Rating: 
Summary: Amazing, but...
Review: When I picked up the first issue of this series, I read the best single comic issue I have ever been lucky enough to get my hands on. Even today, I still think that the first 2 issues of this collection are the best comics I've ever read. The art is simply astounding - Nothing comes close. Period. And the plot slips nicely into the 20 unseen years between season 2 and the movie. The most promising start anyone could ask for.But then something happened. It started to suck. A lot. All of the sudden, the world is threatened by a "virus" that the transformers have to fight. This "virus" spreads like a glacier and is apparently metal that grows. Yep, I'm not making this up. So in classic Ghostbusters-2 fashion, the transformers get guns that shoot jelly and fight the "virus". It's as corny and stupid as it sounds. And all the continuity is quickly thrown away (then totally abandoned in the follow-up series.) Oddly, while all this is happening in the arctic, everything else is great. Optimus and gang are duking it out with the decpticons back in San Francisco old-school style. It's awesome. The dialogue is great, the structure, pacing, and design makes it feel like a really good movie. So what's holding it back? Well, it seems like Sarrachini is incapable of throwing away all the tired old camp and kiddy-ness of the original. Megatron is still as one-dimensional as ever, spouting his usual maniacal tirade and playing the role of generic and cliched mad scientist/world domination obsessed bad guy (not that he shouldn't be that character, but we've seen that from day one from Megatron. How 'bout adding something new?). The book was most heavily criticized for it's human characters, which many claim bogged down the book. I couldn't disagree more. The humans don't hog much of the story, and add some reality and grounding to the plot. In response, the second book, "War and Peace", has no humans at all, and it really hurts the story. Without any humans, the bots are forced into the role of politics and intrigue, and it's as awkward as a cykill figure at BotCon. And the author lays it on thick, war and peace has so much politics and dialogue, I've had to read it 3 times, and it's still confusing. So overall, the two Generation 1 graphic novels that have been published so far are well worth the price for the beautiful art and wonderful nostalgia, despite their minor scripting flaws. I think even non-fans can enjoy these books. Perhaps best of all is the high re-reading factor - because of the level of detail, these books will never get old.
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