Review: Marvel G2 prequel - G.I. Joe Starring Snake-Eyes and Transformers Generation 2 #142

The final issue of the Generation 2 prequel, exploding into the pages of the ongoing G.I. Joe book, is appropriately enough titled Final Transformations.  As usual, it was written by Larry Hama.  Art duties were split up quite a bit. Jesse Orozocoe and William Rosado did pencils.  Chip Wallace, Tim Tuony, and Arienne Alexandron did inks.  Colors were by Andre Ani and Chi.  (Yes, the same Chi who would color for Transformers G2 and be a staple of the Transformers fan art scene for years.  I like Chi's work a lot.  Feel free to go check out his deviant art page.  Go on, I'll wait.)  Letters were by Rick Parker.  The cover art was by Rosado.

The cover leaves a lot to be desired.  It picks up almost exactly where the last issue left off, with Scarlett squaring off against Megatron for the safety of Biggles-Jones.  The only thing new is Skydive, peaking out at Megatron from behind a building.  So, it's fairly unambitious, but the actual quality of the rendering also leaves much to be desired.  Scarlett looks flat and unappealing, and her head seems way too small for her body.  Cobra Commander is apparently unconscious on the street, that or highly disinterested.  Zarana seems gleeful, and Megatron's anatomy just looks awkward.  The whole thing is just uninspired. 

To add insult to injury, the opening splash page is almost the same image, only much better rendered.  I'm assuming this is Orozocoe artwork, given the difference in quality.  I mean, compare Scarlett here to Scarlett on the cover.  It's night and day.  The angle is also a lot more dramatic, with the sun behind Megatron's head making him appear truly titanic. 

In any event, thanks to the telegraphing from the cover, there's little surprise when the page 2-3 spread turns out to be a team of Autobots, converging on Megatron like an angry swarm of bees.  They're also about as effective as bees would be against a man, annoying but not particularly threatening.  Before too long Skydive is grounded, Steeljaw blasted to pieces, and a miscolored Chase crippled.  The other Autobots withdraw to regroup.  This serves to showcase how hard Megatron has become, but I'm not sure I buy how weak the Autobots are.  If Megatron was really such a threat, why wouldn't Optimus send more men?  I get that he's been upgraded, but is he really that much tougher than before? 

Let's not forget that this is a Joe book, though.  Scarlett eviscerates a frag viper (and with him, whatever shreds of her cover were left) for his weapon right in front of Cobra Commander.  He jumps her while paraphrasing Shakespeare. (I do love the intellectual bent Hama gives good ol' CC.) Scarlett's banter is much more lowbrow, but it's still fun.   "They can't understand you!  You've got a street in your mouth!"  Snake-Eyes, too, was in a pickle, one that he gets out of by dropping a handful of grenades on the floor.  Sure enough, the many armed guards pointing weapons at him flee for their lives, allowing him to dash out a window. While normally I'm not a huge fan of the omnipotent ninja, Snake-Eyes here seems to balance his bad-assery with a certain realism that makes him appealing.  Maybe it's that he's been around before Ninja were over-played. In any event, the two plots intersect when Snake-Eyes rescues Scarlett and sends Cobra Commander and Zarana running. I do rather enjoy these characters, and don't have a hard time seeing why they're so beloved by Joe fans.  Hama really does a great job here. 

The Autobots are having a much worse time than the Joes, though.  Brawn, busy guarding their interstellar transport, gets the drop on Megatron, but once again his new abilities prove to be amazingly powerful.  He ignites a neutron implosion, destroying Brawn and the ship alike. The three surviving Autobots realize that their only way off the planet is now the Ark, and concoct a new plan.  With some help from Spirit and Storm-Shadow, they deactivate Skydive and truck him onto the Ark without tripping the alarms.  Unbeknown to them, they've got an extra hitchhiker, the intrepid Spike.  Override provides a diversion, but it's pretty clear that he's outclassed.  It's not at all clear where Hot Spot is during all of this, either.  His plot thread will be picked up later, but his absense from the last third of the book is pretty strange.  Really, it's not a great plan.  Get Skydive onto the Ark and... what, exactly? 

Override's sacrifice does more than provide a distraction, though.  He allows Biggles-Jones to escape from Megatron.  I do love how battered and bruised she is after her ordeal at his hands.  When becomes clear that Megatron will pursue the Joes for as long as they have Biggles-Jones, she sacrifices herself to save the others.  Override's example has inspired her.  Megatron, thus armed with what he desired and on the radar of the Autobots, wastes no time in boarding the Ark.  Cobra Commander shrieks that he's owed more technology, that they had a deal.  Megatron is unimpressed and departs.  He is, though, somewhat impressed with Biggles-Jones, for the audacity she displayed by attempting to corrupt him with a virus encoded into his rail gun operating system.  Though he doesn't say so, I suspect that her bravery in turning herself over to his custody impressed him as well.    The book ends with him musing that he may yet be able to turn her talents to his ends.

It's kind of a strange book.  Most of it is devoted to a rather one-sided fight between Megatron and a team of Autobots.  While I was expecting to be swept away by this action, I found it rather implausible.  I suppose the threat of the G2 Decepticons has Autobot resources stretched pretty thin, but even then the Autobots come across as a disorganized rabble.  They had the drop on Megatron with 7 guys, and still get routed.  Then they regroup and their next best plan is to sacrifice one of their own to slip a single agent onto Megatron's ship?  Meanwhile Brawn splits up and dies alone.  If they were worried that Megatron would find their ship, why not regroup... at the ship!  Ugh.

The character of Doctor Sidney Biggles-Jones almost completes her journey here.  She started out 8 issues ago as a hot-shot scientist.  Captured by Cobra, she seemingly enthusiastically joins up, though in reality she seems to be a double-agent working for the NSA.  However, she pique's Megatron's interest and eventually winds up going off with him more-or-less willingly to save her friends.  I'm not really sure what the point of her was.  Perhaps she had some other grand destiny, subverted by the whims of a toy company prepping for the relaunch of Transformers.   I would have liked to see her grow more as a character within the Transformers Universe, or even in the Joe universe, but alas, it's not to be. 

Those flaws aside, this book (and the three preceding it) does effectively reintroduce the concept of Transformers.  They stride like colossi, with larger than life bodies, personalities, and conflicts.  Their agenda is cosmic in scope, and where they walk chaos follows.  We've also got some specific plot threads set up for G2, mostly around Megatron's return.  For all that this book may suffers from splitting the focus between the Joes and the Transformers, it's pretty certain that the main G2 book won't have any similar flaws.  I'm looking foward to it.

The G2 prequel has yet to be reprinted, which is still a real shame.  Perhaps IDW, which has the rights to both, is up to the challenge?  Still, the back issues don't go for all that much, so if you're a die-hard G2 fan then why not try to scrounge them up?  It's not a perfect story, but it's an enjoyable tale that continues directly a few issues later in G2 #2.  Stick around, it's about to get real.

Bish's Review Space: Above and Beyond Episode 3: The Dark Side Of The Sun

"They killed my family because a coin came up 'tails'" - Shane Vansen

The Dark Side Of The Sun was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong and directed by Charles Martin Smith.

With Vansen suffering nightmares about her parents' death the Wildcards are tasked with defending a helium mining facility. Here she comes face to face with the enemy who killed her family - the Silicates, rebellious AIs who worship chance and gambling. Acting as pirates, the AIs intend to hijack the mined helium and sell it to the Chigs.

Initially successful, they drive the Wildcards back to their troop transport. A counter-attack falls apart and most of the team end up being captured. Hawkes distracts the Silicates long enough with a game of Blackjack for West and Vansen to stage a rescue but Vansen gets cut off, obsessed with finding out why her parents were targeted.

When a captured Silicate informs her that it was pure chance, the flip of a coin, she flies into a rage and rips him to pieces with a knife, before single-handedly taking down a group of Silicates who have the Wildcards pinned. She orders a counter-attack but West stops her, pointing out that they are low on resources and in poor shape. Vansen takes off alone and manages to down the enemy ship with a rocket launcher as they are making off with the helium ore.

The Good

This was a marked step up from last week's West showcase because Vansen's backstory is actually interesting enough for us to care about. The Silicates make an effective addition to the Space universe because while the idea of rogue Artificial Intelligence is hardly a new one, the obsession with gambling and chance is at least vaguely original, and the makeup design, cross-hair pupils and artificial flesh torn open to reveal circuitry is very creepy. The little beeps and clicks that let us know that they are communicating wirelessly are simple enough but add immensely to the sense of something inhuman.

Kristen Cloke is very good here. In the pivotal scene, confronted with the fact that her family's destruction, ultimately, meant nothing, she portrays rage and disbelief marvellously and her savagery in dismembering the Silicates is almost frightening. You can get away with a lot of violence on TV if your enemy is robotic and Cloke really goes to town here, without descending into melodrama. Her subsequent rampage of revenge against the Silicates appears to be cathartic, both for the audience and for the character but, in a twist on dramatic convention, Shane gets nothing out of it. She kills all of the AIs on their ship but there are many more out there. Her nightmares have not gone away. I love this because it is real. Far too often drama presents us with something from a character's past that demands closure but rarely is it denied to them, despite how often this might happen in life. At the episode's end Vansen has no more peace than she did at the start.

The other members of the cast get nice moments as well: Hawkes continues to display an interest in 20th Century rock music (there's always one) which gives us a very effective lock and loading scene and, while he has been accepted by the natural-born humans their interractions are still believably awkward. This is conveyed not in cliched "what is this emotion you call love?" scenes but with the other Wildcards laughing nervously at Hawkes' attempt at a joke about the low survival rate of In Vitro gestation or his waking everyone up with his music just to see their reactions.

West is a reliable presence when he is not forced to carry the plot and his pleas to Vansen to let the AIs go are as sensible as they are doomed. It is a testament to their strength as comrades after only three episodes that he can tell her the correct course of action and she cannot bring herself to follow it, and neither resent the other even a little.

The music and atmosphere of the episode are top notch. Vansen's opening nightmare is given a wonderfully overwrought classical score and a wordy voiceover very reminiscent of similar ones (that Morgan and Wong presumably also wrote) in The X-Files. In another programme this could have come across as hammy but the producers and the actors really make it work. The war setting helps this introspection come across as natural in the long periods of boredom between engagements.

The mining facility is a nice setting, with retro dials, valves and metal corridors that cannot help but invoke Aliens especially in a particularly tense fight with marines hiding behind filing cabinets. Unlike a lot of shows Space often makes an effort to bring us an alien environment and the asteroid, with it's black sky and low gravity (admittedly, spoken of, rather than shown for the most part) is a good stab at this.

The Bad

While the episode makes a decent go of hanging a lampshade on it with the Wildcards complaining about being sent on a routine mission, it still makes no sense that the military would be using highly trained fighter pilots for sentry duty. From a dramatic perspective it is clear that Morgan and Wong want to have their military cake and eat it too but this stretches believability to breaking point. This is a point that can be made again and again throughout this series but I'm going to leave it here. It's part of the universe of the show and there is no point continually bitching about it. While Space: Above and Beyond is no Generation Kill it does feature enough superficially decent military terminology and practice to distance itself from the average Science Fiction show and anyway, to borrow a joke from 30 Rock "this isn't HBO, it's TV!"

Another attempt to up the military side of the drama is the introduction of several Wildcards who exist only to get gunned down. A war without casualties is, admittedly, not very believable, but neither is being able to tell who is going to live or die based on the opening credits. There are better ways to create drama than the time-honoured dead Red Shirt technique.

The Dark Side Of The Sun is easily my favourite episode so far of Space: Above and Beyond which is a pleasant surprise because I could not remember much about it going in. It performs its duty of showcasing Vansen efficiently enough without resorting to too many cliches and has a darker ending than we might have expected.

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #103 "Resurrection!" Part 1

Having popped back to Earth for stellar two-issue Galvatrion dust-up Fallen Angel we return to Cybertron to find Optimus Prime dug in deep with the Autobot resistance. Simon Furman continues his history of writing sprawling epics, Will Simpson takes over the art in his inimatable style, Annie Halfacree is still on lettering duty with Steve White on colours. Ian Rimmer edits.

The cover, a horrible piece depicting somewhat deformed versions of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus battling amid unconvincing flames, was by Martin Griffiths (who should be ashamed of himself) and coloured by Robin Boutell (who did the best he could).

Summaring the first couple of pages of this issue is pretty tricky because they use the well-worn, but welcome here, narrative trope of having a narrator tell an "embellished" story of a past event to his disapproving superior. Here we have Octane acquitting himself very poorly during a surprise Autobot attack on an Energon processing plant. I like this approach for three reasons, 1) it is very funny, 2) it makes a good use of a limited page count to give us more bang for our buck and 3) it is one of the narrative techniques that comics can do best. A novel cannot really do it at all, and while it is possible on screen, it feels more natural in a comic where narration is part of the form. Furman has returned to this technique at least once more - in a Transformers: Energon story he wrote for the Dreamwave Summer special back in 2004. (Slight nitpick - why does Octane back off from using the word "slave" - Straxus doesn't seem to be the hearts and minds sort...)

It turns out that Octane's plight is not an isolated incident and that the presence of Optimus Prime has greatly emboldened the Autobot resistance. Straxus is having to deal with this problem, combined with the fact that Megatron is becoming more and more erratic. We see him talking to his technicians who are working on a mysterious machine that he says will crush Megatron and free him from his current sorry existence.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are celebrating another victory. Optimus Prime gives them words of encouragement but warns them that he must soon return to Earth because the Decepticon threat there is an ever-present danger. Prime intends to deal with Megatron's presence on Cybertron and then leave. Ultra Magnus wants to accompany him, but Optimus will not allow it. Their conversation about Magnus's last time on Earth segues effectively into...

The Earthbound Autobots discussing their recent Galvatron encounter. The Autobots from last time have made it back to the Ark but their news is not exactly warmly received, especially by Ironhide, as everyone is tense following Optimus Prime's apparent death.

Back on Cybertron, Straxus taunts Megatron about his inability to destroy Optimus Prime and tells him to return to Earth, as there is no place on their homeworld for him any longer. Megatron, seeing Straxus as powerless, of course refuses. Straxus catches him by surprise by activating the device from earlier. Megatron is blasted with a ray from Straxus' tank and writhes in agony. Straxus explains that the device will allow him to swap bodies with Megatron and commands him to surrender!

Megatron tries to fight it but seemingly cannot. As the effect fades, Megatron's body smashes open the glass tank and destroy's Straxus' head, but who is in control of Megatron? Find out next time!

Despite returning to the Cybertron setting, which had been a bit wobbly in recent issues, this is a solid story. The tension between Straxus and Megatron is natural and entertaining. While the body-swap doesn't make much sense for a species that reformat and rebuild themselves on a regular basis, it does neatly dispose of Straxus' Megatron problem and introduce a new scifi element into the universe.

The Optimus Prime strand doesn't take any risks but makes sense given the situation. We are used to seeing Prime fight with one servo tied behind his back, as he has to ensure that no harm comes to any humans. Now he is back on Cybertron he is leading from the front, laying Decepticons waste left and right, and acting as a beacon of hope. I have a little trouble with this big change after four million years of stalemate but then, the four million year time jump was always the biggest dramatic problem with any storyline that wanted to include Cybertron as well as Earth and more recent continuities have quite rightly abandoned it.

The Earth pages are merely there to say "Remember, this is happening too!" but they are effective for that, showing us a storyline with threads that stretch across the galaxy. Furman knows that the most effective way to do epic is to have a lot going on. The storylines are simple enough, but they have big implications for the status quo, and for that reason we are interested in the outcome.

The art, despite being by Will Simpson, who I have ragged on mercilessly in the past, is pretty good. I still dislike his Megatron but he is undeniably good at crafting detailed backgrounds and lived-in looking locations and is therefore a good fit to show us Cybertron, especially Octane's little escapade, as shown above. The mind-swap scene is also extremely disturbing. Take a look:

Maybe not quite reaching the heights of Fallen Angel this is still an interesting and effective issue. The Straxus/Megatron switch should have very interesting consequences in the immediate future.

The Ark Addendum - The Core (part 2)

Listen up, true believers!  I may be done with the Ron Friedman auction material, but its impact on the blog lives on!  Case in point, I posted some models for The Core, along with an incomplete script for that episode.  However, I've got a bunch MORE core models, so this week's Ark Addendum picks up where last time left off.

I do love the design sensibilities of the old cartoon.  I think that the vats are an especially Dery-esque contraption.  Hope you enjoy!

Oh, by the way, my intrepid pal Bish has been having some computer issues recently, which is why he's been a bit behind on his reviews.  Hopefully his system will be up and running soon so we can all enjoy his insights into the Marvel UK book and, of course, Space: Above & Beyond!

Review: Marvel G2 Halloween Special: Ghosts

Oh, that glorious moment when we get up to the G2 comic proper is almost upon us.  However, we're not quite there yet.  We've been going through the G.I. Joe crossover, but chronologically the next book published was Ghosts, the free Halloween issue.  Gloriously, Simon Furman returns to the book as writer, and Geoff Senior as artist.  Colors are by Sarra Mossoff, and Letters are by Richard Starkings & Gaushell.  The cover is also by Senior. 

The cover is pretty cool, in a weird sort of way.  Autobot and Decepticon alike face off against a monstrous beast, all jaw and teeth.  It's pretty terrifying, especially the generic guys getting torn in half and blasted to pieces.  If Senior was going for a Halloween vibe, he's achieved it. 

The book itself is a pretty straightforward tale.  Clocking in at just 7 pages, Optimus Prime and Bludgeon battle for a cache of ancient, super-advanced weaponry.  Hanging over both sides is the threat of the 'main Decepticon army', which, according to Bludgeon, has Optimus Prime badly outnumbered and outgunned.  That's a pretty big change from where we last left things, with the Autobots in control of Cybertron and Bludgeon on the run.  However, Budgeon's band is called 'rogue Decepticons,' indicating that something else is going on here. 

While the 'Bots and 'Cons battle, Hot Rod looks for a way to create a holographic diversion.  Almost on cue, the beast from the cover shows up and demands that both sides vacate the premises.  Optimus is elated... until, of course, we discover that Hot Rod was unable to make heads or tails of the system.  The Autobots skedaddle, and Optimus reassures his troops that it's all for the best.  Alien supertech, even in Autobot hands, might not be a good thing, after all.  They'll fight on with guts and determination!

This is a queer little duck of an issue.  It sort of picks up where issue #80 left off, at least in terms of where most of the players are.  It hints at a greater canvas, though it reveals little.  This was probably a wise choice.  There will be a few continuity hiccups that this book introduces, but since this came first it's not really this book's fault. 

The artwork is, of course beautiful.  Senior manages to fill every panel with action and strangeness.  The designs are a bit weird, though.  Grimlock's blue now, Sideswipe is black, and Optimus is sporting a bandoleer.  Some of those are because of the new toys, but others are artistic choices that will be consistent throughout G2.  Everyone's packing a LOT more firepower, it seems, and this issue is one of our first hints of that. Oh, and great lettering here.  You can see why they needed two letterers, they really outdid themselves!

Tonally, this issue is a bit weird.  It's a pretty light-hearted outing, what with the silly little alien reveal at the end, but it alludes to a much more serious conflict.  I'm not sure if that was a conscious effort on Furman's part, to try to transition from the latter days of the G1 comic to what was to come in G2, but I don't think it quite works.  The story, or at least the resolution of the story, is a bit too cute given the darker themes that are being introduced here. 

Ghosts has only been reprinted once, to my knowledge; as a backup for the second issue of the G2 ongoing story.  Since that came out only two months after this, that doesn't make it much easier to track down.  It's an ok prelude to the G2 tale, but hardly essential. 

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #102 "Fallen Angel" Part 2

Fallen Angel Part 2 sees us return to the battle between Galvatron and... well.... everybody else. Naturally it was written by Simon Furman but this time the art duties were handed to Jeff Anderson. Annie Halfacree lettered, Steve White coloured, and Ian Rimmer edited it.

The cover is all Geoff Senior and is sort of half brilliant. The depiction of the burning Galvatron could scarcely be more dramatic but the talking heads are, once again, too cute, and go for humour that doesn't work. A mostly great cover that I basically hate for what it could be and isn't. Sorry Geoff.

We open with a page-long explanation of the events of the preceding issues then find that the Dinobots have well and truly joined the battle against Galvatron but even with the weight of numbers are only just holding their own. Blaster transforms to ghetto blaster mode and tries a more powerful burst of the same sonic attack that disorientated Galvatron last time. It angers the future Decepticon, causing him to charge at the defenseless Blaster, who is whisked away, into the sky, by Swoop.

Blaster apologies for messing up, but in a nice sequence of panels, Swoop explains how the distraction allowed the other Dinobots to co-ordinate and redouble their attacks.

Meanwhile, Shockwave arrives at the periphary of the fight with his Decepticons. Soundwave theorises that Galvatron is here to usurp Shockwave as the Decepticon leader as he sought to do with Megatron last time. Shockwave comes to the unappetising, but logical, conclusion that his leadership might depend on him aiding the Dinobots.

Galvatron rallies disappointingly quickly from the Dinobots' assault and starts pounding them, and Blaster, again. He takes Swoop out with a well-placed particle cannon blast and Swoop finds himself beside the shattered shell of Centurion, unable to move. He is reflecting on his ignoble fate when he suddenly hears a voice inside his mind. Professor Morris, who previously took control of Swoop before he was granted Centurion, has re-established their mind link.

He begs the damaged Swoop to let him take control once more, to bypass the concussion that has knocked him for six and let him fight back. Swoop is resistant, remembering the terrible things he was forced to do last time, but eventually relents. Morris/Swoop's attack distracts Galvatron for long enough from killing the Dinobots for long enough that the Decepticons arrive and drive him off.

The combat at an end, Shockwave pauses only to deliver a warning that when Galvatron returns and destroys the Dinobots the Decepticons will return to emerge triumphant.

Another great issue. Who knew that Furman could make what is essentially a two-issue long brawl in a field into one of the most suspenseful stories of the Marvel run so far? The stakes were raised as soon as Galvatron entered the fray but now he's in the wind, escaped somewhere on Earth, and you just know that when he comes back, it'll be a big deal.

Furman deserves praise for utilising the somewhat paradoxical fact that good recurring characters make a comic's universe feel larger and giving Professor Morris another believable chance at redemption for the murder he committed with Swoop's body. This is a great moment for Swoop as well, as we discover just how far he'll go to save his friends. He has every reason to refuse Morris but cannot let Galvatron win. Of course, Morris is deeply regretful and on the level here, but Swoop had no reason to trust that.

Furman keeps the story moving fowards at a breakneck pace and manages to deliver us some good character stuff as well but the hero for this story is really Jeff Anderson who manages to give us page after page of varied and easy to follow robot fisticuffs. The Transformers in these books might not be photo-realistic but the fight scenes really flow and, more importantly, tell a powerful story, which I think is a skill that has been partially lost among some of the more detailed modern comic-book art styles. I loved Geoff Senior's work in Part 1 but I cannot honestly say that he would have done a better job with Part 2 than Anderson did. For continuity I might have liked it, but otherwise, Anderson hits it out of the park here.

If you can find the Titan collection, read this story! We're back on Cybertron next week with Resurrection.

The Ark Addendum - Crosshair's Transform

Time for another edition of The Ark Addendum!  After having this feature share space with the Ron Friedman scripts, in order to get those out the door a bit faster, we return to our regular schedule of whatever random model I'm feeling today.

Today I'm feeling like getting away from the Sunbow cartoon and dancing over to Japan.  We haven't done a Transform sequence in a while, so how about... Crosshairs!

One thing that's a bit odd about the sequence is how we see his Targetmaster fly away from him in the second step... but then Pinpointer (or Pointech, if you're feeling the Japanese love) isn't on the model in step one.  Whoops!  Anyway, enjoy!