Worst Bot Ever: Meet Ballpoint

Gr 3-7–Even with prior knowledge of the Transformers universe and its characters, such as the Decepticons, the Autobots, and their respective leaders Megatron and Optimus Prime, most readers probably haven’t heard of Ballpoint, and perhaps with good reason: he’s rather diminutive—he’s a writing utensil, after all. He’s also a goofball and a bit of a tag-along who fights, somewhat ineffectively, on the side of evil. When his distractibility screws up a mission, Megatron angrily banishes him. The tiny Transformer decides to redeem himself to his tyrannical boss by infiltrating Autobot headquarters, but Optimus Prime turns out to be an effective people manager and helps Ballpoint believe in himself and use his skills to fight for the good guys. The story chugs along with wacky humor, intermittent action, and broad, blustering characters. It’s a funky concept; the writing and the art has an indie-inflected superhero comic style. Visually, the color palette feels muted 1980s retro, and the robotic characters are drawn with exaggerated, elongated rectangular bodies. This choice makes their movements surprisingly static and somewhat challenging to decipher as they clank around their headquarters like stiff-jointed children’s toys.