When Optimus Prime of Alpha Trion, the ancient sage reveals a tale of Cybertron’s earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world. Optimus Prime meets with Alpha Trion, the ancient sage, who reveals a tale of Cybertron’s earliest days, when the original Thirteen Primes united the world.
After last month’s near perfect issue that featured the death of a character in a beyond touching story, this month takes a very different route. In a tale told by Alpha Trion we’re told the story of the uniting of the Cybertronian tribes and the beginning of the Autobot sigil.
Transformers: Optimus Prime #10 we get an allegory heard by Pyra Magma, Optimus, and Starscream as Earth meets to elect its leader who will represent it before the Council of Worlds. It’s a prequel story to the currently ongoing First Strike event but the majority of the content stands on its own.
Written by John Barber we get an allegory, something IDW Publishing‘s Transformers comics excel in and even after reading this story I debate the lesson within. Part of me says to not believe false gods and religion as an opiate of the masses, part of me thinks “fake news,” part of me is that this is a story to shed light on the nature of Arcee and Galvatron, and part of me thinks this is a text to read again and again and really think about. Barber again shows Transformers has morphed into something that’s more than giant robots beating each other up.
The art by Livio Ramondelli and Kei Zama is stunning helped by the colors of Ramondelli and Josh Brucham. At times Ramondelli’s art and colors is dark and hard to make out but here it’s just nailed in every sense with each character standing out in their own way and everyone being unique with tons of personality. The mix of a primitive world with cybernetic beings too is fascinating and visually unique in so many ways.
Transformers: Optimus Prime #10 continues to show that IDW’s Transformers comics are so much more than people give them credit for and deliver commentary and lessons regularly like the best sci-fi does. A layered story and issue that’ll leave you pondering its meaning for some time to come.
Story: John Barber Art: Livio Ramondelli and Kei Zama
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.55 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
