At the time it came out Stormbringer showed that neither Simon Furman nor IDW truly believed in the brittle new world of Infiltration. The first of many idiotic editorial decisions from the serial licence renters, this came out straight after Infiltration and was basically marketed as "no kids, robots on Cybertron, epic old school action!" - i. e. nothing like the comic you've just stuck with for six months of your life. True, Infiltration lost something like 60% of its' readership (or some 20,000 in sales) across its' duration and received middling reviews but IDW can't have known this when Stormbringer was being made, which makes its' placement all the odder. As a safe opener to built up to the Earth-based stuff it'd work. As a sop to the fans after 12, 18 issues on Earth it'd work. Thrown out as it was it just seems like the ever-fickle company lost its' nerve even before Infiltration began publication
In short it's an insult to the writer, the readership and the fictional universe. However, the shameless attempt to play to Furman's strengths has the unexpected consequence of making the story actually fun - a word totally alien to the cod-serious world of Infiltration. It helps that,minor lip service to the ongoing Ore-15 thread aside, Stormbringer exists in a little bubble separate from much of the rest of IDW'S universe, that it actually functions as an action adventure in its own right instead of a forever broken promise of excitement like the rest of Furman's run.
It was quite a surprise also to be reminded of how influential some of the ideas here are. The devastated uninhabitable Cybertron would be a staple of both the live action films and the Prime cartoon while - after some defiling of the team by shit BotCon merchandise and background stuffing from Dreamwave - the story also properly brings back the Wreckers. Not only are they in it but they're actually useful, so that's crucial groundwork for Last Stand of the Wreckers.
The plot covers what made Cybertron such a mess in the first place - Thunderwing tries to invent the Pretender shell, makes an arse of it (definite Marvel influence there) and gets turned into an insane killing machine meaning that every Transformer on the planet has to team up and stop him - via a present day resurrection overseen by emo Bludgeon and his cult of losers. It's a bit of a Furman greatest hits package with the role of Thunderwing reheated from "Matrix Quest", Bludgeon trying to revive a bastard is straight from "Another Time and Place" and the planet threatening superpower that requires a faction team-up is reminiscent of Unicron, but that's part of the charm. A reassuring sense of familiarity underpins Stormbringer, and you can feel how much more comfortable Furman is.
The cast are an interesting bunch on the whole - the Technobots get probably their best ever comic work here even if they're gently moved aside at the midpoint and Jetfire's mix of skills make him interesting; none of them would get any later chance to shine for IDW, but this is better than nothing. Optimus Prime is portentous and verbose but thankfully Furman seems to be past the worst of his phase of writing him as an emotional cripple while Springer and the Wreckers are entertainingly macho. What little we see of the Decepticons make a minor but positive impression, while Bludgeon's role is a nice throwback to his previous zealotry. Oh, and Searchlight getting to be Optimus' aide is cool too.
To add to the square fan appeal the story undoubtedly craves, Don Figueroa returns to art duties at a time when he was largely considered the finest working Transformers artist, having been one of the few to escape Dreamwave with an improved reputation. His work here is clean if unimaginative, and therefore a perfect fit for the script.
Stormbringer is not an excellent piece of work; it's safe, largely predictable and in its way is as frustrating for the lack of follow-up as the rest of the era. But at 88 pages of largely standalone consistently paced robot action it's entertaining in its own right and one of the highlights of Furman's stint.
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I think it's the ending--as is so often the case with Furman--that lets it down for me, Thunderwing just seems that little bit too easy to stop. Otherwise solid fun though as you say.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been thrown together quickly though, even now, when he'd have no reason to play the company fame, Furman says it was a result of reader feedback to the early (0 and 1?) issues of Infiltration rather than IDW's own itchy feet.
Yeh, the Thunderwing thing is a bit sudden - two armies can't stop him, Optimus's super gun can... the more natural thing would have been to have Thunderwing out of the way (maybe ever actually resurrected?) and have Bludgeon go on the rampage before succumbing to belated shock. But oh well.
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