The year was 1984 and I was a freshman in high school. I began hearing a cartoon about cars which turned into robots. The Transformer toys were the big craze and the Transformers theme song was on everyone’s lips. Finally, over 20 years later Hollywood has answered the call to make a Transformers live action movie.
IDW Publishing added to their line of comics the movie prequels for Transformers. It apperas that they have invested in more than just the movie prequels but several spin off comic book titles. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that impressed with this first issue.
I became bored with the sci-fi story of a new world and culture based on these robots. I understood what was going on, but I really didn’t care. I believe that the writer’s job is to make the reader care about what is going on in their story. I wanted to care. If I didn’t want to care I would not have read the book. But, the story didn’t grab me and hold me.
I also didn’t like the black and white panels. I’ll admit that I am not a black and white reader. Black and White comic books don’t apeal to me at all. However, the black and white in this comic book refered the inhabitants of a Borg-like cube. The concept didn’t bother me–black and white ARE colors, after all. The problem I had with the black and white was that I became confused about the story because the panel where entirely too complex for comic books. The had too much detail for too little space, and all I see in a bunch off lines. This threw off my entire experience with the book.
I remember that I chose the comic book. I went in and read the book, freely and with anticipation. The story simply did not deliver.