Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

The AUTOBOT special ops crew, THE WRECKERS, are sent to investigate Garrus-9, a prison that fell to the DECEPTICONS three years ago with no communication in or out since. Who’s really behind the prison siege, and what dark secret awaits SPRINGER there?

Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 marks the debut of another IDW title that one needs to keep tabs on in order to understand the publishing company’s current canon. Whereas the Transformers ongoing series and Bumblebee mini-series are intimately tied together story-wise, Last Stand of the Wreckers so far appears to be more of a stand-alone story within IDW’s Transformers timeline.

Last Stand of the Wreckers takes place before the events of Transformers Ongoing #1. The series kicks off three years ago, with other fallout from Sunstreaker’s betrayal that leads into the All Hail Megatron series. The issue jumps to various points in time in those three years and primarily serves as the background for the story that will kick-off full steam in Issue #2.

Nick Roche wears several badges with this issue, serving as co-writer, script writer, pencil guy, and sharing inking duties. Together with James Roberts, the two have developed a story that takes on a completely different tone that the two other series currently offered by IDW. Whereas the ongoing series and Bumblebee are very serious in tone, Last Stand of the Wreckers is a little more light-hearted with quite a bit of comedy mixed in. The comedy is added in quite nicely, taking nothing away from the storyline or action. Most of the comedy comes from the interaction between the Wreckers team as they assemble and head to their next mission.

As far as the cast of characters, it’s a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. The casual Generation One fan will recognize the likes of Ultra Magnus, Springer, Kup, Perceptor, and Fortress Maximus. However, they may not recognize much of the cast of the Wreckers and the Decepticon forces. Much of the rest is rounded out with characters who only received toys and coverage in Europe and Japan. To make matters even more complicated, the reader has to have background knowledge of both past Transformers storylines in IDW as well as even Marvel. A past IDW human character (see attached spoiler picture) returns and has integrated herself as part of the Wreckers team for over a year. The issue finishes with a bang with the reveal of a Transformer not seen since the Marvel days.

Nick Roche’s art in the issue matches up perfectly to the overtone of the story. During the comedy bits scattered throughout the issue, the illustrations sometimes actually make you laugh louder than the written bit. Nick’s done a great job of illustrating laughter and hilarious expressions. The art style overall is what you have seen from Nick Roche in the past, with little deviation. For those following the other two current IDW series, it’ll be a little jarring as the art style is again different than the other styles featured in the other two. That said, though, the only character in the series to appear thus far in the ongoing series or the Bumblebee mini-series is Ultra Magnus.

Last Stand of the Wreckers is definitely worth a look. It’s a refreshing break from all the seriousness that has been dealt with in the last two years with All Hail Megatron and the Ongoing story arc, it part because of the nature of the team and in part because of the comedy used in the writing. While this issue may have been light on the big action sequences due to having to set the story up, they are indeed called the Wreckers. Knowing the Wreckers, damage and deaths are some forthcoming!

Overall Rating: 4.5