Some More Comics I Read 👀🎴

The title says it all...more comics I read.

Spider-Man Worldwide Vol 4:  The "Dead No More Clone Conspiracy" begins to ramp up.  The evil Hyena is making clones of dead Spidey foes and loved ones of other people like J Jonah Jameson's wife and Electro's girlfriend.  His attempt to bring back the Kingpin's wife is far less appreciated--the Kingpin snaps her neck.  At the same time, Peter Parker's step-uncle (Jameson's dad/Aunt May's second husband) needs an operation that the Hyena's front operation could help with but Peter convinces him not to go through with it because he senses something is wrong.  And after being Peter Parker for over 2 years and then downloading himself into a robot, Doctor Octopus finally gets his body body!  It's all just a lot of table-setting for what should be the big event. (2.5/5)

Transformers vs. GI JOE (IDW):  Back in the 80s Marvel did a crossover of their Transformers and GI JOE titles.  It was notable for GI JOE killing Bumblebee for whatever reason, though he eventually came back as Goldbug.  This is a completely different thing.  It's an Elseworlds story that starts out making very little sense.  Transformers show up on Earth and fight with GI JOE before teaming with COBRA while GI JOE invades the Transformers homeworld of Cybertron, where Megatron has taken control of the planet and banished the Autobots to ghettos while Optimus Prime has gone missing.  There are three volumes, the first of which is almost nonsensical.  Gradually the threads start coming together to an ending that almost makes sense...in a still pretty gonzo way.  There are some nice references, even including the obnoxious "Kremzeek" entity from a terrible Transformers cartoon episode, but besides the story the art looks like Napoleon Dynamite drew it most of the time.  IDW makes it look worse by including alternate covers drawn by real artists to promise what might have been. (2/5)

Drift: Empire of Stone:  After being banished from the Autobots for taking the fall for a crime he didn't commit, Autobot Drift has been rounding up renegade Decepticons on the edge of the galaxy.  But then a threat takes him back to a planet where as a Decepticon Drift encountered an army made of stone that could help to take over the galaxy.  Decepticons are trying to revive the army now and only Drift can stop them!  The stone army thing reminded me of Hellboy II and the Discworld novel Interesting Times.  It was a fun miniseries and helps to fill in what happened to Drift after he left in the More Than Meets the Eye series. (3/5)

Drift Miniseries:  This was Drift's first solo appearance after appearing in the All Hail Megatron series.  It tells how he tries to overthrow his unit commander and gets banished.  Crashing on a seemingly uninhabited planet, he finds some slavers and a Cybertronian wanting to free them.  There are more Cybertronians underground, all of them refugees from the Autobot-Decepticon war who have sworn off war.  Drift eventually decides to switch sides and help them take down the slavers.  Overall a good comic though maybe it should have gone one issue longer to let things have more time to wrap up. (3.5/5)

Autocracy:  This is a Transformers prequel from IDW Comics co-written by former Transformers cartoon/1986 movie writer Flint Dille.  Decepticons and "insurgents" across the Transformer homeworld of Cybertron have led to a brutal crackdown by Autobot leader Zeta Prime.  Orion Pax is a disgruntled cop for the "Autocracy" who ultimately joins forces with Megatron and the Decepticons to stop Zeta's grand scheme.  The alliance is short-lived because of course Megatron turns on Orion, who then rises from the grave as...Optimus Prime.  There are obvious nods to our post-9/11 world and Transformers history, including a scene from the 1986 movie that goes a bit differently this time around.  It's was a fun read to deepen the Transfomers mythos. (3.5/5)