Void Rivals #11 // Review
Springer is in the wasteland aiding allies. There’s a hell of a lot of danger lurking around when aggression explodes, but as Springer happens to be a robot large enough to transform into a helicopter, he might just be able to level the playing field for his side in Void Rivals #11. Writer Robert Kirkman gets to play with a Transformer and sci-fi action tropes with the aid of artist Lorenzo De Felici. It’s kind of fun, but...only kinda as Kirkman continues to somewhat competently grind the gears of his own corner of the newly emerging Energon Universe.
Springer isn’t the only one in trouble. Somewhere in deep space, Hot Rod is flying through some pretty dangerous territory. He’s still only waiting around to arrive, though. So he’s looking to get a little bit of training in. The Quintessons are tracking a missing component of their fleet when an unknown vessel enters their region. That vessel happens to have Hot Rod aboard it. Meanwhile: things seem to have gone pretty well in the desert, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to get any easier. Allies must part ways in order to continue their struggle as the saga continues.
Kirkman has kind of a lot going on in this issue. There are a lot of individual scenes that don't really grab the reader's attention all that much. The framing of the dynamic in the opening battle sequence is terribly well executed. And then there's a few bits of drama which are reasonably interesting for people who've been following this series. But there really isn't a whole lot that's inherent in them that would really amount too much for the casual reader. Kirkman hasn't done a whole lot to make the characters terribly interesting to this point and the series has progressed to a stage where there is only going to be a great interest to those who have managed to survive the first 10 issues with their interest intact.
De Felici does his part two try to garner some sort of emotional connection between the reader and the characters. That's kind of impressive given the fact that they really isn't a whole lot of facial expression in many of the characters that are present on the page. Springer is very expressive in his own way. And that's actually kind of cool. The Quintessons continue to look really cool, but Kirkman hadn't really done much to harness what could have been so much more interesting about them so they aren't really given much to do here in the way of the drama that they could be capable of.
Still.... It's fun to watch somebody having fun with the Transformers and a couple of other characters. It's a bit strange knowing that they're getting paid to play with these toys again. it's just too bad that the deeper potential of a series like this just hasn't been developed yet. And given the fact that it's been going for as long as it has, it's doubtful that Kirkman has anything terribly deep in mind for future issues.
