THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

TRANSFORMERS TITLES FROM TITAN BOOKS / MAGAZINES

Titan Transformers Prime #19
Reviewed by Inflatable Dalek

The main plot of this issue is, presumably in celebration of the 30th anniversary, a homage to the sequence in the first Marvel issue where a damaged Bumblebee is taken to Sparkplug Whitwicky's garage for repair. Joe is even wearing the same cap as Sparkplug has on in the American cover to Marvel #1.

For some reason the Transfiles are incredibly coy about naming Shockwave.

Joe doesn't use the internet to look at funny cat videos. What sort of videos does he use it to watch?


Smokescreen throws Skylynx off his trail by driving under the river. This might work against sniffer dogs but probably not an advanced outer space robot person.

Why is Joe at work in the middle of the night anyway?


A "Dynamic" Decepticon Immobiliser, with little cut out figures of Megatron and Starscream to fire the foam darts at.


All About... Smokescreen, guide to the Autobot;
Best of 'Bots! Quiz, multiple option questions to find out which Autobot you are;
Double Trouble!, Agent Fowler presents a spot the difference based on a panel from the comic;
The Transfiles, facts about Skylynx, Darksteel and their mysterious unnamed purple one eyed monster creator;
A poster of the Beast Hunters Autobots;
Soundwave's Stumpers!, quiz page;
Relic Race! Knockout challenges the Autobots to a race in this dice game;
Mega Mouth, letters page. Where Megatron cries for his mommy at one point.


An issue very much of two halves, the homage to the very first Transformers comic is rather sweet, even beyond its obvious nostalgic appeal to an old fart fan like me. There's some nice banter and Joe is one of the more fun human supporting cast the book has created.

However, it does feel as if Cooper had intended to focus on the comedy of an Autobot in a garage and had to add the Skylynx plot late in the day in order to meet the required action quota. It's nowhere near as well developed, with several key moments (such as the defeat of the Vehicons) simply skipped over by narration boxes.

However, as a celebration of the franchise's birthday the lead plot is a much more fun knees-up than I'd have expected from this book, and just about carries the weaker elements.

?>