Transformers #12 is a stunning display of character work and intense action with high stakes. Writer Daniel Warren Johnson, artist Jorge Corona, colorist Mike Spicer, and letterer Rus Wooton all come together to bring this issue to life in ways that really weigh on you after reading.
The issue starts with Carly seeing Soundwave fighting Cliffjumper on a large screen. As the Autobots and Decepticons fight, she jumps into action in an attempt to save him. She succeeds, and with this the autobots push the offensive. It seems like they’re winning, but something much worse is soon come to pass.
WRITING
This is DWJ in his element. His forte is crafting elaborate stories with high emotional stakes, and this issue is no different. His characters have all grown immensely from the very first issue of the comic. Optimus hardly knew Earth at first, but now is willing to fight for it. Throwing Elita into the mix shook things up further for the Autobots, as now the perspective of a character more loyal to their homeworld has been thrown into the mix. Johnson explores that cleverly. The two play off of each other in a complex way, two different sets of ideals clashing. Optimus clings to whatever life he discovers, wanting to protect what he can. Elita is more concerned with protecting her own people, and is angry with Optimus for being so righteous and not seeing it her way.
Johnson also brings Optimus to dark places in this issue. The character is frustrated with what’s happening and the situations that he’s been put in, and because of that, he does things that he wouldn’t normally do. None of this feels out of character though. It feels like a step forward for the character in the grand scheme of things, and it’s a welcome one at that. Johnson understands these characters and the limits they have, and does his best to make us understand those as well.
ART
Corona has a really tough job as the artist of this book. He has to make the gigantic robots feel like they have personalities and traits of their own. He has to infuse them with emotion in a way that you can’t do with human characters. Impressively, he constantly succeeds. You sympathize with the Autobots. You feel for them and cheer for them when they succeed. You’re sad when they fail. This type of reaction to these characters could not have been possible without the life Corona brings to them. The shapes of their bodies and expressions on their faces are strong indicators as to whether they feel hurt, defeated, or determined.
That’s not to say that they feel human though. They don’t, and they shouldn’t. Corona understands that too. They’re still these giant robots that the artist details expertly. He balances that well though by bringing a real emotion to them through their body language. They move uniquely, but Corona does his job well in allowing us to be able to read these foreign beings’ postures and how they act, and allowing us to deduce their feelings through that. It’s a very emotionally charged book, and that doesn’t let up with the art.
COLORS
Spicer delivers yet another pulse-pounding display of colors that pop and add more weight to the attacks of these characters. The colorist really excels in enhancing the action. He provides an integral assist to the emotional aspects of the story by placing the cast in bright lighting that makes them feel larger than life. He also makes sure the weight of each character’s blow is known. Optimus blasts Devastator with the arm that’s on loan from Megatron, and the bright pink and purple colors surrounding it make that blast felt. It’s brighter and brighter near the center of the beam, but as you get farther away from it it becomes flat and dark. It just really makes that impact known and the weight of Optimus’s attacks acknowledged.
LETTERS
Wooton does an exceptional job of not just giving personality to the characters, but to the book as a whole. Separate from the story, he really cements the rules of the world through the various sound effects featured throughout. They feel almost like their own character sometimes, filling in the blanks where the art and colors can’t. There’s specifically this one scene where Optimus enters a blind rage, and during that there’s multiple heavy thuds present on the page. They get smaller and smaller the more Optimus comes to blows with his opponent, almost drowning them out entirely. He loses sight of what’s important, and the letters reflect that. Not only that, but it’s like you can feel what’s moving because of that. You can imagine the motions some of these machines make through the letters. It all makes an image in your head that perfectly displays what’s moving, and what that means. It’s a small touch, but an important one.
CONCLUSION
This is yet another brilliant issue of Transformers from Johnson, Corona, Spicer, and Wooton that furthers our journey with these characters. We learn more about them every issue, but in a new way that doesn’t feel done to death. This team has somehow made a 40-year old franchise feel new and fresh by allowing us to meet these characters for the first time again, but in a way we haven’t before. Because of that, they feel larger than life and new. It’s impressive storytelling that hopefully continues in issues to come.
