Comic Review – Transformers: Autocracy #1

The Geek Bits
Title: Transformers: Autocracy
Issue #: 1
Title: Chapter 1: Law and Disorder
Price: $0.99 US – Digital Only
Release Date: January 18, 2012
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Written by: Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Art by: Livio Ramondelli
Letters by: Robbie Robbins
Editor: John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Worth the price? Hey, it’s only $0.99, so it’s hard NOT to recommend it. For those who yearn for more of pre-war Cybertron history, it’s worth picking up this book

Transformers: Autocracy is IDW’s first entry into the digital-only realm of comics publishing. While their Transformers comics have been released digitally for months now, this is the first Transformers comic you won’t see on the shelves. It’s a bold experiment, and I’m the right guy to try it. You see, I do NOT want to go digital-only for comics. I love the feel of the physical comic in my hand, and I want the art to direct my eye where to look, not have the comic app be able to do it for me. Sure, I can view comics in full screen mode on my computer to replicate the physical page, but it’s just not the same. Plus, I love my Local Comic Shop, and I don’t want to see him go out of business. I fear for a day where you can only buy comics online, whether digitally or buying physical issues through one of only a handful of big companies.

So, I’m predisposed to not like digital-only comics. Yet, I am trying to start fresh with IDW’s relaunch of the Transformers line, and Autocracy is part of that start. So I plunked down the $0.99 for this issue. Let’s see what we got.

The Synopsis

This story takes place after the “Chaos Theory” storyline seen in Transformers #22 and 23. I read this story with a bit of confusion, because I don’t remember anything from those two issues. While you don’t need to have read them to read “Autocracy”, it does leave new readers a step behind. I do recommend reading those issues if you haven’t; I reread them and feel much better about where Orion Pax’s character is during this story.

It is most definitely Orion Pax, not Optimus. He is freshly repaired after a stand-off with the Senate. He knows that it’s corrupt, as is much of the planet, so he takes it upon himself and his Autobots to get rid of the troublemakers.

But the regular citizens of the city of Nyon aren’t too thrilled with the Autobots, whom are viewed as part of the government that has ignored them. So when Orion and company track the arms-dealer Swindle to Nyon, it’s not just the Decepticon they have to worry about.

Soon enough, Swindle is caught selling plasma charges to dissidents, and the Autobots attempt to take him out. After the would-be receiver of the weapons is shot in the head, Swindle makes a break for it. The firefight spills into the city, and Orion finally brings Swindle under control… forcibly.

And the civilians see Orion using excessive force, and suddenly this is no longer a fight between robots. It’s a fight between ideas. Bumblebee tries to prevent Orion from killing Swindle, when they are suddenly attacked by an unknown bomber who gets away. The Autobots leave with Swindle before there is any more damage done to the city, but not before we see a certain Decepticon spying on them. Looks like Laserbeak has some intel on the Autobots….

To Be Continued

Thoughts

I’m going to forego my normal Good/Bad review style for this issue, because there’s nothing truly bad in this comic.

It’s great to have Flint Dille back writing Transformers. Both he and Chris Metzen succeed in writing a story with two layers. On the surface, it’s the Autobots vs. Decepticons, but halfway, you see that it’s not the good vs. bad story we’ve seen in the past. No, it’s a story of two ideas that can not co-exist. Orion is in a “Might Makes Right” mode; he will use whatever force he deems necessary to take out the Decepticons. Swindle counters with the idea that the Autobots are the ones crushing the population, and that whatever they do to stop the Decepticons makes more of the planet sympathetic to their cause. And Swindle’s right; the innocents of Nyon saw part of their city destroyed by the Autobots; how eager to trust the Autobots, and therefore the government, will they now be?

The artwork by Livio Ramondelli is very polarizing. I did not like his murky take during “Chaos” in the main Transformers title. But here it works. Maybe it’s a brighter computer screen (there’s a point in favor of digital comics), but I didn’t have as hard of a time looking at this comic. Livio’s style is not for everyone though.

Apparently we will get 12 installments of 8 pages, with a new installment coming every two weeks. That’s the equivalent of approximately 4 full comics over a little over 5 months. It’s a longer time frame, but you’re getting a good deal. At $0.99 an issue, you’re getting 4 comics for the price of 3.

The Final Rewind

You owe it to yourself to go buy this book. If you don’t like it, you’ve spent only a buck. I think, though, that this series shows promise, and I look forward to the the entire storyline.

Do me a favor, though. Support your local comic shop — find out if they have have a digital storefront. If they do, buy through them. They’ll thank you for it.