Review - Transformers: All Hail Megatron #15

All Hail Megatron was a very controversial series for the 'bots, and it divided the fandom in two as to the opinion of it. Many believed it was poorly written with a lot of dragging out, while others thought it was shockingly good,with big changes in store for all involved. Then the four-issue Coda was incorporated into AHM. The stories have been viewed as just filler, and for once I am inclined to agree. The stories seem to have no real substance, and few of them had any relevance. Even IDW admitted it was filler so they could get ahead on the ongoing series, out in November. But ...

The Good: That all changes with this issue - All Hail Megatron #15. By Primus, this is a serious deviation from the norm. First up is story 1; "Everything in its Right Place", story and art by Nick Roche, colors by Kris Carter. Slagging hell is all I could say upon reading it today. Man, Nick Roche is slagging awesome. His story is great, dialogue believable and realistic, and his art shatters my trousers whenever I look at it (go to TF Wiki's article on him for diagnosis of shattered trousers). The sheer expressiveness of his faces astounds me, and no-one else, not even the great E J Su, can top this realism. I mean, his 'bots have eyelids. Fragging eyelids, people.

That is just uber-cool. And Kris Carter hasn't done Nick's colors since Spotlight: Hardhead back in Revelation, and I find myself thinking I should have missed him. His colors perfectly and expertly complement Nick's lineart, elevating them into a higher state of artwork. Boo-ya.

Now, onto story two, "Lost & Found", story by Denton Tipton, art by Casey Coller and colors by Joana Lafuente.This one has very good art, though not as evocative as Nick's. The story serves its purpose quite well, giving us a reason as to how Perceptor went from blabbing boffin to silent sharpshooter. Casey's artwork is great as always, but colorist Joana Lafuente really steals the show for this one. Her new coloring style is bright, vibrant, and great to look at. Great work Joana and Casey. PS: A preview of AHM #15 is available here.

The Bad: Just little things that aren't too good in this issue, but they affect the overall nonetheless. Nick's still-great penmanship is very wordy, with speech bubbles taking up a large amount of panel space that obscures his beautiful artwork. But this story was obviously done to answer some of the fan questions that have been circulating since AHM's beginning, so this is understandable. On the subject of the second story, Denton obviously needs to stick to editing rather that writing. His story serves the purpose but is heavily condensed - the story jumps horrendously several times, which is a bit confusing if you can't decipher comics easily like me. But as I said, the story serves its purpose fairly well, so in both stories the bads are actually good in their own ways.

Verdict: The best AHM Coda issue of all. Nick Roche was the star of the show, while Joana's amazing colors made up for Denton's rushed story. (unrelated: Please comment shadow!) Rated 9.5 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 2:03 pm, SATURDAY 19 September