In Void Rivals #18, done by our usual team of Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici, things are heating up somewhat parallel to the concurrent arcs of Transformers and G.I. Joe. Let’s take a look-see, y’see?
This is another lore-dense issue, much like last time. One of those “best read in a trade” that feels like the pacing would be more tight if things followed up on this right away. Not a bad thing really, just an observation. However, we do get a very satisfying amount of stuff this time. The rocky relationship between Darak and his father that starts to build very quickly crumbles by the end, but the issue does a good job of showing how it was on pretty shaky ground to begin with. It’s obvious that Darak’s smarm is only barely tolerated, so it’s no wonder his dear ol’ dad goes ballistic at the end. Something to be said there about messy intentions and loved ones in this, our current messy year of 2025. The other side to this political intrigue comes when Darak visits his ally Elander in lockup, offering a more morally sound point of view, but at the cost of waving off the very real threat at the root of the issue (If you’ve forgotten, the issue being that unification of the two warring factions means total annihilation. That ol’ chestnut). So, it’s work toward the common good at the cost of all, or allow fascism to prosper in the name of safety.
But are we ever truly safe under the claws of a regime meant to divide us? Lot to think about, and these themes are the main ones coloring the run thus far.
Image/Skybound
The B-plot of this issue is Solila gaining what I can only call “the power of god.” A Transformer computer god, but a god nonetheless. Mecha nerd that I am, I don’t think something like this has specifically happened in any Transformers stories that I’ve been exposed to, but hey, I’m no Chris McFeely. So this feels to me like a unique new idea, one of our (ostensibly) human leads becoming one with their planet in a very Swamp Thing kind of way… but with more metal and gears and wires and the like. It’s pretty cool! And of course, the reunion of our two heroes is great, even if it immediately goes bad because of a screaming orange dictator yelling about murdering people he just met. (Hey, wait a minute…) Overall, plot and characterization was great here, and we even got some callbacks to the current status quo of the Transformers ongoing (at least the status quo as far as Hot Rod knows, which is what Elita-1 was doing about a story arc or two ago).
Image/Skybound
Lorenzo’s art has, I think, improved a lot by now and it shows here. At first it felt like he maybe wasn’t comfortable with drawing a lot of the Transformers Season 3 robot designs compared to the more humanoid (or alien) characters, Hot Rod especially taking a little while before his proportions settled into something that looks comfortable for him to draw. I’m happy for that though, because it’s well documented here that the punk is my favorite ‘bot, so it’s nice to see the evolution of his look in particular. The standard praise applies otherwise, great lighting and atmosphere and fantastic expressions all around.
Image/Skybound
Another solid issue of Void Rivals. I really liked how this one brought a lot of themes back to the forefront and examined them in a subtle way, not beating your head with them but still being talked about enough that you can pick up on them if they slipped your mind. That’s just what we in the ‘biz call “good writing.”
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