By Henry Alberts
Staff Writer
As far as comic crossovers go, the first issue of “Revolution” gets a definite “A” for effort and brings some fun characters to the table, but doesn’t really succeed overall due to being hampered by an overly typical story.
“Revolution”, IDW Publishing’s attempt at merging properties like ROM, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and others into a “shared universe”, has a first issue presenting mixed results, with a far too obvious formula and little actual exposition, but the art is great due to its unique nature.
Written by former IDW editor John Barber and Cullen Bunn, “Revolution”’s art is primarily drawn by Fico Ossio. Supporting him is colorist Sebastian Cheng and letterer Tom B. Long. Finishing the group are editor David Hedgecock and various cover artists, including James Biggie, Adam Riches, and Tradd Moore, among others.
The story centers around the 3-way conflict between the Transformers who have recently annexed Earth, the human G.I. Joe team, and alien ROM the Space Knight. After an explosion at Mount Olympus, ROM kills the leader of G.I. Joe, leading them to believe the Cybertronians have initiated a war.
As obvious as any superhero team up story, our cast must battle before uniting against a common foe; unfortunately, it’s extremely hamfisted. G.I. Joe refuses to understand the Transformers, despite the latter group clearly speaking English. Additionally, ROM says nothing, simply appearing to kill several humans with no explanation.
Even more so, there’s one key problem: it is extremely hard to dive into with no prior knowledge. Apart from small captions, there is no explanation of who any of the characters are, and little background is given for why they’re there in the first place.
“Revolution” has one huge advantage: the unique art. The robotic characters almost seem organic, flowing in as alive as the humans. Effects like one character’s EMP power, or another’s flight power, are illustrated dynamically. This is all complimented by Cheng’s colors, which fit the darker tone of the book.
“Revolution” is a new attempt at an old story that falls flat in its first issue, due to poor storytelling choices that bogs down and overrides good art.
“Revolution” Issue 1 of 5 is available in stores or on digital platforms like Comixology or iBooks.
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