General Information:
As The Fallen drags the two victims away, he tells Bludgeon and the others that his intention is to capture the fourth subject he needs himself. As the group heads out, Shockwave awakens!
Iacon: Suddenly, Swoop contacts the Autobots and tells them about the meeting between Jetfire and Shockwave, and Grimlock's investigation. Now on site in the Neutral Territories, Swoop reports everyone gone. Prowl tells him to find out more and keep a channel open. Unfortunately, the time has come for more trouble to erupt! On Level Zero, The Fallen is attacking!
Iacon:
Autobase, Level Zero:
Above ground in Tactical Command, the Autobots try to erect a containment field but The Fallen manages to override it.
Elsewhere:
Story: In this case, the story works for you whether you've read this tale before or not. If you have, you know that all this is leading to Unicron possibly being given a signal as to Primus' (and thus Cybertron's) location. If you don't, then it's a mystery with bits of foreshadowing sprinkled in that tells you the big U is involved somehow in The Fallen's mission. What that mission is becomes obvious towards the end. Somehow Primus has shielded his presence and location from Unicron thus far, perhaps in hopes that his creations, the Transformers, would be able to fight his ancient foe off or mature to a level where they could unleash Primus' power and fight alongside their creator against the Dark God. The Fallen's "Unbinding" mission obviously is meant to break the Seal of Primus and have Unicron find Cybertron before the Transformers are ready to face the Dark God. I do like how a familiar tale is basically being retold with new elements, and it is this issue that really starts making "What's going on with this Fallen guy?" clear. Sure we older fans know "Okay, this is like issue #61" but at the same time, the path the story is being told on makes it much more interesting than an accidental teleport into Primus' lair. Of course, now the question becomes - will Primus' Seal be broken? And what will happen if it does get broken? That I'm looking forward to seeing the answer for in the next issue. Artwork: When I first read this issue many moons ago, it was a relief to see that many of Andrew Wildman's trademark details were incorporated into this issue. The past issues all seemed rather flat and undetailed, which is not at all his style. Then, not too long ago I purchased one of the Wildfur art packs which include (among other things) a copy of the original pencils by Wildman before they were inked and colored. I have to say it's absolutely stunning how much of Wildman's pencil details were lost or obscured in the inking/coloring process. The biggest example of this that sticks out in my head involves The Fallen. When he's stomping down the hallway to extract Blitzwing, Wildman's original artwork has tons of lines, indentations and cracks drawn on The Fallen that were simply lost upon coloring. Some details were obscured by the computer added effects such as burn marks while others were simply obscured because of the overall dark color of The Fallen. On the plus side, character facial expressions are preserved rather well in this issue from Wildman's original line art to the final product. Some of the most expressive scenes involve Prowl, who you can see agonizing over his decisions and the situation around him. Unfortuantely, even with this positive light, some things are lost. In one scene, Bludgeon is talking and it's a great close up of his face, details in all. But in the original pencils we see bits of armor coming off of him (another Wildman trademark), a detail lost in the final colors. While the artwork in this issue overall (pencils, inks and colors together) is a huge improvement over previous issues, it's sad knowing how much visual candy readers are never getting to see. It would have been better if some of the computer effects were kept out and instead lighter shades had been used to emphasize details such as damage and cracks. Quick Hits:
Final Thoughts: |
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