It’s been a while, but I’m back with another review of IDW’s Transformers series, written by Brian Ruckley, with art being shared between series regular Anna Malkova and Blacky Sheppard. It’s a pretty beefy issue in terms of story content, with a lot of stuff happening to push the plot ahead (possibly due to the impending license change), so let’s not waste any more time and dive right into this month’s issue.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Transformers #41!
Like I said, there’s a ton going on here this go around. We learn a couple things about the state of Cybertron, how it’s slowly degrading into unlivable conditions, and theres talk of truces between the Autobots and Decepticons because of it. It only gives a passing mention to what’s going on with Exarcon, due to those events being handled in the concurrently running miniseries, War’s End. We do get some major plot advancements in terms of the war, which seems like it may actually start to reach the point in the classic version of the story where the Autobots flee Cybertron, leading to the iconic events on Earth that we all know and love. That’s just speculation on my part though, and I’m impressed that this issue manages to cram so much stuff in here without feeling bloated or excessively wordy. There’s a fine line between being dense with content and being an outright slog to sit through, and I think Ruckley has always been really good at making issues feel properly long without overstaying their welcome. A near perfect balance like that is also a talent that I find to be exceedingly rare when it comes to comics.
IDW Publishing
There’s generally some good character stuff in this issue too, not to mention from my favorite character in this run, Optimus Prime. He doesn’t actually do too much outside what’s expected of, well, Optimus Prime and all, but he’s still my favorite character that Ruckley uses whenever he’s in an issue. Since there’s a lot happening this time in the story, we don’t actually focus in on one particular character, but like with Prime, every character is given a distinct and equally important voice, and nobody feels overshadowed if they have a speaking role. Things are kept pretty well balanced and everybody has a contribution to make.
IDW Publishing
We have two artists working on this issue, as said previously, and it’s a bit more obvious where the shift happens this time compared to the other times it’s happened. Not a bad thing however, since both Malkova and Shepard are great talents and I liked both their sections a lot. Drawing robots this often and this consistently can’t be easy, and I’m always impressed with Transformers artists and their output because of that.
IDW Publishing
Overall, I think this was a pretty good issue. The end is rapidly approaching, to the Cybertronian war, this continuity, and IDW’s time with the property, but we’re continuing to get quality entries in this series regardless. I’ve liked this run from the outset, and I’m going to be really sad to see it go after all is said and done. I think Ruckley is exceptionally good at making issues feel like they’re worth your time, with plenty of content packed into 20-odd pages that somehow doesn’t feel like a slog to read, or like it’s giving you too much. It’s a delicate balance, but this issue does that particularly well. The art is always good on this series too, so you’re never going to be disappointed with visuals.
If you’re invested in seeing this run, and IDW Transformers, through to the end like I am, pick it up, and enjoy.
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