Review – Transformers: Robots in Disguise #22

Posted on October 29, 2013 in Reviews

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Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: John Barber
Artists: Andrew Griffith, Livio Ramondelli
Release Date: 30th October 2013

The final prelude before the eagerly-anticipated ‘Dark Cybertron’ event is here, with the second part of the two-issue story arc focusing on the relationship and history between Soundwave and Shockwave. As with the previous issue, we’re treated to two entirely separate artist/colourist teams, one dealing with the past and one with the present, and again, this works extremely well to differentiate between the two distinctive settings.

Once again, I found myself far more interested in the events of the past, particularly in Jon Barber’s delving into the relationship between Soundwave and his cassettes. We get to see the first meeting between Soundwave and his “beasts” (Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw), which gave me a far deeper understanding of the character as a whole. We were also treated to Soundwave’s initial meetings with Megatron, and the interesting bond that forms between the two.

This time however, I found myself enjoying the artwork of the ‘present’ a lot more, with Griffith providing some brilliant moments as Shockwave and Soundwave do battle beneath the surface of Cybertron, including one particularly poster-worthy splash page. The writing and character development here also is of such a high standard that the fact we’re reading about giant transforming robots almost becomes secondary, so brilliantly realised are the characters.

Personally speaking, it’s great to know that Soundwave (a personal favourite of mine) is going to play such a significant role in the upcoming crossover, as he’s a character who far too often finds himself lost in the shuffle behind the established ‘favourites’ such as Megaton, Optimus Prime, Starscream, Bumblebee etc. These two issues have done more to develop the character than I’ve seen in a long time, and have ramped up my excitement for ‘Dark Cybertron’ in a major way as a result