Review of IDW Transformers: Optimus Prime #25

It all (re)started with "The Death of Optimus Prime". Surprising no one, he wasn't really dead, and not even in a way requiring a true resurrection. The namesake character of this comic series has been defined throughout as both an idea and a character. With the opening pages leading off with the first lines of Bob Budiansky's original Tech Spec for Optimus Prime, you'll immediately recognize that we're starting at the start before we arrive to the end.

Here we are now at the end, with Optimus Prime, 27 (or 24) pages, and one of the longest uninterrupted Transformers stories ever created wrapping up. How did it go? Read on.


This is indeed the end with this issue serving as a final exhale, putting a cap on a good deal of unfinished business. More akin to Lost Light #25 than Unicron #6, Optimus Prime #25 provides final flashbacks and final thoughts with all the big, sweeping, intergalactic action wrapped and over. It was important for more than just Optimus Prime himself to get a last tale and that hope is fulfilled. Arcee, Jazz, Aileron, Rum-Maj, and more I won't mention (just in case you haven't caught up to the end of Unicron) at least get a little something this time out and even if a bit short in some cases, these mini-endings all feel appropriate and help take the characters further if not entirely full circle.


There are flashback scenes dispersed throughout, and the first few of them pay respect to characters wiped out in other Transformers comic series in a fun way that unfortunately did not continue to the end of the book, but this was necessary to carry the issue's story along. It's another way that writer John Barber ensures more characters are around if you need one last goodbye, adding to the emotional weight that ebbs and flows during the course of this installment.


Somewhat similar to horrible tearjerker/fantastic comic book "The Life of Sideswipe", a sense of melancholy carries from page to page, and while it isn't all depressing or mournful something in the tone of the writing shoots pangs of regret. I can't say that there's regret here for certain, but if there is, good luck figuring out if it's about the series ending, where it ended up, or maybe even how the grand experiment of the shared Hasbro Universe followed course. Either way it's another layer to the depth of the book, which some will find more hopeful than wistful even though that doesn't match the mood I received.

A quick, special note is in order to one scene in particular featuring Aileron, Jetfire, Sunstreaker, Bob, and more of a spacefaring team aboard an Autobot shuttle as it travels the unknown and makes a discovery. Well, at least I think it did, and it was a superbly fun touch.


Kei Zama and Josh Burcham finish up this series by handling all the lineart and color work for Optimus Prime #25 and deliver all the striking lines, thick borders, and retro-cool lighting that defines the look of this series. A particularly amazing panel of Ravage (from a flashback scene, sorry!) is shown above that provides a sharp contrast and rich shadows that help tell the story within the story. Tom B. Long's letters further enhance the work, providing emphasis in just the right places to help some scenes comfort while others turn sinister. David Mariotte ensures a coherent package is delivered even with the flashback-to-present-and-back-again hopping and regular shifts in character focus.

This review's newspost thumbnail shows Casey Coller's B Cover for the issue, which I felt was most indicative of the kind of story within. Zama and Burcham (after Simonson) deliver a beautiful cast piece on Cover A, with just about everyone from the Optimus Prime series accounted for. Robots in Disguise helmsman Andrew Griffith takes us back to 2012 on a retailer incentive cover that I hope does not immediately sell out everywhere and quadruple in value like Alex Milne's Lost Light #25 RI cover did. You can find images of all of those covers and full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Optimus Prime #25, but please note it contains a character appearance list which may accidentally deliver spoilers.


This was a book with a heavy burden, but as a final epilogue after the climactic battles it still makes it to Cybertron without jettisoning Insecticons worth of weight in the process. A healthy dose of character endings, playful dialogue that snatches the Furmanism away from the jaws of finality, and a ready-built setup for the future help too, even if it won't be realized.

Optimus Prime's epilogue is a very good epilogue because it's exactly that and doesn't try to be something beyond its purpose. Even the well worn trope of the final villain being back for one last go doesn't show up, a pleasant surprise given how easy a setting like Infraspace could have been for such a moment. Enjoy this while you can since we've got a few quiet months ahead of us in the world of Transformers comics, but that's well earned after 13 years of amazing stories.

Once more, to all the creative forces at IDW Publishing that have made this happen since 2005, thank you!