Spotlight Drift Review (SPOILERS)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:46 pm

First, the art. Fantastic. Casey and Joana knock this sucker out of the park. Very clean art, I would say, almost on par with the likes of Guido. In particular, the settings were beautifully done. My favorite artists in comics are the ones that tend to place as much emphasis on the character's surroundings and they do the cast. It adds to the whole artistic experience. Well done to both of you.

The story, though not on par with the art, was also engaging and a worthy addition to the spotlight run. In no way did I find Drift annoying, and I found this outing by Shane to be superior to his Blurr spotlight.

Finally, we get a TF issue that gives us some galactic scope to the whole war, with interaction with other races and action on other planets. Haven't really seen this in a while, not since Gorlam Prime or Thunderwing's romp through Nebulos in Stormbringer. Because of this, it felt very much like one of Furman's older runs during his stint with Marvel, as in Matrix Quest, where Simon wasn't afraid to take chances with other races.

It was nice to see other generic bots for a change, and Commander Turmoil in some way reminded me of Straxus. Could swear some of those Cons under his command weren't generic though. Spinister maybe?

One the downside, Drift's origin story didn't really add anything in the way of surprise, as his former Decepticon allegiance was pretty much telegraphed by Bumblebee in AHM. Not a good move, IMO, as it detracted from the mystery surrounding Drift in this issue. The idea of a third neutral faction done with war is interesting, but has been done before when Fort Max left for Nebulos, and the Headmasters were born. Still, I think it opens some doors for some cool stories.

One other niggle I had was, though Drift's saving Perceptor in the end had a certain 'coolness' factor to it, it wasn't really believable that the Wreckers would leave a helpless bot behind. Especially if Perceptor was the one who saved Kup's sorry ass from insanity. No way Kup would leave Perceptor like that.

Overall, give it a "B". Nice story with some flaws, but quite pretty to look at.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:27 pm

The problem with reviewing this sort of comic, especially if you've had an Eostre weekend to dwell on it, is that it's wonderfully light on detail. like the Autobot prisoners who were Drift's whole purpose in going to the Decepticon ship in the first place.

Hey! Drift runs into the Wreckers!

Hey! Drift runs into Turmoil!

Hey! Drift and Kup fall down an access shute or some other such bollocks so they can have a spark-to-spark!

Hey! Drift comes up against Turmoil again!

Hey! Drift saves Perceptor!

***

Meanwhile, off-panel, the Wreckers save the Autobot prisoners who were Drift's whole reason for going there in the first place and somehow survive the direct conflict with Turmoil and his troops that Kup and Drift left them in but let Turmoil survive to confidently stroll up to the pair of them a short conversation later and threaten them.

Then, of course, the conclusion to the main confrontation between Drift and Turmoil happens off-panel.

Look out for Spotlight: Drift: CODA in stores soon.

Nice art, but amateur storytelling.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:34 am

Not sure about this - not as bad as i was expecting, but not exactly good either.

Drift's inept attempt to rescue Perceptor being enough to win Kup over when the prior incarnation of Deadlock had apparently killed lots of 'bots didn't really ring true to me which pretty much undermine's the whole endevour.

Also it felt like it wanted to be patted on the back for filling in unneccesary continuity gaps that the same writer has created. SM's approach to story telling in general seems to be "change stuff then explain it later" and expect a cookie. This rarely rings true as the gap in kneolwedge generally comes from an unnatural absence of facts rather then a genuine mystery - i.e all the characters know what happened they just don't relate it until some later date.

Plus the while "i'm putting together a new squad" thing at the end seemed to be entirely lacking in reasoning and just an attempt to explain the composition of Kup's ship in AHM.

Also Turmoil's go on, kill me, show me you have not changed yapping - er doesn't Drift do exactly that when he blows him up?

Plus no one else can rescue Perceptor except Drift? pfft.

So, as usual, the more i dissect the more i dislike. Bah.

Art was nice, colouring was a bit odd in terms of being quite bright and flat at points and very dark in others.

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:02 pm

I started off thinking this wasn't a bad effort, but it does fall apart the more I think about it. Brett Bass on the IDW forums really hit the nail on the head when he says that McCarthy seems to write scenes without context. Every individual bit of this story seems to have been conceived separately and then hamfistedly stitched together. I imagine the list of scenes to cram in going something like this:

COOL BITS
- Drift gets to stride around in ninja-esque threads.
- Drift defeats his old captain in combat but refuses to kill him (honour!)
- Drift sneaks into a warship (stealth!)
- Drift saves another Autobot (redemption!)
- Drift is revealed to have been a Decepticon called Deadlock (deadly secret!)
- Drift talks about how he has realised the Decepticons are baddies and the Autobots are goodies (character!)

DAMAGE LIMITATION
- Perceptor takes a head shot (explains sniper Perceptor).
- Kup mentions his recovery (explains new look Kup).
- Drift joins the Wreckers (explains why he turns up with them).
- Appearance of other Wreckers (possibly kill them, if space?)

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:02 pm

has anyone seen that episode of the simpsons where they introduce a character to the simpsons household who acts just like Bart?

his character is a joke about new super cool characters who are introduced rapidly and treated as if everyone is thier best friend.

thats what i feel about drift, its all hype, and lacks depth. as does this spotlight, its pretty much throwaway stuff.

drift was a decepticon, whos turned good and is soooooooooooooooooo baddass that any 5 year old will love it.

im surprised mcarthy didnt just invent a new optimus prime...

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:17 pm

I too have been underwhelmed by Drift as a character.

If I were given a chance to develop a character, I assure you I would do my best to ensure he did not fit any sort of archetype or stereotype.

He would be unpredicatable, if anything.

I have to assume, though, that Hasbro certainly had a say in Drift's development if he is to be made into a toy. And when it comes to Hasbro, they never think outside the box.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:06 pm

Yaya wrote:And when it comes to Hasbro, they never think outside the box.

Or the bubble-on-card.

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:38 pm

This 3rd Transformer faction that Drift mentions - I'd put (fantasy) money on it being Star Sabre and co.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:42 am

Well it wasn't the car-crash I was expecting and in many ways superior to most of AHM... but overall it just left me a bit... 'meh'...