THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Beast Wars: The Gathering #2 (of 4)
Reviewed by Bombshell

Well, the high from the first issue has passed. Unfortunately, that means that the book has to live or die due to the its own strengths. And that’s where reviewing this issue becomes complicated. On the one hand, it’s not like it did a bad job. In moving the plot along and setting up what needs to happen, it works. We get from point A to point B without any real problems.

It’s that basic adherence to the plot where I think the issue fails. What basically happens is that Razorbeast and co. head out to do something. Magmatron finds and tries to stop them. Razorbeast and co. stop him and both groups set up for the next issue. Now, it’s all well that good that this needs to happen. But can someone explain to me why it needed to take 22 pages? There’s a lot about this issue that could have been done in half the page, while covering events that happen in the next issue at the same time.

And there’s another problem I have with this issue: the random shoehorning in of characters for no reason. In the last issue, we got a dramatic reveal of a bunch of characters with the idea that they would be used for some reason. That reason, it seems, is to provide fanboy pandering, as almost all of them get no real characterization whatsoever (and what’s worse, we get some that never showed up in the last issue).

The art, like in the last issue, remains the highlight. I particularly find it amusing to find that Drill Bit and Spittor, who got damaged last issue, are still damaged. That’s a touch of realism I didn’t expect.

It’s hard for me to say that I liked this issue, because I didn’t. And I can’t say that I didn’t like it, because I didn’t. I suppose you could say that this issue is like McDonald’s fast food: it’s good filler, but sooner or later you’re hungry again.


Drill Bit and Spittor still have the damage they sustained during the previous issue. The imprint of Rampage can be seen near the spot where the Transwarp Cruiser crash (as seen in “Optimal Situation”).