REVIEW: TRANSFORMERS #4
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Story & Art: Daniel Warren Johnson | Colors: Mike Spicer | Lettering: Rus Wooten | Cover Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson | Publisher: Skybound / Image Comics
Solicitation: When the Decepticons attack the Autobots at their weakest moment, an unlikely new hero joins the battle! With human and Transformer robots lives at stake, can Optimus Prime unlock the true power behind the Matrix of Leadership to save them both?
Thoughts: TRANSFORMERS is a comic book that I never thought I would be this excited to be reading as an adult. We’re four issues into this series and each issue has been packed with more energy, action, heart, and violence than I ever thought we would get out of TRANSFORMERS. I am very excited that this comic exists in this format with these wonderful people working on it.
“Chris, I haven’t picked up an issue yet. Why should I?”
Valid question random person reading this review, and I can say each issue has been more about the emotional and personalities of these characters – humans, Autobots, and Decepticons – than anything else. The humans are scared of these metal monsters, and it isn’t until this issue where we see a few of the humans realize that not all of these giants are out to squish them. The Autobots aren’t just heroic with no direction. Prime is a very noble leader, but he has soldiers under him that are questioning his tactics in order to protect the humans over trying to heal himself and rebuild the Autobots who are still ‘offline’. The Decepticons are just evil and ruthless at every turn, and not in a cartoony ‘bad guy’ way. They are killing humans left and right just to do it.
As a long time fan of these characters, I see some familiar traits in the Transformers we’ve been introduced to, but I also see how they’re different and that’s what is drawing more into this book – those subtle alterations that breathe new life into them. You don’t need to have a history with these characters, though. Daniel Warren Johnson’s approach to this series is every issue is someone’s first and you get those quick nods and name drops every issue to help every new reader along. Johnson’s art is amazing every panel. There’s a grit to it that I just love.
If you haven’t tried out this series, pick up this issue. You’re going to be asking some questions about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ the Transformers are on Earth, but see what this issue does for you. If you’re adventurous – grab all four if you’re local shop has them. I think this series needs to be on everyone’s pull list ASAP.
