Transformers #39
IDW Publishing
Written by: John Barber
Story By: Mairghread Scott & John Baraber
Art By: Livid Ramondelli
The next arc to come our way in the transformers universe is called the Combiner Wars. Right away I am fist pumping and getting super excited to read what was probably my favorite episodes of the original tv series, when the transformers (be it autobots or decepticons) pulled out their gestalt giants and brought the hurt. After, oh a few million years war, Cyberton is once no longer a battlefield. The cons have been pushed out to the outskirts and law and order rule once more. This opening issue is being used to get us ready for the events to come, by touching on the brief current and very distant history of the Transformers universe. The main cause of this new war (which would cause anyone to shake their heads at because a million year long war just ended!) is an item called the enigma of combination, the key to gestalt technology (lame sounding but equally epic sounding).
The pages in this ongoing series in Transformers, look more like paintings than drawings. The characters have a great deal of shading and texture to their looks, but in a way they look frozen. I know this is a comic book and the panels don’t actually move (yet), but there didn’t seem to be any actual flow to their movements. The writing is something you will want to pay attention to in this issue as well, as a large amount of detail about what is and will be going on is talked about. From the combiners, to the Titan transformers and even some new to me history about the 13 “lost” colonies.
I am uncertain at this point in reading the ongoing series if the gestalt monsters have been around for a while or if they are something new (Devastator has been the only one I recall from previous issues). As I mentioned, some of the best episodes in the G1 era came from the combiners and titans wrecking entire cities and proving unstoppable. I cannot wait to read more issues where more combiners come along and transform into their massive forms. With the art looking like paintings and one teaser glimpse of Menasor ready to bring the pain, I will want posters and wallpapers made from the panels that the gestalts appear in.