IDW Publishing has released numerous Transformers film tie-in comics over the last couple of years, but none thus far above average. But the second of their Revenge of the Fallen prequel series stands in, pun intended, defiance of that trend.

Things like “prequels” and “adaptations” usually reek of cash-ins, adding dead weight to overburdened
bandwagons. Usually. Chris Ryall joins veteran scribe Simon Furman to turn in a fast-paced script with considered depth.

Conceived, presumably, as an antidote to the human/Earth-centric premise of “Infiltration” IDW Publishing released “Stormbringer” which promised a bout of unchecked, giant robot action on an epic scale. And in that respect, this four-issue mini-series succeeds. Spanning several planets with an expanded cast and a fearsome and threatening “big bad”, “Stormbringer” delivers what it promises.

Devastator (or Brawl, if you collect the toys) received zero characterisation in the Transformers (2007) film. He was chattel with a rotating turret and nothing more. So it falls, then, to subsidiary fiction like Titan’s Transformers magazine to fill in the blanks. And in that regard, “Lost in Space (Part 2): Devastator” delivers.