Image Comic reviews 8/16/23 – Void Rivals #3, The Magic Order Vol. 4 #6

Void Rivals #3

At some point the novelty of seeing characters from the Transformers universe popping up in Void Rivals might get old. That seems a long way off for now though.

That’s largely due to writer Robert Kirkman making these Transformers cameos almost like an Easter Egg. If you get the significance of the character/characters it’s a nice bonus, but the heart of Void Rivals remains Darak and Solila’s efforts in working together and finding a means back home.

This time Darak and Solila find themselves on a mysterious ship in possession of a familiar bounty Hunter. And in his possession is another character that might be familiar to TF fans.

Another fun aspect of the series is the reader has knowledge of these characters while Darak and Solila have to take them at face value to determine if they can be trusted. This makes for an interesting dynamic as they could easily make the wrong choice — one that could further endanger their mission.

Naturally, with the two warring factions there’s still a healthy matter of apprehension and distrust between Darak and Solila, which Kirkman plays up masterfully.

The artwork from Lorenzo De Felici is solid with lively panel layouts with dynamic character posing. De Felici doesn’t cram the panels with details, which in a way makes for an easy comparison to an 80s cartoon style. Matheus Lopes’ stunning color work is crisp helping to further set the tone of mystery and adventure. Letterer Russ Wooten casually shifts between the different cadence of character voices in an easy-to-follow manner with some strong special effect work.

Void Rivals has emerged as an out of nowhere top contender for one of the best titles of the second half of 2023. The next few months will tell if — assuming the quality and enjoyment factor remains this high — Void Rivals will simply stand out as one of the year’s overall best books.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Image Comics