TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE #93

"DESTINY, PART 3"
Writer: Simon Furman | Introducing Penciler: Guido Guidi | Inker: Stephen Baskerville
Colorist: John-Paul Bove | Letterer: Chris Mowry | Editor: John Barber
Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

Cover by Andrew Wildman

The Plot: Bludgeon meditates en route to Cybertron, revealing that he knows he will die in the impending battle, but he's comfortable with his fate. Meanwhile, Kup and the Wreckers invade the headquarters of Soundwave's Neo-Decepticons to find it deserted and booby-trapped.

Aboard the Ark, Starscream and Shockwave stage a mutiny and jettison Galvatron into space. He attempts to re-board the craft, but it escapes after "brushing" the early warning system the Autobots have set up in place of the intercomm.

Beneath Cybertron's surface, Hot Rod and the Dinobots find Primus's chamber and are confronted by Grimlock, speaking with Primus's voice.

Meanwhile, Bludgeon's Warworld arrives to attack Cybertron, while Galvatron reaches the planet as well and assaults Ultra Magnus.

G1 Continuity: Bludgeon recalls his defeat on the planet Klo in issue #80, in a pair of panels drawn by Guidi to mimic Andrew Wildman's original artwork. Starscream and Shockwave use a guardian robot, last seen in issue #60, to force Galvatron off the Ark.

Body Count: Poor little Cosmos, patrolling the Cybertronian skies after the Autobots' brief detection of the Ark, is blown up by the Warworld on the story's final page.

My Thoughts: I like Andrew Wildman, but I will happily admit that Guido Guidi is a big improvement. Wildman's Transformers, while clearly drawn from the Sunbow animation models per my preference, have always been sort of "lumpy" -- and more recently they often tended to appear too tall and thin, like they'd been stretched out. Guidi, on the other hand, by far my favorite of all the IDW Transformers artists, doesn't have these issues. Plus his skill with those animation models is second to none. Add Stephen Baskerville to the mix to keep the finished product looking uniform with previous installments, and we have a winner in our new penciler.

Variant "retro" cover by Guido Guidi

Furman turns in a great story as well! weaving his plot threads even closer together. Bludgeon and Galvatron reach Cybertron at roughly the same time, though Galvatron loses his ship in the process. Starscream orders Shockeave to set a course for someplace else, and I'm curious where they're headed. But I suspect that before we find out, we'll see another invasion of Cybertron. A second attack so soon after Scorponok's takeover seems an odd choice; it might have been preferable for the Autobots to fight Bludgeon elsewhere. But Furman used the aftermath of Scorponok's invasion as a sort of cover for Soundwave's scheme to disable the intercomm, so at least one event led logically into the next.

Also, I should admit when I'm wrong, and I was pleased to see that Hot Rod's exploration of Cybertron's catacombs has come to a swift end. Now hopefully Grimlock-as-Primus will turn him into Rodimus Prime so he can gain some self confidence and actually go do something. Maybe he'll even make it back to the surface in time to fight back against Bludgeon and/or Galvatron.

Final Opinion: The orchestration of various threads continues to impress, and this invasion of Cybertron seems poised to be much more violent than Scorponok's relatively bloodless coup. I look forward to the battle, though I hope Furman can reign in his murderlust at least a bit.

Available as part of TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE, vol. 2 from Amazon.com.