Book Review: Transformers: Beast Wars, Volume 1

Various authors, Transformers: Beast Wars, Volume 1. San Diego, CA: IDW Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 9781684058587.

 

Genre: comics

Subgenre: Transformers, cartoons, science fiction

Format: e-book galley

Source; NetGalley 

 

The Transformers: Beast Wars series was one of my favorites back in the day. So when I saw there was a comic book series, I decided to try it out. According to the publisher description, this is a re-imagining of the "fan-favorite Transformers generation. 

 

To be honest, this feels more like they took the pilot of the original series, added a couple new characters, and ran with it. If you have seen the original series, then you'll recognize the basic plot here with some changes given the new characters. This may be geared for new readers not familiar with the previous series. For older readers, this is retreading old ground. 

 

The art does not really help the comics either. While the covers look nice, the actual art in the comics is slick but average. It seems to veer to a sort of manga-like style that might appeal to younger readers, but it does not capture the characters well. At times characters, especially in their robot forms, look similar to each other. It is not always easy to distinguish some characters at times. 

 

Overall, the series is mostly OK. It was a quick and entertaining read, but it is not really memorable. I wish the art was better on this. For libraries, I would consider this as an optional purchase. The volume includes issues 1-6 of the series.

 

2 out of 5 stars.

 

This book qualifies for the following 2022 Reading Challenge: