Comic Review: Transformers: Tales of the Fallen #5 Ravage (IDW Publishing)

One the few classic Transformers characters that was actually done justice by this summer's Michael Bay juggernaut Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the Decepticon scout Ravage. In his G1 appearances, Ravage transformed from a cassette tape into a robotic panther. In his movie incarnation he transforms from a, um, projectile into a weird cycloptic mechanical feline. Despite his makeover into the overly-complicated movie aesthetic, Ravage was the same bad kitty we all know and love. He was one of the cooler new characters in the movie. And then they killed him.



But if I learned anything from Revenge of the Fallen, it is that characters can be conveniently and inexplicably resurrected whenever they (or at least their character model) are needed. So, Tales of the Fallen begins with Ravage's reassembly and one of the mysteries of this little tale is figuring out who has reassembled him and who is his new master. It was also not totally clear where he was being reassembled. What we get in the meantime are lots of cool Ravage action scenes and cameos from Soundwave, the Kitchencons and the metallic hairball robot.

Unfortunately, the comic ends rather abruptly and left me wanting to know what happened next, which is not a bad thing at all. The artists seem to be having a lot of fun with Ravage and there is some very nice artwork through out, especially a very cool panel where Ravage is skulking underwater. I was having a good time with Ravage and then I saw that the next issue was a spotlight on the Arcee unicycle triplets.

Patrick Garone
Staff Reviewer