We’re back on Earth with issue 68 and we see some old faces once again. Namely, G.B. Blackrock. What is that old dog up to now? But before we get into this at full force, lets review this cover.
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Some covers are beautiful, but then there are covers like this that are just hard to read. What we have is the head of Starscream taking up most of the cover. Starscream is getting punched in the jaw by a very Juggernaut looking character. But this ripped man is posed in such away it took me forever to realize what was going on with him. And again, the colors played a part in that. Near the top right of the cover we have a flying human female in a decent costume. “The HUMANS STRIKE BACK!” is written along the top just under the green Transformers logo. The cover is a miss for me. So lets see if the story within is any better.
G.B. Blackrock is in this issue to clean up where the R.A.A.T. failed. In an way that reminds me of X-Men’s Professor Charles Francis Xavier, Blackrock start builting a team of Super-Humans. Thunderpunch and Rapture are his first two reluctant recruits. The team’s goal is to help deal with Transformer incidents that occur on earth. Their first missions is to hunt down a possible third member of the team known only as Mister X.
Starscream is also interested in Mister X. He sees this super human as an endless source of energy that he can use to defeat Scorponok and take over as leader of the Decepticons. As Starscream zeroes in on Mister X (A.K.A. Hector Dialonzo), Circuit Breaker shows up try and convince the guy to join her. Of course a fight breaks out.
When Blackrock’s team arrives it all turns into a three team fight for Mister X. The fighting only stops when Mister X says he will listen to each groups proposal and pick on. In the end Blockrock is picked by Mister X. Blockrock makes the same offer to Circuit Breaker and she accepts.
Later, Starscream finds himself standing before Shockwave who asks him to join with him.
My Thoughts On This Issue
So the way I see this, we’re getting an X-Men like element added to the Transformers Universe. I don’t know if I’m okay with this. I have no choice to to wait and see what happens. It was nice to see Circuit Breaker and G.B. Blackrock again.
The real ‘Oh Shit’ moment for me was the last page and Starscream coming face to face with Shockwave. Totally ready to see what happens with these two.
Dwayne Turner was the artist on this issue. I don’t know if it was him or someone else but the thick line work made this issue feel muddy to me. I didn’t care for the art at all. Total bummer.
So what did you guys think of this issue? You agree or disagree with me?
Transmission Letters This Issue
Dear Transmissions,
What can I say about issue #61 but WOW! I know it’s pretty much a British production, and I’m really glad you published it! I’ve been trying to find British issues for a while now and this is just as good. The story-great! The Art-awe-some! Marvel-wonderful! I have only one question that really bugs me. How come Hot Rod or Rodimus (the same person) look so much like Primus? Is it just coincidence or…
Johana Mate
Amos, Quebec
Coincidence? Us? C’mon, Johana, you should know us better than that. (almost) Everything is intended. Thanks for the cartoon, Johana, it gave us all a laugh. Any other budding artists out there? Let’s see what you can do! If we receive enough, we may just print a whole page of drawings!
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There was a sleeper movie in the late ’90s called Mystery Men. It had some great actors, the movie was … okay, but the funny thing was that the heroes’ powers just weren’t that interesting – sort of like The Tick where there was one character who used the power of carpet-generated static electricity. That’s how I sort of remember these late-era humans (one has really big feet! so…yeah, he has that going for him).
At this point, Fuhrman has shown how great he could spin a Transformer-oriented tale. And at that point, humans were just getting in the way, especially after the Matrix Quest series.
I’ve said this a million time. I wonder what closed door conversations where like. What was the thinking of having these humans and mutants? I bet there is an interview out there if we just did hard enough.
Hey Yoshi, I wasn’t too crazy about this issue as well and totally agree with you about the art. With the Matrix Quest ending 2 issues ago and knowing that a certain planet eating baddie was on the horizon I remember thinking that this issue felt like a fill-in issue and having reread it last year my opinion remains the same. When Regeneration One ended in 2014 I undertook the sometimes arduous task of reading the entire series from #1 thru #100 and this issue is definitely in my bottom ten. On a positive note I saw that Andrew Wildman becomes the regular artist next issue and this is one of the highlights of the original Marvel run for me. Gotta run but keep up the reviews because I’m enjoying them and my one question is are you going to go from issue #80 right into #81 when the time comes?
Tom
Hey Tom! Love your comment. Thank you.
Wildman’s art is amazing! I’m looking forward to the next few issues.
Glad you’re enjoying these reviews. Hearing that makes me want to plug away at the next one as soon as possible.
Also, thanks for your questions. What am I going to do after issue 80? Well, my original plan was to review Transformers: Generation 2 and after that go on to Transformers: Regeneration One. But honestly, I’m really thinking about doing the Dream Wave comics in between. I guess a factor in making this choice will be if I can get my hands on copies of the Dream Wave run or not.
The Dreamwave issues were AWESOME! I was so disappointed when they went bankrupt and IDW didn’t continue their stories.
I actually liked this issue, but remember it being a fast read. What i was hoping when it came out was that with the help of Blackrock, Circuit Breaker would FINALLY realise that the Autobots were good guys
When I first read this issue I remember thinking this is something I have been wanting for a while.After reading Issue 3 and seeing Spider-man in the universe makes me wonder where are the X-Men and Avengers and other heroes and for that matter villains? I mean could you imagine Doctor Doom or Magneto and the Brotherhood teaming up with the Decepticons?? Magneto might be best to bring into the Transformers universe. Can you imagine say Bumblebee transforming and Magneto just waves his hand and freezes him in place or just crushes him or something. That would be just awesome. We did see it somewhat with again Spider-man in Issue 3 and with the New Avengers / Transformers series.
I will admit when I first read this and saw it was Shockwave I was surprised. We all thought he was dead. We had thought he burnt up in the atmosphere. Then I started thinking about Shockwave in the comics before. How he had fly throw the atmosphere before without a issue so he could have survived the trip. I did love the idea of him coming back and putting his “one- eyed” self into the mix.