Luke Owen takes a look at Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters #2…
THE WORLD BELOW! Deep beneath the surface of CYBERTRON, the last vestiges of life struggles to survive. Their only protectors: GRIMLOCK and his loyal DINOBOTS—who find themselves at the center of a dark mystery!
As you may recall, I wasn’t overly fond of the last issue of Transformers Prime as I didn’t feel that it met the high expectations set by this team with Rage of the Dinobots. The story was pretty slow and mostly uninteresting and the artwork felt drab and lifeless. Beast Hunters #2 on the other hand is a much better comic.
The story follows on directly from last time, as Snarl and Sludge have encountered the Insecticon killer Kickback who they think is behind all of the murders at Lost Spark. However they discover that, although undeniably evil, Kickback is not responsible which means it had to be someone else – someone closer to home.
Where Beast Hunters #2 works is that this feels like a regular Dinobot mission as opposed to some ‘epic storyline’ that requires a 6-issue arc. It’s kind of what I loved about the most recent live action Dredd film where this kind of danger could happen to them on a daily basis and you don’t have to wait until ‘the big story’ for some genuine threat. Granted it’s not been great, but it has certainly been an enjoyable two-issue run (for the most part).
Mairghread Scott and Mike Johnson also seemed to have found their spark (no pun intended) in getting the characterisation of the Dinobots. They seem to never have trouble with Grimlock as the fierce and bitter leader who loses all control in Dinosaur form, but Sludge, Snarl, Swoop et al have always just felt like background characters. They did a decent job with them in Rage of the Dinobots, but Beast Hunters #2 really gets some emotion and drive behind Sludge and Snarl. Sludge in particular has a fantastic moment that just demonstrates that the Dinobots are not to be messed with.
However, I would argue that they still haven’t mastered the ‘every comic is someone’s first comic’ rule by only catering to the hardcore Transformers fan. It’s not much of a criticism as I understand why they do it, but they limit their audience, and therefore the enjoyment of the comic, just to exclude the uninitiated.
Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters #2 is a much better comic than the one that came before it. The action is better and it’s less ‘waffley’ in terms of dialogue which makes it a fun read. Now that this Insecticon story is done and dusted, I look forward to where they take the series next.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published June 12, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
