THE TRANSFORMERS: SPOTLIGHT: WHEELIE REVIEW

[Corey Brotherson]

Reviewer: Corey Brotherson, cbrotherson@googlemail.com
Story Title: Wheelie

“I’m different now.”

Story/Script: Simon Furman
Story/Art, Covers and Colours: Klaus Scherwinski
Colour Assist: Josh Burcham
Letterer: Comiccraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Edits: Denton J. Tipson
Publisher/Editor In Chief: Chris Ryall
President: Ted Adams
Published by: IDW Publishing

Wheelie has always been a character that’s very easy to hate.

Ever since his rather cute/infuriating rhyming scheme speech pattern (“you get ship if I get trip”, “you go wrong way, you fool I say” etc) from Transformers: The Movie the diminutive robot has become something of a joke character, neither well utilised or respected in either comic or cartoon form. Poor Wheelie.

(Yeah, right.)

(Bwahahahahahaha!)

(Hahahaaaa... ohhhh... excuse me...)

Ahem.

And yet... this issue of Spotlight manages to change that. In no small way, either. Amusingly enough, we’re re-introduced to Wheelie in the manner we expect, shown to be a sadly demoralised, overlooked member of the Autobot army, left alone and abandoned on a planet with nothing to survive on but himself - but it’s a smart move by co-plotters Simon Furman and Klaus Scherwinski, instantly endearing us to the character and also providing a chuckle for our expectations, playing directly into this perception we have of Wheelie as this fairly useless and annoying castoff. The creative team then turns this around with a lovely story that almost effortlessly achieves what much of the Spotlights aim to do and give a fresh take on its subject, while integrating him within the reformed IDW Transformers universe and canon.

The two page spread at the story’s opening is a fantastic example of one of the many things right with this issue. It’s wonderfully well done on a visual and narrative level, showing us just how alone Wheelie is in his thinking and physical reality, trapped on a world with no one caring enough to try and find him. It also serves as an excellent way of letting us take the character more seriously, cutting through those earlier assumptions and instantly rounding him, transporting us from a light hearted throwaway to a darkly misunderstood misfit. He’s relatable and his plight immediately inspires empathy within the reader. Who’d have thunk it.

Not to say there aren't tongue-in-cheek moments. All of the things we associate Wheelie with are used to great effect, whether it’s for laughs or to explain his idiosyncrasies, but this awareness and fourth wall winking is never too distracting as Furman’s script gets the balance just about right. The use of the Reflector triplets (also maligned and barely utilised characters) as antagonists is especially apt, letting them act as a reflection (sorry) to Wheelie in terms of respect -or lack of- and tone.

Helping massively is Scherwinski's polished artwork, which strikes a measured balance between sombre detail and cartoony light heartedness, rounded off with excellent storytelling that really loans a sense of solitude, loss and emotion to the story, and perhaps highlights a lot of the problems previous Spotlights have by comparison. Here is a tale that hangs together by its internal coherence between script and artwork, always clear and focused on what’s being portrayed, and also conveying a strength of its independent nature, which is utterly suitable given that’s such a huge theme for the story on a whole. The internal narration of the script can be a little heavy handed at times and suffers from over-exposition which can defeat the well created tone on occasion, while some of the transitions between past and present aren’t too well signposted on a visual level, which makes things confusing at times, but it’s a relatively small qualm when the greatness of the overall product shines through so much.

The Transformers: Spotlight: Wheelie comes in as one of the most curious issues of the series to date, but easily stands up as one of the best. Its tight, self contained story gleams thanks to strong themes and a relatable character, while the first-rate artwork carries it to its potential. There’s even a nice array of details to put a smile on the face of TF fans well versed in the franchise’s mythology. Heck, even the sketchbook at the issue’s end is nice.

“Annoying runt Wheelie may be,
But his story is exem-plary.”

Or something.

...

Look, just buy it, okay?

OVERALL:


Roll out and buy these issues online now from X-WORLD, and save!

[Don Quixote]

Ah man, I thought that Furman would have kept this character as far away from his new Transformers world as possible.

But then, I have an aversion to pretty much any TF stuff that didn't happen in the old UK comic. Oh well, I've taken a look at all of the other Spotlight issues, so I'll check this one out as well.

[Marty P]

Well, guess they just want to know if TF fans really do buy everything with the TF name on it.

Sadly, not interested at all in IDW's approach.