Each day in November, I will read and review/discuss/whatever one comic taken from a box of some of my childhood comics. Today, it's Transformers #66.

The Nostalgia November archive can be found here.

Transformers #66 by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior concludes the five-part "Matrix Quest" storyline and the little subfeature of "Transformers Thursday" that's existed inside of Nostalgia November. The first thing I noticed in this issue is the lack of Jose Delbo as Geoff Senior does the art with a vast visual improvement. While not a fantastic artist, Senior's work goes well with the dark tone of this issue, his style a cross between Mike Mignola and Eric Canete -- very dark, very moody, very angular. His robots look like robots, not cartoony versions; they also lack that compressed look that Delbo's figures always had that irked me. Senior's art has a few problems like a lack of expression most of the Transformers have at times... they're robots, so he's right to limit them, but I can see some preferring Delbo's more expressive work. His figures are also a little stilted... again, they're robots. His work really shows some of the visual problems with the property that other artists cover up by taking more liberties. Still, I really, really like Senior art here.

The "Matrix Quest" concludes here as Unicron prepares to face off with the Autobots... and uses time travel to get the assistance he needs -- we only get the silhouette of his agent's head, but it's obviously Galvetron -- his silhouette appears at the end of the issue as a teaser of what's to come. Meanwhile, Lord Thunderwing has the Matrix and is using it as a weapon against Optimus Prime and the other Autobots -- just tearing through them. Furman does something unexpected here as the Matrix is shown to be sentient... and likes the evil nature of Thunderwing. It possesses him, a dark creature shown above him, and there's a battle for his consciousness, especially after his Decepticon allies try to stop him and he realises what's happened. Finally, he and the Matrix are shot out into space... and things look good. Prime ends the issue with a little speech about how they've got a chance because of their perseverence and such, while the next issue teaser tells him not so fast and show Galvetron's silhouette again.

This issue has a genuine feeling of doom and dread about it, aided by the darker art. It feels like the end times for the Autobots as Unicron closes in, their one hope has been corrupted, and Galvetron is on the horizon... Probably the strongest issue of the four I read this month.

Tomorrow: Detective Comics #600.