Comic Review: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: Tyrants Rise, Heroes Are Born

Published: February 17th, 2016
Written by: John Ney Rieber
Art by: Jae Lee
Based on: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero & The Transformers by Hasbro

IDW Publishing, 136 Pages

Review:

It’s kind of strange that I didn’t know about this until recently but once I saw it pop up on Comixology Unlimited, I added it to my queue.

I’m a big Jae Lee fan so the fact that he was doing the art for something associated with G.I. Joe was enough to get me to check this out.

This is a crossover between the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises but since they both exist in the same universe, it’s not the first time this has happened.

However, this is unique, as it takes place during World War II and with that, it was kind of a fresh way to cross these two properties over again.

The story was decent and I enjoyed it, as all the characters came off as pretty close to how they should be.

The art was really what put it over the top, though. I loved seeing Jae Lee do WWII era stuff and being able to mix that aesthetic in with two properties I love was pretty damn cool. In fact, this is now one of my all-time favorite looking G.I. Joe and Transformers stories.

Rating: 7.5/10

Comic Review: Red Sonja/Claw: The Devil’s Hands

Published: January 24th, 2007
Written by: John Layman
Art by: Andy Smith, Jim Lee (cover)
Based on: Red Sonya by Robert E. Howard, Red Sonja by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, Claw the Unconquered by David Michelinie, Ernie Chan

Wildstorm, Dynamite Entertainment, 112 Pages

Review:

Yeesh! This was bad.

I thought a story that brought together Red Sonja and Claw the Unconquered would be pretty damn badass. Well, it should have been but this certainly wasn’t.

The Jim Lee cover was really damn cool, though.

I also thought that Andy Smith’s art throughout the comic was pretty good. There were a few spots in the action sequences that I had to examine, though, as the transition from one panel to the next seemed to be off.

As far as the story, it was pretty schlocky. While I like schlock of a certain caliber, this was just lowest common denominator crossover bait, which is something that companies like Dynamite and IDW have become famous for over the last several years. Granted, this is about fifteen years old now but this is also where I noticed IP crossovers really starting to become far more common.

At least this didn’t bring the characters together through magic portals, which has been a bad trope in stories like these.

Anyway, you can totally skip over this unless you’re a Red Sonja completist. But if you are, maybe read this last after all the other stuff.

Rating: 4/10

Comic Review: ROM vs. Transformers: Shining Armor

Published: March 14th, 2018
Written by: John Barber, Christos N. Gage
Art by: Alex Milne
Based on: Transformers by Hasbro; ROM the Spaceknight by Bing McCoy, Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema

IDW Publishing, 121 Pages

Review:

I liked occasionally reading ROM the Spaceknight comics when I was a kid. I was never a huge fan of the character, though, but I still thought he was kind of cool and I really liked the art in the original Marvel run.

It’s been decades since I’ve read ROM but since he’s made his way back into comics and Hasbro wants to make a crossover movie universe with ROM, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Micronauts and M.A.S.K., I figured I’d get reacquainted with him and his mythos.

So what better way is there to experience what Hasbro wants to do on a cinematic scale than experiencing it in the form of a crossover comic featuring both the ROM and Transformers franchises?

I thought the art here was pretty good too. And the story was decent but not great. I liked seeing these two properties merge, though, and they did it in a way that made sense for both universes.

This is also written like it was the first part of a planned crossover event that would’ve kept going. However, there doesn’t seem to be a proper follow-up to this tale.

This primarily follows a small group of Transformers characters that don’t include leaders like Optimus Prime or Megatron. This is basically a “first contact” sort of situation where these two universes meet for the first time and it seems like something much bigger should come out of it.

The leader of the Decepticons in this story is Starscream, where the Autobots have Ultra Magnus.

That being said, I thought that Ultra Magnus’ character was really off from his personality and it made me question if the writer really knew the source material. Since one of the writers is Christos Gage, I was more perplexed by this, as he’s done solid work with other Hasbro stories, previously.

Ultimately, this was an enjoyable read but some things left me scratching my head and because of that, this wasn’t as great as it could have been. And maybe that’s why there hasn’t been a sequel and also why Hasbro hasn’t really been able to get the crossover plans off the ground and into the mainstream like they had hoped.

Rating: 6.25/10
Pairs well with: other IDW Transformers and ROM comics.

Comic Review: Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella: The Heart Is a Lonely Killer

Published: June 6th, 2018
Written by: Shawn Aldridge
Art by: Rapha Lobosco

Dynamite Entertainment, 137 Pages

Review:

Two of my favorite indie comics creations are Vampirella and Hack/Slash. So seeing them come together for the first time is really cool.

Honestly, I’m surprised that this didn’t happen much sooner than it did, as both characters have had tons of crossovers with other franchises over the last dozen years or so.

Cassie Hack and her sidekick Vlad joining up with comic’s greatest vampire heroine seems like such a natural fit, though, that I feel like they should cross paths somewhat regularly.

That being said, I loved seeing these characters share the same space and the tone of the two franchises meshed together perfectly well and we were given a fairly decent story that worked and established the characters as pretty solid allies after their initial tension.

I also thought that the art was pretty good and overall, this was a fun, cool read.

Granted, I would’ve liked a little bit more than what we got.

However, if you do like either of these series or both, you should probably check this out.

Rating: 7/10
Pairs well with: other Hack/Slash and Vampirella crossovers, there are so many.

Comic Review: Michael Allred’s Madman, Vol. 2

Published: March 11th, 2009
Written by: Mike Allred, Frank Miller
Art by: Mike Allred, Laura Allred

Dark Horse, Image Comics (reprint), 323 Pages

Review:

Michael Allred created something special, unique, quirky and cool with Madman. And since I own a lot of the floppies from the earliest issues, I’ve wanted to revisit them from the beginning. While I don’t have them all, I did pick up the collected editions during a sale on Comixology.

I really enjoyed the first volume, so I figured that reading the second one was long overdue.

This sort of picks up where that one left off and this collection covers multiple story arcs but everything here happens in order and builds off of the constantly evolving narrative.

These issues came out once the series moved from Tundra to Dark Horse. What’s cool about that is that this was able to have a cameo by Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. It’s really neat seeing the two characters come together, even though it just happens in one issue and is short-lived. I’m not sure if this series has anymore minor crossovers in the following volumes but I liked seeing Allred and Mignola’s universes overlap, even if it was just briefly.

The art in this one feels more crisp and more polished. The first volume was initially in black and white but this one comes to life with incredibly vibrant colors that just work so well with the line art and give this a cool, pulpy look that made it stand out from what was the norm in the ’90s when this was originally produced. That’s really what made me take notice of the original floppy copies back then.

In the end, this expands the mythos and made me love this world even more. This series is hilarious and strange in the best way possible.

Rating: 8.5/10
Pairs well with: the other early Madman collections, as well as SCUD: The Disposable Assassin, the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics and The Goon.

Comic Review: Spider-Man/Red Sonja

Published: 2007
Written by: Michael Avon Oeming
Art by: Mel Rubi, Michael Turner (covers)
Based on: Red Sonya by Robert E. Howard, Red Sonja by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith

Marvel Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, 144 Pages

Review:

Man, I really wanted to like this but it left me mostly, underwhelmed and baffled.

A long time ago, back when Marvel had the full-time publishing rights to Red Sonja, they did a one-off story about Mary Jane being possessed by Sonja and then had her team-up with her boyfriend, Spider-Man.

This longer, five-part miniseries is just a rehash of that story, as opposed to having Spidey actually team-up with the real Sonja in the flesh.

Still, it’s not the worst idea for bringing these characters together but doing it a second time seems lazy and uninspiring. But then, so does the rest of this story.

Red Sonja’s villain Kulan Gath shows up in modern day New York City to create havoc because that’s what villains do. He then uses Venom to try and take out Sonja and Spidey but ultimately, he steals the Venom symbiote for himself because this story is already cookie cutter as shit and aiming low seems to be what they were going for.

We also get suped up magical versions of well-known Spidey villains because why wouldn’t we?

I don’t know, more often than not, crossovers like this are really bad and half-assed schlock made to grab a buck from multiple fan bases. I guess this one didn’t strive to be anything different.

I mostly liked the interior art though and the covers were solid.

Rating: 4.25/10
Pairs well with: other Red Sonja crossovers or stories that put her in modern times.

Comic Review: Kong On the Planet of the Apes

Published: October 10th, 2018
Written by: Ryan Ferrier
Art by: Carlos Magno, Alex Guimaraes, Faye Dalton (cover), John Keaveney (cover)
Based on: King Kong by James Creelman, Ruth Rose, Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace, Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle

BOOM! Studios, 160 Pages

Review:

This seems like such a natural idea for a crossover that I’m surprised that it wasn’t done earlier than 2018. And while I’ve kind of grown tired of franchises crossing over just for the hell of it, at least this one found a way to come together without having to use magic, portals or wishy washy dimensional travel bullshit.

King Kong just happens to exist on the same Earth as the apes of the future and he’s just remained on his secluded island with tribal humans, undiscovered by the apes that rule the planet.

In this story, the famous apes from the classic Planet of the Apes film series stumble across Skull Island and discover the giant kaiju beast that is worshiped as a god. Of course, the military apes have to capture the big beast and enslave the tribe, upsetting the more rational scientist apes. This leads to conflict amongst the apes, as well as with the humans and with Kong, who isn’t too keen on these simian invaders.

It’s a very straightforward story and there aren’t any real twists or swerves. It’s just a good, interesting setup and then the plot does its job, giving us a pretty satisfying conclusion.

This is a good example of a franchise crossover in the comic book medium. Everything felt natural and wasn’t at all forced.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and it felt like it fit well with either franchise.

Rating: 7/10
Pairs well with: other Planet of the Apes crossover comics.

Comic Review: Mars Attacks Judge Dredd

Published: February 12th, 2014
Written by: Al Ewing
Art by: John McCrea, Greg Staples
Based on: Judge Dredd by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Pat Mills, Mrs Attacks! by Topps

IDW Publishing, 104 Pages

Review:

I feel like I’ve been suffering from crossover burnout but this one was at least amusing and I found it to be better than a lot of the other ones I’ve read lately.

The tone kind of took me off guard and I was annoyed by all the weird mafioso shit that started the story, as it featured characters that were poor knockoffs of Dick Tracy‘s gimmicky villains.

However, once Judge Dredd got on the scene, as well as the Martians, things picked up and this had a good, comedic vibe.

This certainly isn’t a must read for fans of either (or both) franchises but it’s not a total waste and it’s at least as entertaining as it can be.

Al Ewing wrote this and he’s become a top dog in the comics industry after his work on The Immortal Hulk but if I’m being honest, this pales in comparison to his more recent work. But in his defense, this wasn’t written in any way that should be taken too seriously.

This is short and it’s a quick and easy read. It’s violent, humorous and a decent way to kill a half hour.

Rating: 6/10
Pairs well with: other comics or crossovers featuring Mars Attacks! or Judge Dredd.

Comic Review: Transformers: Infestation 2

Published: February, 2012
Written by: Chuck Dixon
Art by: Guido Guidi
Based on: Transformers by Hasbro

IDW Publishing, 57 Pages

Review:

IDW’s Infestation crossovers have been a mixed bag. Mostly, they are just okay but I do like the Infestation 2 event more than the first one. The first dealt with zombies while the second is more creative and cool in that it deals with Lovecraftian horrors.

I had higher hopes for this one than the others I’ve read, as it is written by Chuck Dixon, a guy who wrote some of my favorite Batman, G.I. Joe and Punisher stories over the years.

So out of the ones I’ve read thus far, I liked this the best.

Dixon did a pretty good job of merging the Transformers and Lovecraftian worlds together. I wasn’t sure if it would work out, as the previous Transformers Infestation story didn’t connect for me. But Dixon’s writing served the story well and the art by Guido Guidi really brought it all together stylisitically and tonally.

My only issue with it was that two issues isn’t enough real estate to truly explore this idea. Not a lot happens and this is all sort of over pretty abruptly. That’s not Dixon’s fault and he penned a solid tale within the constraints he had to do so.

Ultimately, this was a satisfactory installment of the Infestation stories.

Rating: 6.75/10
Pairs well with: Other releases in IDW’s multi-franchise Infestation and Infestation 2 crossovers.

Comic Review: Transformers: Infestation

Published: February 2nd, 2011 – February 16th, 2011
Written by: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
Art by: Nick Roche
Based on: Transformers by Hasbro

IDW Publishing, 51 Pages

Review:

I like Dan Abnett but I didn’t like this.

Dude seriously just dialed it in and wrote a pretty basic, unexciting Transformers meets zombies storyline.

I mean, it’s probably not his fault as the zombie thing has really run its course and this actually came out in 2011 when The Walking Dead TV show had just started.

However, it really doesn’t add much of anything worthwhile to the zombie genre or Transformers lore. I guess the zombies can effect robots too but that’s probably just done for convenience because how else would they be a threat to giant robots?

Anyway, this was a really quick read and it almost felt pointless. It has no real bearing over anything. I guess it is tied to the larger Infestation crossover event but I’m not sure how it all comes together and the only other one I’ve read was the G.I. Joe one. But I don’t really want to read anymore of these.

Just adding zombies to shit doesn’t make shit better. Give me a story, a decent story. But Abnett probably also needed more than 51 pages to do that.

Honestly, Dan Abnett is a solid writer but this is not an example of his best work. For better stuff, check out his recent and lengthy run on Aquaman, as well as the cancelled-too-soon comic The Silencer.

Rating: 4.5/10
Pairs well with: the other IDW Infestation comics.