Transformers Beast Wars #2, ‘Savage Landing Part 02’ – and what’s that whistling sound? That’s the sound of previously established canon being thrown right out!
The introduction of new characters has definitely changed things. Where the TV series had Cheetor going out and getting himself into trouble, here’s it Nyx who is our sacrificial lamb to the Predacons. Both factions are attempting to figure out what on Earth is going on and where they’ve ended up. Adding to the mix of oddness about this world, both Rattrap and Terrosaur are… seeing things?
Megatron, meanwhile, continues his single minded quest to decode the contents of the mythical golden disc and doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in leading his crew or even looking at what might lie outside the walls of the ship (also featuring a brief appearance from the majestic space duck?).
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The stark contrast between the two crews is on full display in these opening pages, not just through the actions of the characters with the Predacons bickering and sniping at each other. Tarantulus even goes so far as to openly state that they’re not really a crew, they’re just a collection of rogue agents whose wants and needs happened to align. Contrast this to the Maximals more calm and measured approach (Rattrap’s bitching aside).
They’ve been serving together for a while now as an actual crew, chain of command and all, and are used to working as a team. The art is used to highlight these differences still further by the use of starkly different colour palettes. The Predacon ship, The Darksyde, is bathed in reds and purples while the Maximal ship, The Axalon, is full of blues and yellows.
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So far the somewhat scrappy art style by Josh Burcham isn’t really doing it for me. I’ll admit to being far more of a fan of Guido Guidi, Alex Milne, Geoff Senior and Nick Roche. I like clean lines in my artwork, but that’s entirely a personal thing!
And honestly that’s about it for this issue. Contrasted to issue #1 there’s not a lot that really goes on in this one. There’s a lot of groundwork being laid, a lot of setup. We get to see more of the characters and their interactions with each other but other than that not a lot really happens until the very end of the issue. The TV series was much the same in that regard, you need to let your characters settle into this weird new world they’ve found themselves on before you really kick things off.
Issue #2 ends on a cliffhanger and it looks like #3 will bring us Tarantulus doing what he does best – being evil and creepy.
Transformers: Beast Wars #2 is out now from IDW Publishing.
