Transformers First Strike #1

Written by: John Barber
Art by: Priscilla Tramontano
Colours by: Joana Lafuente
Published by: IDW

Another week sees another tie-in from IDW’s Hasbro First Strike event, and this time, it comes in the form of the Transformers, a well-loved property that has been in the comic world since its inception back in the 80s. Will this one-shot add to the already large pantheon of Transformers comics? I’m not sure, but I can say, it was a pretty fun read.

Coming off of the Optimus Prime one-shot from a few weeks ago, Barber and Tramontano are tasked with continuing the storyline of the two cybertronian/human hybrids as one of them kidnaps the other with the help of Colditz, a bad guy from the Action Man franchise. The reasoning behind the kidnapping, and the assault on Cybertron, become apparent as the story progresses, but before we can get there, we have to first catch up with our rescuers.

Tasked with the rescue are Action Man, Mayday from the G.I. Joes, and finally Kup and Arcee. We had learned a little about all of these characters and their motivations in the Optimus Prime one-shot, but Barber makes sure we are up to speed with them at the beginning of the issue, giving the reader an “interview” style recap (something that was done in the Optimus Prime one-shot to great effect as well).

Not staying as a straight-up rescue, Barber wisely gives each of our main heroes (and the villains) a voice throughout the issue and allows them to play off of each other throughout the issue. Kup plays the old-timer transformer to perfection, Action Man is trying to cozy up to Arcee who proves to live up to her reputation and Mayday who clearly gets the job done. We also even get a more detailed back story for Centurion (one of the hybrids) and some motivation as to why he does what does.

In the end, this is one pretty fun comic that gives us exactly what it promises: a quick exploration of characters that may not be central to the main First Strike storyline but those are a lot of fun nonetheless. Added to the fun story is the excellent visuals from Tramontano. She can draw one mean transformer (and Arcee and Kup look awesome).