Transformers: The War Within

(Dreamwave, 2002-2003)
™ and ©2003 Hasbro

With the success of its Transformers: Generation 1 and Transformers: Armada series, Dreamwave has branched out with this latest series, set in the days before the Autobots and Decepticons left Cybertron for Earth more than 4 million years ago.

In the preview issue to the mini-series, writer Simon Furman wrote of his experiences on Marvel’s Transformers series, yet he has one major continuity glitch in this series: the existence of the Dinobot Grimlock on Cybertron millennia before the Autobots created him and the rest of his personal-pronoun-challenged brethren on Earth in the early episodes of the original animated series. OK, there may have been something about this established in earlier comics, and the rolling tank-like vehicle that Grimlock transforms into is pretty cool, but Furman and company need to take into account that there are readers coming to this series whose only exposure to The Transformers has been the animated series.

Aside from that problem, the series gets off to a good start, establishing that, while Cybertronian society was advanced in many ways with its machine-based life forms, that society also had its dark side, with gladiatorial contests between the robots. As the civil war between The Autobots and Decepticons escalates, The Autobots’ leader, Sentinel Prime, is killed and a data-entry clerk named Optimus is chosen to continue the fight, a fight he isn’t even sure he believes in. In the meantime, gladiator Grimlock also questions Optimus’ suitability as a leader and forms his own plans.

Artist Don Figueroa makes both The Autobots and Decepticons larger than life with futuristic designs that make it clear these robots transform into vehicles and machines that are not based on familiar Earth objects. At the same time, he also succeeds in capturing the essence of each character, making it easy to identify what they will later become on Earth.

This first issue is as intriguing as the early issues of Dreamwave’s Transformers: Generation 1, and readers would be well-advised to get in the ground floor early, before back issues become scarce.

— Brent Frankenhoff

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