Transformers Spotlight: Prowl
Written by Mike Costa
Art by E.J. Su
Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Chris Mowry
IDW
Price $3.99
Release Date: April 21, 2010

I have been a Transformers fan since I saw the TV ads for the very first Marvel Comics miniseries in 1984. I had not been keeping up with their IDW comics continuity, but was intrigued by the storyline “All Hail Megatron.” In that storyline, Megatron takes over the Earth, and the Autobots are forced into hiding. The Autobots and the humans work together and take Earth back, but there is a lot of damage from the battles. Also, the humans begin capturing all robots, which forces the Autobots to go into hiding. That is the Autobots’ current status quo as this story begins.

This issue of Spotlight — Transformers Spotlight: Prowl — focuses on Prowl, the veteran Autobot that transforms into a police car. I’ve been a Prowl fan since grade school, and his demise in the animated Transformers movie saddens me to this day. Autobot leader Optimus Prime instructs Prowl to go undercover as a police car, allowing himself to be driven by a human police officer. Prowl doesn’t really see the point of this assignment and feels that with the humans trying to capture all robots, the risks are not worth the reward. Prime assures him that his assignment is important, and Prowl yields to his command. We see Prowl in disguise mode and mainly observing. Eventually, Prowl encounters a situation where he has to ask decide if he is ready to risk capture and death to save a human.

Incorruptible #4
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Jean Diaz
Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 31, 2010

I have been reading both Mark Waid‘s Irredeemable and his Incorruptible since issue 1 on both of them. I have enjoyed Irredeemable immensely and started out pretty interested in Incorruptible with the first couple of issues. I am definitely still interested in where the story goes because after as many issues of Irredeemable as there have been, I am confident that Waid knows where he wants to go with this story. My only problem is that I don’t find myself connecting to the characters in the same way in this part of the universe.

As the story continues we get to see more about how Max Damage decided to change from world’s greatest villain to hero during the Plutonian’s massacre. As this unfolds we also see that Max has a few things he would like to look in to for his path to being a hero. I find that I am more interested in the Police Lieutenant, Louis Armadale, and the psychology behind Max Damage and his redemptive goals than I am anything to do with Jail Bait. She is a little bit annoying and hard to relate to for me.

The Incredibles #7
Written by Mark Waid, Landry Walker
Art & Covers by Ramanda Kamarga
Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Troy Peteri
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99
Release date: March 24, 2010

The Incredibles is one of my favorite Pixar movies ever made. Naturally being about super heroes, this is definitely the one movie that was ripe for a comic book interpretation. When I first read Mark Waid‘s original interpretation I was extremely upset that it was only four issues. Well BOOM! Kids has since decided to make an ongoing series of The Incredibles and I couldn’t be happier with Mark Waid and Landry Walker‘s writing on the series thus far.

As the story continues in The Incredibles #7 we get a conclusion to the story of Mesmerella and Dash being grounded and powerless. This story was particularly interesting because it takes Dash completely out of his element and has him trying to figure out how to be a hero even without his powers. It is a testament to the writing team’s character development and growth, and is a good sign for issues to come. This is especially important when you have young characters like Dash and Violet in a story.