Autobots.
Decepticons.
(Duh-duh-duhduh-duuuh)
In a rural American town, teenagers Spike and Carly head out to the mountains to gaze at the stars… unaware that creatures from outer space are buried deep within the very mountain they’re on! A spark reignites the creatures’ centuries-long slumber and their war - the battle for Cybertron - resumes, this time on Earth. The sides are drawn: Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, vs…. Starscream, leader of the Decepticons? The saga of the Energon Universe continues!
Daniel Warren Johnson may have created the first accessible Transformers comic to people who are largely indifferent to the franchise - which is no small feat! I tried reading those, frankly impenetrable, IDW comics years ago and, mere pages in, ended up curled in a ball on the floor rocking back and forth. And the less said about the Michael Bay movies, the better (migraine cinema). So I had zero expectations going into this one, though I’m also nowhere close to being a fan so it wasn’t going to mean much to me if it stank.
But, Transformers, Volume 1: Robots in Disguise is… alright. I got through the first issue and kept going - and wanted to as well - until I finished my first Transformers book. Wow. Lookit me maw!
Johnson has wisely ignored the Michael Bay movies and taken his cue from the original ‘80s cartoon - Spike Witwicky is the main human character and the Transformers all have their classic designs. Full marks to the art team too - Johnson draws the whole book, as well as writes it, and I had no complaints about the visuals. The Transformers all looked awesome, especially Optimus - the boss cover is indicative of the quality inside the book. Mike Spicer’s colours are vibrant and beautiful too - first class work from both.
While my memories of those classic cartoons are vague at best, I’m certain they weren’t as violent as this comic surprisingly turned out to be! Johnson immediately differentiates his take on Transformers by having Starscream kill a famous Autobot as his introduction in the story. He then keeps the left turns coming by killing off other characters throughout while leaving the most famous character, after Optimus - Megatron - almost entirely out of the book (we get a glimpse of where he’s chilling these days on one page).
The story is, of course, Autobots battling Decepticons, though both sides need Energon (Transformers food) to operate and neither has much, so the number of Transformers characters is kept low to begin with and slowly increased over the course of the story as Energon sources are identified. It makes sense from a story perspective but also stops the less familiar reader from being overwhelmed with an extensive cast too early on - which is definitely appreciated!
It’s a fast-paced narrative with neither side having a clear advantage over the other and both are clearly struggling so it’s interesting to see them overcome one obstacle after another - ah, conflict, the lifeblood of great fiction! Johnson cleverly works the humans into the action as well so that they make valuable contributions to the fighting and aren’t just passive bystanders.
The action scenes are also easy to follow, thanks to both Johnson’s artistic ability and Spicer’s colours, compared to the horrible confusing mess that was the action in Bay’s movies. Some readers might already know this, but readers of this comic could also guess that Johnson is a wrestling fan and he works in wrestling moves into the fight scenes - Optimus’ introduction sees him clotheslining Starscream!
I also learned some new Transformers characters’ names besides the really famous ones - like Cliffjumper, a smaller Autobot who befriends Carly - because Johnson’s able to write distinct, memorable characters, which really helps any story, but especially introductory books like this for new readers.
I mentioned the “Energon Universe” at the top of the review - so this is Image/Skybound’s new endeavour to create an interconnected comics universe to include Transformers and GI Joe, along with a new series, Void Rivals. If you read Void Rivals (though you don’t need to before picking up this book), you’ll probably remember a Transformers cameo in that one. That was Jetfire, and we see him again at the start of this book. It shows that his cameo wasn’t just gratuitous, but actually connects the two books and is the catalyst for everything that happens, so it also has meaning. And in the same style as Void Rivals led into Transformers with a cameo, Transformers leads into the next Energon Universe book, GI Joe, with a GI Joe cameo.
Still, Johnson can only do so much if he’s staying true to the source material - which is a cartoon designed to sell toys - and the characters remain very one-dimensional in their alignment. Starscream and the Decepticons are evil while Optimus and the Autobots are good - very simply so. The human characters weren’t all that interesting to me and consequently I wasn’t moved by what happened to them.
The story as well feels a bit flat. It’s essentially just rock em sock em robots - well done and cool, but still - and as such doesn’t have much depth. I’m not sure what the larger story here is either. We’ll get to Megatron inevitably and there’ll be more fighting, and I’m sure there’ll be fighting with the GI Joe characters too, but beyond that…? That’s why it’s hard to get too invested in the story when I felt like it was only the most superficial stuff we were seeing.
I do get the sense though that Johnson genuinely loves what he’s doing and that gives this book a vibrancy. This doesn’t feel like a soulless work-for-hire job where the writer/artist is just checking boxes off a list - I believe he’s a real fan and would be doing something similar to this even if he wasn’t working on the property itself.
I’m not going to say this was good enough to make me a Transformers fan who will go on to read all the books, etc. but Daniel Warren Johnson’s first Transformers book was thankfully accessible for the most casual of casual Transformers knowers-of who don’t know the franchise well. And it was entertaining enough too.
This definitely is the book to read if you want to read a Transformers comic and not feel perpetually lost while reading it. Transformers is easily the most famous series in the nascent Energon Universe so it’s fortuitous that it’s also the best (so far).
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