Writer & Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover Artists: Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer; James Stokoe; Orlando Arocena; Natacha Bustos; Karl Kerschl
Publisher: Image
Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 14, 2024
Sparky Witwicky felt the call of duty. Like many veterans, he returned from the battlefield a haunted man. He lost his oldest son in a NASA shuttle accident. Then, the Transformers brought their war to him. The giant robots killed his best friend, put his surviving son Spike in the hospital, and left his hometown in flames. Where does Sparky go from here? To whom can he look for support during this traumatic time? Let’s recharge our Energon batteries, leap into Transformers #5, and follow Sparky's transformative journey!
Story
Sparky and Optimus Prime relive the horror of battle. One tour broke Sparky while Optimus' war rages on. Sparky doesn’t care about the issues that divided the Autobots and the Decepticons. All Sparky knows is that he tried to kill Optimus Prime, and the Autobot leader risked his life to save his son.
Starscream is all about sacrifice. He'll readily sacrifice anyone who fails him for an advantage that will help him succeed. After Optimus prevailed over Skywarp, Starscream sacrificed Skywarp’s Energon to power Teletraan 1. His lieutenant Soundwave then used the Ark’s computer system to revive other Decepticons. Hopefully, ones that won’t fail Starscream like Skywarp. Just one stipulation: they’d better be big! Bigger bots get you more bang for the buck on the battlefield, right?
Brains prove as potent as brawn in Transformers #5. Starscream attacked the energy plant where Sparky worked, but he didn’t channel the power at its source. Nor did he play nice with the squishy Humans and harness their ingenuity. Genius inventor Wheeljack recognizes Sparky's brilliance by partnering with him to revive the Autobots. So, Optimus Prime wins again because he sees more opportunities in accepting others than in squashing dissent and obliterating those who disagree with him. But don't expect that to dissuade Starscream from hosting another “Murder party.”
Daniel Warren Johnson contrasts the heart of the Autobots with the shrieking void inside Starscream. It’s not just Optimus Prime who thinks their fragile new friends are special. The Humans repeatedly tried to kill Cliffjumper, yet the smaller bot kept trying to help them. Another Autobot demonstrates an even greater instinct to save their new allies in Transformers #5. All the Autobots seek to include and protect Sparky and Spike's friend Carly as their clashes with the Decepticons rage on. Even if the Humans are smaller and weaker, the Autobots discover they have far more in common with them than the Decepticons.
Art
Daniel Warren Johnson interposes and compares Sparky and Optimus Prime’s memories of battle and loss as Transformers #5 begins. Yet Sparky sits before the computer systems in the Power Station. With his hands clasped, he stares at his toolbox. With his back to the Human, the Autobot leader gazes through the control room’s cathedral-like windows. When the two return to the dam, Sparky and Wheeljack apply the finishing touches to their joint creation. Like Hoover Dam in the 2007 Transformers movie, the hold of the Ark resembles the C17 Globemaster III that transported a broken and beaten Optimus Prime in Revenge Of The Fallen. Only Starscream bestows rebirth upon his fellow Decepticons in the Ark instead of the desert.
Sparky and Wheeljack’s invention spins at frantic velocity as it powers up. Just as Dr. Frankenstein relied on electricity to reinvigorate the dead, lightning surges around the Autobot that Optimus hopes to revive. Clashes between the Autobots and Decepticons remain as brutal as ever. The Decepticons hurtle through the air in a blur, disintegrate before energy blasts, or maul and crush the Autobots in their surprise attacks. Yet Cliffjumper and Carly stand together, their expressions equally concerned and determined.
Mike Spicer's vibrant coloring breathes drama into Optimus and Sparky’s Power Room scene. Sparky and Wheeljack’s creation unleashes a tornado of blue. Explosions and fire bathe the dam in yellow, orange, and red. The Autobot that Optimus revives shares body color with Carly's pullover. Yet, panels that spotlight a leader's defining action replace backgrounds with white in Transformers #5.
Italicized uppercase dialogue dominates white and colored balloons and boxes. Rus Wooton emboldens the delicate font for intonation. Large-scale colored dialogue communicates shouts, concern, and outrage. Sound effects conquer backgrounds, conveying blows, cannon fire, and Michael Bay levels of destruction. Yet the red letters that fill the Ark's interior remind us of Skywarp’s unwilling sacrifice and how Starscream values the Decepticons in his care. Thanks to Skybound and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
As Optimus Prime and Starscream race to revive their armies, Transformers #5 asks if war is an inevitable outcome of sentience and reminds us that good things come in all shapes and sizes.
Rating 9.4/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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