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Transformers: Beast Wars
Transformers: Beast Wars, Vol. 2
Your favorite beastly bots are back! The new Beast Wars universe continues to evolve, with new characters and surprising team ups, as Maximals and Predacons vie for supremacy!
Following their first battles, both teams are licking their wounds, but they won't get to rest for long. Pods filled with new bots are landing planetside, and Optimus Primal and Megatron are each eager for new recruits!
But what if the only side a new arrival wants to join is their own? The mysterious Blackarachnia makes her debut! Plus, Skold must prove herself to the other Predacons by winning over a potential ally. Then, in the next great Beast Wars showdown, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Nyx, and the other Maximals take the fight to the Predacons as they go on the offensive for the first time! Which team will stand victorious?
Beast Wars, Vol. 2 continues the fresh take on the fan-favorite franchise, collecting issues #7-12 of the comics series from IDW.
Following their first battles, both teams are licking their wounds, but they won't get to rest for long. Pods filled with new bots are landing planetside, and Optimus Primal and Megatron are each eager for new recruits!
But what if the only side a new arrival wants to join is their own? The mysterious Blackarachnia makes her debut! Plus, Skold must prove herself to the other Predacons by winning over a potential ally. Then, in the next great Beast Wars showdown, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Nyx, and the other Maximals take the fight to the Predacons as they go on the offensive for the first time! Which team will stand victorious?
Beast Wars, Vol. 2 continues the fresh take on the fan-favorite franchise, collecting issues #7-12 of the comics series from IDW.
144 pages, Paperback
Published June 28, 2022
About the author
Erik Burnham
712 books80 followersErik Burnham is a Minnesotan writer and artist that first broke into comics with a series of humorous short stories in the Shooting Star Comics Anthology. These stories featured his original creation, Nick Landime, and culminated in a one-shot: Nick Landime vs. the World Crime League, published by Shooting Star in 2005.
Off and on, in this same time period, Erik also produced a short run of an online strip, The Down Side, until technical issues wore him down. He aims to return to the strip one day.
In 2007, Erik found produced work for two other anthologies – a short humor piece for History Graphics Press’ Civil War Adventures #1, and a horror story for Gene Simmons’ House of Horror #3, produced by IDW Publishing.
This lead to several other projects for IDW, up to and including his critically acclaimed run on the ongoing GHOSTBUSTERS comic book.
Erik has worked on other projects not related to comic books, and hopes one day to share those with the public at large. In the meantime, he still lives quietly in Minnesota; any rumors about this being because he’s completely afraid of the forty-nine other states (and Canada) remain unverified at this time.
Off and on, in this same time period, Erik also produced a short run of an online strip, The Down Side, until technical issues wore him down. He aims to return to the strip one day.
In 2007, Erik found produced work for two other anthologies – a short humor piece for History Graphics Press’ Civil War Adventures #1, and a horror story for Gene Simmons’ House of Horror #3, produced by IDW Publishing.
This lead to several other projects for IDW, up to and including his critically acclaimed run on the ongoing GHOSTBUSTERS comic book.
Erik has worked on other projects not related to comic books, and hopes one day to share those with the public at large. In the meantime, he still lives quietly in Minnesota; any rumors about this being because he’s completely afraid of the forty-nine other states (and Canada) remain unverified at this time.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 18, 2022
A new arrival threatens to upset the balance of power between the Maximals and the Predacons - enter BlackArachnia! Then, tired of being on the back foot, Optimus takes the fight to Megatron as the Maximals Strike Back!
Introducing BlackArachnia this early on in the series is a great idea. It helps with the gender balance (which Erik Burnham's original characters definitely helped with already), plus she's just so great as a character that you can't help but love her. She's like Tarantulas in that you never know what she's going to do, but she's actually likeable, even when she's being an evil cow. This story takes up the first two issues of the collection, followed by a one-off focusing on new character Skold that may be the best issue of the series thus far, not just for the great character work, but for showing that even Predacons aren't as straight forward as we might think.
The final three issues pit the Maximals and the Predacons against one another again, but this time the tables turn and it's the Predacons on the defensive. It's a nice inversion of the usual paradigm, and it allows Burnham to do some fun stuff with everyone involved. There's also the throughline of the Vok that runs through the entire book, and will come to fruition in the next volume, bubbling away nicely.
Winston Chan steps in for the first two issues, while Josh Burcham returns for the other four issues. They're both still a little sketchy for my taste, but they definitely get the job done. Burcham's faces are also surprisingly expressive for all the characters, no matter if they're in Beast or Machine mode.
With the news that IDW had lost the Transformers licence, we all knew that Beast Wars' days were numbered. The second of three volumes of the series shows us what we could have gotten if we'd had more time with it, and it's a damn shame that we won't, because it's all really great stuff.
Introducing BlackArachnia this early on in the series is a great idea. It helps with the gender balance (which Erik Burnham's original characters definitely helped with already), plus she's just so great as a character that you can't help but love her. She's like Tarantulas in that you never know what she's going to do, but she's actually likeable, even when she's being an evil cow. This story takes up the first two issues of the collection, followed by a one-off focusing on new character Skold that may be the best issue of the series thus far, not just for the great character work, but for showing that even Predacons aren't as straight forward as we might think.
The final three issues pit the Maximals and the Predacons against one another again, but this time the tables turn and it's the Predacons on the defensive. It's a nice inversion of the usual paradigm, and it allows Burnham to do some fun stuff with everyone involved. There's also the throughline of the Vok that runs through the entire book, and will come to fruition in the next volume, bubbling away nicely.
Winston Chan steps in for the first two issues, while Josh Burcham returns for the other four issues. They're both still a little sketchy for my taste, but they definitely get the job done. Burcham's faces are also surprisingly expressive for all the characters, no matter if they're in Beast or Machine mode.
With the news that IDW had lost the Transformers licence, we all knew that Beast Wars' days were numbered. The second of three volumes of the series shows us what we could have gotten if we'd had more time with it, and it's a damn shame that we won't, because it's all really great stuff.
July 9, 2022
I read some of the reviews for the first volume and probably said as much in my review for it. I’m still baffled that people aren’t finding this a fun and contemporary update to the cartoon show. I think this second volume happily continues that approach. By adding in new characters earlier and faster, there’s more options for combat and death, but lest that seem a Duffer Bros-lite approach, not all the original cast are entirely safe either. These feel snappier than the cartoon with far less filler, and honestly that all feels for the best. Between the first two volumes, we’ve already had a few Maximal/Predacon pairings with follow-ups in the final few issues where this first arc feels like it comes to a climax. I’ll excitedly show up for the third volume and beyond.
August 6, 2022
what's old is new again! Beast Wars was my favorite show growing up. The writers really captured the essence of the show and revamping it for modern readers. Also seeing some of the toys come to life that never made it to the show is also a pleasant surprise.
March 28, 2024
MAXIMIZE AWESOME!!!
This alternate reality series of my All-Time favorite TF series continues to be a FULL BLAST!!!
I want all of the action figures and dreams at night of them. Wonderful for fans like me.
This alternate reality series of my All-Time favorite TF series continues to be a FULL BLAST!!!
I want all of the action figures and dreams at night of them. Wonderful for fans like me.
April 9, 2024
While still following many of the same beats as the original Beast Wars cartoon, the story is beginning to go into some interesting new directions - particularly with new Predacon Skold - which raises this volume a bit above the first. (B+)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews