Adam's Adventures: Transformers Spotlight: Cliffjumper (IDW Publishing) by Adam P.

Not one of Cliffjumper's best moments

The Transformers movie sequel is upon us this week, and IDW is taking full advantage of its comic license of this property, as evidenced here by a one-shot story of a relatively minor Autobot character. Tranformers Spotlight: Cliffjumper finds our protagonist stranded on a strange world, forced to wait for his fellow Autobots to rescue him.




In the book's introduction we're told that CJ is a vicious fighter and the Decepticons obviously fear him. However we never see this proven - all he does is ambush some bad guys in a forest and fearlessly come out of a barn guns a-blazing. The story opens as Cliffjumper befriends two orphaned children, an older girl and a younger boy. The girl explains to CJ that their culture views violence as the ultimately affront to another human being. The Autobot then decides to conceal his warlike nature from them, opting to help out as a farmhand. The Decepticons eventually reach CJ before his Autobot brethren do, and despite his best efforts a terrible tragedy occurs, although the baddies are soundly routed in the end.

CJ acts more like a Decepticon than an Autobot by keeping his warrior nature secret from those who had taken him in. Despite this knowledge of the threat his enemies pose, CJ still decides to remain with them. Shouldn't he have kept a lower profile than that? I know I would have.

Another weakness is the lack of transforming. Isn't that what the Transformers do best? Not only does CJ not jump off any cliffs, none of the Decepticons alter their forms either. We just see a bunch of humanoid robots talking and shooting each other. When I read a Transformers comic, I would at least like to see SOME transforming please..

All this might have been forgivable if the core narrative was more congruent. But I feel it's too childish, with its cutesy kids interacting with CJ, and too adult in the way it deals with death and the orphaned children. Unfortunately, the issue seems to be more interested in maximizing Transformers revenues than telling a memorable tale. I mean, it's almost embarrassing to have three covers for a story like this...

6.5/10

Adam P.
Review Co-Editor