to the energon shortage by being very enthusiastic about how cannibalism will even things out eventually.
He’s also very excited to have invented the cerebro-shell (which looks like a tiny Bombshell), even though we’ve already had an entire Spotlight where he was the villain using cerebro-shells to control Beachcomber. Though that will at least give John Barber a continuity thing to fix later on, which for him, is better than sex.
Starscream is initially disgusted at the idea of zombie troops as he wants willing followers, but when Quake bursts into the room to try and kill him with a scream of “Death to tyrants!” and chucking a cerebro-shell at him makes him take the order to “Die” very literally, suddenly Starscream is all for them.
Which is probably the best sequence of the whole issue, being just about on the right side of silly, and Bombshell as a weird little guy is good fun.
Megatron’s musings then cut to Earth (and I can’t remember if it will ever be explained how he knows what is going on there), where he is mocking on how the humans are calling being “Beaten to their knees” a victory.
At Skywatch, Optimus is meeting General Witwicky, completely buttering him up by telling him what a great guy he is.
He’s also very excited to have invented the cerebro-shell (which looks like a tiny Bombshell), even though we’ve already had an entire Spotlight where he was the villain using cerebro-shells to control Beachcomber. Though that will at least give John Barber a continuity thing to fix later on, which for him, is better than sex.
Starscream is initially disgusted at the idea of zombie troops as he wants willing followers, but when Quake bursts into the room to try and kill him with a scream of “Death to tyrants!” and chucking a cerebro-shell at him makes him take the order to “Die” very literally, suddenly Starscream is all for them.
Which is probably the best sequence of the whole issue, being just about on the right side of silly, and Bombshell as a weird little guy is good fun.
Megatron’s musings then cut to Earth (and I can’t remember if it will ever be explained how he knows what is going on there), where he is mocking on how the humans are calling being “Beaten to their knees” a victory.
At Skywatch, Optimus is meeting General Witwicky, completely buttering him up by telling him what a great guy he is.
This is like when Tony Blair keeps popping up in British politics.
Now, shouldn’t Bumblebee be the first point of contact if Prime is really committed to not being leader? It would have helped with the next bit as, even with Prime buttering him up, the General is aghast their prisoner is up and about. He’s not convinced by Spike’s claim with alliance will be better for everyone (halving the number of Transformers they’re hunting and getting them access to superior support), because he can’t see it working if they ever find out what is going on in Section 82.
Ohhh, mysterious.
After the meeting, Spike’s subordinate Sandra (who, despite being a character who is going to play a decent sized supporting role and being in the formal environment of the military, is never going to get a surname) is concerned both that Allenby—their ultimate boss—won’t be fooled by the letter of the law story the General is taking back, and that she did not sign up to play games and be deceitful to their country.
So, an actually honest soldier, wonder how long she’ll last. Especially as Spike just patronises her before walking into what seems to be a cupboard where actual Autobot leader Bumblebee and his team are waiting.
Megatron finds all this very amusing, knowing that Prime is a fool for trusting the humans and expecting their nature to be able to change.
Ohhh, mysterious.
After the meeting, Spike’s subordinate Sandra (who, despite being a character who is going to play a decent sized supporting role and being in the formal environment of the military, is never going to get a surname) is concerned both that Allenby—their ultimate boss—won’t be fooled by the letter of the law story the General is taking back, and that she did not sign up to play games and be deceitful to their country.
So, an actually honest soldier, wonder how long she’ll last. Especially as Spike just patronises her before walking into what seems to be a cupboard where actual Autobot leader Bumblebee and his team are waiting.
Megatron finds all this very amusing, knowing that Prime is a fool for trusting the humans and expecting their nature to be able to change.
I bet even Spike doesn't know her surname. Especially Spike.
And in an incredibly wasteful two pages that could have been combined into one where the top two panels were Megatron’s hand moving and the bottom the shot of his body, he confidently states that Optimus will really know what it is to be a slave… (a page of four panels of Megatron’s hand where it moves in the fourth)… when he returns (full page of him doing his best impression of Luke Skywalker in that water tank, but with his one eye glowing).
Considering this was promoted as featuring the return of Megatron, I suspect anyone who bought this for that will have been disappointed. But overall, even with some drawn out pages, this is one of the better Costa issues yet, probably by dint of being a one-off so it can’t drag out too much.
The Dreadwind and Starscream sequences are actually good fun, even if so heavily drawn from the third season of the cartoon that I’m not actually sure if this is meant to be Charr or not. It’s also nice to see Acid Storm and Sunstorm hanging out together is an issue full of nice art.
Considering this was promoted as featuring the return of Megatron, I suspect anyone who bought this for that will have been disappointed. But overall, even with some drawn out pages, this is one of the better Costa issues yet, probably by dint of being a one-off so it can’t drag out too much.
The Dreadwind and Starscream sequences are actually good fun, even if so heavily drawn from the third season of the cartoon that I’m not actually sure if this is meant to be Charr or not. It’s also nice to see Acid Storm and Sunstorm hanging out together is an issue full of nice art.
Twitter this week.
But the sequence on Earth is absolutely abysmal and makes everyone look stupid. Plus, it continues to undermine Bumblebee’s place as leader.
And to be honest, as with the first Ironhide issue, it feels less like a story in its own right and more like a running subplot that should have been spread across previous issues, one with a Dreadwind cutaway, one with a visit to Starscream and one ending on Megatron moving slightly. It’s not really very cohesive.
Still, it at least feels like a very slow move in the right direction. One that will hopefully continue.
Speaking of slow, next week, it’s the second issue of the Ironhide miniseries.
ADDENDUM 11: BULLETS
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI
And to be honest, as with the first Ironhide issue, it feels less like a story in its own right and more like a running subplot that should have been spread across previous issues, one with a Dreadwind cutaway, one with a visit to Starscream and one ending on Megatron moving slightly. It’s not really very cohesive.
Still, it at least feels like a very slow move in the right direction. One that will hopefully continue.
Speaking of slow, next week, it’s the second issue of the Ironhide miniseries.
ADDENDUM 11: BULLETS
2010
COMMENT
KO-FI
