Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #25 – Review

by James Roberts, John Barber (Writers), James Raiz, Atilio Rojo, Livio Ramondelli (Artists), Josh Perez (Colorist)

The Story: The many mysteries of the titans are marching on as Nova Prime comes to gloat to the captive Orion Pax and other Cybertronians with him.

The Review: With the Dark Cybertron crossover having now reached its middle-point, it seems that fans might have a deal of reasons to be rather wary. Incorporating many previous subplots and other threads from both the two ongoing and previous titles into its narrative, there seemed to be a lot of ground in need of exploration here. This unfortunately did result in some chapters that aren’t exactly full of events, which did not make the huge story that much exciting altogether.

With the sixth chapter now being released, there seems to be some progress in terms of quality, with a certain evolution toward how the story is told and what some players might actually do to in the conflict at the heart of this whole thing. Sure, there are still some problems plaguing the book, but any general positive enhancement in some key aspect is always rather enjoyable.

The first thing that seems to be a lot more fun is what happens with the robots from the Lost Light as they explore the Titan underwater. Permeating their scene with the general lack of cohesion of the crew, the humor that is at the heart of their respective book and a good deal of pseudo-science that is always enjoyable, there are many things that are fun here. The way Ultra Magnus follows the law despite what happened to him, the attitude of Whirl, the intelligence and promptness of Brainstorm and other such traits are welcome in an issue where not everything is actually satisfying.

Transformers Dark Cybertron #1 – Review

by John Barber, James Roberts (Writers), Phil Jimenez, Andrew Griffith, Brendan Cahill (Artists), Josh Perez, J.P. Bove (Colorists)

The Story: Something huge is looming on Cybertron as many of the players wonders just what it is. Meanwhile, Orion Pax meet with the crew of the lost light.

The Review: After close to two years of pretty great storytelling, it’s finally time for the promised crossover to happen. Combining the cast of Robots in Disguise along with More Than Meets The Eye, this story itself had been built up in both titles (though RiD did most of the job) as characters like Orion Pax and Shockwave kept on teasing about something rather ominous coming. However, does this opening issue live up to the potential and the greatness of both titles?

It does, but not on the very same level of excellence that the other IDW Transformers comic reach. There are interesting elements and the comic does provide plenty of reasons to be rather excited for this gigantic tale that will be there for five months, yet it does take its time to get there.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #20 – Review

James Roberts (Writer), Alex Milne, Brian Shearer (Artists), Josh Burcham (Colorist)

The Story: Chaos happen as Ratchet tries to save a dying Ambulon, Tyrest tries to enact his insane plan and Rodimus try to stop him.

The Review: This is how you do it. A bold statement to be sure, but one effective nonetheless as James Roberts shows how you can plant seed for future storylines as he connects multiple threads together, some from the very first issue of the series. Long-form storytelling is something that not every writer is able to pull off, yet it can be incredible when done well and James Roberts can be categorized as being able to do so wonderfully.

One of the best thing to come out in this issue would be the explanation for Skids, detailing just how he got in a ship with the binary gun in the second issue as everything is told from Getaway’s point-of-view. It explains close to everything about the character while adding up to the conflict at hand while doing what James Roberts does best: throw in new concepts that fit perfectly with the Transformers themselves.

That’s not the only point hat is brought forward, as the quest for the knights of Cybertron even goes forward a bit, connecting with the confrontation with Tyrest. This is one of those big issues, where the antagonist is up for a confrontation, where the stakes are high and everything move along at a brisk pace to make sure the importance of the situation is straight for the readers.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #20 – Review

By: John Barber (writer), Andrew Griffith (art), Priscilla Tramontano (colors)

The Story: Starscream deals with a lack of respect, the bloodthirsty media, and even sabotage as he leads Cybertron through the first night of his reign. Yes, that Starscream. In charge of Cybertron. It’s gonna be a long night.

The Review: IDW’s Transformer series have come a long way since the days of back to back miniseries, but they’ve rarely been as innovative as they are now. You may have heard good things about Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, James Roberts’ sleeper hit. Its sister title, Robot’s in Disguise, hasn’t received the same praise, but that might change soon.

With Optimus Prime resigned from his post and Megatron captive, Cybertron is finally seeing a sunrise without war, but the long road to rebuilding is just beginning. Though readers of the title have seen Bumblebee’s attempts to maintain order against Decepticon radicals and social division within the populous, all that recently changed when Starscream was declared the chosen one and banished any bot unwilling to relinquish their old alliances.

As treacherous as ever, Starscream is at once a perfect and terrible administrator. John Barber turns the beloved Decepticon backstabber into a pragmatic reformer, determined to better the state of his people, and himself along with them. He’s still Starscream, but he puts in a legitimate effort to channel his traitorous tendencies into something positive.