6 Autobots
allhailgrimlock

Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.   

Currently reading

Separate Orbits
Yael Mermelstein
Progress: 119/427pages
BATMAN #53 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman53, TomKingBatman53
BATMAN #54 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
MattWagnerBatman54, TomKingBatman54
BATMAN #52 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman52, TomKingBatman52
BATMAN #51 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman51, TomKingBatman51
Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer (2018) #1 (of 2)
Al Ewing, Humberto Ramos
Champions (2019-) #4
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente
SUICIDE SQUAD #46 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSS46, RobWilliamsSS46
SUICIDE SQUAD #45 ((SINK ATLANTIS)) ((DC REBIRTH )) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSuicideSquad45, RobWilliamsSuicideSquad45
Champions (2019-) #3
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente

This was amazing

Transformers Annual 2017 (Transformers: Robots In Disguise (2011-)) - Priscilla Tramontano, John Barber

Normally I'm fangirling all about James Roberts, but this time John Barber did it for me.   This was an especially nuanced story from him, and while I still think Roberts' work is more - well, just more.   Packed with importance in every single line, Roberts is the gold bar when writing - and it's especially hard to compare any other IDW/Transformers writer to Roberts. 

 

That being said, this was far more emotive than a lot of Barber's work, and had a lot more than I had expected.   It's called Ghost Stories, and while there are two stories that are framed and tied together by Bumblebee, Starscream, and Optimus Prime, they are most definitely separate stories at the same time. 

 

Starscream, and the ghost of Bumblebee that prods and chides him, follow Optimus Prime as he meets with Pyra Magna.   They come in time to hear the story of how Prime first met Bee.   Then Pyra Magna tells about when she first saw the singularity Shockwave created when during Dark Cybertron, a tale that includes her first meeting with a true Prime: Onyx Prime.   Both stories have elements of loss, of ghosts both literal and metaphorical.   Prime tells his story for a different reason than Pyra Magna, mostly because they took different things from both of their different stories.   

 

Both of them are haunted by their own losses, their own mistakes, and both are driven by the need to save others.   They don't want to make those same mistakes.   I was touched by both their stories, in different ways.   I was surprised at the depth and breadth of these short stories, and how they overlapped.   

 

And that ending!  I'd given up on getting any answers on what Bee was and where he was coming from.   Was he a manifestation of Starscream's guilt over killing Metalhawk, as he believes, or more?   Somehow, I never expected the answer this provides.   But it's nice to know we have an answer, and even nicer to have it be such a surprise.   I love being shocked by things, especially when they make this much sense.