Transformers #17: The Bigger They Are….

We’re in the home stretch for this latest Transformers story arc, “The Change in Your Nature.” While I didn’t really care for the last issue, this issue starts to make up for it. Author Brian Ruckley focuses this issue on relationships. The first part of the issue deals with what I could only describe as PTSD, which sounds a little silly in a Transformers book, but when you think about it, these are robots that have human emotions, so why wouldn’t they have that kind of experience or disease. Ruckley actually brings a lot of human emotion to the ‘bots this issue. Grief, love, guilt, fear, he pretty much runs the gambit. The villains in this issue are rarely seen, they set things rolling and then pretty much step back. What I liked about that is that they set up a plan that’s like dominoes. Once you start them in motion, you really can’t stop them and for the most part, you just sit back watch things fall. Plus, Ruckley throws in the threat of wiping out a whole species, which just adds to the atmosphere of suspense that runs throughout the whole issue.

Wow, is the art better in this month’s issue. Again, we have art by Anna Malkova and Bethany McGuire-Smith, but for some reason, it seems like they’ve changed a lot of things about their art this issue. For one, they’re improving as storytellers. They’ve also mastered the ability to portray big giant robots being a world-threatening menace. Without giving them human faces, the artists are noticeably better at getting some genuine emotions from the Transformers. If I didn’t look at the credits, I honestly wouldn’t have thought that this was the same art team as the last issue, if I didn’t know any better.