Ricky Church reviews Transformers: Lost Light #3…
Orders, kind gestures and pleas for mercy—all things that WHIRL finds it very easy to ignore. Right now, he wishes he could turn a blind eye to the freshly resuscitated monster who—somewhat inconveniently—is determined to beat him to death. Meanwhile—a long way away—one of the Transformers Universe’s longest-running mysteries is about to be solved…
The alternate universe Rodimus and the rest of the Lost Light crew have found themselves in is again an interesting look at what might have been. These events are also made hilarious given the crews reactions to being placed in such a wildly different universe despite its darkness. Transformers: Lost Light #3 is just another example of how James Roberts can blend levity and story together in a very good manner.
Roberts has always had a good handle of the comedic moments throughout his time on Transformers, never throwing the comedy right at your face but making it feel like quite natural for these characters. One of the best moments of the issue is Nightbeat and Brainstorm’s excitement at being in an alternate universe or Whirl’s obsession with his “nemesis”. These moments don’t feel forced, but help break up the seriousness of Robert’s story.
The world of Cybertron is quite a different one and an argument can be made that the proper Cybertron that saw a four million year war waged on its surface and the galaxy was better than this. Further details are given into just what the Functionalists force upon their citizens in order for full control, going so far as to input tiny cameras into everyone’s eyes in order to better watch them.
This is also where Roberts includes some surprising real world elements into the story; “The council wants everyone to fear the rest of the universe. A fearful population will sacrifice anything to feel safe” and how the Functionalists are targeting those who are different. It’s surprisingly deep stuff and is quite topical given the political climate around the world as Roberts uses real-world events to address the concept of individuality and freedom.
Jack Lawrence’s artwork is one aspect of this issue that makes it standout, from his creepy design of the Functionalists to the brief battle between waged on the Necroworld. Lawrence’s facial expressions are also fairly detailed given the subjects are a bunch of robots, but he makes it quite clear what each is thinking and feeling. Joana Lafuente’s colours compliment Lawrence’s work as she uses a mix of different colours in each sequence. The scenes set outside this parallel Cybertron are particularly eerie with strong reds and oranges everywhere.
Transformers: Lost Light #3 imbues some fun into the proceedings while exploring some deep themes. Roberts shows there is a lot than can be mined from an alternate Cybertron that never had Optimus Prime or Megatron around, one which subtly shows just how much those two crafted the history and destiny of an entire planet for eons. Lawrence and Lafuente’s combined artwork make the issue further standout. It will be interesting to see where they go from here with this alternate history.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
Originally published February 24, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
