ThunderCats #2: If I didn't have an almost 600-issue backlog, I'd consider hanging in here. As ridiculous as it is to say about anthropomorphic cats from another planet, though, Shavley's ThunderCats aren't all that believable. For example, they occasionally speak as if they're characters in Shakespearean fanfic yet other times speak "normally." It's emblematic of what seems like Shavley's uncertainty about the story he's telling.
In this issue, Shavley takes a page from the 2011 cartoon series and introduces Calica as his version of Pumyra. Panthro is rightfully suspicious when they stumble upon her and asks questions that could fairly easily verify whether she's truly a Thunderian. But Lion-O's hormones get in the way; after confronting Panthro, he whisks Calico to a separate room to tell her about Thundera's fate. Calica is somehow Mumm-Ra's thrall, which Panthro would've likely discovered if not for Lion-O's plot-convenient horniness.
In other words, I'm going to get while the getting is good. It makes me sad, because I really enjoyed the idea of this series but I don't have time to hang in there.
Transformers #6: To quote Kathy Griffin, holy fuck balls, you guys.
Johnson hurls us right into the action as the Autobots retreat from Devastator as he blocks their access to the Ark. Contemplating the terror that is Devastator, Sparky remembers Jimmy telling him, shortly before his shuttle launched into space, that nothing bad was going to happen to him.
As the Autobots retreat, Cliffjumper arrives with Carly, who thankfully convinces him not to drive directly at Devastator since they're the small ones and instead redirects him to a separate access point in the back of the Ark. As Starscream revels (throwing devil horns, no less) in Devastator scaring the Autobots, Optimus lands a kick in Starscream's face and clears the way for the Autobots to enter the Ark. A furious Thundercracker opens fire at them, screaming at them that they'll pay for what they did to Skywarp (heh).
Optimus shields Sparky from the gunfire, and then Optimus, Sparky, Arcee, Jazz, and a crawling Ratchet enter the Ark. However, Devastator manages to grab Optimus' leg and yanks him from the Ark. As Devastator pummels Optimus, Arcee and Jazz open fire on him. Arcee manages to get hold of Optimus and drag him into the Ark as Jazz continues to fire. Devastator grabs Ratchet's good leg, and Ratchet has Jazz close the door on it, shutting out Devastator (and his leg).
It's intense, y'all.
Before Devastator destroys the Ark in his pursuit of the Autobots, Soundwave tells him to dig his way into the Ark from the mountain's backside. Meanwhile, Cliffjumper and Carly enter the Ark only to come face to face with Starscream.
In a scene familiar to anyone who had their heart broken watching "Transformers: The Movie" in 1986, Optimus tells the Autobots that he's dying, something Ratchet confirms. A morose Optimus laments that he thought they still had hope and acknowledges that Jetfire was right. A devastated Arcee begs him not to die, and Optimus removes the Matrix, which he drops onto the floor.
In a totally unexpected development, Sparky wonders aloud, "If there only was a way..." as he looks at the Matrix. When Ratchet questions what he's doing, Sparky says that every time something bad happened — to his men, to Jimmy, to Spike — he thought to himself, "If only I could have taken their place." As he hears Devastator knocking through the Ark's walls, Sparky tells Optimus that he knows Optimus is going to care for the world like he cares for his boys. Asking Optimus to watch over Spike for him, Sparky begins to enter the Matrix. Before he disappears, he asks the Autobots to tell Spike how proud he is of him. Sparky then fully disappears into the Matrix, and Optimus is healed.
Pledging to protect Spike and Earth, Optimus is ready to take on Devastator, who's made his way into the Ark. He tears off Devastator's finger, opens fire with his gun and Megatron's cannon, and then kicks him in the face.
Elsewhere, Cliffjumper gets the jump (heh) on Starscream and wonders aloud what it'll be like to get the revenge he's dreamt about getting. In the end, though, as he stands over Starscream, he can't pull the trigger, telling Carly that he's tired of all of it. It's a devastating moment, seeing a warrior surrender to his grief, just as Optimus did moments earlier. Johnson really uses these moments — and Thundercracker's grief over Skywarp — to convey just how weary the Transformers all are. But Starscream is nothing but wily and grabs Carly to facilitate his escape.
Meanwhile, Optimus uses his alternate mode to lead Devastator from the Ark and then transforms to continue kicking his ass. In a fantastic moment, he uses a charging Devastator's momentum against him and hurls him over his head, where —in possibly the best splash page I've ever seen — he crashes into Starscream. Cliffjumper manages to grab Carly, who's furious at him for not ending it all by killing Starscream, and the Constructions grab Starscream and flee.
In yet another unforgettable moment, Optimus stops Soundwave and tells him that he just wants them to try to save their home. Soundwave considers Ravage, whose body he's cradling, and then hurls a punch at Optimus, who tells him that he wants peace but is no fool. Soundwave watches Optimus wordlessly as Thudercracker carries them into the distance.
As if all that isn't enough, we end with Spike awakening and asking where his dad is.
In other words, it's just a spectacular issue from start to finish. I've loved the Transformers for a long time, and it's really wonderful to see them treated so well.
The Weatherman (Vol. 3) #3: LeHeup should've titled this issue: "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things."
The issue begins in the city of Tharsis on Mars, not exactly where I expected us to be given how we ended last issue. The Farmer (i.e., the Cowboy from the first series) is looking for someone named "the Dream Master." He shakes down someone to get the Dream Master's location and then finds a strung-out Cross lying between some garbage bags in a back alley.
Later, Cross awakens with a start in a bed in a cabin. After her initial confusion, she wears a look of shame when she sees the Farmer's boots on a railing outside her window. She wraps herself in a blanket and heads to look at the inlet the cabin overlooks. She asks the Farmer how he found her, and he responds, "Redhead nemo junkie gettin' into bar fights so she can lose 'em? Easiest job I ever had." She asks where they are, and he tells her that he lived here once with a woman and her son after the service. He tells her that the woman had a calm way about her and taught him how to see the world in color before, of course, the virus took her and now all he sees is red.
Cross asks the Farmer if Jenner is right, and the Farmer acknowledges that it feels that way sometimes, "bunch'a doomed idiots that can't stop hurtin' cuz they can't stop hurtin.'" He asks if she really wants to know whether people deserve to die or she does, specifically. She admits that she can't stop thinking about Nathan and corrects herself to say Ian. Since she couldn't bring back her son, she broke him, and she admits now she'd do anything to save him. She then asks why he thinks Nathan stayed alive after Earth, and the Farmer says that he doesn't really now, just that maybe Ian thought he'd gotten a raw deal. But he notes that this Ian has no hope, which makes him a dangerous man. But, to the Farmer's mind, if she can find her fight again, she might help Ian find his.
Elsewhere, Burga is discussing the election with her advisor and notes that Jenner's Giant Cartoon Doomsday Clock is timed to when Mars will announce the results of its presidential race. She laments that a Trumpian figure who "represents the worst of humanity — tribalism, fear-mongering, greed —" is going to win because she hasn't delivered Jenner's head on a platter. We learn Jenner is after something that is "safely secured inside a top secret Marine base in the heart of the Venusian wasteland." She comments that, so long as she doesn't get a call that the "something" is no longer "safely secured," they have an election to win. Then, the phone rings.
At the Venus hypergate, Cross, the Farmer, and White Light are waiting at a traffic jam after some of the hypergate's anchors failed, which means the gate is susceptible to drift and can fry anyone in its path. Their hope is to find Ian's tracker so they can get a read on Jenner's trail. The Farmer hands Cross some food, and she reacts violently. The Farmer looks upset, and White Light hilariously writes, "He tried to make something nice!!" on a white board, prompting Cross to tell him that she loves it. It's an adorable moment in a series with few of them. Of course, the joy ends instantly when the Farmer asks Cross if she wants seconds and she realizes that a second sample exists.
(Cross makes this realization when she remembers that Djinn told her in issue #1 that Ian wanted to wipe his mind for a "second reason." Cross (and I) initially thought she meant Sadie, but, as we see below, Cross realizes that it's because Ian knew where the second bomb was.)
On Venus, Jenner and his team have broken into the facility Burga mentioned. Ghost is taking on the troops outside while Alice is hacking into the system and Molly, Jenner, and Ian are making their way through the facility. A dying guard begs Ian to save him and Ian hesitates, only for Jenner to smash his face dramatically, asking Ian who's really innocent. (When I saw graphically, I mean graphically. Like, his foot moves in the viscera.) A guard pumps Jenner's back full of lead, which he somehow expels from his body before killing the guard via electrocution. Continuing his tirade, Jenner notes that most people are looking for a better world but are "unwilling to sacrifice even the most modest of comforts to achieve it," which I guess means no one is innocent in Jenner's eyes.
At this point, Alice is using her butterflies to control an engineer to open the vault with the virus. Jenner notes that Cross lied to Ian — telling him Jenner had the virus sample when he didn't — just to get her revenge. Jenner says the innocent know they're not innocent once their distractions —their shows, their championships — end. As he approaches the virus, he says he will end their suffering for real.
As they race to Venus, Cross is screaming at Burga on a call, telling Burga that she told her (Cross) that Burga destroyed the virus and observing that they only have eight hours to save Mars. LeHeup then connects the dots when he returns to a mystery from last issue, namely why Jenner was so blasé when Ian failed his psych scan. Cross (correctly) hypothesizes that Ian learned where the second sample was when he stole the first one, but he and Jenner had their "falling out" (i.e., Jenner committed genocide) before Ian told Jenner where it was. As mentioned above, it's the second reason why Ian wanted to erase his memory. Since he failed to do so, though, Ian retained that information, which Alice then read. Burga reinstates Cross, and she, the Farmer, and White Light head to the base. As Cross says, "[If] we die, we died being awesome."
Hitting the ground, White Light takes on Ghost, who's basically Transor-Z at this point, as Cross heads to the control room and the Farmer to the vault. White Light transforms their ship again (see "The Weatherman," vol. 2, issue #5), so we get a fucking awesome Transformers match-up here, which I wasn't expecting.
As Cross enters the base, she sees Ian holding Sadie (the dog) on his shoulders, with Alice noting, "This did not age well. And you think we're messed up." (Fair point, honestly, Alice.) Meanwhile, the Farmer is ready to assassinate Jenner and looks at a locket with photos of, presumably, the woman and her son that he mentioned earlier. Back in the control room, Alice switches the image that Cross sees to Sadie (Ian's daughter), commenting that Cross has already immersed herself in a horrific reality so she (Alice) didn't need to do anything else. Alice puts Cross' gun to her (Alice's) head and tells Cross to pull the trigger, but the Farmer observers this development in time as, in reality, Cross has her own gun under her chin (due to Alice's manipulations). Forgoing taking out Jenner, the Farmer assassinates Alice. (Cross comments, "Thought you didn't care," and the Farmer responds, "Don't tell White Light.") Later, Jenner finds the locket that the Farmer left.
Outside, Molly, Jenner, and Ian bolt for their ship as Ghost is handing White Light her ass. However, White Light sacrifices her ship to sneak into Ghost and set off a bomb, destroying him. Cross shouts at Ian as he and his crew depart, asking him not to do what they're going to do, and Ian stares out her furiously. Cross, the Farmer, and White Light just watch them go.
It's a fucking ride, y'all. You know, as I've said before, I'm not sure we're getting a happy ending here.
