Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Transformers Spotlight: Mirage
IDW Comics
Strayton, Guidi & Burcham
A solid, standalone, comic book about an Autobot that we haven’t seen much of at all in the IDW Transformers run. The spin on Mirage is that he is on one side of the war, but fantasizes about being on the other side. He’s a mirage in appearance and in his true feelings. He will do the right thing, but he might have to do the wrong first to see what the right one is. This story could get pulled into the main title at any time and if it never does, it will still stand up by itself.
Mirage has a dream. He sees Optimus Prime getting killed by Starscream. He is dreaming about being an Autobot and injured, getting saved by Hound. In his “reality” he is actually a Decipticon.
Mirage gets his orders to end the war from Megatron. The ranks of the Autobots are down to a spare few. He masks himself and enters the Autobot headquarters. Eventually the other Decipticons follow.
The Autobots loose their battle, but before they are slaughtered, Mirage cuts a deal with Optimus Prime for a peaceful surrender. When Mirage relays the message to Megatron, Megatron wants death regardless of the surrendered. Mirage is conflicted and decides the take the life of the Autobot who saved him in his dream: Hound.
Prime sends Mirage into the mirror energy field and the “dream” ends. Mirage, the Autobot, emerges.
This issue has lots of layers of dreams and emotions. Luckily, it’s not set in an overly complicated plot, otherwise this could have never been contained to one issue. However, the space needed to tell this story was perfect. You get insight into Mirage and his bizarre mindset. Plus, you get good character snapshots for Ratchet, Hound, Optimus Prime and Megatron. It’s a really solid issue.
One other aspect of this issue that works really well is the artwork. It has a retro feel to it. It feels like this story takes place during the Marvel run. It has a look to it where the times were simpler in the world of the Transformers. It works well for this story as it takes place largely in a dream sequence. Therefore, a retro feel seems really fitting.
I enjoyed this issue for a bunch of reasons. It takes a look at an obscure Autobot. It uses an interesting story to drive home the character flaws. And it uses a small cast, but all the key characters, for the main character to interact with. It’s a simple story, but has small twists in it. It’s a good standalone Transformers comic. I recommend it for the casual or hard nosed Transformers fan.
4 out of 5 geek goggles.
 Transformers Spotlight Mirage |
