THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CURRENT TRANSFORMERS COMICS FROM IDW PUBLISHING

Transformers Nefarious #6
Reviewed by Blackjack

”And we are left wondering how all this could have happened. And if it could happen again.”

A complete disaster and a joke. Still, finally Nefarious has come to an end, self-destructing all the way. The whole plot point about the Initiative-controlled Transformers falls flat and only serves to confuse people trying to identify the Transformers with the eye-searing art. People introduced like Knock Out and Dune Runner turn out to be pointless at the end, while Carter Newell is another tired-out generic power-hungry villain. There are still too many unanswered questions, like how Soundwave could let Ravage’s body be appropriated by the Initiative without his knowledge, or how the Initiative could get so many Transformers without NEST or Sector Seven knowing about it. The inclusion of an age-old vendetta between Carter and the randomly-inserted Fortress is a weak attempt to place some backstory for Nefarious. The fake AllSpark plot is so much worse than Reign of Starscream’s take on it.

It’s still dull, and the colourist had completely given up on the artist, randomly miscolouring everybody. Carlos Magno has also given up, it seems, since most of the Transformers here are lousily drawn. It’s a real pain to try and identify everyone based on a toy design. With Nel Yomtov, at least the artists draw the Transformers close enough to the character models or the toys. Here? Magno goes wild, randomly mutilating how the toy-Transformers look to turn them into unrecognizable blobs. Furman’s scripting includes some hack-off lines poached from his earlier works. Action scenes are dull and stunted. The resolution is hacked-out as well, to have Fortress randomly taking the fake AllSpark into space and blowing himself up. The only good thing about this issue is that Nefarious is finally over, and since the next Movieverse comic is going to be Sector Seven, which, if previews are true, would be following up on stuff before the first movie instead of Nefarious. It's a good thing that this wouldn't be followed up on...


Reedman was last seen flash-frozen and killed by NEST in Tales of the Fallen #5, but he appears alive and well this issue and is instrumental in wounding Carter. Perhaps Ravage has multiple Reed-men inside him?

Buzzsaw has gained a helicopter alternate mode. While it might be counted as an error by some, there is nothing to say that he hadn’t had that alternate mode but just haven’t used it. In any case, Movie-verse Transformers could immediately change their alternate modes.

It seems that the circular Cerebro-esque room with lots of computer screens is in Soundwave’s mind. That’s the only plausible explanation, unless he jumps from said room into the battlefield in the course of minutes.

Fortress and Ransack are confirmed to be two of the Fallen’s Seekers, left to search for the Tomb of the Primes.


Ratchet is always yellowish-brown for the entire issue, instead of his normal neon green hue.

On the splash page, Sideswipe and Mudflap seem to be attacking their own allies. Optimus’ sword is pure gray instead of orange, Mudflap is very bright orange.

And that's only the show guys. The toy-based guys? No such luck. Only Brawn and Skystalker are anywhere close to being coloured correctly. Blazemaster is entirely blue and has an insectoid lower body for some reason (different from his appearance last issue). He'll retain this for the remainder of the issue. What I think is Armorhide (it could be Long Haul or Beachcomber or friggin' Bonecrusher for all I know) is block-coloured green. And near the center of the page there is this purple-and-red guy who seems to be either Depthcharge or Sonar, but in either case he’s still miscoloured. And too tiny to be a warship. Who I initially identified as Nightbeat (now corrected) is apparently Smokescreen, block-coloured blue. In any case, he disappears soon after. Tankor is missing his face as well.

And, uh, Smokescreen is supposed to be dead, blasted to smithereens by Starscream in Reign of Starscream #2 on Mars. But I guess with the new toy out nobody told Carlos Magno that.

On page nine, Knock Out’s palette is messed up, while Dune Runner is an ugly shade of bright lime green. Also on page nine, the ‘s on ‘Bumblebee’s’ is typed at a lower line than the Bumblebee.

On page thirteen, both Knock Out and Dune Runner’s robot modes are messed up again, despite the exact same artist drawing their previous appearances.

What used to be Detour/Dead End with a hook last issue has become an indecipherable blob, and is coloured green. Thrust and the shit-ugly Mindwipe switch colour palettes, Mindwipe becoming red and Thrust becoming gray, although it is still better than last issue, in which the two are block-coloured gray.

Fortress couldn’t decide whether his primary colour is brown or black. The number and arrangement of eyes on his face changes from panel to panel as well. Not that I care much, he's so bloody ugly.

On the last page, Skids is coloured blue while Mudflap is green. And Ironhide has a faceplate.

Not so much of a goof as an oversight, but Lennox disappears for the entire issue. Bumblebee, too- he only appears at one panel at the very end.


Sideswipe: “And now- with the Autobots in the mix- there’s <unh> no way to punch through!”
Skids: “But, hey, the ‘Cons are fair game!”
Mudflap: “That’s what I like about you, Skids. The tank’s always half full!”

Ironhide: “Finesse, eh? C’mon, Ratchet—let’s finesse them all the way back into stasis!”

Optimus Prime: “Surrender the AllSpark to me – or I will take it by force!”

Carter: “Long ago, I vowed to take back the Initiative, to rid the world of this creeping, clandestine invasion. And to do it… with its own deformed technology!”