Comic Review: Transformers - Ironhide

PUBLISHER: IDW (2010)
WRITER: MIKE COSTA
ARTIST: CASEY COLLER

IDW's first attempt at a solo 'spin-off' mini-series Bumblebee suffered from a catastrophic piece of mistiming, choosing a character who was too entrenched in the ongoing plot and at exactly the wrong time. Aside from which it wasn't all that bad; the problem with the Spotlight format had always been that it's fairly easy for any writer worth their salt to focus on one character and give them a bit more focus than might be allowed in a bigger arc, leaving them to come out the other side a richer character. The problem was always the plot - whether to keep it self-contained and end up with something inconsequential or whether to link it into something bigger and just be left with a regular issue with narration boxes.

Here though Mike Costa has a decent idea of using the series to set up a plot-line on the abandoned Cybertron, taking advantage of the planet's recent travails and uncertain status following the events of All Hail Megatron. Thrown into this is Ironhide, inexplicably reborn and under the impression he went offline after foiling an assassination attempt on Optimus Prime in the early days of the civil war. Basically the story is all about loose ends and building up elements for the second phase of the ongoing, both in terms of trying to sort out the mess that is Cybertron and using it as a hub for various waifs and strays.

This is then the first installment in this subplot, lining Ironhide up with the much-abused (both fictionally and metafictionally) Sunstreaker and trying to do something with the shapeless mess that was Spotlight - Metroplex, another one of those inconsequential episodes. It's not a bad attempt despite some flubs and it's nice to see Costa trying to fix things instead of breaking them even more, giving the series some sort of purpose and justification.

As well as this there's some solid characterisation, fleshing out the original version of Ironhide very nicely. He's nearly upstaged by Alpha Trion being a gigantic tosspot in a really fun way, trying to find the guy some place in the IDW-verse. He's the fun sort of arsehole in that his arrogance and rudeness are all intentionally funny, sandpaper to an Ironhide who needs answers and finds himself stuck with an egotistical fortune cookie who's more concerned with everyone knowing who he is. 

Throw in some good Swarm-stomping action and some nicely-flavoured flashbacks (including a precision Ramjet cameo) and crisp, clear art from Casey Coller and it's a decent little romp, subtly seeding a few useful avenues for the future while staying entertaining and working nicely as a mystery helmed by a decent narrator.