Broken Frontier

The rumblings of "their war" on "our world" begin in this issue. You know once the Transformers arrive nothing will be the same.

Another penultimate book heats up the shelves this week with the third installment of the Transformers: Official Movie Prequel limited series. Throughout the three issues time and space have been fluid things, the narrative jumping from a time before time to the twenty-first century to the late 1800s and early 1900s and from Cybertron to Earth and all places in between. This issue is no different. As all the players gather on "our world’s" stage the story heats up and makes its readers burn with a desire for the movie which is now only a couple of months away that will depict, if the trailers are any indication, just how awesome "their war" would actually be.

Normally comic book/movie tie-ins are a bit . . . fluffy. Stories serve no real purpose, artists are not exactly top of the line, and the writer is just some kid from the bullpen. IDW is treating their tie-in differently. By tapping a man whose name is synonymous with Transformers, Simon Furman, they have a co-writer who has a history with the characters and knowledge of who they really are. By dipping further into the plot of just how the Transformers and their precious Allspark ended up on Earth and how these giant robots in disguise managed to get themselves wrapped up into the lives of the Witwicky family, Furman and co-writer Chris Ryall are giving their readers a more complete story than we would get if we only went to see the movie.

As an added bonus we get to see the work of another whose name is synonymous with Transformers these days—Don Figueroa, who is bringing his A-game to the table for this one. Handling all the art chores (save coloring which is in the capable hands of Josh Burcham) Figueroa is creating a new image for everyone’s favorite Cybertronians. Thankfully however, he takes from the old, but gives the Transformers a more realistic image that matches up with the few fleeting glimpses of the film we have been allowed. His heavy, precise lines, fine curves, and defined backgrounds only add to the overall realistic tone of the comic. In July the Transformers will enter the real world, Figueroa is taking them there in style.

I’m sure that this comic will end in a horrible cliffhanger spot, leaving me panting for the movie. But I don’t care. Right now I am on fanboy overload waiting for the film and I would take anything they gave me to satiate my thirst. Fortunately IDW has given me a great comic that I will not look back at years from now and shake my head for ever having bought it.