
IDW Publishing 2016
Written by Brandon Easton
Illustrated by Tony Vargas
Coloured by Jordi Escuin
Lettered by Gilberto Lazcano
The Mobile Armored Strike Kommand now reeling from the events of Revolution finds themselves on the run from the law and hunted by Manheim, now going by Mayhem and his new strike team VENOM. If Matt and his team are going to survive these initial days and bring Mayhem to justice for what he’s done they are going to have figure things out fast.
One of the main things I liked about this issue is that Brandon was able to take the Revolution One-Shot and keep this moving from there. With the revelations that came with Revolution itself, that Manheim was evil, and that one-shot this is a great continuation. Not only that but even if you hadn’t read those it’s still a great introductory issue to the series. It’s got a little bit of everything, the flashbacks and the moving forward so that you know what’s come before and can seamlessly be transitioned into the new.
While I am enjoying the setup for the adversarial relationship between Matt and his squad versus Mayhem and his I am hoping we’ll see that this will tackle other issues and feature the other characters of this shared universe. Turning to the Joe’s or the Transformers for help clearing their names or in helping secure a new base of operations, though that may not be an issue, would be nice to see as it’ll keep them firmly implanted in this new universe. For me this would be something of interest i’d to see.
I have to say that the interiors here are fantastic! We all know i’m a huge fan of attention to detail and the prolific use of backgrounds and this definitely has those in spades. The look, tone and feel of the book really does suit the action/adventure theme of the story. The use of page layouts through angles and perspective are used phenomenally well. The facial expressions and body language are key to us getting more characterisation than the words offer.
So far this really is an exciting series and the direction it’s taking looks like it’s going to establish what we should come to expect from it. With a great cast of characters, a conflict formed and the beginnings of a new origin this promises to be something extraordinary. There’s also really strong characterisation going on here to establish the team. Plus it’s got some smooth interior artwork to really enhance the story itself.
Get ready for another action packed series from the Hasbro line from IDW because this one seems to have what it takes for maximum impact!