Transformers #1 40th Anniversary Reprint Review

 

Writers: Bill Mantlo & Ralph Macchio

Penciler: Frank Springer

Inker: Kim Demulder

Colorist: Nelson Yomtov

Letterer: Michael Higgins & Rick Parker

Cover Artists: Bill Sienkiewicz, Christian Ward, Von Randal, Livio Ramondelli, Marcel Matere, Andy Duso, Leno Hernandez, John Herbert, Gabriele Dell’Otto & John Giang

Editors: Bob Budiansky, Jim Shooter & Sean Mackiewicz

Design & Production: Andres Juarez, Ashby Florence & Richard Mercado

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 28, 2024

 

A metal planet orbits a sun in the Alpha Centauri solar system. The Autobot population enjoys peace and prosperity. Yet someone gazes down upon the tranquil paradise in disgust. His name is Megatron. How might his actions transform his people and Cybertron? Let’s oil our gears, leap into the Transformers #1 40^th Anniversary Reprint, and find out!

 

Story

Megatron equates peace with stagnation. He aims to improve his world through conflict and war. He works behind the scenes. Aided by his faithful friend Ravage, Megatron and his followers use science to transform their bodies into living weapons. He’s not ready to strike yet. The Decepticons represent an insignificant fraction of the Autobot population. Megatron’s iron will, fierce personality, and persuasiveness rally more to his cause. Then, one day, Megatron launches his offensive. Decepticons rain destruction across Cybertron. The global destruction kills billions of Autobots, and like the thermonuclear explosion on the moon in 1999, flings Cybertron out of its orbit on a journey through the cosmos.

 

Bill Mantlo, the powerhouse behind Marvel’s Micronauts and Rom: Spaceknight, contributed the plot to Transformers #1 40^th Anniversary Reprint. Longtime Marvel editor Ralph Macchio, nicknamed the Karate Kid after the actor with the same name, contributed the script. Together, they chart the course of a thousand-year war, the flight from Cybertron, and the Transformers’ arrival on Earth. Their story takes inspiration from 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens, while the Transformers meet Humans at a timeless entertainment venue.

 

In Bill Mantlo and Ralph Macchio’s epic story, Optimus Prime arises as a leader amid the war. While Optimus brings hope to the Autobots, he is the first to volunteer when Cybertron faces an unexpected crisis. Megatron claims to promote change and growth but only cares about conquest. He attacks a desperate mission to protect his planet. Yet when Optimus Prime and the Autobots are weak and disorientated, Megatron flees, citing the need to gain an advantage before combatting them.

 

Bill Mantlo and Ralph Macchio’s story showcases individual Transformers' unique abilities. An intriguing aspect of the Transformers #1 40^th Anniversary Reprint is how the Transformers’ assessment of Earth is limited by how life developed on Cybertron. It’s a reminder that diversity enriches society far more than uniformity or conflict.

 

Art

Frank Springer and Kim Demulder travel to an alien solar system and descend into the atmosphere of the metal planet. They capture images of giant robots walking along curved walkways or flying over high-tech cities. Like Ravage, they sneak into the Decepticon stronghold and transmit scenes of machinery transforming robots into machines of war. Some of these machines fly, and before the second page ends, the airborne Decepticons attack the cities across a planet as developed and populated as Coruscant. The third and fourth pages show how the Autobots react to their attacks and Optimus Prime’s rise to power, while the fifth reveals a global threat resulting from Megatron’s actions.

 

Nelson Yomtov lavishes bright, appealing colors on the Ark's journey to Earth. While the Ark interiors show one or two colors, the world outside Mount St Hilary is awash with colors. Blue dominates the Decepticons in their half-page discussion, while the Autobots showcase far more yellow and green during their one-and-a-half-page conversation. The Transformers #1 40^th Anniversary Reprint also introduces Buster, a golden-haired boy who wears a pink shirt. His father, clad in a greasy green coverall, wishes his son would abandon his literary scholarship program and learn a trade. Yet Buster's compassion proves instrumental in forging a link between two worlds.

 

Michael Higgins and Rick Parker fill narrative boxes and rectangular dialogue "balloons" with uppercase black lettering. While most of the narrative boxes are the color of Buster's shirt, a few evoke his hair. Colorful sound effects hail Megatron’s assault on the Ark, the ship’s crash into a volcano, the eruption four million years later, and five Autobots venturing forth on a survey mission. A hitchhiker observing the vehicles likens the noise to the Indy 500. But then, a world ravaged by a thousand-year war has more important things to worry about than mufflers. Thanks to Image Comics, Skybound, and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

After Megatron's dreams of conquest transform Cybertron into a war zone, the Autobots’ mission to save their planet brings their conflict to Earth. While Megatron lusts after Earth's rich power sources, Cliffjumper can’t wait to fire his unique gun at the Decepticons. Bumblebee wants to explore Earth’s vast oceans, and a Human named Buster dreams of becoming a writer. Might the boy follow Bill Mantlo and Ralph Macchio’s footsteps and write comics like the Transformers #1 40^th Anniversary Reprint?

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Heat Seeker: A Gun Honey Series #1 Review

 

Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Jose Zapata

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artists: Argerm; Bill Sienkiewicz; Ace Continuado; Claudia Caranfa; Ang Hor Kheng;

Publisher: Titan

Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 5, 2023

 

Marked for death, Joanna Tan and Brook Barrow travel to New York. They hope her friend Dahlia Racers can help shake intelligence agents off their trail. But can a former magician's assistant make them disappear? Let’s burn into Heat Seeker #1 and find out!

 

Story

Dahlia deals with lies and deception. The hotter people are, the more they need her help. Deceiving power brokers and paid assassins isn't easy. The high prices Dahlia commands give her the tools she needs to fool the most jaded killers.

 

 

 

While this is a humdinger of a story, I initially found events hard to follow. A beautiful redhead saves a magician. Joanna and Brook visit Dahlia. She gives them extreme makeovers. Then she and her assistant dress up as them. The people who want Joanna and Brook dead hire a woman to kill them. The identity swaps and inadequate introductions confused me. I still don't understand how the magician's rescue relates to the rest of the issue. Still, something kept drawing me back to Heat Seeker #1. Thus, three days—and several attempts later—I finally wrote this review.

 

It would have been easier to review another comic. Yet it reminds me of stories I love, such as the Mission Impossible movies and the TV series Bosch. While I've never read Gun Honey, Heat Seeker #1 feels like a natural successor to Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero's Modesty Blaise comics, which I discovered through Titan Books' oversize trade paperbacks.

 

 

Art

Heat Seeker #1 boasts strong portrayals of characters, and page layouts are dynamic. I especially like the page when Dahlia confronts assassins in Vicente Boracchio’s theater, chats with the hired killers, shoots Vinnie, and blows up the theater. Amid these panels, a stylish Dahlia pops into the foreground, pointing her gun at the reader. Vehicles and buildings invoke realism, with equal attention paid to interiors. The Mature art reveals a woman unashamed of her body without portraying sex, excessive swearing, or glorifying violence.

 

Full spectrum color gives Heat Seeker #1 a cinematic appeal. Skin tones, clothing, and interiors have richness and depth. New York City's bustling streets shine with vitality. The Las Vegas Strip glows with color while quiet solemnity bespells the surrounding desert. The first page could have been less steeped in gray as Dahlia prepares to save Vincente. Her motorcycle scenes look hyper-real. But while the story and art confounded me, the coloring only made me applaud.

 

 

Heat Seeker #1 uses small uppercase letters and an appealing font style. The narrative appears in colored boxes, while dialogue materializes in white balloons. Sound effects explode like Vicente's theater hurtling colored words toward you. Had the creators conjured up better time/space markers, I wouldn't have been so mystified by how all the moving pieces fit together.

 

Final Thoughts

Heat Seeker #1 may confuse Gun Honey virgins, but this appealing, high-octane espionage thriller will pull a rabbit out of the hat for Mission Impossible and Modesty Blaise fans.

 

Rating 7.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

 

 

W0rldtr33 #1 Review

 

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Fernando Blanco; David Aja; Jenny Frison; Bill Sienkiewicz; Zu Orzu; Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 26, 2023

 

A naked, tattooed blonde reaches into a computer case. Ignoring a dead man on the floor, she sits on the bed and opens a laptop. She watches a video of a young man using his cell phone to distract an older couple as he kills them. What new world is the young man speaking of, and why does the naked woman smile as she watches him? Let's jump into W0rldtr33 #1 and find out!

 

Story

Ellison and his girlfriend Fausta drive along a narrow mountain road. She urges him to keep his mind on the twisting asphalt ribbon and not look at him so much as they talk. He's worried about his brother Gibson’s internet use. Both have watched videos designed to shock and provoke, but Ellison believes his brother is immersing himself in something that could ruin his life. Fausta teases Ellison, calling him and his brother Edgelords. But then she looks at what Gibson has posted on social media and realizes Ellison was right to worry.

 

Meanwhile, Gabriel watches TV in his sleek, modern apartment. A report on Gibson’s actions prompts Gabriel to contact people he hasn’t seen in years. Once they worked together as software developers. They created something called W0rldtr33. While it gave the team members nightmares, Gabriel believes it might now be humanity’s only hope.

 

 

 

 

Art

W0rldtr33 #1 begins with an audacious first page. It's divided into twelve panels. Each conveys essential information about this silent scene. They introduce the dead man, the woman who killed him, and show her setting down her gun as she digs through his computer bag. She seems emotionless, yet she closes the man's eyes before she accesses his computer. A subtle hint of the story yet to come is that one row of three panels shows a glaring layout irregularity. More pages with tiny panels follow. She watches an online video of someone approaching a house, killing an old gentleman on the front porch, then walking inside and killing his wife. Fernando Blanco packs each of these scenes with photographic realism.

 

Jordie Bellaire casts the first scene in a pink glow, suggesting a motel room. The laptop casts a green tint on the naked woman's features. The killer shows the couple his cell phone, which shoots red and blue across their faces. Although the woman's coloring makes her look like a cartoon character imposed on a faded photograph, the scarlet blood spilling from her—and her husband--is shocking. Ellison and Fausta’s conversations begin with a gorgeous shot of his Prius navigating a wooded mountain pass. The car’s orange paint glows almost too much. Inside, Ellison’s face looks washed out. Unlike him, Fausta’s face shows more color and realism. Sadly, most of these panels in this scene only show green windows, reminiscent of a film set, and the special effects crew forgot to draw in the background scenery. The topics discussed--and the lack of backgrounds--made me wonder if I wanted to read further.

 

Gray dominates Gabriel's apartment. His long white hair falls onto his dark striped shirt and dark pants. Outside his modern apartment, nearby buildings blend with the overcast sky. The only color in his world comes from his TV, computer monitors, and memory. After you finish reading W0rldtr33 #1, return the opening quote by Harlan Ellison. It may address some of Jordie's coloring choices, particularly the final scene's lighting.

 

 

 

 

As W0rldtr33 #1's story pursues disturbing themes, I appreciated Aditya Bidikar’s easy-to-read-and-follow lettering. Bold words suggested inflection. Uppercase letters inhabited spherical dialogue balloons. (The only exception is Gabriel's memory when dialogue balloons are yellow). Big white letters introduce each character's scenes. Bidikar’s sound effects help us hear the computer accessing the internet and the (somewhat) naked woman's rumbling motorcycle. Gunfire seems more stylized than intended to help us feel the sound of the gun reports and the bullets striking their victims.

 

Final Thoughts

W0rldtr33 #1 tackles the increasing intrusion of Artificial Intelligence and our desensitizing addiction to violent entertainment in a mature manner. Visually arresting and thought-provoking, fans of Blade Runner and Terminator movies, and readers who still revere Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison, should not miss this powerful debut.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.