REVIEW: Optimus Prime #17

Rating if the Book Were a Movie: PG

Writer: John Barber
Artist: Kei Zama
Colors: Josh Burcham
Letters: Tom B. Long
Cover: Zama and Burcham
Editor: David Mariotte
Publisher: IDW Publishing

It’s been over a month since I have written about anything related to the Transformers. I can’t believe that happened with one of my all time favorite franchises.

I’m not as up to speed on “Optimus Prime” as some of the other Transformers titles. I received a box full of Cybertron goodness from Nicole a while back; but I am a bit behind on some of my reading.

“Optimus Prime” #17 primarily takes place on Cybertron. I’m not sure where we are on the timeline though.

There’s another civil war taking place. This time the teams appear to be very unbalanced. Optimus Prime and Soundwave appear to have formed an alliance. For reasons I don’t know Starscream is being referred to as the chosen one.

You know that scene in The Avengers when Hulk takes Loki and just beats the tar out of him? We’re about two panels away from seeing Devastator do that to Starscream when a titan announces it’s presence with authority. Picture Metroplex. Make him bigger and less friendly. Aren’t surprises fun?! Best of all, thus titan isn’t the only surprise we’re getting in this issue.

Artwork:

.75 Stars

I’m a huge fan of any cover with Devastator on it. This one makes my short list of all time favorite covers of big green.

The interior artwork is very vivid and detailed. It still blows me away how far it’s come since the original run in the 80’s.

Story:

.5 Stars

I liked how the story began with Aileron’s home world. I was hoping to have the story go from there instead of coming back to the latest round of war on Cybertron. I did like how towards the end of the issue it was starting to look like the  WWE Royal Rumble.

Dialogue:

.75 Stars

Onyx Prime gives the reader a lot of information when he’s speaking. Soundwave also throws a couple logs on the fire.

Editing:

.75 Stars

I love that IDW put a page with a role call in. It’s helpful for identifying characters you may not be familiar with. I would have liked to have a better idea where We were on the timeline.

Mechanics:

.75 Stars

This book didn’t have as much action as most Transformers books. Right now everyone is jockeying for position. You can definitely tell it’s coming to a head. Next issue should be quite a throw down.