Today’s Comic: The Transformers #3

The Transformers #3

IDW Publishing (January 2010)

WRITER: Mike Costa

ARTIST: Don Figueroa

COLORIST: J. Brown

LETTERER: Chris Mowry

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton

EDITOR: Andy Schmidt

COVER “A” (shown): regular artists

COVER “B”: Andrew Wildman

RETAILER INCENTIVE COVER: Don Figueroa

As Hot Rod’s Autobot/Decepticon group try to find a way off planet, Bumblebee tries to hold things together after the arrival of Ultra Magnus, who has come to investigate recent events. A few more Autobots decide to leave, not trusting Magnus, only to be captured by Skywatch, because Spike hopes this will get Optimus Prime to open up to him.

What they got right: The timeline placement section tells us that this takes place between Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 and Bumblebee #1. I’m glad theyre using this. Figueroa’s humans are getting better, and his action and transformation scenes work well. I like the vehicle mode redesigns he’s come up with, including Blurr’s Earth alt mode. Sadly that leads into.

What they got wrong: There’s a flaw in IDW’s decision to give the artists full freedom that is apparent when you compare this comic to the Bumblebee mini-series, and I don’t mean the movie-style detailing. Why does Blurr have an Earth mode here, but uses his Cybertronian mode in the other comic? Also, the timeline is becoming as convoluted as DC’s, as we’re getting potential spoilers on the level of Justice League: Cry for Justice. I’m going to write an article about this next week, but long post short, I really don’t like this. Also, why is everybody at Skywatch as big a jerk as the old RATT, only without sympathetic characters like Barnett and even Finkleberg. Spike is self-important, the other break out character, Campologno, makes Circuit Breaker look like an Autobot lover by comparison, AND he’s obnoxious, and those are just the guys in this comic. Was anybody paying attention when the Autobots saved the world! No? Was the writer?

Recommendation: I’m beginning to think that Costa is challenging Furman for my least favorite Transformers writer. Costa, at least, is making the various threads work, but there’s a lot that’s beginning to bug me about his run. Can we get Budiansky back? Please? How about Adam and Brad from the Dreamwave days? It’s getting tougher to recommend this comic, even to TransFans.

"And watch your language in front of the children."