Hey all, Crooker here once again! Coming at ya with issue #27 of Skybound’s Transformers, the second issue written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Dan Mora! Still sounds so surreal hearing that, doesn’t it? My word, what an issue. Soooo much to say, so little time, so let’s not waste any, eh?
Where to begin… how about the big one? AUTOBOT THUNDERCRACKER! Yes, he’s done it folks, Kirkman has (seemingly) finally pulled that trigger and made it official, Thundercracker is an Autobot now! While my spider-sense for dramatic storytelling is blaring off the charts telling me there’s more going on here than what meets the eye (it’s Kirkman, I gotta be suspicious of a character being happy with no strings attached), even as a gesture likely to be undone down the road, it’s a fantastic visual to see realized. Ol’ Crackhead’s tendency to pull away from the Decepticons goes all the way back to the original Bob Budiansky character profile written in the ’80s, but it was the IDW version officially defecting and going unaligned that really cemented the desire to see him fully flip over to the good guys. It’s also a concept highly reminiscent of Starscream’s character arc from the 2000s Transformers: Armada anime, another fan favorite take on a Seeker swapping sides. This is all just to say, it’s long, LONG overdue to see something like this. You’d think this kinda stuff would be more common in Transformers, but it really isn’t, especially for well established A-Listers like this. I… genuinely hope it sticks! It won’t, but prove me wrong! Commit and find out!
Image/Skybound
We also get the frankly hilarious doubling down on Bumblebee being definitely dead, for real, we mean it this time. It’s a fairly common hope that whoever took over from DWJ would bring the little yellow guy back right away – no such dice from ol’ Kirkman. Lots of fantastic scenes in this issue honestly, from the absolutely stunningly written and drawn sequence of Optimus and Thundercracker discussing their personal philosophies, the immensely high-tension confrontation between Ultra Magnus and G.I. Joe‘s General Flagg, Spike and Carly sharing a tender moment… so much! It’s hard to pick out key stuff to talk about without going too into detail to save the good bits for you to check out yourself. Bulkhead’s official debut too! Gaaaaah there’s so much happening, I can’t talk about it all! READ IT!
Of course, Dan Mora’s artwork is breathtaking here, as expected. So many gorgeously detailed shots, full of life and charisma. It was obvious that his first issue had a mild bit of growing pains as he got used to drawing in the Transformers signature blocky design philosophy, their “house style” as it were, but that’s all gone by now. This is some of the best art Transformers has ever had, and probably ever WILL have. What can you really say about Mora that everybody else hasn’t, y’know? He brings such a deep understanding of comics as a visual medium, as a LANGUAGE, with him, like Johnson and Corona before him.
Transformers #27 is a knockout on top of a home run on top of a full house. There’s so much cool stuff happening so fast, so many new character introductions, changes in allegiances, plot beats advancing… I didn’t even mention the inclusion of a G1-ified design for Slipstream! Dude, SLIPSTREAM! There is so much care and attention being put into making this book engaging, it’s truly giving it 120% and more. This is the exact creative shake up the book needed to stay healthy long term, so many new and exciting ideas. BUY IT!
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