Transformers #1 and #2
Image Comics
Writer: Daniel Warren Johnson
Art: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colors: Mike Spicer
I was a cartoon kid. There are several I fondly remember for a variety of reasons, but there are only four that I would say have shown to have a lasting influence on my pop culture tastes: Looney Tunes (for comedy); Batman: The Animated Series (for style and a lasting respect for all things Batman); Robotech (for scope of story and for mecha); and Transformers (for giant-ass robots).
I’ve got a salt-and-pepper beard so you know I’m talking about the ’80s Transformers cartoon. I watched it regularly though I can’t recall when it aired. (I feel like it wasn’t a Saturday morning staple. Was it an after-school thing?) I was drawn to the designs, the sound effects, the wild voice work, and fight sequences. I also had the toys. Skywarp was my first–purchased with my own money! Sideswipe my second, I do believe. I had Optimus Prime, Cliffjumper, Metroplex, and so many more, but, shockingly never a Megatron or Starscream or Ironhide. I did have the inferior Galvatron and Rodimus Prime but those dudes didn’t get as much play-time as the original generation of Transformers.
I didn’t see the animated movie until I was in high school. A friend of my girlfriend at the time invited some of us over to his place to watch it. VHS, of course. I never knew that this was the “origin” so to speak of Rodimus Prime and Galvatron. I’ll admit I was indifferent to what occurred on screen. This was late high school, which meant I was into “serious cinema” now and I was really just there for curiosity sake and a chance to hang with my gal.
I’ve known Transformers has continued in some shape or form over the many years since– other animated series, some bloated Hollywood pictures, and comics. I tried the first Transformers movie and was bored. I sold the comics in the store and probably reviewed a handful in the early days of comicreaders.com, but nothing called out to me and really took hold.
Which brings us to the latest Transformers comic series. The franchise left IDW and landed at Image Comics under the Skybound banner. The move certainly generated some chatter around the store. My personal interest was solely based on the name at the top of the cover: Daniel Warren Johnson. He’s the writer and artist of two of my most recent favourite comics miniseries– Do a Powerbomb! and Murder Falcon— and he takes on those chores for Transformers. (He’s accompanied with Mike Spicer on colors and Rus Wooton on letters.)
According to the back matter, Daniel Warren Johnson was also influenced by Transformers. “So much of my artistic journey started with Transformers,” he writes. “I owe them a lot.”
It shows.
If you have a Daniel Warren Johnson comic in your mitts you’re in for a visual treat. No doubt about that. The subject matter doesn’t matter; but, here his dedication to the source is apparent. The design of each Transformer is bang-on for this lapsed fan. I felt like a kid again, sitting in an over-sized chair, watching these fantastic creations move, and talk, and transform. He depicts the transformations almost subtly, picking moments mid-transformation. He doesn’t mess about to draw attention to it. But the motion is there. It is. Because that is the magic of a well drawn comic.
How about the story? Well, Daniel Warren Johnson is the writer so that means there’s going to be a focus on family. Spike is present. A young man. Sparkplug, too, Spike’s dad, and he’s a blue collar worker, but also a vet of some war visually reminiscent of Vietnam. Spike has a female friend, and her family will suffer a terrible loss by the time the 2nd issue ends. The idea of family relates to the Transformers, too, though Optimus Prime is unfamiliar with the word.
Issue #1 begins with the Transformers crashing on Earth. That ship is discovered by Spike and his friend, and they are soon joined by Jetfire. That noble Transformer uses the ship’s computer to reassemble the destroyed Transformers. He has no idea, however, that the Autobots and Decepticons are at war. When awoken, the fight continues through the pages.
Daniel Warren Johnson brought me to the title. The family focus early on kept me reading. Seeing those classic Transformers designs on the pages sealed the deal. I enjoyed these two issues a lot. I’ll keep reading as long as Daniel Warren Johnson is at the helm and as long as this story doesn’t get bogged down in the Energon Universe shenanigans.
What’s that now, you ask? Energon Universe?
Hear that jingle jangle and the whisk whisk of palms being rubbed together eagerly? Hasbro and Image / Skybound have cooked up a connected reality in which the Transformers and G.I. Joe coexist alongside space stuff in Void Rivals. For example, Jetfire appears in Void Rivals. That segment supposedly occurs during his journey to Earth and before his arrival in Tranformers #1. And in Transformers #2, Duke from G.I. Joe makes a quick appearance.
Editor Sean Mackiewicz seems aware of the potential raised eyebrows because in the letter pages of Transformers #2 he writes, “Each series in the Energon Universe provides a self-contained story… the reading experience will never be exclusionary.”
I hope that is true. (Chad Boudreau)
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