Spotlight Prowl

[Kingoji]

I gave my opinions about the Prowl Spotlight in my deviantArt journal, for those interested. But I didn't really touch enough on E.J.'s work there.
E.J. is the primary reason I bought this spotlight. Sure, I was curious about how exactly they were planning to reconcile the Prowl as depicted by our wonderful UK bred talent of Furman and Roche with the bland and vanilla Prowl of Costa. I admit, I was hoping against hope that Prowl was still going to be the morally grey bot we love, and his actions in the ongoing were part of some greater logical scheme. No such luck.
But E.J. really shines. I think I prefer the more detailed 'mecha show' look of the early books, but this new direction is so slick that I can't find anything to actually complain about. His work in here is almost like a Yaniger, Senior, Mignola hybrid with some Kenichi Sonoda thrown in to make it as smooth as butter. There is a panel in here which is E.J. redrawing a scene from the first issue of the ongoing, point for point, in his own style, and it kind of upsets me at how the ongoing could at the very least have LOOKED amazing. According to Scmidt (but not the solicits, oddly) E.J. will be drawing issue 7 of the ongoing. Given that I was planning on stopping getting that book after that issue anyway, what with it being the last with a Wildman cover, I guess I could say at last I'll be finishing with it on a visual high.
I feel that E.J. is far and beyond the best artist currently working on TF books (then Roche, then Guidi), and his cover to the Prowl Spotlight is probably the first piece IDW have produced that I would be happy to frame on my wall.

EDIT; Actually, y'know what? If there is anything about the art in this issue that I have a real complaint about, it's the colouring. It's too simple and inconsistent. Why are Prowls lower legs completely black when they make up half of his white vehicle mode, and are also covered down the front with glass? This is just one examples of dozens of errors, including Optimus' fore-arms going from red to blue to red.

[Benn]

I want to know how Prowl stayed undercover for over eight months with a Autobot symbol painted on the bonnet. Oh, It's all grey, so stoopid humes won't notice, right?

Loved the art, standard Costa story.

[KnightBeat]

Meh! The story could easily have been told as a single page Mosaic strip.

[Shockprowl]

Yep. I've read it couple more times now, and I find I'm aching for Roche's Prowl, 'moraly grey', as Kingoji wisely puts it. Turning into a bit of a let down is this Spotlight, for this Prowl fan.

[charlesrocketboy]

May 10, 2010 16:23:58 GMT Benn said:

I want to know how Prowl stayed undercover for over eight months with a Autobot symbol painted on the bonnet.

"NOBODY would suspect an Autobot spy to drive around with his Autobrand showing!"

[Shockprowl]

Ah, a double bluff!

[grahamthomson]

“Spotlight Prowl” (22 pp) was originally published by IDW Publishing in Transformers: Spotlight Prowl (April 2010)



Prowl, according to the comics published by IDW thus far, is a stern Autobot, unwavering on his principles in his determination to win the war against the Decepticons. He’s not afraid to make unpopular decisions and he hates—absolutely hates—heroic grandstanding. And then there’s “Spotlight Prowl”, a one-shot that seems to focus on an altogether different character.

Just so we’re clear, writer Mike Costa turns in a competent, well-written script. It’s warm, endearing and, at times, the narration is almost poetic. In fact, it’s very evident that Mike is very good at an intimate character piece.

IDW Transformers Comic Book Review - Spotlight ProwlBut the problem with “Spotlight Prowl” (and indeed Prowl’s character in the recent issues of IDW’s Ongoing series) is that Prowl’s attitude and actions don’t seem to mesh well with previous portrayals. It’s odd. Prowl’s personal story in this spotlight, formulaic as it is, perhaps would have been more suited to, say, Streetwise.

Streetwise, if you’re wondering, is the Autobots’ other police car.

The lessons (and the New York State law enforcement vernacular) that Prowl learns here should have been learned when he first arrived on Earth the best part of a decade ago in “Infiltration”. Were all humans invisible to Prowl until now?

E J Su makes a much welcome return to Transformers. This time his remarkable style, a little more noir, is infused with hints from Derek Yaniger and the Transformers Animated television series. E J still retains his mechanical look to his robots but still, skilfully, has them show emotion. As ever, his storytelling is clear and natural, perfectly suiting the script.

The colour, minimal for a change, harmonises just-so with the slick art style.

Prowl has been through a lot so far in the IDW universe and while “Spotlight Prowl” is an endearing character piece it just feels like it’s shining the spotlight on someone else entirely. If read entirely on its own merits, then Prowl is highly recommended. But as part of a 5-year ongoing storyline it leads to a long line of procedural questioning.

[primenova]

Back in the first series of IDW it was only reallt Ratchet having human interaction while Prowl was on the Wildman cover looking like he was hunting him down - maybe its that aspect of Simon's first story he is trying to cover.

[grahamthomson]

You are indeed correct, Pete.

I just find it odd that there's an xx year wait* between Prowl arriving on Earth and suddenly having a Humanity Is A Miracle epiphany.

*I'm at a complete loss as to when Spotlight Prowl is set because of all the "One/Two Years Later" gaps IDW keeps having.