Ricky Church reviews Transformers #2…
After setting up an intriguing new world in IDW’s reboot of Transformers, Brian Ruckley delivers a nice follow-up in the series’ second issue. Picking up almost immediately after the first issue’s discovery of Cybertron’s first murder in millions of years, Transformers #2 builds off that development in some interesting ways as the newly forged Rubble discovers how complicated Cybertron can be as we meet more familiar faces from the franchise. Meanwhile, Megatron’s rally suffers an unexpected setback that will only raise the tensions on the planet.
Ruckley didn’t waste any time as the issue launched into the mystery surrounding Brainstorm’s murder as Chromia and Prowl examine the scene. Ruckley’s Chromia is more no-nonsense than she was in IDW’s previous continuity, coming across as a serious and gruff bot while Prowl still retains his own no-nonsense and analytical personality, although he doesn’t seem quite as cold as before. Ruckley writes some nice back-and-forth between the bots, but the best appearance in the book comes from Wheeljack, one of Cybertron’s most prominent scientists and engineers. He brings a good amount of energy to his scenes as he excitedly explains to Rubble some of the great pieces of technology that has been created on Cybertron.
One of the interesting aspects to the new series is seeing the actual rise of Megatron and his Decepticons. The previous IDW continuity only examined Megatron’s rise to power in a series of flashbacks, some of which were quite extensive in expanding his motivations as an outspoken philosopher for aiming for social change who gradually turned to violent revolution. Ruckley sticks with Megatron as a bot looking for social change as a popular senator of Cybertron critical of choices the system has made and writes the soon-to-be Decepticon leader well, though at this point Megatron seems to be his Decepticon self already. He’s already got Soundwave at his side and is unafraid to jump head first to defend himself and his followers from an assassination attempt, going so far as to promise retribution. While it’s still good to see Megatron in his pre-war days, there doesn’t seem to be much difference right now between him as a senator and as the Decepticon tyrant.
It is also interesting to note Ruckley seems to already be planting several important factors for later on in the story, such as the tiny creatures that populate Cybertron, the refugee ships that come to the planet or, most importantly, the moon that has been converted into a giant energon harvester. Ruckley has already made introduced several Chekov’s guns or red herrings that seem like important pieces to the larger story as Cybertron spirals into war.
The artwork from Angel Hernandez and Cachet Whitman is again well illustrated throughout the issue. Hernandez does a better job with the facial expressions on the characters than in the first issue. One particular scene of his that stands out is when Bumblebee and Rubble view the energon harvester in action, showing the clear awe the pair have for such an amazing piece of technology. Whitman’s artwork of Megatron’s rally is good as well as she displays Megatron’s fervour in his speech. Her style more closely resembles the look of G1 than Hernandez’s, but both of their styles fit the atmosphere of the series. Joana Lafuente and Josh Burcham’s colours add a dynamic look to the colour palette in the issue, whether its the the mix of bright colours of the harvester or darkness of Brainstorm’s crime scene or Megatron’s rally.
Transformers #2 keeps the intrigue of this new era up as Ruckley examines how one murder could be the tipping point in Cybertron’s society. While several of the characters seem a little too familiar to their future selves, particularly Megatron, it will still be interesting to see how this time period shapes their decisions once the Cybertronian war breaks out. The artwork from Hernandez and Whitman is quite detailed with vibrant colours from Lafuente and Burcham that makes the issue stand out visually. With Ruckley planting possible seeds for the future war, there’s still a lot for new and old Transformers fans to look forward to.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
