Posted on February 7th 2018 by Steven Mapes
This article will cover the personal opinions of the crew behind The Visionaries.net on IDW Publishing's Transformers Vs Visionaries Issue 2.
WARNING: - This article may contain spoilers.
Four. Eyed. Space. Shark.
That's it. That alone should win comic of the week.
In all seriousness though, seeing the Visionaries' animal forms in at least this different incarnation was super cool. The small art changes to make them not the same as Earth animals was nice too.
What did leap out and smack me in the face were the questions raised by these animal totems and staffs. Firstly where did the staffs manifest from? In the case of Leoric I guess his shield turns into the staff, but what about Cindarr and Galadria? Also are the Visionaries turning into the magical animals coming from the staffs? At first I thought not, but then the sequence with Leoric wasn’t clear to me as he feels the pain of the shark bite, and then the lion goes into the staff and back into Leoric? It all just felt a little muddled.
The writing was strong, although at this point I feel because of the nature of a mini series and the relatively large cast in this book we are shuffling through too many characters to get from point B to C. This gives everyone a moment, but does not really develop anyone. One example is Arzon who just seems to have been given a naysayer role amongst the Spectral Knights for no reason. Virulena at least seems to get a few character moments which is good to see,
We also seem to have some power sets that need definition. Witterquick has Flash type speed and Cindarr apparently has super strength. I have no issue with this in general, but what does that mean for the other Visionaries with less physical totem powers. Do Virulena and Galadria have Aquaman like skills?
The art for the issue was generally very good. The Visionaries themselves are drawn more strongly than the Transformers, but everything is sharp, recognisable and colourful. My only complaint is about the sequences involving magical totems that I mentioned above, that I found unclear.
My questions and comments may come off as far more critical than I mean to be. I enjoyed this issue as much as the first, but as a Visionaries fan I do need more explanation for changes to what I consider the familiar ‘laws’ of the brand. This needs to be either in the written word or in the art sequences, preferably both.
What really matters was that this issue was at the top of my read pile this week which says a lot about how much I am anticipating each issue. Go buy issue 2 if you haven’t already - four eyed space shark! Onwards to issue 3!
May the light shine forever.
It seems to have been a long month since issue one of Transformers Vs Visionaries, but issue two is finally on us and I was looking forward to getting back to enjoy the new colourful world of the Visionaries.
The colouring on this comic is still a massive plus and draw for me, the characters look amazing and although their new designs have not sat well with some fans, I love the vibrant colours and differences in the designs.
This month’s comic follows on from events of the first but suffers from the knowledge that this is just a five-part series. Due to the limited timeframe Magdalene must keep things going at rapid pace, so let’s see what we’ve experienced in this issue.
That’s a lot to fit in to one comic, a comic which felt shorter than last time around. If, like me, you have not had a chance to listen to any of the Podcasts with the creative team this will also be your first confirmation on the lack of magical rhymes and limiting powers to just one per characters. The lack of rhymes is fine my me, it felt a bit like in anime when you telegraph your move. You are giving your strategy away. So, I’m OK with that. The limiting of powers is a shame, understandable (due to the length of the comic) but a shame. My hope is that if the series proves popular, and gets to continue, then maybe they will pick up their secondary powers in the future. That make a cool little nod to the original series and probably appease some fans.
The animal forms shown are now non-earth creatures, a Unicorn Dolphin, four-eyed Shark, Lion with Tusks and a Gorilla (I didn’t notice any change). This also makes sense as Prysmos was not meant to be earth, so like the Phylot and the giant Mollusk, it actually makes more sense to have more alien forms.
I love the behind the scenes section in the comic, that was a great addition also. I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with the story but the limited arc they have in just five issues was more apparent in this issue than the first. Anyone unfamiliar to Visionaries may also be confused with the animal forms.
It's been a long month waiting for this comic, the only comic that I'm reading these days, so I was glad to be able to pick it up and read it this evening. I read this comic on a computer using the IDW app on a portrait screen.
As per the last issue the colouring in this comic was one of the main positives for me, everything looks vibrant and colourful and the artwork, on the whole, is good, consistent and in keeping with what I would expect from a 2018 comic from IDW.
It was nice to see some of the additional characters turn up as well as the first use of the Visionaries animal forms and magical powers though if you have not listened to either the Full Force or Moonbase 2 Podcasts then I would not be surprised if many readers are left with nagging questions or generally confused if they are new to the brands premise. During the podcasts it was confirmed that the Visionaries only have one power now, their animal totems, and that they use their power staffs to "summon them" since the chest pieces were too cumbersome. During the podcasts it was also confirmed that the magical rhymes had been dropped, something that is obvious within this issue but still sad to see even if I can understand why. What I did find a little odd was how Witterquick can use his super-speed in human form without turning into a Cheetah, or maybe he can't turn into an animal now. If he has super-speed all the time, something that was only granted to him by his power staff originally, then why would he need to turn into his animal form? With his new human super-speed, wise cracking character and posing it he comes off perhaps a little too much like the Flash.
Side note, I've decided to start counting the use of schism within these books, it seems like it's going to to be the word of the series.
I found myself feeling that Lexor's dialog would have worked well for Mortdredd, who'll appear in future issues, though he, Lexor, is still one of my favourite updated designs.
The designs of the general Prymosians, with their basic clothes and sticks, may seem out of touch with the knights but does help bring a distinction between those who are knights and those who are not, as well as being a homage to the original designs.
Whether it was planned or not, the design of the domed room where the Spectral Knights meet is a nice homage to the original designs of both New Valarak and Darkstorms Castle, especially the latter.
I did enjoy the characters having updated versions of their original weapons even down to some of their power staffs, Galadria's unicorn, razor toothed dolphin is going to take a little getting use to, but the animal forms are clearly recognisable and follow each factions colour scheme much like with the original series.
Merklynn still feels a little too evil at this point in the story, though it was mentioned during the Full Force Podcast that he is very much out for himself and caused the original great cataclysm as a way to rid Prysmos of technology and bring back the religious type order of magic. This obviously has not been covered in the story yet so right now he just comes over as a jerk, but I'm okay with that.
I did like the updates made to the animal forms so that whilst their base designs are obvious, they are not just using Earth animals which would have made no sense since they are not from Earth. It was also a nice touch to emphasis the size of Virulina's shark form.0
I thought it was interesting to see Leoric be knocked back into and through his powerstaff to return to his humanoid form. Side note, what a power pose by Virulina as well, with matching smugness to Merklynn. I can see why everyone at IDW has stated that she is their favourite character.
Unfortunately the story is starting to feel rushed, though that was not unexpected. With only five issues to tell the tale it was always going to be tough to fit in a compelling story, introduce 12-15 new characters and explain the world of the Visionaries to new readers. This is something that I was concerned about from the beginning and this issues certainly raises those questions once more. There is no explanation for new readers as to why Witterquick has superspeed, why others can change into animals or really Ironhide would go from such strong negative feelings, talking about genocide, to agreeing to work with Leoric in the matter of a couple of panels. I felt like we jumped a long way in this story. It would have been nice to have kept the Autobots apart from the Spectral Knights a little longer but with three issue left the accelerator had to be pushed I guess.
There are panels within Figo's Transformers art that reminds me of Andrew Wildman, I think it's the eyes on Wheeljack.
Virulina's coronation as chancellor was an interesting way to end, will she be wearing her new outfit in the next issue? I did like how it had a larger more central chest plate even if her shark emblem was missing.
It seems like the people of New Prysmos are an angry bunch, again I know that this is early days and that the issue count is limited, but would everyone really be so pleased with the thought of genocide? I assume the idea is that as magic has been the main force for 300 years, people really do hate technology.
I'll end with a question, will Galadria actually smile in any of the issues? If I were a betting man, I'd say no.
Once again I look forward to the next issue as I do really want to see where they go with the story.
At some point in the time between this and the first issue, I had a few doubts about how the story would progress. I had a few expectations around what characters we would be introduced to and where the story would go following such a huge character death in Kup. Well, not only was I way off but in actual fact I was pleasantly surprised at what we did receive. Firstly, how can you follow Kup’s demise? How about getting stuck right into a massive fight between the Spectral Knights and the Darkling Lords? Yep, that should do it!! I was also intrigued to see new characters and that’s exactly what we got with the battle. Now, Merklynn and Virulina’s plan seems to be going perfectly for now, they have got the people on their side and tainted the reputation of the Spectral Knights. Not only do we get the first active Visionaries battle but we get Witterquick, Arzon, Ectar, Galadria, Lexor and so on! On top of that we finally see them use their animal totems and they aren’t the standard animals we know and love but hybrids like Leoric’s tusked Lion, or Galadria’s Unicorn Dolphin!! I would say Narwhal but it clearly isn’t one. Either way, they look great and the fact their weapons transform into the classic staffs to create the animals is a lovely homage.
The issue is Transformers light, no doubt but it’s necessary to develop the Visionaries and gives us an idea of what these Knights and Lords are all about. What I will say is that the Transformers that did appear took the news of Kup’s death rather well. I would have expected a more forlorn response following something as heavy as that. That being said, the story continues to move at a good pace without being too fast and builds on what we saw beautifully in the first issue.
I continue to be impressed by what the creative team is doing with this book! Now bring on issue 3!!