Void Rivals #1-#4

After reading the great first issue of "Transformers," I discovered I should also be reading Kirkman's "Void Rivals," so here we go.

Void Rivals #1:  Kirkman starts us off easy here in a pretty tight first issue.

A spaceship crashes on a planetoid, and a "handroid" (a gauntlet that's also a robot) drags the pilot from the wreckage and revives him with a medpack.  The pilot identifies himself as Darak and assesses his situation.  He exposits that he wasn't on a long-term mission so only has limited rations, which are now strewn across the planetoid.  Handroid (for lack of a better name) informs him that a Zertonian ship attacked Darak's near a comet, whose gravitational pull slingshotted his ship onto the planetoid.  Handroid tells Darak it's unlikely the Zertonian also landed there, but he's proven wrong when a harpoon almost takes out Darak.

The two spar, which ends with the Zertonian begging for her life despite acknowledging a Zertonian would never spare an Agorrian.  Handroid reminds Darak that he is honor-bound to subdue a Zertonian and would commit treason by not doing so.  The Zertonian dismisses Handroid as an Agorrian crutch and comments that Darak is almost honor-bound to kill her because Agorrians forbid Zertonians from hearing handroids.  However, Darak isn't the idiot his people and the Zertonians seem to be, because he has Handroid scan the Zertonian's ship and confirm that, between the two ships, they can create a working one.  Handroid also confirms he can't complete the repairs on his own, justifying Darak's decision to keep the Zertonian alive.

Our first hint this rivalry is intense for a very specific reason comes when the Zertonian comments how similar Agorrian and Zertonian technologies are, which Darak explains away as Zertonian spies stealing Agorrian secrets.  As the work, the Zertonian misaligns a cable, causing an explosion.  Darak saves her, and she in turn extinguishes the fire on his jacket.  She tells Darak that her name is Solila, prompting him to note that she likely broke Zertonian law by revealing her name, which is an Agorrian rule as well.  That said, he returns the favor.  

Solila decides to leave because she doesn't want to die with an Agorrian but quickly returns after finding a ship.  Darak notes that it's neither of Agorrian or Zertonian design, and they hook up an engine to transfer energy to it.  They're hoping just to confirm whether the ship's systems are working, but it suddenly transforms into Jetfire!  Realizing that he's likely been on the planetoid for millions of years, Jetfire transforms and bolts.

Solila is again convinced they're going to die there, but Darak gets an idea from Jetfire's transformation.  He hypothesizes they can use their flight armors to create a working engine.  Solila notes yet again that they'd break many sacred decrees if they do so and comments on not wanting to see Darak's "hideous Agorrian face."  Commenting on Solila's "misshapen Zertonian face," Darak nonetheless removes his helmet.  Surprising no one, they're clearly the same race, prompting Darak to comment on his "vision," which we'll likely learn about later.

Void Rival #2:  Kirkman doesn't make us wait to get details about Darak's vision, using it to explain how the Agorrians and Zertonians got to this point.

In a flashback, Darak's commander briefs him on his mission as they walk to his ship, informing him that the comet's 4,000 tons of ice would add to the Agorrians' water reserves.  He notes Agorrian intelligence believes the Zertonians have introduced water rationing, so the comet's water will also help them maintain their edge over the Agorrians.  Before Darak leaves, his father, Minister Dulin, informs him that his status as the top Agorrian pilot is the only thing sparing Darak from his wrath.  He tells him to succeed or not to return.  Darak boards his ship and gets his vision after Handroid revives him.  (It seems like you have to go into some form of suspended animation to journey long distances in the Energon Universe, like they don't have hyperspace.)

In the vision, Darak learns the Agorrians and Zertonians were once the inhabitants of two warring planets orbiting a dying star.  To save their civilizations, they created the Sacred Ring, a space station that encircles the black hole that the star eventually became.  It takes generations to build the Ring, and, once it's completed, the peace between the two sides ends.  The vision's narrator tells Darak the two sides have to unite once again because "Goliant" is coming.

On the planetoid, Solila tells Darak that Zerta gave him the vision, which Darak dismisses because the Agorrians don't believe in Zertonian "myths and superstitions" (underscoring the narrator's point that the two civilizations are very different).  At any rate, the two acknowledge that the Agorrians and Zertonians clearly have a common ancestry (with Solila recalling how similar their technologies are, from last issue) and that the Powers That Be are keeping this information form the populaces for some reason.  

They go about their work of using their flight armors to cobble together a ship, which they manage to launch.  Before they do, Solila confesses the Zetonians' water reserves are almost spent and laments that she's here helping an Agorrian.  Darak convinces her to get over it since they'll likely die in their attempt to leave the planetoid, which prompts a smile from Solila.  They get off the planet, but Handroid notes it would take them 12.4 years to get back to the Ring.  Before that can happen, a ship disguised as an asteroid appears and grabs the pair's ship.  Enter Skuxxoid!

Void Rivals #3:  Oof.  That ending.

We begin where we ended, with Darak and Solila facing Skuxxoid inside his ship.  As Darak notes, Solila clearly isn't just a pilot when she barely misses Skuxxoid with her harpoon.  But Solila calls back her harpoon somehow, taking Skuxxoid by surprise and hitting him in the back.  They then make a break for it, disappearing into the enormous ship.  Skuxxoid calls after them that he's just trying to feed his wife and kids, noting that a bounty hunter catching them is better than floating adrift in space.  (He has a point.)  Muttering to himself that he isn't the most dangerous thing on the ship, Skuxxoid starts examining the pair's ship.

As they wander Skuxxoid's ship, Darak is hurt Solila won't expand on her abilities.  Solila just notes the Zertonian situation was sufficiently dire that they sent someone who wouldn't fail.  The pair comes upon a dark room and an enormous scorpion (no, not Scorpinox) attacks them.  Solila backs the scorpion into its lair while Darak maneuvers around it to get to the control panel so Handroid can lock up the scorpion.  

The plan works, and, as Darak and Solila catch their breath, another prisoner calls to them, offering to help them if they release him.  Suddenly, they're face to face with a Quintesson!  Handroid informs Darak that he can't find any matches for a Quintesson in his database, but they decide to follow him because they have no other choice.  The Quintesson informs them that his kind has many enemies given their responsibility for the centuries-old Age of Wrath and offers to get them home if they help him.  Solila asks how he knows where his ship is, and the Quintesson answers that he didn't enter the ship a prisoner.  

Arriving in the hanger, the Quintesson implores Darak and Solila to kill Skuxxoid, but Skuxxoid informs them that he has no beef with them, since he couldn't find an active bounty on them...unlike the Quintesson.  In fact, Skuxxoid offers them a "pre-Hive era" ship in exchange for their ship, since it has a rare alloy that his buddy Slizardo (Slizardo!) wants.

Hilariously, the next scene sees the pair in the ship (making it clear they ditched the Quintesson), two days from the Ring.  Solila asks how they're going to handle matters when they return, and Darak says his father is "a lot of things" but he'll listen to him.  (I'm guessing Darak is wrong on that one.)  Solila wisely notes that people on both sides are keeping the two races' origins secret and that some people might not want peace.  Darak is overly optimistic those people "won't be very popular."  (Ha!)  Wisely, though, Darak proposes they each take escape pods to their respective sides of the Ring.

Before they depart, Solila thanks Darak, noting she would've killed him and died on that planetoid.  Darak wishes her luck, and she wishes it back to him, telling him he'll need it.  She then uses her harpoon to shock him.  She at least apologizes to his unconscious body.

Void Rivals #4:  This issue goes more or less as I expected.

Solila takes over the ship and sends the security codes to the Zertonians, though Handroid surprises me by pulling Darak's blaster on her.  However, she has her spear poised over Darak's neck, meaning if Handroid shoots her Darak dies.  Handroid surrenders, and they arrive on the Ring.  

An awakened Darak expresses disappointment Solila betrayed him and notes the Zertonians must be desperate if they're sending warriors in place of pilots.  Solila rebukes him for not taking the situation as seriously as he should (fair), stressing he should remain silent (particularly about seeing each other's faces) while she sorts out who she can trust.  (Darak is an idiot at this point, commenting that he thought they were friends, much to Solila's disbelief.  She dubs them rivals.)

Solila presents herself to Premier Zalilak, the Zertonian ruler, and he congratulates her for her success.  She asserts that she failed, since she didn't secure the comet.  But Zalilak notes that he recognizes Darak as the Agorrians' greatest pilot, which means they can ransom him for resources.  Solila expresses relief that they won't hurt him, which raises Zalilak's suspicions.  He asks Solila if she saw Darak's face and, next thing we know, they're throwing her into Darak's cell, where she confirms to him that the conspiracy starts at the top.  (Don't they all?)

The issue ends with Zalilak using a secret channel to communicate with the Agorrians.  As expected, Darak's father is Zalilak's counterpart and tells him that Darak was lost to him many years ago (for reasons that remain unclear).  It appears the protocol for this situation is death, so we'lll see what happens next issue.

Separately, we have a weird interlude where Skuxxoid tries to sell the Quintesson to Shockwave, who informs him that he has no resources to pay him, commenting on how all the Decepticons are in stasis and he barely has energon to function.

Final Thoughts:  For a series whose purpose is to tie together two different 40 year old intellectual properties, it's a lot more engaging and interesting than it needs to be!