“Spotlight Hot Rod” (22 pp) was originally published by IDW Publishing in Transformers: Spotlight #3 (November 2006)

Nick Roche’s artwork makes a most welcome return to Transformers with “Spotlight Hot Rod”, a pneumatic actioner where Evil Kneival meets Mission: Impossible meets The Chronicles of Riddick.

It’s only been a month between this and Nick Roche’s debut in “Spotlight Shockwave”, but time stretches impossibly in his absence.

Matching the fast-paced, densely packed script, the artwork is kinetic and playful. Characters, details and body language are captured and portrayed flawlessly. It seems like Hot Rod is a favourite of Nick’s and it shows.

Awkwardly, though, the colouring style doesn’t quite seem to mesh with the lineart.

Now, Hot Rod. He’s not what this particular reader has found to be the most captivating of characters.

In past incarnations he’s either been shallow (evidence: fishing with Daniel Witwicky in the animated Transformers feature film of 1986) or over-looked (evidence: constantly treading on Optimus Prime’s shadow in the old Marvel USA comics). But now, fast becoming a pivotal character in IDW’s universal shake-up, Hot Rod has become exponentially more interesting.

Writer Simon Furman makes Hot Rod more confident, more mature and (in a feat not thought possible) more likeable. The central theme of the story, the quest for retribution, hangs on every decision Hot Rod makes as he mentally retraces his steps and gets to grips with the consequences of his past mistakes.

There’s a lot of story packed into its 22 pages, which is sometimes rendered confusing by the heavy use of flashbacks. This tale invites revisiting to make things clearer.

Unfortunately, it seems that Hot Rod cares more for his ill-fated comrades than the reader does. Most of the supporting characters are, literally, throwaway and offer little impact or gravity to the reader where the plot requires it. But keen-eyed fans will enjoy spotting cameos.

Despite the deliberately convoluted narrative the introduction of a certain character—Dealer—that long time fans will immediately recognise completely undoes the twist ending several pages before it’s due. It cheats the reader like a marked card.

“Spotlight Hot Rod” hits the ground running and promises to deliver a red hot thriller to keep the reader on their toes. But halfway through it stifles itself of air and overheats, stalling a potentially satisfying resolution.

Category: IDW
Tags: Nick Roche | Simon Furman

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