Comic Review – Transformers: More than meets the eye #13

            I know, you’ve been holding your breath for this review for a month now.  Well breathe easy because it is here and the comic itself was well worth the wait.  I have yet to pour through my stack of comics this week yet, but it was a banner week for IDW’s Transformers franchise as it saw three titles released along with the new issue of Think Tank and the Paul Jenkins/Humberto Ramos Kickstarter monster known as Fairy Quest (now picked up and released by Boom Studios).  I can’t speak to the quality of the other comics out this week, but I know that Transformers: MTMTE is top notch, let’s dive in shall we?

Cover:

            Cover A featured the Transformers found in the issue in their human guises (a solid hologram that can be used to seamlessly blend into a crowd of humans or other aliens.  Cover B, the one that I purchased, was the image above.  Both covers actually take place within the story so that is a bonus.  The cover that I picked up was well done even though it was slightly misleading.  I was under the assumption that Cyclonus, who I am just waiting for to betray the bunch, finally lost it and it was up to the other members of the Lost Light to subdue.  This is pretty far from the truth, but he does lose his cool in one part of the story (for a couple panels) so while it was sneaky by artist Nick Roche, it was not a blatant lie to get people to pick up the book.  The artwork itself is very well done (as we have grown to expect from Roche) and each character seems to be exuding a bit of his own personality with their respective body language and facial expression.  Roche has become a master of taking traditionally blocky figures and imbuing them with a level of fluid movement and emotion that is hard to believe is even possible.  He is definitely one of the best Transformers artists currently working and when paired with a good colorist, like he is with Josh Burcham here on the cover (who also colors the interiors) then his work is kicked up a whole other notch. 

8/10 – A solid illustration made even better by the coloring.

Story:

            Swerve tends to be writer James Roberts’ mouthpiece for many of the issues, and this one especially.  This is a good thing as he has taken Swerve from a supporting character and made him the focal point of the buddy-comedy that he has created with MTMTE.  Not only that, but each other character on the Lost Light (the spaceship they are all travelling on) has his own distinct personality as well as their own specific mission (some have yet to be revealed).  This particular story focuses on a “quiet” period, where the individual members of the lost light are let off the ship for a little R & R. 

            Crazy antics ensue (which always seems to happen to these guys) as well as some revelations about Swerve, Ultra Magnus and Tailgate.  Roberts balances humor, talking heads, and a good deal of emotion and still finds a way to move the story forward.  This is the kind of done-in-one story that we used to see all the time back in the eighties and early nineties and it is a revelation to be able to sit down and enjoy a comic that takes longer than eight minutes to read.

            The best part of the comic is the revelation about Swerve and his “friendship” with Blurr at the end.  This adds another dimension to the character and while it was unexpected, was a welcome addition. 

            Now it isn’t all roses as Roberts does tend to get a little wordy in some places, but he does manage to balance that out with some silent panels here and there, little beats where we can catch our breath and enjoy the artwork. 

            I can’t talk about the writing here without also mentioning the prose story in the back that takes an instance in the comic and expands upon it, while also filling in the gaps between issues nicely.  Other writers and other companies would have taken that four page story and made it into a six issues, but Roberts wedges it in quite nicely.  Is it necessary to read it in order to enjoy this issue?  Not at all, but it is nice to be able to have anything extra on hand from an individual like Roberts who obviously knows and loves the property. 

8/10 – While it is not a page-turner by any means, it is a solid character driven story that expands upon the individuals and fits in nicely in the series.  This is the calm before the storm as next issue will reveal a big villain for the crew if I remember correctly.

Art:

            Guido Guidi is the artist on this issue and his style seems to mesh well with the style that Roche has established for the series.  Guidi has a very open style that leaves a lot of room for the colorist (Burcham and Joana LaFuente) to add layers and mood.  It keeps an animated feel, which is nice considering the roots of the franchise, but does not make it feel like a children’s comic.  It is incredibly accessible to everyone as kids will be attracted to the characters and the color while the parents will enjoy the decent storytelling in the artwork as well as the story itself. 

            The artwork can seem to get a little overwhelmed by amount of detail that Guidi squeezes into each panel and each page, as he, and in some instances the colorists, don’t always do a great job of separating the fore/middle/backgrounds.  This leads to a bit of confusion every once in awhile and can lead to moments of sub-par storytelling, but it quickly rights itself and never gets stuck in a rut. 

7/10 – The artwork fits the story and Guidi does a great job as a fill-in for Roche in terms of keeping the styles fairly consistent as well as keeping the characters fluid and emotive throughout the story. 

Overall:  8/10 – This is still the gem of all of the current Transformers books, just as it has been from the beginning.  Robots in Disguise is quickly catching up, as that was more of a slow-burn in terms of getting where it wanted to be but I have a feeling that with next month’s issue, MTMTE will cement its position even further.  It’s nice to anticipate comic again like I did in my youth, and all of the IDW Transformers series do that for me.

Comic Review - Transformers: Robots in Disguise #11

Because of the impending Turkey Day, you get your comic review one day early!  Don't thank me, thank the guy that created stuffing! 

            The new issues of both Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye, the two newer Transformers titles from IDW came out this week.  This left me with a decision to make on which one to review, but to avoid any spoilers given that More than Meets the Eye is finishing up a three-part story arc this week, we’ll go with Robots in Disguise #11. 

Cover-

            Being a standard IDW book, there are multiple covers for the title.  I chose cover “B”.  This cover depicts the character Arcee fighting what looks to be generic Decepticons.  Arcee is one of the only female transformers and Casey Coller does a great job of not only showing her power, but distinguishing her from the bigger, bulkier male autobots.  Even without the pink color scheme and the lipstick (really? lipstick?) Arcee still has a feminine quality about her that helps her stand out.  It doesn’t hurt that she is written in this series as a pretty bad-ass assassin too, which this cover just helps to distinguish.  The design of the cover is very interesting too as the circular path of the flaming electro sword is cut by both Arcee’s figure and the gun that she is holding (which looks like a Rob Liefeld special out of a 1991 X-Force book).  The gun does a great job of pointing to the focal point of our cover though: Arcee’s face.    

Joana Lafuente, the colorist on the cover does a good job of utilizing the electro-flame sword and its path through the air as a light source.  I may have made her blue eyes a bit more prominent in order to get her face to pop even more, especially since it is backlit in the orange glow of the electro sword.  Regardless, this is a very solid cover that utilizes both design and color to create a quality illustration.

9/10: Not only a well done cover in terms of execution, but it is also nice to see a cover depicting a Transformer that is not necessarily one of the “major” characters.

Story-

            Robots in Disguise is interesting in that it carries far more plotlines than any of the other Transformers comics being published.  You could seriously branch this series off into at least one, if not two others and it would work just as well.  That being said, the “previously in” page is nearly essential to make sure you remember what happened in each issue.  This one is no different, especially considering the fact that last issue was a time-jumping jumble starring Optimus Prime that only hinted at parts of the main story that John Barber is telling here. 

            One of the interesting parts in this series is that each issue, except for the two focusing on Optimus, are generally told through the eyes of one of four Autobots: Bumblebee, Prowl, Wheeljack or Ironhide.  This issue takes a break from that and uses Starscream as the “narrator” which works really well as he is not primarily “Megatron’s bitch” in this book as he is in most other Transformer’s fictions.  Barber has done a good job of really fleshing out the character of Starscream, and even though it is hard to trust his true motivations knowing what we all know about him, the fact that he is more than a one note character anymore really makes this book work and provides more than just the standard good vs. bad, black and white conflict.

             The most important thing with a big team book like this is properly identifying the characters, especially since many of them look similar aside from a different paint job.  True, many of the people that are going to be regular followers of the books are well versed on the different characters, especially the ones that are primarily used here, but by subtly slipping the names of the characters in here and there, it assures that any new or less fanatic readers are not playing a guessing game or spending the majority of their time on Wikipedia trying to determine who is who.  Barber does a decent job of this.  He could go all Chris Claremont and tell you who everyone is along with their alt mode in each initial appearance of the book and that would actually not be too intrusive if he kept it to the main players, but this way he provides us the information while allowing us to avoid breaking the flow of the story.  While a dossier would be nice, it is not a necessity and Barber does a great job moving the story along while interjecting new characters (to that issue).  A book involving a huge cast like this is not easy but Barber handles it with ease.

            Now, the meat and potatoes of the story:  Barber continues his story of the three political factions on Cybertron, all hoping to gain rule through free elections.  This is where Starscream the character really shines as he has always been a master schemer, and really that works best in a political setting.  This issue mainly deals with the way Starscream is handling the Decepticons, led by Shockwave, and their plans to ruin his bid for leader of Cybertron.  The uneasy alliance that he makes with Prowl, who in turn uses Arcee as his main weapon against the Decepticons, is sure to backfire but it also keeps the mystery on Prowl chugging along.  Prowl seems almost Judge Dredd-ish in his upholding of the law and the fact that his right hand, Arcee, is basically an assassin just adds another level of intrigue to the character.

            The most stunning revelation actually shouldn’t be much of one at all.  It was hinted at two issues ago, but nothing was confirmed until the last page of this issue, and it’s a doozy. 

            The one main problem that plagues this book is just the amount of stuff going on.  This does not really bother the casual reader that just picked up this issue, but two issues ago the dinobots and Ironhide were out in the wilds of Cybertron where they encountered the aerialbots, combined (seemingly against their will) into the form of Superion.  This was interesting and made for a great cliffhanger.  After waiting an extra month because last month was an Optimus issue, I come to find out that there are no revelations about Superion or the dinobots.  Not only are we waiting for that cliffhanger to resolve itself from two issues ago, now we have a new, even bigger one at the end of this issue.  Barber does a good job of weaving the web, but a little closure of some sort would have been nice after the two month wait. 

8/10:  This is a book that combines political intrigue, action sequences, and transforming robots.  Plus it has many of the more well known characters from the mythology which makes it fun for young and old fans alike.

Art-

            You would think that it would be difficult to create the illusion of emotion using a robot, but that is exactly what Guido Guidi does here.  The transformers in this book have more emotion than many human characters in other comic books.  He does a decent job of varying the angles to aid in the storytelling as well.  The relative absence of shots pulling far enough back to depict the feet of the Transformers is a little odd, but the level of precise detail required in drawing these characters could contribute to the lack of longshots.  The backgrounds are pretty sparse but the group shots and action shots are very well done. 

            I am not wild about the colors by Priscilla Tramontano.  She gets the colors right, no doubt, but it seems like she is too concerned with making sure that parts of each character “lights up” be it their eyes or somewhere on their bodies, and this becomes distracting after a few pages.  It also seems like with the overwhelming amount of purple in the Decepticons that she would make the background in those scenes a little less so.  

7/10:  Good art suffers a tad from lack of backgrounds and a few coloring missteps.  This is not a poorly drawn book and the fact that such detailed characters do not become jumbled messes proves to me that the art team has done an admirable job.

A decent transformation but seems pretty generic, almost like the old generation one toys

so...much...purple

Overall- 8/10: Initially I enjoyed More than Meets the Eye more than this book, but with the emergence of Arcee and the intrigue behind both Starscream and Prowl, this title is quickly becoming my favorite of the Transformers books currently being produced.

Have a great Thanksgiving, to all of you  that celebrate, and to those that don't, eat a turkey anyway.