William Johnson (20)

This was the first Transformers comic I ever got, age 5. I had been given a Windcharger for christmas, I don't know if I had asked for it or if it was a speculative gift, and this little red car had sparked off a childhood obsession. This edition sees all the Autobots deactivated and strung up, except for medic Ratchet, and he needs to take on the entire armies of the Decepticons to somehow get them back. It must have seemed awfully heroic to 5 year old me!

If I had a complaint, it's that things happen much too quickly here. The Dinobots come in, help out, and disappear (without explanation) rather quickly. I would have much rather seen the story more spread out, perhaps over a couple of volumes.

There are some corney parts to the story, but overall, it is that story that sets this comic apart. The very fact that Optimus Prime spends most of the first 12 issues as a disembodied head tells you something of what Budiansky is doing here. He's not show more content with the typical action comic, but is trying to really deal with this war in an interesting way. The transformers have personality.

The best part of the comic is the realistic way the humans are brought into the battle. Budiansky does not pretend that a puny human can take out a Transformer alone, but neither does he leave out the humans. People are constantly interacting with and reaction to the Transformers, often in futility. This sort of reminds me of the role the humans played in Jack Kirby's NEW GODS, which is the best part of his Fourth World books. These events do not happen in a vaccuum. show less

I would again point out that, while these aren't great comics, Bob Budiansky certainly didn't take the easy way out. Rather than setting up a status quo between the Autobots and Decepticons and allowing them to simply fight each other, like the cartoon did, he created more of a continuing story, taking risks....throughout this entire run of stories, neither Megatron or Optimus Prime are in charge of their respective factions. I respect that, and the plotting here is generally good. There's show more also some really nice art on a few issues by William Johnson. On the more negative side, we see the beginnings of Budiansky caring more for human characters than for the Transformers, with a few issues told more through their eyes. That gets much more annoying starting with the next trade, but it never works as well as letting the robots carry the story. show less

Ratchet resurrects the Dinobots and kicks Megatron's ass. Optimus Prime makes a last-ditch return and saves the day. What's not to like? Much preferable to the (rather confused) movie.