Welp here's the Last Stand write-up, let me know what to touch up or is wrong. Sorry ended up posting just as I'm going to bed so expect typos I lazily forgot to fix :V
It's a little difficult to describe Last Stand of the Wreckers outside of its premise; the rogue Decepticon Overlord had taken over the Autobot Prison Facility Garrus-9 and has been ruling over it for 3 years. Autobot High Command, upon realizing they had lost contact with the facility, mobilize the Autobot's Black Ops unit, The Wreckers, lead by Springer, to infiltrate Garrus-9 and free it from Decepticon control.
This miniseries marks the first project that James Roberts has ever worked on an official Transformers medium, being a long time fan of the TF series (his first introduction to the comic was the UK issue #113, which at the time featured the Season 3 characters Kup, Springer, etc.). The success of this miniseries would eventually lead to him heading a mainline TF book, More Than Meets the Eye, and it becoming nominated for many awards.
The art is handled by Nick Roche, another long time fan of the series and who worked on various TF comics with IDW. Josh Burcham's colors add great depth and visual style to Roche's pencils, helping panels that are character focused to really stand out and be imposing.
One quote that praised the book is that it was 'The Watchmen of TF comic stories'. I think that's a bit of an exagerration, although the phrase 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' is an interesting observation to be had of this book by the time one finishes reading it.
At any rate, the book remains a perfect introduction to one of the best comic book series, not just Transformers but the genre as a whole, of the decade. If you made a list of the 100 best comic books from 2010 onwards, this entire series deserves to be on there.
I've provide a quick look and write-up of the first 2 issues of the miniseries. What I will mostly aim to focus on is the writing style, which is something I'll bring up a few times more in the thread.
The first issue begins with Garrus-9 under siege by the Decepticons. The chief warden, Fortress Maximums aka Fort Max, is undettered by the assault. Notice how the very first page sets things up instantly with the pace of the dialog not dawdling and giving the reader all the information they need.
On the next page, every Autobot and Decepticon's worst nightmare descends on the scene;
the reaction from the soldiers should tell you everything you need to know about Overlord, with the ensuing pages cementing his sadistic and torture obsessed nature.
We next switch to a group of Autobots, never before or rarely if ever, known or seen in the many TF media; they are the new recruits for Springer's Wreckers team, waiting at a space port to join with Springer and the Wreckers.
As this ragtag group boards the ship they meet with Verity, a human who the Autobots befriend during their battle with the Decepticons on Earth. She had stowawayed on Magnus' ship and has been working with him for the past few years. They eventually meet with Springer who briefs them on their mission; free Garrus-9 from Decepticon control.
The remainder of the issue becomes character focused, letting the reader know about the characters, their personalities and quirks.
By the end of the first issue much is established (at least character-wise), such as the brutality and the ferocity of Overlord, and a keen eyed reader would notice that a character shown in the first page returns in the handful of final pages.
The 2nd issue shows the team preparing for their mission along with some more characerization and interaction between the cast, and like many stories have shown, nothing ever goes according to plan. One nice touch is the crew's reaction to Overlord, doesn't it seem familiar?
That's as much as I'd like to write about the book, one can read the entire 5 issues digitally or in print via Comixology or various online retailers.
It should be noted that the Hardcover contains some additional text stories that serve to add more background to the characters in the book among others, such as characters that would end up appearing in MTMTE.
Once you've finished reading the book, a few of the writing styles or concepts of James Roberts' should become clear; referencing bits that appear early in an issue, as well as bringing up an event that occurs in previous issue and subverting it, or in the form of a call back. This can be observed when re-reading this story for example.
With LSotW, Roberts lay down the foundation for what MTMTE would build off of, as in LSotW he introduced many aspects and ideas that serve to expand on the lore of the TF series. Furthermore, his later work builds on blurring the lines between good and evil and how both factions and their allignments are seen as; are the Autobots really the paragons of good we've been seeing them as? Just how evil are the Decepticons?
All in all though Last Stand of the Wreckers is a good stand alone story, and a great introduction to James Roberts' Transformers comic run.
As an addendum, consider tracking down the one shot story Spotlight: Kup, which was written and drawn by Nick Roche. It serves as the motivation for Guzzle joining the team and remains an interesting stand alone issue.
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