Image credit: Jason Brown, midlifegamergeek.com
As a child of the 80’s who grew up with ads for toys essentially disguised as cartoons, the Energon Universe has to be the most exciting thing happening in comics right now.
But titles like “Transformers” have become less interesting over the past year, and “G.I. Joe” has lost its grip on me. I tried to continue reading Void Rivals, but the glacial pacing and uninteresting background (plus the need for Robert Kirkman’s trademark brutal abuse of characters) put me off.
Now that 80s cartoons have joined MASK’s lineup, have things gotten more exciting?
Well, the main story of this special sets up MASK very well, but I can’t help but think that a character with a stupid name would always clash with the serious tone the series seems to be taking. It was bad enough that Miles Mayhem was introduced as a soldier in Transformers. Now we’re introduced to more obvious villain names in the action.
Still, tonal issues with this being born as a toy ad aside, I really enjoyed this prelude to MASK, and the quirky color scheme was particularly effective. Simon Parr’s art is a little too John Romita Jr.-like for my taste when it comes to facial expressions, but he does a great job with the action and various technical hardware.
The wordless Transformers stories are great, if a little short, but Kirkman’s Void Rivals here is marred by an annoying child character.
Finally, the GI Joe story was amazing, with the origins of Zartan, the Master of Disguise, and setting up ongoing storylines in the main comics.
There’s a lot of good stuff here, seasoned enough to whet the appetite of fans who might be on the fence about picking up these titles, but I think MASK is the most intriguing, and I plan on checking out at least its first issue once it arrives.
Hello! I’m Jason. I write articles for midlifegamergeek.com every day. If you’re interested in supporting original, regularly published, human-generated content (that’s never been plagiarized or copied through the efforts of other writers), please help us keep this site running by making a donation.
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Hello! I’m Jason. I write articles for midlifegamergeek.com every day. If you’re interested in supporting original, regularly published, human-generated content (that’s never been plagiarized or copied through the efforts of other writers), please help us keep this site running by making a donation.
Not only do I not earn any money from my writing here (although I do earn a small commission from affiliate links posted on my page, but as an Amazon Associate I do earn from qualifying purchases from these links), my work sometimes seems to be stolen and repurposed by lazy, morally bankrupt idiots.
No pressure, of course, but we really appreciate any support you can provide. You can easily support us through Ko-Fi.com/geekmid or the PayPal link.
Thank you very much for your donation. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to read my article. Remember: This entire article was written by Jason Brown and published on midlifegamergeek.com. Take that, Skynet!
Please support me here!
All donations are gratefully received and will not only help me keep the lights on here, but will also help keep my writing dreams alive. However, please understand that there is no pressure. I hope you enjoy reading my article.
£1.00
