More thrills! More shocks! More new arms!
The bold new era for the Autobots and this book continues! Robert Kirkman, chief architect of the Energon Universe, writes the flagship Transformers title and Jason Howard takes over as regular penciler for this new story arc with Mike Spicer on colors. Howard had previously drawn issues # 13 and # 14 of this book, along with many covers.
In this thirty-sixth issue, a new Superion is born! Doctor Arkeville proves his worth! Starscream prepares a plot! And Beachcomber searches for a new purpose!
What is it with Skybound and giving people new arms?
Optimus, Rom, and now Superion… I dunno. Anyhow, as practically EVERYONE expected, Thundercracker becomes part of Superion in this issue! And uh… well, there’s not a lot of fanfare to it, actually. It’s just treated as something Thundercracker could already do. Off-panel upgrades from Wheeljack, I guess? I dunno what I expected, maybe Cobra-La to have the Enigma of Combination or something, but it just happens as almost an afterthought.
There’s actually a lot going on in this issue and Kirkman’s really spread himself a bit thin for this arc. The Superion/Cobra-La stuff actually only takes a few pages, while the rest of the issue is spent ping-ponging around other characters’ subplots.
Oh yeah, is Doctor Arkeville up to no good?
Actually...no. Maybe his name should be Doctor Arkegoode for right now. He seems to be in good spirits while getting the chance to work with the Autobots, but I wonder if that will last. His old partner from the Sunbow cartoon, Starscream, is up and about again and has stolen something from Wheeljack’s lab. I wonder if Kirkman can resist pairing these two up in the future.
As for other stuff, Megatron’s cocoon begins to crack by the end of the issue but we don’t see what’s coming out of it yet. Beachcomber goes off on a quest of his own to… add more characters to the cast, probably. There’s honestly a bit more wheel-spinning here and setup for future stuff rather than anything approaching a satisfying climax to this arc, but maybe that’s coming next issue.
Cube?
Kirkman’s been setting up tons of stuff but paying off very little in this book for the last few issues, so I hope next issue will actually give us some kind of moment of real consequence. Jason Howard’s art is fun and flashy as usual, but I haven’t been as invested in the story of late, which is a shame because I thought Kirkman came out of the gate fairly strong.
Buy Transformers # 36 this week or get shot into space on a rocket because that’s the best way to get rid of you, I guess.
