Writer/Artist: Jeffrey Brown
Company: Top Shelf Productions

I have previously expressed an appreciation for Jeffrey Brown’s work, which matches the gleeful innocence and sheer weirdness of James Kochalka with the occasionally too painful to look at sincerity of Craig Thompson for a variety of borderline embarrassing but often very funny autobiographical tales of romantic failure. When he diverges from that genre and applies his same sort of sensitive dude ethos to superhero parody tinged with a sincere love of the genre, that’s pretty entertaining too. But with Incredible Change-Bots, a mixture of pure, sincere love of the Transformers and total ironic hipster mockery of them, Brown may have created his masterpiece. If you think transforming robots engaged in a war on Earth is cool, but you know in your heart that it’s kinda dorky too, then you, my friend, are going to love Incredible Change-Bots.

You know how Transformers was for kids, right? I mean, Autobots are the heroic robots who turn into automobiles, Decepticons are evil, because there’s deception right in their name, they transform into jets and tanks and tape recorders because that kind of shit is awesome when you’re 13? Well, Incredible Change-Bots is for all of us who grew up and realized that though we still love the Transformers, they are in fact for kids, and it’s OK to make fun of them a bit. Especially when you realize that at it’s core, a robot that transforms into a tractor trailer when he’s not shooting up other robots is pretty damn cool, even if you’re closer to 33 than 13. Brown strips even the pretense of cleverness from the Transformers, naming his two opposing forces Awesomebots and Fantasticons. The leader of the Awesomebots? Oh, he’s Big Rig. He transforms into a big rig. And the leader of the Fantasticons, who transforms into a gun? His name is Shootertron. Jeez, Brown better hope that Hasbro decides this is legitimate parody, or he’s gonna get sooo sued.

At any rate, the story of Incredible Change-Bots is not unlike the story of the Transformers. They fight in space, they crash on Earth. Bad guys hook up with unscrupulous and overzealous human military elements. Good guys hook up with a couple of blue collar father and son mechanics. And when I say hook up, I mean ally with, not have sex with, although there is a hilariously awkward exchange between Shootertron and his general ally where the meaning of “pleasure each other” in Earth parlance is lost on the big robot. That’s one of the kind of moments that makes Incredible Change-Bots a little different from your average Transformers story, actually. These robots talk a lot like the characters in Brown’s other stories. One of them, running away from a battle, chides the other robot who is shooting at him when he got stuck trying to transform, calling a “time out.” When one of the Awesomebots gives a heartfelt speech for a fallen comrade, another mentions that “actually, he was kind of a jerk.” Little bits of human weakness and awkwardness sprinkled in make for funny moments, as if Larry David were executive producing the Transformers movie.

However, what really makes Incredible Change-Bots work is that you can sense an underlying affection for the whole thing. Parody all too often turns to easy jokes, and though Awesomebots and Fantasticons sound like the kind of thing a bad Mad magazine article might come up with, the straight-faced way it is used throughout the book is what makes it funny. In the same way, there’s an earnestness to the elements Brown uses that recall the fond memories of Transformers from childhood, even as they goof on them a bit. The use of the sound effect “Chee Choo Choo Chee” every time there’s a transformation, complete with an “Incredible Change!” sound effect on top of it, makes it feel like every cheesy toy ad you’ve ever seen, but the only way it’s funny is if you had some genuine affection for the characters and you “get” how important the sound effect was to the transformations.

Brown’s artwork has always been a bit of an acquired taste, on the surface a bit crude, but seeing it in full color and used on an action-adventure-comedy story like this one shows off the true strength that has always been its foundation. I’m reminded of the look of Beavis & Butthead, which was deliberately chosen to highlight the feel of the cartoon, in seeing Brown’s awkward, goofy designs for the robots or the strange-looking humans who recall the stylized ugliness of Peter Bagge or Roberta Gregory or any number of other indie cartoonists. In addition, the color work is exceptional, bright and clear and giving off the air of polished sincerity that you’d expect to find in a regular Transformers comic.

Incredible Change-Bots will not be for those who take Transformers 100% seriously. Those who watch the ’80s cartoon movie and see only a tale of noble sacrifice and growing into a leadership role, rather than also noticing the cheesy music and dialogue, might want to steer clear. And in fact, those who just think transforming robots are stupid might want to as well, because there’s an underlying affection for the concept that I think makes it all the funnier. But if you’re one of those who digs the concept played straight, as it is being done very well by IDW right now, but also can kinda see where this type of thing might seem hilariously cheesy, then go and seek out Incredible Change-Bots.