“Darn it, I need an extension cord!”
Transformers: Escalation #5
IDW Publishing (March, 2007)
WRITER: Simon Furman
ARTIST: E. J. Su
COLORIST: Zac Atkinson
LETTERER: Robbie Robbins
EDITORS: Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
The battle continues at the border as Megatron gets the upper hand on Optimus Prime, ripping out the Matrix Of Leadership, or Creation Matrix, or whatever Furman is calling it now. Skywarp runs off to get his own reinforcements to counter Hot Rod and Hardhead, while Hot Rod and Prowl manage to secure the Koska facsimile. Back in America, Ironhide rushes in to rescue Verity and Jimmy, while the Machination reports a successful test to someone with a Cybertronian voice. And more Transformers remains are found, but the excavation is taken over by the US government organization calling itself Skywatch.
What they got right: The stuff on the border and Ironhide trying to rescue Verity and Jimmy were good moment. And Su’s art is as good as usual, backed by Atkinson’s colors.
What they got wrong: ANOTHER human organization aware of the Transformers? Really? So we have four factions now, two Transformers and two humans, who will be fighting each other. You can see Furman reverting to his need for multiple storylines going on simultaneously and now he’s producing his own Sector Seven, which was part of the marketing campaign for the first Michael Bay movie being promoted around this time. Can you stick with one threat at a time, Simon? Can you? You seemed to be doing okay with Dreamwave and early IDW comics, but now you’re falling back into type.
Recommendation: The story is still decent enough to recommend but it’s slipping again.
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