Is it me or does Daniel Warren Johnson’s TRANSFORMERS series keep getting better with each new issue? It took a bit for me to get situated in this new world but after the emotional weight of the previous issue, I was full bought into the new story and Optimus Prime’s place in it. With this week’s issue, Johnson shifts the tone from emotional gut punches to an all-out battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons as we start to understand the series’ larger conflict coming into focus. The issue was perfectly paced from the first page up until the last, with a steady stream of stakes being raised without ever feeling like things were rushed. That doesn’t mean I didn’t wish we got to see more (that just speaks to the awesome story Johnson is telling), but I definitely never felt cheated.

Starscream may be the best antagonist in comics right now. There. I said it. The current Decepticon leader has been absolutely ruthless in his power grab with Megatron currently off the board (though he’s no longer MIA if you’ve been following along with other Energon Universe titles) and he’s been terrorizing the Autobots and humans alike every chance he gets. I appreciate that Johnson has been unforgiving in making him pure evil. With few exceptions, it’s felt like today’s writers seem to give every villain some amount of humor to keep things from getting too dark, but not so here. Starscream hasn’t been shown as a bumbling idiot or a sarcastic foil. He’s just bad. That’s it. A perfect villain. And it works even better when he’s juxtaposed against the way Johnson has been writing Optimus.

In addition to an awesome script, Johnsons’ artwork and Mike Spicer’s colors may have had their best issue yet. Who knew robots could express so many emotions? Yet Johnson and Spicer continuously make us feel all the feels with their visuals. Optimus Prime’s gravitas oozed off the page as he brought Arcee forward to be brought back to life before he’d even think of getting his own wounds healed and I felt his fear when Carly was blown off the perch and nearly fell to her death. It didn’t stop at emotions, the action scenes were palpable too. You could feel the intensity of the battle and felt like you were right there in the moment. And holy crap, Optimus Prime’s new weapon in use is INSANE.

This has quickly become one of my favorite current ongoing series and this issue only added to my wild excitement.

Rating: 9/10