Bad to the Bone.
Heart of Darkness Issue 2. April 20th 2011.
Feed D-Void!
We’re right into the thick of it from the off this issue, as Galvatron, knocked on his ass, has to just watch Hardhead and Arcee completely embarrass Scourge and Cyclonus with how easily they throw them about, as a panicked Jhiaxus runs around screaming about Arcee is coming for him personally again with “Yaaahhhh! Save me!”
This is dialogue from award winning highly regarded writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, folks.
Hardhead does get some nice moments as he gleefully smacks the Seekers about (which is where I now wonder, what happened to the Sweeps?), even if the continued portrayal of Cyclonus and Scourge as their comedy doffus Headmasters personas makes for an odd choice.
It is at this point, Galvatron decides he needs bigger balls. Or rather, a bigger ball, as he goes to the sphere and connects with it (hearing the song of the Dead Universe), restoring him to incredible strength and power, enough to terrify Arcee, who wonders what sort of monster he has become.
Feed D-Void!
We’re right into the thick of it from the off this issue, as Galvatron, knocked on his ass, has to just watch Hardhead and Arcee completely embarrass Scourge and Cyclonus with how easily they throw them about, as a panicked Jhiaxus runs around screaming about Arcee is coming for him personally again with “Yaaahhhh! Save me!”
This is dialogue from award winning highly regarded writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, folks.
Hardhead does get some nice moments as he gleefully smacks the Seekers about (which is where I now wonder, what happened to the Sweeps?), even if the continued portrayal of Cyclonus and Scourge as their comedy doffus Headmasters personas makes for an odd choice.
It is at this point, Galvatron decides he needs bigger balls. Or rather, a bigger ball, as he goes to the sphere and connects with it (hearing the song of the Dead Universe), restoring him to incredible strength and power, enough to terrify Arcee, who wonders what sort of monster he has become.
This suggestion that she knows him in some way we haven’t yet seen rather nicely sets things up for the direction John Barber will take their history in during his run. And I’m sure that everything to come that’s connected with this series will just as neatly fit in with those stories as well.
This turn in fortunes let Hardhead be captured, forcing Arcee to flee into the catacombs, where the pursing (and very odd looking in vehicle mode) Cyclonus and Scourge are surprised to find a mysterious and abandoned ancient city.
Which, again, John Barber will make great play of, but I’m pretty sure will never actually play any real part in this book.
This turn in fortunes let Hardhead be captured, forcing Arcee to flee into the catacombs, where the pursing (and very odd looking in vehicle mode) Cyclonus and Scourge are surprised to find a mysterious and abandoned ancient city.
Which, again, John Barber will make great play of, but I’m pretty sure will never actually play any real part in this book.
They’re able to blast her off a bridge, and because they’re comedy clowns, they don’t bother to check if she’s dead.
Galvatron only need Hardhead though, using what can only be called a Vulcan mind meld to find out what happened to Gorlam Prime:
After years of them torturing Jhiaxus for fun, suddenly the Dead Universe pool suddenly came alive again, summoning the entire population of the planet down to and into it, something that even Arcee succumbed to in the end, with the immune Hardhead holding her back (Jhiaxus tried to go as well, be it was hard to manage it without legs), before they all shut down and, when they awoke, the pool and become a sphere and Gorlam Prime was otherwise entirely empty.
This is probably the best part of the issue, a strange, unreal sequence where the art actually sort of works in its favour.
Back in the present, Galvatron decides what made Hardhead immune was him having been touched by the Dead Universe as well, meaning he should be able to resist whatever the sphere throws at him as well, so he dives right in.
Galvatron only need Hardhead though, using what can only be called a Vulcan mind meld to find out what happened to Gorlam Prime:
After years of them torturing Jhiaxus for fun, suddenly the Dead Universe pool suddenly came alive again, summoning the entire population of the planet down to and into it, something that even Arcee succumbed to in the end, with the immune Hardhead holding her back (Jhiaxus tried to go as well, be it was hard to manage it without legs), before they all shut down and, when they awoke, the pool and become a sphere and Gorlam Prime was otherwise entirely empty.
This is probably the best part of the issue, a strange, unreal sequence where the art actually sort of works in its favour.
Back in the present, Galvatron decides what made Hardhead immune was him having been touched by the Dead Universe as well, meaning he should be able to resist whatever the sphere throws at him as well, so he dives right in.
Hilariously telling Cyclonus and Scourge to follow him in an hour if he isn’t back. I’m not sure the version of these two in this comic could follow him to the shops, let alone a Dead Universe.
Because that is indeed where the sphere leads, though it turns out the DU is now connected to all over realities and sees Galvatron confronted by a montage of other Galvatrons and Megatrons, including, oddly, Frank Welker and Mr Spock.
Hmm.
He’s then, like in Time Wars, stripped to his exoskeleton, and confronted by a voice in his head, the screaming D-VOID.
Oh man, I’m so lucky a Chris McFeely Basics video a few weeks ago reminded me of D-VOID, or I don’t think I’d have survived coming back into this cold otherwise. In a field with some stiff competition, this is the silliest name that has ever been given to anything in Transformers.
Because that is indeed where the sphere leads, though it turns out the DU is now connected to all over realities and sees Galvatron confronted by a montage of other Galvatrons and Megatrons, including, oddly, Frank Welker and Mr Spock.
Hmm.
He’s then, like in Time Wars, stripped to his exoskeleton, and confronted by a voice in his head, the screaming D-VOID.
Oh man, I’m so lucky a Chris McFeely Basics video a few weeks ago reminded me of D-VOID, or I don’t think I’d have survived coming back into this cold otherwise. In a field with some stiff competition, this is the silliest name that has ever been given to anything in Transformers.
It turns out D-VOID is hungry for robots, with this series treating the inhabitants of Gorlam Prime like Sar Trek: Picard treats any legacy character it brings back who wasn’t main cast: They returned to die.
Galvatron however, has The Heart of Darkness, and is able to push back out into reality, and tell a very confused couple of Seekers that D-VOID is coming for Cybertron to eat all the robot men, and he’s going to have to raise an army to stop it.
Once they’ve gone, Arcee crawls out of the pit she fell into, determined to warn the Autobots about all this, and possibly have an incredibly satisfying poo from how constipated she looks.
One nice moody scene of the Gorlamites doing their best lemming impressions aside, this issue cannot escape from the immense black hole of both the dumbness of the name D-VOID and how poorly explained it is. Galvatron’s connection to the Dead Universe is what lets him take a stand against it, but D-VOID is also the thing in control of the Dead Universe, so is it the Hart of Darkness itself? And why does an evil force from a Universe without robots in it want to eat robots?
Galvatron however, has The Heart of Darkness, and is able to push back out into reality, and tell a very confused couple of Seekers that D-VOID is coming for Cybertron to eat all the robot men, and he’s going to have to raise an army to stop it.
Once they’ve gone, Arcee crawls out of the pit she fell into, determined to warn the Autobots about all this, and possibly have an incredibly satisfying poo from how constipated she looks.
One nice moody scene of the Gorlamites doing their best lemming impressions aside, this issue cannot escape from the immense black hole of both the dumbness of the name D-VOID and how poorly explained it is. Galvatron’s connection to the Dead Universe is what lets him take a stand against it, but D-VOID is also the thing in control of the Dead Universe, so is it the Hart of Darkness itself? And why does an evil force from a Universe without robots in it want to eat robots?
Maybe the next two issues will explain that. But my memory suggests not.
For a series that is also meant to be about Galvatron raising an army to fight a greater evil, it’s also odd it takes till halfway through for him to have that idea.
The art also remains pretty much exactly as I described it in issue one, though at least here Farinas doesn’t get chance to go as mad on the necks.
But otherwise, I feel more like the baffled and scared Cyclonus than any of the other characters.
Next week, we’re back off into space to catch up with Hot Rod.
THE TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 18
2011
COMMENT
KO-FI
For a series that is also meant to be about Galvatron raising an army to fight a greater evil, it’s also odd it takes till halfway through for him to have that idea.
The art also remains pretty much exactly as I described it in issue one, though at least here Farinas doesn’t get chance to go as mad on the necks.
But otherwise, I feel more like the baffled and scared Cyclonus than any of the other characters.
Next week, we’re back off into space to catch up with Hot Rod.
THE TRANSFORMERS ISSUE 18
2011
COMMENT
KO-FI