Hey all, and welcome back to my reviews for Void Rivals. This is issue #20 of the Energon Universe ongoing penned by Robert Kirkman, and introducing new lead artist Conor Hughes! Very cool, and very cool issue. Suppose I should get right to it then, eh?
This is, of course, following up on last issue. We have Solila vs. Darak (kind of) in Darak’s dad’s throne room (I know he has a name, it has thus far not been said often enough that it sticks with me, quite honestly, and I think it’s funnier not to check), with not much of a fight on Darak’s end. But well, as he says himself, “look at her!” But we do get a pretty well done action scene with some cool choreography and use of Solila’s new powers, phasing in and out of the ground to catch people off guard. It’s a cool beat to open the book on, and it with the inter-spliced conversation going on takes up roughly half the book. It only stops because Darak rightfully points out that she and his dad could just chill the hell out and talk like normal people, which leaves us to find out what they’re gonna talk about next time.
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Other than that, we get a brief sequence of Skuxxoid that invites further mystery, and a page dedicated to the Junkions. Not a lot, but it pushes some things along just fine. The other chunk of the issue pertains to the leader of the Zertonians communing with Zerta Trion directly, and thus declares that Unity on the Sacred Ring must come! Dramatic, but I do wonder why it still feels so… sinister. Hmm. This, along with how the throne room scene concludes, feels like we might finally see this mythic “Goliant” fella sooner rather than later. Excited to see that, honestly! Who doesn’t love a giant bad guy? I’m a Transformers fan, that’s like one of our things.
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On the art side of things, it’s cool to experience what Conor Hughes brings to the table. I admit I was not familiar with his work, but his style is very instantly appealing. His line work here is reminiscent of Felici’s, which helps in a smooth transition of visual continuity, but a degree more rounded and cartoonish in that very exclusively “comic book-y” way that I do tend to love. His expressions are fantastic too, and the action beats land very well, as I went into briefly above. No Transformers in this issue though, so I’m very curious to see how he’ll draw them in action. They were a bit of a weak spot for Felici’s art in my opinion, so I’m curious to see how Hughes does his own spin and if I like it a bit more.
Void Rivals #20 is quite fun, I’d say. It’s another one of those “yep, that was a good entry in a longer running story not finished yet” kinds of issues that one just sort of has to expect from this book by now. It’s Kirkman’s style, and it works. We get enough lore and character moments to carry the story along at a brisk and fun pace, and it doesn’t feel like any panel time is wasted. Good, efficient comic work. With a new main artist that’s made a strong debut, and moments that feel like satisfying turning points in the narrative, yeah, I’d say this one was firmly solid.
Oh, also, a friend of mine showed me G.I. Joe: The Movie, so now I know what the whole deal with the Cobra-La guys in this book are. But I’m NOT gonna tell you.
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