ComicBookBin

Johnny Bullet
More Comics
Transformers Official Movie Prequel #1 of 4
By Hervé St-Louis

September 7, 2007 - 23:24

Publisher(s): IDW Publishing
Writer(s): Chris Ryall, Simon Furman
Penciller(s): Don Figueroa
Cover Artist(s): Don Figueroa


transfomersprequel.jpg

This mini-series is based on the Transformers’ movie released in July. It covers the event before the movie, when all Transformers lived on Cybertron. Here we get a brief history of some of the future main players on the feature film as well as a history of the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Here Optimus Prime launches the All-spark into space to hide it from Megatron. But the latter is on the trail of the All-spark and torturing Bumblebee to get it is not out of the question.

There are so many stories telling the basic story of the Transformers, from so many publishers and cartoon series, that reading another spin on the story becomes annoying. I question why Simon Furman is involved with this project. Hasn’t he written like several versions of the Transformers’ origins and universe already? What new ideas can he bring to such a franchise?

And of course, the fact that the story doesn’t rise beyond other Transformers, stories are the main problem. As a prequel, it did not make this project interesting which explains part of the late review. Here Bumblebee narrates the story and provides the information as to what’s going on. It’s a good thing he does, because otherwise, the story would be nonexistent.

For the artwork, this comic book is a mess. Figueroa is the worst example of what I consider a total lack of storytelling ability and the poster syndrome. Every panel is meant to showcase Figueroa’s design work on the Transformers as opposed to telling a story. There is no flow to the story. Were the Cybertronian designs of the Transformers good to being with, part of the story could have been comprehensible. But here, I had to rely exclusively on the captions to make my way through the comic book. I didn’t even bother looking at the images as they made no sense.

Colourist, Josh Burcham buries the artwork under dark colours or over exposed panels. One would think that with a difficult design to begin with, the colourist would have tried to help readers understand what happens within the comic book instead of hampering it further.

This comic book is a mess and should not have been published as is. Both the publisher and the editor were not doing their job, which was to make this comic book appealing. Oh sure it will appeal to some hardcore Transformers’ enthusiasts, who don’t mind dark poster books, but the majority of people who pick up the comic book, casual readers, because of the movie will not be entertained. I strongly suggest readers to not purchase future issues and the eventual collected edition of this comic book.

1/10



© Copyright 2002-2019 by Toon Doctor Inc. - All rights Reserved. All other texts, images, characters and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Use of material in this document (including reproduction, modification, distribution, electronic transmission or republication) without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.