REVIEW: ‘Transformers: Valentine’s Day Special’

The Transformers: Valentine’s Day Special is published by IDW Publishing, written by Patrick Ehlers and Sara Pitre-Durocher, with art by Jack Lawrence and Durocher, colors by Josh Burcham and Durocher, and letters by Jake M. Wood.

The Transformers: Valentine’s Day Special is a cute and fun holiday special that brings with it two stories. The first features Glyph, an intelligent ‘bot who wants to work in xeno-relations, and Tap-Out, an ex-boxer who is out of a job now that fighting has been made illegal on Cybertron. When Glyph gets assigned to a mission of her dreams, she brings Tap Out along as a bodyguard. Will this new mission bring with it challenges to their relationship? Can they learn to work together and lift each other up? Meanwhile, the second story features Cosmos, a space security chief who spends a lot of alone time out in, you guessed it, space. Until he doesn’t. He begins to communicate over comms with a ‘bot by the name of Blast Off and their relationship evolves from there.

Overall, this holiday special is cute, fun, and heart-warming. If you’re looking for something other than a simplistic story with adorable characters and good dialogue, you’ll have to look somewhere else as there’s no real punch to the stories in that nothing life-threatening happens, as so many Transformers comics trend towards.  The stories are simplistic and it’s what makes them so light-hearted and a good, quick read.

Ehlers and Durocher’s dialogue is quick, witty, and snappy. It flows well and suits the characters. There’s plenty of humor in this issue with just enough seriousness to create a meaningful love story about understanding your partner and appreciating their strengths. My only problem was with the first few panels of the comic. They felt a bit cheesy with all the hype and excitement around Glyph figuring a problem out. It certainly helps show that Glyph is indeed intelligent but it felt over the top.

Although the dialogue and lettering lent to a great deal of emotion, the artwork only enhanced this. The artwork was consistent between the two stories making for a smooth transition. The facial expressions and body language were highly emotive, helping the readers connect even more to the characters. Even Cosmos, who doesn’t have a mouth, is drawn so expressively that it’s impossible to not miss what he’s feeling.

The coloring is well done throughout the issue. However, the first few pages caught my eye. The colorers chose only to add colors to the important characters in each panel while background characters were a single, solid color. It certainly made keeping track of key characters easy and was an interesting choice. It didn’t add or remove much from the comic but did create more of a bland atmosphere for those first few pages. But beyond that interesting choice, the colors made for some very appealing backgrounds – don’t get me started on those beautiful space backgrounds.

If you’re interested in two heartwarming stories of love, populated by adorable characters and fun dialogue that’ll leave you with a smile on your face, pick up a copy of the Transformers: Valentine’s Day Special. 

Transformers: Valentine’s Day Special is available now wherever comics are sold.