An Outcast Amongst Peers
Set 200 years in the past, Rom Vs.Transformers: Shining Armor is IDW’s latest entry in the Hasbro Universe. It tells the story of Stardrive, the first Cybertronian to become a knight in the Solstar Order. Encouraged by the Rom, the greatest Space Knight of them all, Stardrive rises to the ranks of cadet. But her journey isn’t easy. Even though she’s been raised with other Galadorians, Stardrive is subject to the same prejudices and fears as her fellow Cybertronians are.
The blood-thirsty Dire Wraiths are the mortal foes of the Space Knights. Yet it turns out that the Transformers, due to their reputations are genocidal killing machines, are hated by all intergalactic species. What will happen when Stardrive finally meets a Transformer face-to-face? Will she serve the order of the Space Knights as she’s been trained? Or will she succumb to the spark of bloodlust that resides in every Decepticon?
A Superior Crossover
John Barber and Cristos Gage do a fantastic job with this opening salvo in the war between Space Knight and Transformer. Unlike most crossovers, the duo actually focused on story. Stardrive’s journey from being rescued by Rom from a destroyed shuttle craft to joining his side as a fellow Space Knight is one of the best issues I’ve read all year!
The artwork by Alex Milne was equally amazing. It’s been a very long time since I have seen Transformers looking so sleek and polished in comics. The Dire Wraiths has never been illustrated so hideously. Or at least since the Bill Mantlo era at Marvel. And Rom- what can I say?! I’ve haven’t seen him look so spiffy since the day I unwrapped an action figure of him for my third birthday!
The past year has been chopped full of Hasbro Universe crossovers such as Revolution and sister title Revolutionaries. I’ve read them both. The pair of titles are good but they were missing passion in the storytelling. I wasn’t 100% caught up in what’s going on in the regular Rom and Transformers books to understand everything going on here. But I loved everything I read in this 32-pager opening chapter. If you are looking for an epic title to really dive into the mythos of what IDW and Hasbro is trying to accomplish in a shared universe of your favorite childhood memories- this is the title to start with!
A 2017 must read!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
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