Ricky Church reviews Transformers: Lost Light #12…
IDW wraps up its latest arc in Transformers: Lost Light #12 as Getaway’s reign on the ship finally starts to unravel around him in some pretty major ways. Its a good issue that builds up the tension as he slips his morals down even further to stay on top, sacrificing more of his crew and even manipulating others to dirty their hands as well. This arc has certainly made Getaway a more interesting character and antagonist.
James Roberts told a compelling story as Getaway tried to secure his position on the ship. He’s really gone far to make Getaway’s characteristics interesting and understandable. He’s not just a Starscream-like character dreaming of one day becoming the leader, but genuinely thinks he has a destiny that he will achieve no matter what. If he shares one thing with Starscream, though, its his ability to manipulate people. The scene where he tells Atomizer to kill one of the comatose Autobots in order to secure his loyalty and push him over his own morally grey edge showed just how cruel, pragmatic and cold Getaway could be.
It was nice to see the tide start turning as Riptide survived his supposed execution and began waking up the bots who Getaway trapped in their comatose memory loops. The climax was cool and fun, with Roberts using a couple of characters and plot points from many, many issues ago in Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, such as how Ambulon was a stand-in for the combiner Defensor, to bring the climax together.
The only thing that hindered the story was the interlude with the Scavengers, a group of former Decepticons who are misfits and on the run. This is setting up one of the next arcs to come in a few issues, but its strange how it cut in between Getaway’s story on the Lost Light, killing some of the tension that was being raised. It did deliver a couple of interesting beats for the upcoming Scavenger story, but still seemed out of place.
Jack Lawrence’s art is well done. He makes each bot stand out and look unique from the other while making each one very expressive, something that’s sure to be a bit difficult given that many of the bots in this issue have faceplates. The action at the end of the issue is well choreographed, making it easy to tell what’s going on while Joana Lafuente’s colours make everything vibrant.
Transformers: Lost Light #12 was a good conclusion that elevated Getaway’s status as a villain while propelling the story forward with some interesting beats and cliffhanger. The only downside is that Scavengers interlude, but overall it was still an exciting issue with some nice artwork.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
