Comics Review: Incredible Change-Bots

Back in 2007, I went to my first comic book convention, Wizard World Chicago. I spent most of my time in Artists Alley, looking at all the independent comics and artists that were selling their books. It was hard for me because, given the financial opportunity, I would have bought something from everybody there. I did walk out of there with a pile of comics. Some were good, some weren't, but they were all a product of love by their creators.

I clearly remember seeing a display for Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots and it was probably the only table at the whole convention that I did not even approach. I remember thinking to myself, "Transformers are stupid. This is stupid. You're stupid!"

Well, it turns out that I'm stupid. I have since come to my senses and realized the true beauty of Jeffrey Brown's comics. Passing over meeting him and buying his comics has become one of my great regrets. I don't have anything to say in my defense. Maybe it was my inherent dislike of Michael Bay's Transformers movie (it had come out that year) or maybe it was my growing dislike of what appeared on the surface to be blatant nostalgia driven merchandise (I had become quite disenfranchised by the remodeled G.I. Joe, He-Man, Ninja Turtles, etc that had been all the rage that decade).

Although the Incredible Change-Bots is a nostalgia comic drawing on the original Transformers cartoon, it is so much more. For starters, it's funny. Jeffry Brown has great comedic timing. The book flows with the pace of a seasoned comic strip. A lot of the comedy is satirizing or parodying the Transformers cartoon. There are lots of nods to the show that any old fan would recognize, but that is not where the comedy ends. The true comedy comes from Brown's playful, conversational nature in which the characters communicate. He takes a lot of familiar tropes from action, superhero, and science fiction genres and turns them on their heads.

This is a cute book. It makes me laugh. Check it out.