Back again for another mind-bending issue of Skybound’s Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson and colorist Mike Spicer! And when I say mind-bending, I mean mind-bending. This one really took what I said about being surprised every issue to its logical extreme and left me completely stunned.
Right off the bat, Spike’s father Sparkplug… dies? I think? He takes a literal step into the Matrix of Leadership and… dies. Or becomes one with Optimus? All in order to return the favour for Prime saving Spike, the act revitalizing Optimus and allowing the Autobots to take down the behemoth that is Devastator. While WHY Sparkplug is able to do this is unclear, it certainly left me completely speechless and shocked when I read it. Not in a bad way at all, since it for sure acts as the logical endpoint of all the symbolic parallels that the book has been seeding between Sparkplug and Optimus, two fathers and experienced soldiers, by having them “merge” in a sense but, man that is…certainly not at all what I was expecting when I picked up on all the “he’s probably going to die” vibes the past few issues. Big points for creativity there.
Skybound/Image Comics
Aside from that immense gut-punch of a twist, the rest of the issue is what we’ve come to expect from Johnson’s bold and franchise redefining take on the Robots in Disguise, with intensely great and dynamic action and tense, palpable danger and drama with characters that feel just as real. The book is really not afraid to put the characters through the wringer, emotionally and physically, with both sides coming out of the conclusion here with fairly comparable wins and losses. The real important thing this issue is the aforementioned character moment for Sparkplug, but Carly and Cliffjumper also get quite a lot to do too, furthering that fun subversion of the “witwicky and bumblebee” dynamic by fleshing them out more as a duo. We end this issue on the Autobots’ first clear cut win, gaining control back of their headquarters, which will hopefully mean a moment to breath next issue. The constant action has been incredible, but after a couple straight issues of knock-down, drag-out, brutal brawls, a slightly less intense issue would certainly be warranted.
Skybound/Image Comics
Johnson and Spicer of course kill it with the art once again, and really how couldn’t they? I’ve gone on and on about how vibrant and energetic their work together is, so I don’t think I need to draw any specific attention to it again… but I will say the small details like Starscream throwing up devil horns, or the fact that “YOU GOT THE TOUCH” is used as an actual sound effect to emphasize Prime’s coolness, just really made me smile.
I think this is probably the most absolutely bonkers issue of Transformers I’ve read in a very, very long time. I gotta admit, I really didn’t have “Spike’s dad shlorphs himself into the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to give Optimus a power boost” on my bingo card for this one. That being said, it serves as a powerful and poignant issue even with the… surprise of that particular idea (that’s a compliment). I think it finally brings things together well, and I’m shocked at how well we’ve managed to get this many twists and turns in only six issues of comics, that pacing is something else. For an arc finale, it was a smash hit, and I think we’ve firmly established that this series has become something special.
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