Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Transformers Devastation #4
IDW Comics
Furman & Musso

I cant decide what to make of this title. On the one hand I hate that the stories are so slow. On the other hand I really like that the stories are setting up long ranging arcs on multiple fronts to deviate from the usual good-robots-always-win type of stories. This issue entertained me. I liked it. Yet, I question where this is all going. Twenty issues in and what have gotten to exactly? Can we keep up with the one or two pages per issue dealing with Ironhide’s search? Or Hunter finding Sunstreaker? I don’t know what to make of this series as a whole, but I did like this issue. It just gives me agita.

This issue begins with the human group called Skywatch spying on the robots with their seekers. The problem is that these seekers are disobeying due to the fact that their master is calling them to hither. Their master is Soundwave and is finally seen in this comic and its on page one, still stuck in his tape recorder form since 1984.

The next scene and the bulk of the issue deals with the Autobots fighting Sixshot. Now, the battle was good and the dialog was good too. I especially liked the part where Sixhot explains why his armor is so tough. However, at one point Sixshot and Hardhead are firing away in tank mode at each other at point blank range. Call me crazy but I would expect some kind of hit between the two and even a crippling one.

Also in the mix are Verity and Jimmy running around near the battle scene.

Wheeljack and Hot Rod finally arrive at the wrecking dump to find Ironhide. This only seemed to take about four issues to drive the sixty or so issues. The Sunstreaker clones are looking for them again as well.

Hunter jumps into the robot maker to become a headmaster in front of the head of the real Sunstreaker. I don’t quite understand why a human would just dive into a machine that makes them a robot. Exactly what does he plan to accomplish with this trick?

As the war of the Autobots versus Sixshot rages on, the US military pops in for an air strike. Jimmy and Verity are trying to convince a local cop that there are good and bad robots and not just all bad and he doesn’t care. I’m not sure what they think the cop is going to do about it anyway.

Finally, Prime goes one on one with Sixshot. At this point Jimmy and Verity warn the other Autobots of the air strike and they are all beamed out of there except for Prime and Sixhot. It should be noted that humans cant exactly “beam” so it would appear that Jimmy and Verity are dead. To be fair they were becoming pointless in the story anyway. Some how I think Ratchet will fix them up though.

The issue ends with Sixshot getting called off to deal with some old friends, Prime beams out just in time and Starscream wakes up.

A lot happens in this issue. It moves along at a nice pace. It has action. It has many important players playing a role in the issue, like Starscream, Sixshot, Prime and the emergence of Soundwave. The artwork is great. All of the robots are easily identified (even Skywarp which is no easy task). So what’s not to like?

Well, aside from the strange story telling in some spots and some of the arcs being really, really slow I’d say nothing. The question becomes which direction to I want to see this thing take on. Would I rather no one gets hurt in a battle between Sixshot and the Autobots or would I like to see someone die? I guess if Hardhead had been killed by Sixshot I’d be complaining about the stupid death in this comic. So where does that leave me? Well, I guess I like the story at hand and the general direction of the franchise. Yet, there is something about this all that I don’t quite like (or maybe get) that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Why do I feel ambiguous about whether I like it or not? I don’t know. However, I do like this issue and believe it or not I really don’t think a newcomer would be lost reading it.

4 out of 5 geek goggles.


Transformers Devastation #4 (Cover A)
Transformers Devastation #4 (Cover B)