Void Rivals has The Touch!
It does and it continues here with issue # 15! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’s sci-fi comic that tells the tale of two crumbling planets linked by a “Sacred Ring” (it’s not Halo), their peoples at war for generations. When a member of each culture are stranded together, the two find they must put aside their differences if they want to survive. This story takes place in the so-called “Energon Universe”, Skybound Entertainment’s initiative to relaunch properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe within a shared universe that also happens to include the original characters and setting of Void Rivals.
In this fifteenth issue, Hot Rod and Springer reunite for the first time! Darak runs interference for his new giant robot friends! Pythona and the Skuxxoid cross paths! Proximus recovers! And Solila reaches her destination!
Sooo, another staggered advance of subplots?
Yes! There’s a lot of different perspectives to focus on here, so Kirkman does his thang and gives just about equal time to all of them. That does have the negative effect of not much advancement on any of them, but you gotta be used to Kirkman’s plotting style by now, right?
Hot Rod and Springer’s reunion is a key bit and it’s nice to see they have the “Luke/Han” relationship that they were originally designed with. I think Proximus is kinda cool and I’m glad he gets a little update here. Solila is probably subject to the biggest revelation/breakthrough in the issue’s cliffhanger, and the threads are starting to weave together here at least.
So what’s the endgame here?
The ultimate threat of Void Rivals appears to be this thing called “Goliant” and everything is mostly building towards that. Still, I think we’re a long ways off from any kind of ultimate battle, although I’m sure Kirkman will have another mini-climax in issue # 18 (funny how major turning points happen exactly every six issues, ain’t it?)
I’ve said it before in these reviews, but Kirkman’s stuff has always been better in trades for me, at least. He’s of the school of decompressed storytelling, so it really seems like not much is happening on a month-to-month basis. That’s not to say what is happening is bad though, and I’m still pretty intrigued at where this is going.
Cube?
Void Rivals continues at a slow-but-steady pace. If you’re here for the Transformers, Hot Rod and Springer look to be sticking around and we’re in the back half of the third arc now so stuff should escalate soon.
Buy Void Rivals # 15 this week, so the Skuxxoid can purchase Christmas presents for his family that may or may not exist.
