Review: ‘Transformers’ #30 Ends The Latest Arc With A Pleasant Zag

Where the previous issue was a rock ’em sock ’em all-out action issue, Transformers #30 closes out the book’s current arc with a quieter issue. While there’s still some action — and thus, some of the problems with the previous issue linger — the Decepticons are entirely absent. Instead, the issue is entirely about the future of the Autobots on Earth, which concludes in a genuinely surprising manner that sets the stage for an intriguing new era in the series.

 — Spoilers below —

The centerpiece of the issue is the long-simmering conflict between Optimus Prime and Elita-1 over Prime’s focus on Earth instead of Cybertron. This tension dates back to some of the series’ earliest issues, and writer Robert Kirkman brings it to the fore here as a way to push the narrative in an exciting new direction. The two come to blows, and though Prime ultimately prevails, the savagery of Elita’s fury and feelings of abandonment (underscored by a brief moment in which it’s suggested the two are even closer than we’d been led to believe) makes Optimus realize that she may have a point. It opens the question of whose direction for the Autobots is best to the Matrix of Leadership itself. When the Matrix chooses Elita, Optimus willingly gives it up, becoming just Optimus — no Prime (though, notably, he does not revert to Orion Pax, as seen in Void Rivals #17) — and vowing to stay behind on Earth while the newly-christened Elita Prime leads the majority of the Autobots, whose ranks swelled only through the course of this inaugural Kirkman story, back to Cybertron.

The end result promises a direction for the series that is both familiar and new. In winnowing the cast down to a smaller core group dedicated to defending Earth from the Decepticons, it presents a status quo not unlike in the earliest issues of the series, when a small number of Autobots struggled to standup to the Decepticons. Yet it also offers something new: an Optimus no longer operating with the imprimatur of the Matrix and a re-dedication to the defense of Earth above all else. Something which, combined with the decrease in overall cast, sure seems like a big step towards the tightening of the various Energon Universe properties.

It also makes it clear just how much this post-“Battle of Chicago” arc is a transitional one, less about continuing the status quo and serving more as an epilogue while setting up the actual new beginning for the series. As such, this is also Dan Mora‘s last issue as artist. Honestly, I won’t mind his absence. Mora is a phenomenal artist, but he never quite popped on this series. Depicting robot-on-robot action seems to come less naturally to him — just in this issue, some of the action scenes struggle with the same kind of visual storytelling issues that permeated the previous issue — and while his work on established designs is strong, along with his ability create emotion on robot faces, his new designs lack pizzaz. The updated looks of both Elita-1 and Arcee Magnus are very similar, with “has big shoulder wing thingees” seemingly the default visual shorthand for “powered up.”

As such, the issue is better for what it’s promising more than what it’s doing. But the twist in the story and the change to the status quo is such a pleasant zag that it’s enough to carry the issue.

Transformers #30 is available now.