Robots In Disguise #1 is a very good comic book. Yes the story is not as strong as More Than Meets The Eye #1, but it's still leagues beyond anything Mike Costa has ever written or will ever write. There's an '80s Budiansky/Furman feel to the title's focus on characters
not from the core US G1 cartoon cast - Needlenose, Horri-Bull, Broadside, Ratbat and Metalhawk all get speaking roles, while Soundwave, Shockwave, Bombshell et al are eerily-silent window dressing. (On page nine, I chuckled at the fact that superfluous Decepticons stand around on platforms like they're on toy collection shelves.) Ratbat doesn't do too much this issue other than use reverse psychology, but we know he has a plan. Back with the Autobots, Regular IDW readers will recognise Prowl's partner in ruthlessness and their interaction does an amusing job of lampshading and retconning Costa's limp characterisation of everyone's favourite love-to-hate Autobot police car. This is not a decompressed comic - stuff actually happens, but it's still clearly building up to something in the next issues. It feels
a lot like Marvel US #76 - Optimus Prime is gone, the Autobots and Decepticons are in a precarious truce of sorts, Cybertron is angry, a Decepticon Headmaster Junior is picking fights and Prowl is trying (and failing) to control everything. (Being like #76 is a
good thing - those final five issues of the US Marvel comic are amongst the best Transformers issues ever produced.)
Andrew Griffith's art is fantastic - it's clear and crisp, and characters are identifiably themselves. Artwise, this title is set to be the stronger of the two ongoings since Alex Milne is taking over art duties on More Than Meets The Eye and his Transformers tend to look like constipated Gundam mecha (see his
cover for #2 of MTMTE where it looks like he's trying to crap on Rollout). The only thing I'm pissed off about regarding the art in RID is that in the issue immediately before this one (The Death Of Optimus Prime), Sideswipe was in his G2 colours (and with his trademark bandolier of bullets.) They've already gone back to Sideswipe's Geewun colours, which is disappointing, but not Griffith's fault. Sadly IDW editorial is as strong as ever - there's already a typo by page 8 ("Autobot's" should be "Autobots'") and the preview for next issue reads "CYVBERTRON WILL RISE AGAIN!"
So now with two main ongoings per month and Autocracy in the gaps we're pretty much back to weekly G1 Transformers comics. It feels like the eighties again.
Originally Posted by Sky Shadow
Robots In Disguise #1 is a very good comic book. Yes the story is not as strong as More Than Meets The Eye #1, but it's still leagues beyond anything Mike Costa has ever written or will ever write. There's an '80s Budiansky/Furman feel to the title's focus on characters not from the core US G1 cartoon cast - Needlenose, Horri-Bull, Broadside, Ratbat and Metalhawk all get speaking roles, while Soundwave, Shockwave, Bombshell et al are eerily-silent window dressing. (On page nine, I chuckled at the fact that superfluous Decepticons stand around on platforms like they're on toy collection shelves.) Ratbat doesn't do too much this issue other than use reverse psychology, but we know he has a plan. Back with the Autobots, Regular IDW readers will recognise Prowl's partner in ruthlessness and their interaction does an amusing job of lampshading and retconning Costa's limp characterisation of everyone's favourite love-to-hate Autobot police car. This is not a decompressed comic - stuff actually happens, but it's still clearly building up to something in the next issues. It feels a lot like Marvel US #76 - Optimus Prime is gone, the Autobots and Decepticons are in a precarious truce of sorts, Cybertron is angry, a Decepticon Headmaster Junior is picking fights and Prowl is trying (and failing) to control everything. (Being like #76 is a good thing - those final five issues of the US Marvel comic are amongst the best Transformers issues ever produced.)
Reply With Quote