Monday, March 09, 2015

Booknote: Transformers: Primacy

Chris Metzen, Transformers: Primacy. San Diego, CA: IDW, 2015. ISBN: 9781631402340.

Genre: Graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: Science fiction
Format: e-book
Source: Netgalley


This was a good tale, but it does depend to a large extent on the reader having read previous titles; there are a lot of small notes of see previous edition for this event or that edition for why this is happening now. As the story opens, there is a tenuous peace in Cybertron, which has been ravaged by war. Megatron is plotting for war once more, and be brings a devastating power to bear, one that even he might not be able to control

The comic moves a bit back and forth between characters and settings. For some readers, you have to pay attention to keep track who is who. Small scenes strive to add up to an overall picture. In addition, the art is a bit heavy on shadows and darkness. This reflects the ruins of war, but at times it affects character definition. The result is that some bot details are not always as clear as they should be. Also, the comic features some double panel pages, which in print can be viewed fine, but this can be an issue on an e-reader.

The story does take a bit to build up. Once the action picks up, it is pretty relentless. The comic overall is a nice and quick read, and it moves along at a swift pace. Folks who follow the series will likely appreciate this one. There is just enough in here that it could stand on its own, but as I stated previously, it does help more if you have read previous issues in order to keep up. I have read parts of previous story lines, but still found myself making notes to look up previous volumes for the sake of completeness. In the end, I would say this is a volume to borrow rather than buy. It is a good option for public libraries, especially if they already have previous volumes in the series. If you are considering buying this for your collection, I would strongly suggest you get previous volumes as well.

It was good, and I liked it, so it gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure note: I read this as a review copy from NetGalley provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. There, we have appeased The Man once more.


This book qualifies for my participation in:


Falling For YA








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