I just wanted to take a moment to just look back on and reflect on one year of Robert Kirkman's Transformers run.
So to start off, and I want to get this out of the way right now, I don't think Kirkman's a bad writer. He has his faults, and he's had his low points like all writers do, but I hesitate to call him a bad writer entirely; he's done plenty of good stuff in the past, and he's doing good stuff now in Void Rivals. I really like that book at the moment.
But I think we're all in agreement; his Transformers run has left a lot to be desired, especially after how strong Daniel Warren Johnson was.
Although to be fair, as enjoyable as it was, I don't think DWJ's run was perfect either. I think the biggest problem was that Johnson never really took the time to just establish a proper status quo for the comic and let it stick for more than one arc, and subsequently, there were hardly any breather points that just allowed the characters to sit down and give us time to enjoy them. And of course there's its infamous body count, which was so excessive that even Johnson somewhat admitted he took it too far.
I'll say this: I do think one of the pros of Kirkman's run is that he does seem to be trying to fix some of this. The entirety of his second arc seems to be just letting the current status quo breathe for a bit, and the only major character death has been Trailbreaker. But that could all change with the upcoming Megatronus Rex arc...
And yet...it still doesn't feel right at points. I think it's mostly because Kirkman's run has had some really bizarre creative decisions. I think the idea of Elita taking over for Optimus was interesting, but in execution it's really lacking and made Elita come off as a massive jerk (especially after the "not real Autobots" thing), which makes it hard to get behind her as a leader, which clearly wasn't Kirkman's intention (it's worth noting Johnson was the one who came up with the Elita Prime concept, and I'm curious how he would have handled this plot development).
It's not helped by Kirkman's bizzare pacing. We're constantly rushing through certain plot points that probably should have been whole arcs on their own (Miles Mayhem going rogue, Arcee becoming Magnus, Elita talking to Sparky, etc.), but then the overall story takes forever to go anywhere interesting. It's weird.
And of course there's my big sticking point, the fact that Kirkman introduced Sideswipe, Mirage, and Bulkhead and retconned Blaster and Brawn to be alive, only to do nothing with them and have them go back to Cybertron with Elita right away. Mirage probably got this the worst deal of all of them since he was written out in Issue #37. I know a lot of people have disagreed with me on this, but I stand by it. I don't understand what the point is in introducing a whole bunch of new characters if you're not going to do anything with them.
In general I'd have to say my biggest problem with Kirkman's run is how all over the place it's felt. I don't have a clear idea of where Kirkman is going with all this, and it's made the book a frustrating read. Not helped by how reactionary the run has felt. I don't know what the production lead times of these comics are, but it really feels like Kirkman is letting the fan discourse dictate certain story points.
When people were complaining about how Flagg keeping Magnus prisoner wasn't addressed, the very next issue had just that with Flagg and Magnus confronting each other.
When Kirkman revived a bunch of Autobots in his first arc, people started wondering, "What does it take to permanently kill a transformer in this verse?" and Kirkman answered the question by killing Trailbreaker.
People wondered where the Arcee and Carly "iron apprentice arc" went, and Kirkman addressed it in the second arc.
People started theorizing Thundercracker was going to be the new Arm of Superion, and then Kirkman did that.
People complained Jazz leaving Earth was out of character, so Kirkman reveals in #37 Optimus had ordered Jazz to go with Elita, presumably because he knew Jazz would be the one to get Elita to recognize Earth's importance (and while I appreciate having the explanation, if that was Kirkman's plan from the start, it probably should have been revealed a lot sooner, TBH)
And more recently, Elita's realization that Earth needs to be protected got rushed through, possibly because Kirkman realized people weren't really on board with the whole "abandon your fellow Autobots on Earth" thing.
Sure all this could be a coincidence...but it's just happened too often for me to see it as anything but a pattern.
Also, I just think Kirkman's run lacks the heart and sincerity Johnson's had. For all of Johnson's faults, I listed several above, the thing that made his run fun was how he clearly understood the mission statement. Even if Johnson isn't familiar with the likes of Star Saber or Rotorstorm, you can tell he loves Transformers and loved writing the comic, and it showed in the work.
Kirkman's run lacks that heart. I do believe he does love Transformers, but it's not showing up in the run for whatever reason.
And honestly I kind of have to wonder...does Kirkman even want to be writing the main Transformers title? If he really wanted to do so, he could have right away; instead, he chose to focus on his original concept of Void Rivals, and the quality difference between the two titles at the moment is so different it's almost palpable.
Maybe Kirkman just feels more comfortable when he's allowed to play with either his own toys or toys that are mostly a blank slate that allow him to do whatever he wants to do.
The run is getting better, though. I thought Issue #37, despite the Mirage thing and the rushed Elita and Sparky talk, was good overall, and with Elita realizing she's wrong and Beachcomber searching for lost Autobots, we might finally be expanding the cast properly in a way that sticks. And I do appreciate his willingness to just let the characters breathe in a way Johnson never did. If there's one strength I can give Kirkman, it's that he has a better grasp of the long game than Johnson does (no offense, DWJ).
But with Megatronus Rex coming next month and the Autobots in for the fight of their lives, we'll see if this more positive direction sticks.
