Today’s Comic> Transformers #27

Backyard wrestling on Cybertron is pretty close to Earth.

Transformers #27

IDW Publishing (October, 2011)

Prowl, with help from Streetwise, escapes the assassin, who turns out to be the Combaticon Brawl. When interrogation is stalled by a booby trap, Prowl returns to his Spike investigation. Spike tracks down Sandra, but so do Streetwise and Groove, who take her in to ask about Spike’s involvement with Scrapper’s murder, and after overhearing her testimony Spike admits everything to Prowl.

What they got right: WE know Spike is guilty because we saw it happen issues ago. Watching Prowl investigate it then becomes a case of watching how he uncovers the truth. It worked for Columbo, so why not Prowl? Again, we see Costa write Prowl as less of a jerk and more of a good soldier/detective. For someone who is supposed to be part of Optimus Prime’s “brain trust” as it were this is a better depiction.

What they got wrong: Sandra brought home just why I hate this version of Spike Witwicky, a womanizing egotist who ignores the rules when it serves his end. While the latter was fine in combat and (based on how Costa wrote the Autobots’ situation) necessary to target Decepticons, the former made him rather unlikable, the exact opposite of what Spike should be in the Transformers mythos.

Recommendation: Probably not a good time to jump in if you haven’t been following this arc. While I still have my problems with Costa’s run as a whole, I kind of like this story, but I think he’s made it impossible to keep the story on Earth.

Now that's how Prowl should be written!

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