I thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps not as much as others, but it certainly was good. At any rate I have high hopes for this series.
First and foremost it was very well executed. A wonderfully dark, menacing, "clinical" tale enhanced by some pretty nifty artwork; the emotions of the characters were remarkably conveyed while the setting personified the mood of the piece. It covered a broad range of ideas and styles. Furthermore the pacing was spot on.
I agree with Zisteau in regards to
that scene. A touch clichéd but delivered rather well. However...
SPOILER! (select to read)Is that the bloody matrix! For God's sake no...
Prime came across as a believable, militaristic commander. The situation on earth didn't prompt him to say something on the lines of "I must protect the rights of all sentient beings- evil will not prevail”. It was certainly refreshing to see a non- boy scout, "Peter Perfect" Prime. He's got his troubles{Don't we all}, mental anguish, doubts etc but doesn’t go all Rodimus on us.
The actual layout of the piece was extremely well thought out. The contrast of the diverse flashbacks, Technobot and Prime scenes adds to the story, giving the “content” a more sprawling, widespread feel as opposed to the more straight down the line “Infiltration”
The big action sequence, despite being somewhat of a cliché, was also excellently delivered; very exhilarating and quite cinematic ala Infiltration.
In terms of Transformers “Stormbringer” seemed to be slightly text heavy. That may put some readers off but I for one, welcome it. The Sci-fi “mumbo jumbo” was convincing and handled appropriately, never really going overboard.
More importantly the world of the Transformers was very much believable. The scene in which the scientists came together (Albeit in holographic form) to discuss Thunderwing’s findings, regardless of their respective faction, is a prime example of this. I’m glad to see a somewhat more diplomatic, sensible approach.
The story and artwork was slightly let down by some dodgy dialogue. The OTT dialogue is very much Simon’s style. It’s what I’ve come to expect and for the most part suits the world of Transformers. No problems there. The sheer dramatic delivery is what enables Simon to incorporate those superb and furthermore memorable OTT lines. (Re: Megs’ speech in Infiltration #6)
However some of the dialogue seemed very poor indeed; at times it was almost harking back to the “Indeed Scattershot, leader of the Autobot group know as the Technobots” Marvel days. Having said that there were some nice pieces of dialogue. As I've said before, the “scientific mumbo jumbo” was handled rather well. The ending was grim, intriguing and somewhat thrilling. The best “big reveal” ending so far.
And now for the little things that brought a smile to my face:
Searchlight wasn’t roped in with the rest of the Throttlebots and moreover treated as an individual.
Pincher! I really didn’t expect my favourite scorpion to be it (Yeah that includes Scorponok)
Omega didn’t receive the DW “super size” treatment
And now for the nitpicks:
SPOILER! (select to read)The Matrix (Which could be more than a little “niggle” depending on how Simon utilises it and how he portrays it…)
“Slag this, slag that…”
Overall it was a great opening issue; it introduced us to the series, giving us a fair amount of background but withholding enough to keep the interest up. That aside, it was a fine issue in it’s own right though I still think the TPB will be the more favourable format.
Corking stuff…