Advance Review: Transformers #3
My initial feeling remains from the first two issue that Daniel Warren Johnson’s new series is best suited for long-time Transformers readers. It’s a new series (and franchise) for me which I’m struggled to consistently keep up with which bot was which, aside from Optimus Prime. Johnson’s story hasn’t yet helped to fill in gaps or establish why new readers should be fully invested — it all feels like traditional Transformers fare for diehard fans. I’ve been a bit tepid in my embrace of the series so far because of that, but I feel like I’m starting to slowly come around to the strength of the series on its own outside of the decades of lore its paying homage to.
Transformers #3 offers some really great moments, especially the heartfelt sequences featuring Optimus and Spike in the dramatic and climactic final scenes of the book. I’m not fully invested in either of the two characters or their relationship, but Johnson was still able to make me feel the intended level of emotion he was packing into these specific panels. It all stems from an epic battle between Optimus and Skywarp, which kicks off with one heck of a two-page spread that Johnson and Mike Spicer absolutely NAIL. Mind-blowingly awesome artwork here. I don’t know how I feel about the entire look of their fight though, Johnson again reverts back to bots wrestling as if they were part of a WWE main event. Would bots really be engaging in suplexes? I’m not so sure.
The decisions of the adult humans in this story make me really sad and scared for what could happen in our own world. They jump to conclusions, which we’re meant to view as short-sighted and made in-haste, though I can imagine they might be defended by some/many given the circumstances. There’s some hope that we’ll start to see them come around to the help/hope the Autobots offer, but I guess time will tell. All I can say is that right now, I’m not sad to see humanity losing.
Johnson’s art is hit or miss for me. On one hand I think it's a beautiful homage to the classic Transformers with the rough-around-the-edges feel to it, but it can work against itself during panels featuring close-up action shots. There are times when I’m not entirely sure what’s happening — who’s punching who, who just got knocked out, etc. Spicer’s colors are a sight to behold though. They are consistently popping off the page and really complimenting the tone of the story. Even though I’m new to it all, this is exactly the color palette I’d expect a Transformers comic and it looks so good.
Johnson continues to raise the stakes for this new Transformers series and he’s clearly showing his ability to write action sequences, but he’ll need to keep winning me over to convince me there’s more to this new series than just robots training for WrestleMania.
Rating: 7/10
