With just over 3 weeks until the advanced screenings of the live action Transformers Movie, IDW Publishing has released a comic book version depicting an adaptation by Kris Oprisko with art by Transformers comic book artist Alex Milne. Although this book is being released weekly starting today throughout the month of June building up to the release of the Transformers Movie on the afternoon of July 2nd, the trade paper book version is also now available in book stores. This full TPB is what I will be reviewing here.
Detailed Summary:
Do not read on if you do not wish to be spoiled! The beginning of the book begins with the Allspark arriving on Earth one million years before the dawn of man, then quickly flashes forward to 1897 where Sam Witwicky’s great Grandfather discovers Megatron in the Artic. The story fast forwards to present day to the scene that we have all seen from the trailer where Blackout lands on the military base in the middle east. He transforms and infiltrates the military’s computer network. A group of solders take a picture of him but instead of wiping them out himself he drops Scorponok into the sand to covertly go after them. Scene changes to Sam quickly putting his great Grandfather’s stuff on Ebay, then Sam going car shopping with his Dad which we have also seen through the previews where he goes to buy Bumblebee. Sam decides to use his new car to try and pickup, and succeeds with Mikaela. On Air Force One Frenzy happens to be on board and hacks into their network while uses flying saw blades to cut through the secret service. At the Witwicky house Sam sees Bumblebee drive away and calls 911 thinking his car is being stolen while chasing after it on a bicycle. He then sees Bumblebee transform for the first time. Dogs start chasing Sam and Bumblebee chases them away as the cops show up. Meanwhile Air Force One has touched down giving Frenzy the opportunity to meet up with Barricade. They found the Ebay auction for the Witwicky artifacts and start looking for Sam who is telling the Police that his car transformed. They think he’s hopped up on goof balls. Back in the middle east the solders get attacked by Scorponok so call in an air strike to take him out. Sam soon finds his Camaro has returned. “It stole itself, it walked, and now it’s back!” Sam takes off on his bike and Bumblebee follows. “It’s trying to kill me! I think it wants my soul!” Barricade arrives and Sam asks for help think it's a real police car, but instead transforms and asks him where his artifacts are. “Are you username Hotstud 217?” This is the trailer scene where Barricade gets in Sam’s face and pins him against the car. Mikaela who followed Sam gets caught in the middle of Sam trying to flee. As Barricade is coming after them Bumblebee sideswipes him allowing the 2 humans to jump in him and get away. Barricade chases them down and unleashes Frenzy on Sam. Mikaela comes to his rescue with a hand saw and cuts his head off. Bumblebee and Barricade battle over a cliff with only Bumblebee making it back out. Mikaela asks Bumblebee why he choose such an old form if he reshape into any form so he changes into his updated Camaro mode. They see protoforms falling from the sky as per the trailer scenes and the rest of the Autobots arrive. Optimus Prime take the shape of a truck and transforms. “Do not fear… we will never harm humans. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” The Autobots are introduced and they explain that the map to the Allspark is imprinted on his great Grandfather’s glasses and that is why the Decepticons are after him. Sam goes home and looks for these glasses while the Autobots look in through his window, afraid of getting in trouble from his parents he sends them away. As he finds the glasses Sector Seven arrives and takes then all away in the interest of national security. They question him regarding his earlier Police report about the transforming car. “Total misunderstanding! I meant it went from being my car to, you know, being my stolen car.” The Autobots intercept Sector Seven, Sam and Mikaela so a government strike force attacks the Autobots, this is the scene where you see Bumblebee being attacked by the humans. “Stop it! You’re hurting him!” Sector Seven takes off with Sam and Mikaela back to their base. Frenzy who had taken a new form as Mikaela’s PDA tells the Decepticons where to find Sam and the Sector Seven base. “Sector Seven located. Follow my signal… and bring my body.” Megatron and the Allspark are revealed to be located in the Sector Seven base and the Decepticons attack. Megatron awakens and Sam convinces Sector Seven to release a captured Bumblebee so they can get the Allspark away from Megatron. The Decepticons see the reunited Autobots take off quickly and chase after them. A huge battle ensues, where the Autobots and Decepticons trash each other. And if you want to know how it ends you’ll need to buy the book
Story/Adaptation:
Overall not bad of a job, I can’t imagine trying to adapt a 2 hour movie into 4 issues of a comic book being an easy job. It’s obvious that there is a lot lost in translation as is to be expected. If the use of humor that is presented in this adaptation is rampant throughout the movie it will be highly enjoyable. The editing was a little weak in places, (example page 12 and the use of you’re instead of your), but over all the book read through extremely smoothly as there was no break between where issues would have started or ended.
Pencils/Inks:
Alex Milne once again does an excellent job of depicting a highly quality book. The 2D representation of these highly detailed characters translated extremely well. It’s obvious why IDW choose him as the artist for this book, the only other current Transformers artist to pull off this combination of proper perspective, scale and detail in his story telling is Don Figueroa.
Colors:
Josh Perez does an excellent job with shading and applying the proper shadowing to the book. The scenes that are dark aren’t muddy, and effects such as the glowing for the robots eyes are rampant throughout. While little things they certainly add to the overall visual enjoyability of the story.
Art Gallery:
Following the conclusion of the story is the inclusion of an Alex Milne art gallery. These are the covers for the comics that will be released though out the month of June. Some nice Movie poster style pin ups can be found here with my favorite being the first wrap around cover.
Overall:
Recommended. I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to be further spoiled by reading this adaptation, but I’m definitely glad I picked it up. While I now have a greater understanding of what the plot and story will be about I still feel that there is a lot that can’t be captured in the form of a comic book so have lots to look forward to when I see the advanced screening of the Movie at the end of the month.
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