IDW Publishing 2019
Written by Tyler Bleszinski
Illustrated by Livio Ramondelli
Lettered by Tom B. Long
Cybertron, a planet of vast beauty and extraordinary cities, wasn’t always so perfect. After the War Against the Threefold Spark, Cybertron was decimated, and new bots—the Constructicons—emerged to help rebuild it grander and more amazing than ever before. But where are these bots now? Why have they been erased from Cybertron’s history? And what are they planning to do about it? Find out in “Constructicons Rising,” Part One!
Full disclosure I am not a Transformers fan, I didn't watch em or like em growing up and now the live action films are okay but hey that's my story with them. So what drew me to this one is that it's a first issue and working with IDW if I didn't like what I saw I could've moved on but one look at the artwork and I had to read the book. Now I am really glad I did too because this surprised me in some really great ways. For someone who doesn't know a lot about the franchise this is a refreshing change of pace for me. Plus if you're like me then you'll find this new reader friendly, easy to follow and appreciate this for the story itself. This is one that I would say step out of your comfort zone pick this up in your hands open it up see what it looks like and tell how it made you feel.
Tyler does an amazing job telling this story. I think that the story & plot development that we are seeing here is fabulous as he utilises the then and now aspect to show us where they are and where they've been. Not to mention how they got started as a group or team and for me it combines the origin story with a missions story and beautifully sets the tone and mood for what we can expect. The character development that we see is also extremely well done and that we get a sense of who they are as individuals and as a by product of the story how the see themselves and each other. The pacing picks all this up and carries it all forward as it reveals information, shows a few revelations and of course places some nice twists and turns in the process.
So the interiors here are beyond stunning. The colours feel like they may have been done on the computer but the linework is unlike anything I've seen before in computer artwork. The linework for me is utterly gorgeous and how they are utilised to create this stupendous attention to detail amazes me page after page. The way that we see the composition inside the panels is crazy good and it isn't always easy to show off scale with these folks but Livio manages to pull that off so well. Without the colour work that we see I wonder if we'd feel the same way about this but thankfully we don't have to worry about that. I am utterly gobsmacked by Livio's eye for storytelling as we see through the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels. Plus while backgrounds are hit or miss they still work and do what they are supposed to. I feel as if Livio manages to think of the bigger picture and how the linework and colour will play off one another, there is thought and consideration in what he's doing.
The story overall is strong, intelligent and interesting as it explores characters we don't normally see. The little guys who get overlooked or that the general population didn't know existed they are the stars of this book and I want to see more. They aren't just builders, they have personalities and joys and gripes and everything that makes them feel human and relatable to only their robots in disguise, even if they are a life-form and not robots. Full marks on this one people this was amazing to read.