Transformers vs. The Visionaries
by
Magdalene Visaggio (writer), Fico Ossio (art), David Garcia Cruz (colours), Shawn Lee and Gilberto Lazcano (letters)
The Transformers: An iconic franchise with a global fanbase, telling the stories of a race of machine-beings from the planet Cybertron who are at civil war between their factions known as the Autobots and Decepticons.
The Visionaries: An action-adventure concept that had potential but never made it past a single season and a short comic book series; yet somehow it gained a pretty dedicated fanbase. Set on the planet Prysmos in a trinary star system, where two factions of Knights were granted magical powers by a very neutral wizard named Merklynn who has his own agendas. Once a technologically rich world, all tech was rendered useless and magic has resurfaced as the new driving force of their society.
So, seeing these two very different franchises collide was a source of curiosity for me. I have enjoyed both before but was never an ardent follower of either.
In this version we see the Visionaries and all the remaining people of Prysmos having made a journey across the stars and found a potential new home on Cybertron after their home planet was left totally inhospitable and destroyed. The main narrative follows the two sides as they struggle to find an accord and there is friction between the Transformers as well as between the two factions of the Visionaries – the Spectral Knights and the Darkling Lords – as to whether there can even be a peace between two such different societies and species. This is worsened by the discovery that the magic of the Visionaries is not just dangerous but potentially fatal to all Transformers and Energon based life and maybe even the whole planet. Tensions are high and invariably it all explodes into chaos and outright war. The question is how the pieces will land on the board and what is the agenda of Merklyn.
Well paced with engaging choices that veer away from the most familiar elements of both franchises: the Transformers involved are not the usual fan-favourite suspects for the most part and the Visionaries have been modified and somewhat reimagined and it is mostly for the better in my humble opinion, bringing the fantasy franchise closer to a solid version that is an improvement on the kiddish version from the cartoons.
Through it all we have the artwork by Fico Ossio who is a relative unknown for me. The artwork by him and colourist Cruz are quite solid. The panels flow well, the narrative is not impeded by the layouts and the colours and energy serves well with the flow of the story itself – the action being a strong point with a suitably vibrant depiction that keeps you from taking it all too seriously. However I was a little annoyed (and this is just a pet-peeve) because I found the facial depictions of the humaniod characters to be particularly inconsistent over the course of the story; at times it was fine and then randomly on panels it would look almost like a varied style and it bugs me – either have a chaotic style from the start or have consistency, can’t have it both ways.
Overall, this is a highly entertaining story and one I would recommend if you ever enjoyed either franchises as it is familiar yet something new and done well. I could see myself reading a sequel or at least another story with these or similar versions of these characters, particularly the Visionaries. Was it great? Honestly, not all that much, but a solid effort that is quite readable for a quick, good time.
One Happy Monk 
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