Transformers Galaxies #8: A Spoke

After a slowish start, this storyline picks up speed this issue. Author Sam Maggs kicks her story about Gauge, a little but very important cog in a great big machine. This issue is largely a story of self-discovery as Gauge is forced to learn a lot of things about himself that he never knew, including his forging and purpose in life. Unfortunately, he also learns some things that he’s not really 100% in love with, for good reason. As mentioned before, the story moves a lot quicker than the last issue, which is a big plus. Add to that, this issue brings in some Transformers that we actually know pretty well, and that makes the piece a lot more enjoyable. Maggs does a really good job of characterization this issue, significantly more so than last month’s issue. Having gotten the legs firmly under the Gauge character, we get a bigger look outside his head. How he deals with others, what his opinions are on where he is, who he’s aligned with, and more. In short, we learn his personality, which we didn’t learn so much about in the last issue, as most of what he said came from his thoughts. It kind of amazed me how trusting that he was of someone who turns up out of nowhere, pretty much telling him his whole life is wrong. A very entertaining story, just keep in mind wherein the Transformers new timeline that this takes place in.

We have two great artists this issue, Umi Miyao and Beth McGuire-Smith and they make a great team on this book, everything looks as it should, which is the biggest hurdle in more Transformers books. They’re given a healthy dose of liberty, as this story is set in the very early days of the Transformers, so everything isn’t as we come to know it. There’s no transforming into Earth vehicles, in fact, there isn’t much transforming at all here, which is a shame, because I’ve seen what these artists can do and it’s really great. Hopefully next issue we’ll get to see them stretch out their legs a little more.