B.U.M.B.L.E.B.E.E

(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis



well, kinda

Story



with a theme song!



and the cheesy one-liners

Art



from Griffith's Twitter



boomboom

Thoughts

Spoilerish ahead



but we are

1/2 out of 1/2 out of

Some call him Goldfender, but the name's Bee... Bumblebee. On loan to MI6 and teamed with a human partner, Bee's trapped in the middle of a Cold War plot to disrupt British Secret Intelligence. But when things go wrong, it's up to Bee to discover if there's a traitor in their midst. In the spy world, allegiances can change just as easily as a Transformer.It has been a very long time since we saw anything in print or digital as a tie-in or lead-in or even just promotion, for the Paramount live action universe, as directed by Michael Bay. It looks as though, now that the plans are changing - and very much so - we're back in business however, and the old movie comics making team is back for the ride!John Barber is clearly having fun with this mini-series, even just from the first issue, as the puns are aplenty, the references even more so, and the dynamic between Bumblebee and Omega Zero / David Reeve is hard to shake too far away from Ian Noble-Action Man and Kup, from the pages of Revolutionaries. The action is worthy of something that can be a movie blockbuster for sure, but it's their dialogue (and the acronyms) that sticks the most.That said, I am a little confused at the pitching of this series - as it's intended to be aimed at a younger audience, yet has very pulp, noir, crime references and context which a younger audience may very well not get at all. Plus, if it is indeed to lead into the upcoming Bumblebee movie, I'm very curious to see what this story established about the current Cybertronian situation on Earth.As team is back, Andrew Griffith returns next to Barber to work on the visuals for the former's script as the A.R.T.I.S.T., and as we already knew, his mechanical-but-organic, movie designs work amazingly (as does his architecture), and are dynamic without fault in their execution - which cannot otherwise be entirely said about some of the human renditions of the other side of the cast, unfortunately. It may, at this point, just be my personal taste getting in the way, however.Priscilla Tramontano does some seriously impressive work as the C.O.L.O.R.I.S.T. to go with the excellent base lines, and manages to bring both a fresh coat over some old-style looks, and make it all work as a new perspective on an old visual aesthetic. Partnering that up with some well placed, even spot on, SFX from regular L.E.T.T.E.R.E.R. Tom B Long, and you get an explosive mix that works extremely well with the punchy script for this opening issue.The covers for this series so far have been a huge selling point for myself and several other fans online, be it the regular Griffith / Tramontano variant, the Fico Ossio, Megatron-cameoing version, or the pulpy Sara Pitre Durocher take on the story - you can view them all in our comics database here , with credits!Consider my interest very slightly piqued, at least insofar as we're getting some more human-bot interaction from Barber - as well as his usual net weaving, with Sector Seven, various continuity issue jugglings and fun dialogue - along with what this story will say about Bee losing his voice, how the movie version we saw develops from this very different character, and what other cameos might make it in both character and style.The movie aesthetic may turn off a fair few regular IDW style accustomed readers, but keeping the target in mind, younger fans will probably have grown up with this style and it's a great idea to have something Transformers comics based for them in the hands of Griffith and Tramontano. The covers are definitely also a big draw, and not one to be underestimated.