Review – Transformers: Primacy #2 (IDW Publishing)

September 9, 2014

1–2 minutes

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Artist: Livio Ramondelli
Release Date: 10th September 2014

The final part of the reboot/retelling of the Transformers war for Cybertron enters its second issue, and things are hotting up. Or, at least, you’d hope so. After the previous Autobot-heavy issue, perhaps it’s only natural that this one is more of a Decepticon narrative, which is fair enough except that the Autobot story was told in really compelling fashion: here, it’s a bit lacklustre, a roll-call of Con combiners – let’s get the gang back together! Now don’t get me wrong – I love combiners. The Predacons (often the weakest in storytelling) are written stunningly well, with genuine LOL moments at some dry, dark, perfectly pitched writing; the Stunticons are written erratically (arguably deliberate) although Thundercracker shines the way he should (take note, TF:RID) , and the Combaticons glossed over.

That sound like a fanboy list that just turned off a whole lot of folk reading this review? Quite possibly, and there’s the bigger problem here: it’s awfully fan-service, this issue. It’s not particularly accessible, which so early in a story-arc is disappointing. Add to that no real development of the Grimlock/Hot Rod storyline, and it feels frustrating – yes, you can see what the issue is building to and yes, the climax is impressive – but it’s a very conflicted issue overall. Oh, and a very disappointing segment with Megatron going to some sort of hell planet but hey, it’s okay, they all just follow him.

As always, the art is tight, the framing impressive with a cracking full spread towards the end (which electronic viewing doesn’t do justice, frankly), the colour palettes distinctive for a whole range of different locations and generally strong, characterful pencils throughout.

It’s not a bad issue, and perhaps I’m doing it a disservice. It’s just not a great issue, and I was hoping for more.

Rating: 3/5

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

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