The Transformers: Drift - Empire of Stone

Transformers IDW #50

by Shane McCarthy, Guido Guidi (Illustrator)

DRIFT RETURNS! After leaving the Autobots in disgrace, he's now alone, on a mission to clean up the darkest depths of the galaxy - until Ratchet shows up to try to bring him home!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction

132 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2015

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a spin-off from the popular Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye monthly that picked up the thread from when Drift was banished from the Lost Light for the Overlord incident. Given the pedigree, the reader had high hopes from this one. Ultimately, it's a forgettable buddy comic featuring Drift and Ratchet. Hopefully, we'll see this two rejoin the Lost Light and give its readers the story that they deserve.

[Julia ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gigatron is a stupid character with a stupid name. 10/10 would chew on his thighs tho 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent premise - Drift and Ratchet (and a random Decepticon) stumble onto a Decepticon plot to revive an ancient army. But while it starts off fine, the actual story is only functional, and doesn't quite live up to its potential. Kind of disappointing, honestly. At least the art has a nice late-Marvel-Transformers vibe to it (thanks to Stephen Baskerville's inks). (B-)

[Marta Duda-Gryc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5. Great Drift and Ratchet interactions, I also liked the poor imprisoned Decepticon, accused of collusion with the Autobots. The art is fantastic, the story quite decent.

[Martin Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise is interesting, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The writing is pretty confusing at times and story and characters make pretty big jumps with little motivation.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short little action movie. A funny romp between Volumes 9 and 10 of MTMTE

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

"My name is Drift. I used to be a Decepitcon..." You know it is actually really annoying to constantly repeat the same sentence in the beginning of each issue. It is annoying when it happens in every other comic too. I don't know how many times I've read about The Flash being "the fastest man alive."

Anyway, this was mostly fun and I like Drift, but it wasn't anything special. The plot is nothing new just the same old villain turned good guy who doesn't want to take lives anymore. I was really just here for the Ratchet and Drift banter and it didn't disappoint.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork was great, the premise and plot was okay…. I would have like to have seen more character development though. It was nice to see two buddies reunited after a long while (it felt like no time had passed between them); however, I would have liked to have learned more about Drift’s emotional journey since the Lost Light. I didn’t really get a sense that Drift had evolved or struggled in any way during his isolation.

Needed more introspection.
3/5

[Adelaide Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.9 of 5 stars. I know. I should just give it a complete 5, but I have my reasons. Review to come soon.

[2Due · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just fucking kiss already

(Fun little adventure, nothing too special but I enjoyed it al lot)

[Alvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Woowott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, I love the relationship between Drift and Ratchet.

Still Driftrod though.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good miniseries. The stone army makes me think of Hellboy II and I think it was "Interesting Times" in the Discworld series.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Transformers: Drift - Empire of Stone' features a pretty good story by Shane McCarthy and some great art by Guido Guidi. The book has a pretty epic storyline and some decent humor throughout to keep things light.

Drift is back. He's kind of played both sides, but was most recently with the Autobots. This time around he's on a mission of some sort until Ratchet shows up to try to corral him. When a couple prisoners that Drift collects spill a Decepticon plot, he and Ratchet set out to investigate. They find a couple Decepticons out to rule the world. They don't like each other, and they don't like Drift. Can Drift stop their plan without getting himself and Ratchet killed? Will Ratchet kill Drift first?

It plays out kind of like a cosmic buddy cop story and I liked it. Ratchet plays the straight man, kind of like the by the book partner, and Drift is out in space chasing down bad guys and doing his own thing, kind of like the out of control partner. There are some funny banterings between them as Ratchet can't believe the situations he's gotten himself in to.

I've read a few Transformers graphic novels. I was never the biggest fan. I've liked some books more than others. This falls into the like it more than others category. I like the characters. I really liked the art and detail of this book. The coloring pops off the page.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Clint the Cool Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

Man, what a great story! This one blew me away. Just when it seems the IDW Transformers comics are starting to go downhill, they throw in a winner like this! Awesome artwork, good dialogue, great character development, and fierce action... This comic has it all! Just... Wow. I don't usually like non-G1 Transformers but there was nothing not to like about this. Perfect, and awesome. Highly recommended.

[Chinook · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork is cool but I'm more of a words over pictures person.

[James]

Now I want a Grit figure for my collection. What a fun way to use the micromasters. Also get a kick out of the fact that the IDW universe now technically has 3 versions of Megatron, all as different characters. Would love to see how they would integrate Beast Wars Primal and Megatron.