Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Transformers Movie Sequel Reign of Starscream #1 of 4
IDW Comics
Mowry, Ryall, Milne and Perez

The opening issue that is labeled as the sequel to the movie isn’t really much of a sequel at all. In reality, this issue spends a number of pages setting up things just prior to the movie and then rehashes the movie’s events from Starscream’s point of view. The issue really only contains a couple of pages of how Starscream deals with the fallout of the movie. In short, not much happens in this issue. That isn’t to say this issue isn’t good. However, other items within help to bog it down. Overall I wasn’t thrilled with the issue.

The issue begins with Megatron setting out to find the Allspark cube. He leaves Starscream in charge. At the same time, the Autobots begin to set their plans to follow Megatron. Eventually, Starscream grows impatient and takes the rest of the Decepticons to follow Megatron. A Decepticon named Dreadwing spots Megatron and alerts Starscream to where he thinks he’s headed. When Starscream and company catch up to him he’s been blasted and is barely functional.

The issue then moves to the events during the movie. Humans find the cube, they find Megatron. Some Decepticons get cooked and Megatron eventually “dies” with the cube at the hands of the kid. Starscream survives all this and goes after Barricade, who is a pile of rubble, but still alive. Starscream then determines that the kid in the movie has information about the cube. So Starscream takes off after Frenzyy, who has the information on the kid.

The issue is very slow and very tame. It isn’t terrible, but not a ton happens in it. I know I didn’t need a third of the issue to tell with the events of the movie. I also didn’t need a ton of background on Starscream to know he was power hungry and an opportunist. I like a recap page probably more than your average person, but this issue was overkill. Add in that this is a quarter of the entire arc and I feel like I was paying for something I already knew.

The artwork is really detailed and it has a shaded look to it that really works well in the space sequences. However, the Autobots and Decepticons are so difficult to tell apart. Not because the art isn’t up to par, but because I simply don’t know the robots by their movie faces. I can tell them apart with their cartoon faces, but not the movie faces. This made the issue really hard to follow. I felt like I spent a lot of time staring at the art.

I had some reservations about this arc from the beginning and this first installment hasn’t helped much. I am hoping that the arc has a solid plot for the next three issues. I am also hoping that the arc weaves in some interesting twists to the Allspark. At this point I am struggling to understand why Starscream still wants to pursue something that was destroyed. Hopefully some of the Autobots will enter the mix as well.

There is a lot of room for improvement for this arc.

2 out of 5 geek goggles


Transformers Movie Sequel Reign Of Starscream #1