In 1996, a cutting-edge CG cartoon opened with two warring spaceships falling to Earth, and its mysterious occupants reformatting themselves to resemble the planet’s (living and extinct) lifeforms. It was the beginning of Beast Wars: Transformers, a thrilling new take on the franchise, and the first issue of IDW Publishing’s reboot is a similarly gripping expansion of the first episode.
Written by Erik BurnhamCover by Josh Burcham
Art by Josh Burcham
Lettered by Jake M. WoodCelebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! In the future, the planet Cybertron belongs to the scientific-minded Maximals and the action-oriented Predacons! When a crew of Predacons, led by the successor to the Megatron name, steal a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, it’s up to Optimus Primal and his Maximal crew — Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and new character Nyx — to catch them!
Beast Wars was an expensive show, and as a result it couldn’t really afford to show the characters before they came to Earth, and became adorned in animal skins. That’s not the case for this oversized first issue, which spends roughly half its story on Cybertron’s leaders reeling from Megatron’s theft of the Golden Disk, and the other half on Optimus’s crew pursuing the rogue Predacon’s ship. It’s a simple but excellent way of giving longtime fans more from a familiar story, and newcomers a (literally) explosive start.
Josh Burcham began on various ‘Transformers’ books as a colorist, and you can see his skill in that area from the start, when Megatron is informing the Tripredacus Council he’s gone rogue: in lesser hands, this scene, where the shadowy Council members listen to him via hologram, could’ve been overly murky, but Burcham bathes it in evocative red lights and purple shadows — he also has a lot of fun playing with the depth-of-field in different panels.
His linework is a lot simpler and less focused on technical details than most ‘Transformers’ artwork, emphasizing expressive movement and faces, as well as colors. While the simpler redesign of Primal’s ship doesn’t land (it looks too much like the Lost Light from “More Than Meets the Eye” than the polar bear-esque vessel from the show), it still feels like a ‘Beast Wars’ story.
By the end of the issue, the characters gain their beast modes, and we see Burcham also has a knack for rendering the slightly anthropomorphised animal designs of the series: the oversized bat form of Nyx (the Maximal created for the comic so the first chapter would have at least one female character) is particularly adorable, resembling an aardvark as much as a winged rodent. This being issue #1, we barely get to see the characters as talking animals, but so far, Burcham seems to have found the balance between it being too goofy, and too realistic.
Burnham’s writing is note perfect for many of the characters: while many of them aren’t reintroduced in full yet, it’s impossible for fans to not hear the distinct voices of the original cast. Some, like Waspinator, have their dialogue lettered accurately like thizz, while it’s subtler with others: when Megatron’s grin is emphasized in one panel, you can almost hear actor David Kaye whispering, “Yeesssss…”
The exception is Optimus Primal himself, who seems younger than his TV counterpart, hungry for some action and adventure in the emptiness of space, and eager at the opportunity to chase after some Predacons. He feels closer to Chris Pine’s Captain James T. Kirk, than Garry Chalk’s original, barrel chested vocal characterization, and it’ll be interesting to see if this will have any bearing on the character’s personal journey.
Optimus’s apparent inexperience enhances his relationship with Rhinox, who feels like a mentor to him, instead of just a colleague. We’re introduced to them while they’re training aboard their ship, a decision that keeps the propulsive pace of the issue going, as well as adding some levity: the two make fun of each other for using human slang like “rusty,” which also doubles as an excellent bit of worldbuilding — it reminds us the Maximals and Predacons are descended from the Transformers who made first contact with us, and suggests that’s why some characters are already named after our world’s animals.
Continued belowBurcham and Burnham come together really well for the Maximals’ pursuit of the Predacons: unlike many action sequences in comics, which generally descend into a mess of character poses and complicated backgrounds, it’s really easy to follow the ship-to-ship combat, and understand who’s fired on whom, and how they’re responding. There are some corny moments (namely when the last part of some characters’ dialogue is placed over the next panel for dramatic effect), but it’s a really well-constructed third act, and there even a great, comedic pause for beat involving the Maximal ship.
Overall, this is an excellent first (double-sized) issue that longtime fans and newcomers can enjoy, working as well as a standalone story about some Transformers going after criminal Cybertronians, as it does as a prequel to the very first episode; I cannot wait to see how the show’s mysteries unfold in this new timeline, and to see all the characters (old and new) again.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – a happy anniversary present for Beast Wars fans, yessss…
