Cy-Kill and his Renegades declare war on human civilization… and they’re winning. Go-Botics freshman A.J. Foster and cynical Go-Bot race car driver, Matt Hunter, along with their friendly Go-Bots Scooter and Turbo, flee for their lives as they desperately search for some way to stop the extinction of mankind and the dawn of the planet of the Go-Bots!

When writer and artist Tom Scioli hops on to a property from my childhood, there’s a style to his storytelling that I expect. It’s often choppy but comes off as a child playing with their toys and crafting a world and stories out of it. These are the battles I fought decades ago on the floor of my parents basement (and on the furniture and in the car and in my bedroom). Scioli nails that experience.

Go-Bots to me were always the “also rans” in the toy robot wars of the 80s. They never transformed quite as well as their competitor and the story was never quite as interesting. All these years later I couldn’t tell you what the story even was and didn’t care as I mixed in my dozen or so figures with their much better competition.

That lack of story is what’s interesting as Scioli is delivering something that’s much more akin to Transformers. In two issues the comics might feel a little choppy and like a kid playing with their toys but deeper down is a story about class, slavery, and modern capitalism.

Go-Bots #2 is dark in a lot of ways. There’s Go-Bots murdering humans left and right with some deranged methods. They also kill each other without blinking (can they blink?). And all of it is over inequality. Cy-Kill sees himself and his fellow Go-Bots as slaves to humans, tools to be used, instead of the thinking beings they are. It’s a concept that’s fresh and layered in so many ways and the details Scioli adds make the story.

Those details are more than just name-checking the more known Go-Bots, it’s using Tonka as a character in a way, the corporation who built the Go-Bots. There’s a touch on corporate responsibility and arguments we hear when it comes to gun rights and where corporate ethics end. Fascinating stuff being spun out of an 80s toyline.

Scioli continues his indie art style with a good depiction of the characters. But, like the story itself, at times there’s a choppiness to the art but that’s Scioli’s style. The transformations are handled well and there’s a lot added in the art to show the really messed up world spinning out of control.

The comic is a good one and one of the more surprisingly deep comics of the year. It features Scioli’s unique style of storytelling and art to create something that is so much more than the toyline it’s based on. Here’s hoping for a long run and a deeper dive into the fascinating world that’s been created.

Story: Tom Scioli Art: Tom Scioli
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review