[cover] Series: War Within Volume Two: The Dark Ages
Issue Number: 5 of 6
Cover Date: February 2004
Published by: Dreamwave Productions

Writer: Simon Furman
Pencils: Andrew Wildman
Inks: Erik Sander, Rob Armstrong
Colours: Alan Wang, Ramil Runga
Letters: Ben Lee
Cover: Don Figueroa

Summary: The Fallen toys with Grimlock for a while, then knocks him off-line. He sends Bludgeon’s posse to get ‘the third’ while he takes care of ‘the fourth’ himself. As they leave, Shockwave’s optic re-ignites.

The Autobots are busy repairing Skids (who somehow survived being crushed by Trypticon last issue), when Swoop reports that Grimlock, Shockwave and Jetfire have all disappeared. As Prowl is analyzing the situation, an intruder alert comes in from Level Zero. Jazz, Mirage and Sunstreaker respond, but the intruder (who just happens to be the Fallen) wipes the floor with them. The Fallen frees Blitzwing (‘the fourth’) from Cell D-43, basically laughs off the Autobot attempts to stop him, then returns to his base.

The Protectobots are discussing the problems they had when they last used Defensor, but are interrupted by Bludgeon’s team. They kick the tar out of the Protectobots, prompting Groove to suggest they combine. Hot Spot can’t give the order, however, and the Chaos Trinity wins the day. They take Hot Spot, ‘the third’, to the Fallen.

In the Well of All Sparks, with his four prisoners strapped to tables, the Fallen prepares to break the seal of Primus.

Characters Featured: Grimlock, The Fallen, Bludgeon, Mindwipe, Bugly, Jetfire, Prowl, Ratchet, Hound, Trailbreaker, Skids, Sideswipe, Swoop, Sludge (???), Jazz, Sunstreaker, Mirage, Hot Spot, First Aid, Blades, Groove, Streetwise, Blitzwing, Gears, Bumblebee

Errors: “Groove, moove!”? WTF? I don’t know if that’s a typo or the letterer’s idea of a joke…

I thought Trypticon was heading for Shockwave’s position last issue…what became of that?

When Swoop is talking to Prowl over the comm, Andy forgot to draw his left wing.

Blitzwing was already a Triple-Changer in Volume 1; why are the Autobots so scared of him now?

The bloody issue was released a month late.

Review: As I expected, this was a rush-job. Way too much happened, and though it didn’t become a confusing mess, it was dangerously close. As it is, some bits that should have been given more panel time were instead glossed over. In a perfect world, the events in this issue would have filled two issues.

The art in this issue was extremely poor, and not just the inks, either. Quite a bit of Andy’s work was sub-par and many panels were extremely sloppy. The inking doesn’t help, but even a perfect inker couldn’t have saved some of this stuff. Luckily, the art still manages to tell the story; it just doesn’t do it in an aesthetically pleasing way. Wildman can do much better, and frankly I expected better.

I’m kinda disappointed about how easily the Fallen was able to beat…well, pretty much everyone in this issue. He knocks Grimlock off-line with a touch. He shrugs off mass fire from Jazz, Sunstreaker and Mirage. He melts their weapons with a thought. He reduces Sunstreaker to a sputtering, sparking cripple with a sidelong glance. If he can do that, why the bloody hell did he need the Chaos Trinity and all of this deception to attain his goals? He could have walked into the Autobot, LSC and Protectobot HQs, grabbed his targets, and carried them off to the Well of All Sparks on his own, no? I’d rather have seen him treated as a normal, albeit extremely powerful, Transformer, but instead he becomes an unbeatable master of war…kinda sucks the fun out of it, in my opinion.

Blitzwing’s design looks terrible, and he’s an idiot for blindly following the giant flaming monster with the aura of evil surrounding him.

I find it hard to believe that Skids was repaired so quickly, to be honest. He was jumped on by a guy five times the size of Devastator. That’s not the sort of thing you could fix up with a little bodywork and a new coat of paint…Equally hard to believe is the way that Hot Spot seemingly went without a fight after Bludgeon’s boys took down his team.

Basically, this is a typical Furman setup issue (think of Marvel UK#201, the third part of Time Wars, if you want another example). Things happen for the sake of moving the plot along, whether or not they make any sense. Combined with the cringe-worthy art, this is not an issue Dreamwave should be proud of. Both Andy and Simon can do better, and they should be a bit ashamed of themselves for this one; especially after the issue was released a month late. With that much time, you’d think they could have come up with something better. In the end I wouldn’t categorize this issue as bad, but it’s not particularly good either.

Story: 6/10
Dialogue: 8/10
Art: 5.5/10
Overall: 6.5/10

review by Warcry