THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

56 "Back from the Dead"
57 "The Resurrection Gambit"
58 "All the Familiar Faces"
59 "Skin Deep"
60 "Yesterday's Heroes"
61 "Primal Scream"
62 "Bird of Prey"

Marvel US book 11 of 14: Primal Scream

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Reprinting: US #56-62
Writer: Simon Furman
Pencils: Jose Delbo [#56-60], Geoff Senior [#61-62]
Inks: Dave Hunt [#56-60], Geoff Senior [#61-62]
Colours: Nel Yomtov

The seven issues kicking off Furman's US run, comprising the return of Megatron arc, the awakening of Primus and the start of the Matrix Quest.

The Stories:

The initial arc isn't as bad as I remember it being. It's not great, but it has a few pluses. Furman's scripting feels an awful lot like Budiansky, though, and there are some pretty big leaps of logic in here. Ratchet's really the star of the story, and he's generally quite engaging, though some of his stupidity, like buying the Sportscar Patrol's story, beggars belief. Megatron, given the supposed impact of his return, is rather subdued, though at least the fight with Grimlock, Jazz and Bumblebee gives him some credit. The weakest parts of the story are those based on Earth, which seem to take the direction they do in order to allow Megatron's plot to work - would Prime take 95% of the Ark's crew to deal with four Micromasters? Whisper's taunting about ricochets also falls flat, as most Transformers use laser-based weaponry... Many claim this is a decent script ruined by Delbo's art, which isn't really fair. The storyline's not much better than mediocre, to be fair, even if it's a sharp rise in quality over the ten or so preceding US issues, and Delbo's art, while hardly eye candy, isn't utterly repulsive. While he still has a few crazy moments, especially during action scenes, he pulls some of the static stuff off well, and I'm quite fond of his chunky Micromasters. Dave Hunt's inks seem to help him a little, but Nel Yomtov once again shows a lack of skill in the colouring department. Despite the tiny page count for some of the parts [as little as 16 pages for some chapters, which is why there are seven rather than six issues reprinted in this tome...], the story feels rather overlong, but there are worst reads out there. There's a fair amount of intrigue early on, but on re-reading Megatron's plan is based on a number of bizarre reactions from his opposite number, which - wouldn't you guess - all happen...

The next two parts form a rough arc, "Yesterday's Heroes" and "Primal Scream". The former is a little melodramatic, dealing with the repercussions of Ratchet's death, and the rise of the three new Pretenders as heroes on Cybertron. This in itself feels a little off, as it seems Prime is still freshly grieving the medic's apparent end, and yet Grimlock & co. have had time to establish themselves as a major thorn in the Decepticons' side. The whole responsibility-of-the-leader thing feels very old and tired. It's also very transparent - while I wouldn't expect Prime to walk out on the Autobots or anything, he only spends a short amount of time contemplating what to do. Delbo's art is more inclined to the "crazy" side of his resumee this time round, with the design of the Guardian V and the generic Autobot workers particularly poor, not to mention the mad giant Micromaster vehicles at the start. The way the Mayhems just run into Autobase is also a bit convenient...

The art alone of "Primal Scream" must have been like a hand-grenade to the US reader in the day. For the first time since, oh, Herb Trimpe at least, there's a really capable artist on the title in Geoff Senior. And Geoff really pulls out some great stuff here, lots of big chunky geometric art. Primus' chamber is superly illustrated, and the detailing on The Keeper, and a glorious rendition of Unicron at the end. The stand-out sequence aestehtics-wise, though, is the brief segment in the Decepticon base, which looks glorious. Yomtov's primary colours actually work well with many of the scenes. Sadly, though, the script's rather mediocre - a retelling of the Transformers origin [originally told in UK #150] followed by a by-the-numbers battle between the Classic Pretenders & Rescue Patrol, and the Mayhems.

Next up, and last up, is "Bird of Prey", starting off the Matrix Quest. Yes, I know. The first part establishes a bit of back story for the quest [little teams of Autobots sent off in different directions to look for the Matrix, which was blasted into space the last time Optimus died], before descending into a Maltese Falcon story. Thankfully, Geoff Senior's still on the art chores, carrying the story half-way, with Nightbeat to carry the other half. Nightbeat had already made a not-inconsiderable impact in the UK book, a film noir-style detective, complete with incompetent sidekicks Siren and Hosehead, and Furman really writes the character well, giving him enough charisma to carry the script. This lends a smooth style to a generic "alien artifact" storyline, which probably comes out as the best story of the collection. Oh, and there's a great last page, setting up the villain for the Matrix Quest storyline.

The Presentation:

There's another far-too-obviously-Photoshopped cover from Wildman, though at least it bears some relation to the contents. There's also a foreword from Furman [shock bloody horror] discussing the move to the US title, and one from Senior covering much the same, a brief profile section [including Galvatron, who isn't in this collection - nice one lads!], sketches for the cover, the usual poorly-mounted cover gallery [though they're all ugly, so this is a good call] and half the script for #56. Half the script? What, was there a paper shortage? Is charging £14.99 for the thing not enough? We're all buying "Matrix Quest" anyway, what with "Primal Scream" having half the Matrix Quest storyline in it...

The Verdict:

Pretty poor, to be honest. A mediocre collection of below-par writing on the whole. The main arc is overlong, even with the short page counts, and truly vital plot advancements are few and far between if you're mainly interested in something to fill you in for the last two books of the series [y'know, the ones that came out first]. Delbo's art dominates the book, and Furman's scripting isn't sharp enough to compensate for the most part. Not worth the hefty cover price for some nice characterisation for Nightbeat. Titan drop the ball to a fair extent on making this a nice collection on top of the stories' weaknesses, so if you have the original issues, stick with 'em.

 
Reviewed by Cliffjumper

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