Transformer Roll-Out: A "Reluctant Specialist" Gets His Due in 'Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter'

Julian Titus is a writer/editor for PixlBit.com and the host of the Nerds Without Pants podcast. He's also the biggest Transformers fan I've ever met and will be covering IDW's Transformers comics right here on a regular basis. This week, he's reviewing the latest book from IDW...

Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter, “The Reluctant Specialist”

​Cover to Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter, art by Matt Frank. Hasbro/IDW Publishing.

When I reviewed the recent Transformers Spotlight one-shot for Bumblebee, I complained that the story contained within held no weight because it was so far removed from the current storyline that it was no longer relevant. The same could be said for this story about Autobot Trailcutter, since it takes place between More Than Meets the Eye issues 5 and 6, but this story feels timeless. James Roberts has written a comic book that feels more like one of the older cartoons and can be enjoyed outside of continuity just as well as if you’re reading it right alongside the companion book.

The premise really is like something out of a cartoon - Trailbreaker is tired of being overlooked as the Autobot that generates forcefields and spends the first part of the book moping around Swerve’s bar. Whirl tries to bring the “specialist” out of his funk but only succeeds in bringing some incredible laughs to an already lighthearted story. Things go awry when Trailbreaker (now calling himself Trailcutter at Whirl’s suggestion) finds himself as the only functional Autobot on the Lost Light during a Deception attack.

This is a hilarious comic that is enhanced by the art of Matt Frank, who brings some wonderful emotion to the characters in this book. Trailcutter’s sour frown is priceless, and while this artist hasn’t done a lot of work on the IDW Transformers books, I’d love to see him do more with the MTMTE cast. There’s a great cameo by Lockdown from the Transformers: Animated series, and the book has a perfect ending. Wonderfully entertaining, perfectly stand alone, this is how a Spotlight book should be done.

(Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter arrives in stores and online on Wednesday, April 3, from IDW Publishing.)​

Transformer Roll-Out: 'More Than Meets the Eye' #14 and Bumblebee Goes Solo

Julian Titus is a writer for PixlBit.com and the host of the Nerds Without Pants podcast. He's also the biggest Transformers fan I've ever met and will be covering IDW's Transformers comics right here on a regular basis. This week, he's got an advance look at the latest issue of More Than Meets the Eye ​and an all-new Bumblebee solo special...​

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #14

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye is one of the comic books I most look forward to each month. That’s in large part due to the snappy dialogue and quirky characters that seem like they’d be more at home in a Joss Whedon television show than a war between Autobot and Decepticon. Issue #14 takes things in a much more serious tone, especially after the madcap adventure the crew of the Lost Light went on last month.

​Cover art to Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #14, art by Alex Milne. Hasbro/IDW Publishing.

I’ll take the TV show analogy a little further and say that Overlord is to More Than Meets the Eye what the mysterious hatch was to the first season of Lost. Why would a notorious “Phase Sixer” (elite Decepticon warriors tasked with single-handedly subjugating entire planets) be doing imprisoned in the holds of an exploratory vessel?

A lot of those answers come via Chromedome, who utilizes his skills as a mnemosurgeon (literally interfacing directly with another ‘bot’s brain) to suss out the secret origins of Overlord. This is a uniquely interesting character study which is a huge change in tone for this book, and I really dug it. A lot of questions about Chromedome’s frustratingly checkered past are answered, but in their place a whole new set of questions are asked. Then there’s the ongoing conflict between Rewind and Chromedome, who has begged the mnemosurgeon to stop brain jacking, and the repercussions of this issue will surely reverberate in the arc to come.

It’s just about time for More Than Meets the Eye to get serious again. Things have been pretty laid back since the story arc with Ratchet and Pharma. While I’m looking forward to seeing where things go with Chromedome and Overlord, I’ll be happy when we get back to the crew kicking back at Swerve’s bar and making fun of Ultra Magnus.

Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee

I really don’t understand what IDW is doing with the Transformers Spotlight books these days. When they kicked off they added a lot of depth to important (and not so important) characters in the current plotline. Lately, however, the spotlights have been random stories that occur at random moments in the IDW timeline. Such is the case with Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee, a comic that I’m hard pressed to care about.

Variant cover for Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee, art by Clayton Crain. Hasbro/IDW Publishing.​

That’s because it takes place so far back that the point of the story doesn’t even hold any weight. This is a tale that takes place back on Earth, not too long after Optimus nominated Bumblebee to lead the Autobots in his stead. I feel like we’ve already had multiple arcs that focus on “The ‘Bee” coming to grips with the mantle of leadership, as well as gaining respect from the tougher Autobots. Heck, that’s pretty much what the first 12 issues of Robots in Disguise have been about.

I don’t have much to say on this one. Bumblebee can’t get Prowl on the same page, and the Autobots tend to follow their security chief over their appointed leader. Bumblebee has a hunch that leads him face to face with an entire group of Decepticons. Oh, and this takes place after his assassination attempt, so he’s still walking around with that stupid cane. Poor art and a story that treads on now familiar ground make Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee a book I would avoid unless you’re a completist.​