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review by: Ruel S. De Vera
Well, those Dreamwave folks can really surprise, can't they? Just as I was worried they were falling behind, everything that was late suddenly came out! And so here we begin a virtual series of reviews, just for this week's releases!
I begin with Transformers Energon # 25, simply because it's the simplest and most conventional of the new releases. It's nice to see Energon/Armada reach the 25 milestone and despite its relative weaknesses compared to the other series (especially the new/upcoming ones) it should continue to thrive.
That's because it still has the solid creative team of Simon Furman and Joe Ng. But "Omni-Potent," this issue's story, seems to be a somewhat safe standalone issue. In fact, save for a few key moments, it can even be considered inconsequential.
The whole point of "Omni-Potent" is to show how the newly-activated
Omnicons, new to the planet Earth, seem to sow chaos wherever they go. To prevent any more incidents, Prime basically dumps Signal Flare, Arcee, Skyblast and Strongarm to Base One, off in some polar region to keep them away from trouble. But the moment they arrive, they accidentally start to tear apart Ironhide's contraption. In a fit of frustration, unit leader Hot Shot tells them literally to get lost--and they do just that!
So while Kicker and Hot Shot search for them, the Ominicons accidentally fall into the clutches of the Decepticon Snow Cat. Snow Cat then tries to brainwash them, but the Ominicons (with Mini-con Over-run making a cameo) use their collective consciousness to break free. But Snow Cat is in his environment and it'll take more than just brain power to beat this polar
feline. But just as that little sortie is resolved, Furman throws in a pretty interesting cliff-hanger of an ending, something more exciting than anything else in the entire issue.
All in all, "Omni-Potent" remains pretty typical of the Energon storylines, meaning they're basically linear and still somewhat cartoony. But Furman is still trying to beef up the narrative--good luck. When the TV series is actually still more compelling than the comic series, you know you've still got problems. But art-wise, Ng continues to evolve and here, he adds a whole new dimension of detail to the machines, made much more noticeable amid a starkly white backdrop. This boy can draw! In particular, I like how the Omincons looks formidable instead of wimpy (check out his "Metropolitan"-like take on Arcee and the badass Strongarm), but most of all check out how menacing the monochromatic Snow Cat looks in Ng's hands.
All in all, the issue is just all right, but it continues to underperform, and, amid the invasion of quality Dreamwave material this week, "Omni-Potent" is just not potent enough to keep up with the pack.
Harcore TF tidbits:
1) On the second page, check out how Optimus 4, the submarine, gets some face time. It's been a running joke in TF continuity that the water-based TFs get no love, so this is kinda cute.
2) In an unmistakable nod to the G.I. Joe vehicle of the same name, Snow Cat makes a cool, hehe, debut. But there is nothing mentioned here of his origin--that Snow Cat is actually the new form of the former Decepticon Cyclonus. Whatever happened to that?
3) This isn't exactly a hardcore tidbit, but I want to point out that, of all the comics, it is Energon that always gets the colors right--and here, colorists Jong-Im Lee and Josh Perez actually make the characters looks just as brightly colored as their toy counterparts.
4) And the killer detail this issue (SPOILER!): it's back to Armada! Yes, even though Megatron, as we know from # 22, already has a new form, that is indeed Armada Megatron's head in the middle of the last panel. And in the corner--fresh from his nameless appearance in Armada's Worlds Collide arc--it's G1 Scourge! Hmmm.
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