Things are looking bad for the Autobots. They’ve lost two of their dwindling number of allies to the Decepticons, and they’re in disagreement about how to get them back. Optimus Prime’s unshakeable sense of morality remains strong, as does his faith in his fellow Autobots, and they may just have a way to get to Shockwave’s fortress to rescue their friends.

Daniel Warren Johnson’s run on Transformers so far is near perfect; it’s got a great cast of familiar, G1 (that’s the first generation of Transformers, for the uninitiated) Autobots and Decepticons, and it does a fantastic job of giving us a new story with some pretty shocking twists and turns they’ll leave classic Transformers fans wondering if anyone is safe. There’s also a great sense of escalation here, culminating in a stunning final act and an awesome cliffhanger too.

Even if you aren’t familiar with the original Transformers, or with Transformers at all, this is a straight up, excellent sci-fi action story that’s brilliantly told and superbly illustrated (by Jorge Corona).

Though, as a 40 year veteran of the Cybertronian Wars myself, I may be biased, I genuinely think that Transformers is one of the best mainstream comics currently being published. Between this and TMNT (another franchise that, like Transformers, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), it feels like a true golden age for licensed comics, which often have a (mostly undeserved) bad reputation.