IDW Publishing 2017
Written by John Barber & Christos Gage
Illustrated by Alex Milne
Coloured by Josh Perez
Lettered by Tom B. Long
The Cybertronian Civil War raged between the mechanical life forms known as Autobots and Decepticons—the conflict rendering their planet uninhabitable. The war spread to the stars, where an alliance of biological civilizations—the Galactic Council—stood in opposition. Elsewhere, knights of the Solstar Order encased themselves in crystalline metallic armor to battle the shapechanging, magic-using Dire Wraiths. The Solstar Order has scored a major
victory by destroying the Wraith homeworld—leaving the remnants scrambling for a foothold.
Into this environment, a Cybertronian colony world unwittingly sends a deep-space probe with a very unusual cargo…
Now that the whole Hasbro Universe has been established it’s time to explore its past. In this case the relationship between the Space Knights and the Cybertronians. How the Dire Wraiths play into things as well. All of this is done by John and Christos in ways that make all these civilisations feel like they’ve gone through the same phases that we have on Earth. I’m not sure how I feel about that but it does make it easier to relate to these folks. Also it makes it very easy to choose sides and see how different species under different rule are either to be liked or disliked.
Honestly while I don’t have a problem with Rom and the Space Knights having issues with the Cybertronians I do however question the hatred behind it. I mean to see how they treat the young woman Rom saved and what they say to her about her ancestry well yeah Stardrive is basically brainwashed into thinking the people she comes from are the ultimate in war mongering evil. It’s amazing to me to see them place such things at the feet of essentially a child regardless if she can turn into a car and is so much larger than others her age.
I do really like the artwork here. The classic comic book style is fantastic for this. The attention to detail is great to see and considering the way the Dire Wraith and the Cybertronians inherently look that’s important. Plus we get to see some creativity and imagination unleashed with some of the alien species we see and how the Wraith change their shape. The way page layouts are used through their angles and perspective are well utilised. When backgrounds are in play they really make the scenes pop and when there are none you feel that absence.
I kind of like seeing the past and how Rom and Stardrive have this shared history. While I wouldn’t mind going further back to when the actually animosity first established itself this will have to do. I mean it does have that feel like we’re stepping into the middle of something. I will say this however the characterisation is fantastic and it shows how Rom is different from his peers and how through it all how Stardrive really does strive to do the best she can and be accepted for who she is.
This is an interesting way to go about showing their history. It’s not bad and i’m digging it and I cannot wait to see the moment Stardrive realises she doesn’t want to be a Space Knight and goes off with her own kind, or at least off to figure out her own path. In the meantime this is the most unusual story of self-discovery and acceptance i’ve ever seen.