James Roberts (2)Anmeldelser

Some great stuff in here!

This series continues to be fun and enjoyable while still leaving me feeling like I'm missing a LOT of back story that could make reading this even more enjoyable.

Still going to keep with it as I'm enjoying the story regardless, but if you're not used to jumping into years of continuity in media res, then maybe sit this one out.

This one was a slow burn for me. It contains a one-shot and the first 3 issues of this series. I thought it was pretty good until issue 3 when the story started to pick up and I got really into it. I'm exited to (eventually) read Volume 2 and see where this story goes from here.

"I'm Sentinel Prime and I'm hear to say, was a Titanmaster since back in the day."

Such a great conclusion to an amazing run.

Just two bots sitting on the outer hull... sniff... I'm not crying, you're crying!

Tarn.

Tarn!

TARN!!!

James Roberts and company put out the best narrative in Transformers history.

It blows your mind how much of this early run is paid off in both large and small developments through the rest of MTMTE and Lost Light.

Chromedome, Overlord, Rewind.

Just an amazing, heartbreaking series of issues. It's impossible to capture everything from the assault on Prowl to Pipes' end. James Roberts makes you feel for robots.

There aren't many comics I'd bother to go back an reread. James Roberts is brilliant. Alex Milne and Nick Roche are fantastic. Josh Burcham is just perfect. These issues are undoubtedly the genesis of the best run of Transformers content in any medium.

Tailgate!

Consistently the best comic, let alone TF comic, around.

Outstanding

I posted my review of this on my blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Click (or copy/paste to your favorite browser) the link below to read the full review.

Review link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/booknote-transformers-dark-cybert...

I'm so bad at understanding comics. Good job I can go read a plot summary on the wiki afterwards.

I got this from a humble bundle.

Let me start a slow clap for this volume, if I may. I absolutely adored it! Is it possible for a series to just get better? I'm terrified that it can't keep riding this high, but I think James Roberts might prove me wrong. There's so much goodness wrapped up in Volume 3 of More Than Meets the Eye. I was given so much back story. Events that happened before the war, the way some of our characters met one another, even the reason that personalities are the way they are currently. What's more brilliant, is that all of this information was given to me by way of our amazing characters sitting around, drinking, and telling stories. What could be better?

Remember how I keep mentioning how much real life issues make their way into these two Transformers series? Well, if one is more about politics, then MTMtE is the one that's more about common rights and the idea of religion. Some of the characters are highly religious. Some don't care at all. Still others are summed up in the panel below. That the world around us can be appreciated, no matter what you believe in. That last line in the panel hit me hard. So much truth, all in a comic.

I love following the growth of these characters also. Swerve, whom up until now has been a jokester above all else, almost broke my heart in this volume. Watching him talk about his guilt over harming someone he considers a friend, just floored me. It's so nice to see that these characters are multi-faceted. They don't always fit in just one box. They aren't afraid to break out of that shell if it's needed. Although, truth be told, sometimes that's a terrifying prospect. Like, for instance, when Ultra Magnus smiles. SMILES. *shudders*

So anyway, what all my rambling is really leading up to is that this was my favorite volume so far! I still love this series more than anything, and it's just being proven to me over and over again that James Roberts is a stellar writer. More.

Well, I can definitely say that this remains my favorite of the two series! It's honestly because of the thin line that James Roberts walks between tragedy, and humor. Let's be honest, these aren't always the happiest stories. Despite the fact that the war is over, well, it's not really over. Lines are still drawn in the sand. Hatred still exists. Our characters still die. Sometimes in ways that are a bit hard to stomach. If you don't think that you'd feel sad for a non-human character dying, let me assure you that you are dead wrong. Whether these characters are human or not, they have the kinds of personalities that draw you in and make you care. It's evil. It's brilliant.

I'll bet money you know someone like Magnus. Overly serious, possibly OCD. The life of the party? Not so much. You probably also know someone like Swerve, who is over eager and tells terrible jokes. Or someone like Rung, who tries their best to help others to such an extent that they often end up getting hurt themselves. Trust me, these characters are easy to fall into step with. They come alive, and I can't deny that I'm absolutely hooked. It's testament to how well this is written that I actually like some of the Decepticons. Yup, they may have been evil at one point, but now they're just as lost as everyone else. And... this motley band of buddies is kind of funny too.

What I liked most about this volume is that it's actually bunch of short story arcs all threaded together. Each one shows a little piece of something different that's currently going on. We have a mysterious plague that Ratchet and his crew have to figure out how to solve. That particular one almost made me cry. What a brutal way to go! Then, we have the crew of the Lost Light, where Skids is trying to figure out what memories he's missing, and poor Rung is having one hell of a day. Finally, there's our Decepticons in the panel above. Trying to band together, trying to get home, still kind of awful to one another. Yet, again, funny.

I'm really enjoying how Roberts takes the time to set up these relationships between characters. You can see who genuinely cares about others, who separates themselves from the group, and who just doesn't know how to belong. I can't deny, my emotions were all over the place this volume. I should have been prepared. I wasn't. I tell you, I'm more invested in this than you know.

Oh, I LOVED this volume. Hands down, this is my favorite so far. More Than Meets the Eye is still the superior series for me, but above and beyond that was the fact that this whole volume stole my breath away. I wish I could dish about absolutely everything that happens, but then there'd be no reason for you to read this. So, I'll do my best to highlight.

First off, so many layers have been slowly peeled back from these characters. James Roberts has created such depth, even in characters like Swerve. He's my favorite, because of his sense of humor. However I've learned so much about him these past volumes. That he has a deeper set of emotions. That he uses humor sometimes to disguise those. That, even poor Swerve gets lonely.

Another great example of this is Ultra Magnus. I shared the panel where he smiled, which was so totally out of character for him that it was almost terrifying. However there's more underneath that tough and strict exterior. This volume really dove in to what Ultra Magnus is, what he used to be, and how he just doesn't know what to do with himself. He wants to be liked, he's just gotten used to being feared instead. Truth time? I feel for him.

Oh, and then there's the whole idea of relationships that extend beyond just friendship. I find in interesting that I never considered that there might be actual deep relationships in this story. It's probably because I started out this whole journey with the idea that robots don't have feelings. Well, I was definitely wrong. I'm happy about that. And I've learned so much about all of these characters that the fact that they might be happy together? Just makes me smile. And weep. This time, it definitely made me weep.

There's been a lot of destruction, and even some death. I've mostly gotten used to it. In this volume though, it reached a new level. So far, James Roberts has made it feel like most of the time characters can come back. They can be saved. They might be gone for a while, but it's okay because there's always possibility. This time, I don't think that will happen. Poor Chromedome. The final set of panels in this story almost killed me. Does that tell you how invested I've become?

*wistful sigh* So good. So good, and so sad.

My new favourite thing. Transformers as queer romance/quest novel with many quips and twists.½

Kinda fun and wild and with some good twists but also mostly about carnage and not showing too much of the amazing queer ecchi robot adventure stuff Robots would go on to.

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

This volume collects three Transformers-focused Revolution tie-ins, as well as the Transformers Holiday Special. Since I already reviewed the latter on its own (wish I'd known it was collected here before buying it!), I'll just be reviewing the Revolution tie-ins.

Basically, each of the Transformers ongoings gets a story that takes place during Revolution, expanding on some story details and crossing over with one of the non-Transformers titles. The subtitle-less series formerly known as Robots in Disguise tells a story about Tundercracker and Marissa Faireborn battling Dire Wraiths (from Rom); Till All Are One features Windblade on a journey to the Microverse (from Micronauts); and More than Meets the Eye has the Scavengers teaming up with a G.I. Joe member and encountering a lone Dire Wraith.

They're, uh, they're okay, I guess. The Transformers one confirmed that I am tired of John Barber's take on Thundercracker, the Decepticon-gone-native-who-has-a-dog-and-wants-to-write-screenplays-and-apparently-is-crushing-on-Marissa-Faireborn. What could have been an interesting character has Flanderized into a one-note joke.

The Till All Are One one is pretty flimsy. Windblade is summoned to Earth to communicate with Metroplex (explaining why she's there in the main Revolution story), she does so, she journeys into Microspace where she meets some people, she goes home. I think this set up something about the Micronauts or Rom in the main Revolution story, but by the time I read this, I'd forgotten most of what happened when I read Revolution. The story is pretty detached from the setting and ideas that actually drive Till All Are One, aside from Windblade herself. I guess it does point toward some growing discontent from Windblade with Optimus's leadership.

Finally, the More than Meets the Eye one doesn't have any of the Lost Light crew (how could it, they died six months ago when their planet blew up?), instead focusing on the Scavengers who come to Earth so one of their members can go on an Internet date. It's a pisstake of the whole concept of Revolution (one of the characters keeps chanting about "the Brand"); the best bits are MP3, the world's worst G.I. Joe member, and the two Scavengers pretending to be members of M.A.S.K. It's not James Roberts and Nick Roche's best work, but I enjoyed it well enough and laughed several times. Which makes it the best part of Revolution. (Which is damning with faint praise.)

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In this volume, recent events in the title formerly known as Robots in Disguise have repercussions for the whole Transformers galaxy, as an ancient Prime returns, reanimating Titans with him. This is more of the kind of Transformers stuff I haven't really cared for: ancient cosmic evils, big robot fights, blah blah blah.

The events of Titans Return connect to all three Transformers ongoings (the subtitle-less Transformers, More than Meets the Eye, and Till All Are One), but it is structured differently than previous Transformers crossovers. While Dark Cybertron and Combiner Wars had a unified story that alternated between the two titles involved in the crossover, Titans Return has a kick-off issue that involves all three series, then a two-issue Transformers story, and then a two-issue More than Meets the Eye one. This is good, because it lets each series maintain its own unique identity.

Sentinel Prime starts out on Cybertron, fighting Ironhide's new police force seen in Till All Are One, Volume 1, as well as Windblade and Starscream. There's some Windblade-Starscream banter, and both Tankors turn up-- it's not much of a role for TAAO, but it does allow for some reflection on how far Cybertron has already come, as Sentinel Prime views with disgust the achievements that Windblade and company have made in reintegrating postwar Cybertron. It does get a bit too technobabbly. (Relative spark temperatures are a significant plot point, and I would contend that this should never be the case.)

From there, Sentinel makes it to Earth, where the by-now normal John Barber tediousness happens. I enjoyed this guy's character driven writing at first, but since the move to Earth, it has almost disappeared. And geeze, if Garrison Blackrock and Marissa Faireborn never appeared in this comic again, I don't think I'd even notice. But now there are G.I. Joes for some reason?

I do like that Soundwave is now an ally to Optimus Prime, seeing in Optimus's leadership the best chance for the ideals that originally drew him to Decepticonism. But why has he started describing everything he does as an "Operation"?

The crossover contorts a little bit to get More than Meets the Eye involved, given that when we last saw the series, the main characters had been kicked off their own ship and the planet they were exiled to exploded. So we get a flashback to the Lost Light before the events of volume 10 that is just there to deliver some exposition (but in a funny way) and the main involvement of MtMtE is through some of its side characters no longer on the Lost Light, like Fortress Maximus and Red Alert-- Sentinel Prime runs from Earth to the planet where they're hanging out.

Prowl also turns up, but it turns out that my problem was never with Prowl, it was with John Barber writing Prowl, because in the context of MtMtE, Prowl is hilarious. Fortress Maximus kicks him as soon as he comes through the spacebridge; when Cerebros wants to know what Prowl did to make Fortress Maximus so made, it's very difficult for Prowl to remember, because, as he himself admits, "I've hacked off so many people it's hard to keep track. Whatever I did, I know for a fact it was necessary, proportionate, and staggeringly far-sighted, and I'm confident that history will prove me-- Oh! Garrus 9! There we go."

So I don't really care about Sentinel Prime and his plans, but it kind of feels like James Roberts doesn't either, because the story's best parts have nothing to do with that. Instead we get a meta-gag about how the weird conventions of comic book dialogue only make Red Alert paranoid, the story pays off contrivedly but hilariously a running gag about Prowl's propensity for flipping tables, and given that this is More than Meets the Eye's final issue, there's even a nice bit of reflection about endings themselves.

The series formerly known as Robots in Disguise also ends in this volume, and for me that makes it a nice jumping-off point-- I don't think I'll be picking up any volumes of its relaunch as Optimus Prime unless they turn up for dirt-cheap in Humble Bundles-- but I loved More than Meets the Eye more than any ongoing comic I can remember, and I can't wait to dive into its sequel series, Lost Light. Everything ends, nothing ends.

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Megatron has really been the focus of "season two" of More than Meets the Eye, and implausible as I found the idea of four-million-year-Hitler coming aboard the Lost Light as co-captain, his trajectory in these stories has really worked. By this point, the main cast has accepted him... and he has accepted the ways of the Autobots, even refusing to partake in combat.

But it all comes to a head here, when the non-main-characters decide they've had enough of Megatron leading them, and kick him and the main characters off the ship... and then they're promptly set upon by the Decepticon Justice Division, Overlord, and a whole army of Decepticons.

Once again, James Roberts does his thing, with some edge-of-your-seat writing that had me physically tense or tearing up or both. I've really come to love these characters and their adventures, and this volume is filled with both hero moments and dark ones. Particularly when Rewind reaches the goal of his own personal quest... wowza.

Plus Drift and Ratchet are back! It's the culmination of all sorts of stuff, but it also promises much more to come. More than Meets the Eye is still the best ongoing in comics. How is that possible?

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The post-Chaos era of IDW's Transformers comics used to be very easy to follow, alternating between collections of More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise. Since Dark Cybertron, though, it's gotten much more complicated, with a proliferation of limited series and one-shots and crossovers and even a new ongoing in Windblade. The gap between volumes 8 and 9 of More than Meets the Eye was the longest yet, with a full six different collections stuffed into it, taking four months at my own personal Transformers pace.

It's almost like he knew I was away, because James Roberts brought me back with the More than Meets the Eyeest bit of More than Meets the Eye thus far on the very first page, a recap of what the group of Decepticons called the Scavengers have been up to since we last saw them way back in volume 2, which features an increasingly bizarre series of missing adventures (kind of like flashbacks in Community).

This launches us into a story of the Scavengers meeting Fortress Maximus, who became the duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accords in volume 5. I do really like the Scavengers in principle, and the story is a good one, but in practice I struggle with reading about this many unfamiliar robot characters. I just can't keep five guys I haven't seen in literally a year straight, and this undermines a lot of the story's effectiveness. Heck, I didn't recognize Fortress Maximus at first, and he used to be a main character in MtMtE!

Thankfully, we're back on more familiar ground with the volume's second story, a big development in the lives of Cyclonus and Tailgate, who have perhaps faded into the background in the Megatron-focused post-Dark Cybertron era of More than Meets the Eye. Well, this story more than makes up for it, as it's another heartrender from the pen of James Roberts, as you plead and plead with Tailgate not to do something that seems like a grand romantic gesture from the naïve Transformer's perspective, but will in fact lead to ruination, and plead with Cyclonus to not bottle himself up so much-- and to not finally let out his feelings to the exact wrong person. It's a perfect demonstration of how much Roberts has succeeded in making the reader emotionally connected to these robots.

The only complaint I have is in how its intense cliffhanger is resolved, almost off-handedly in the book's final story, one which delves into the past of Rung, everyone's favorite nondescript psychiatrist. It's a clever, well-plotted story, with a lot of cool twists and clever reveals, punctuated by a last-page revelation that promises a lot for the next... and final... volume of this still-excellent series. Would be that all ongoing comics could move me as often as this one does.

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This volume of More than Meets the Eye is less focused than the last few, in a good way. Instead of featuring one big story, this one gives us a number of one- or two-chapter tales, spotlighting the broad cast of this book in a variety of situations. Among other events, the Decepticon Justice Division learns that Megatron's gone Autobot, Brainstorm is put on trial for the events of volume 7 while Ratchet weighs up what's important, the Lost Light finally catches up to the Vis Vitalis and has multiple dance parties, the entire crew visits a sitcom version of Earth, and the Lost Light discovers a clue to the existence of the afterlife. Phew!

After what I saw as getting overly convoluted in volume 7, volume 8 is largely a return to form. The D.J.D. plotline continues to burble away in the background, but this volume makes it more likely that some kind of confrontation is coming, as the D.J.D. learns of Megatron's heel-face turn, considers ending it all, but then realizes that Decepticonism is not a person, but an ideology. Nice enough, but of course the best part of the whole issue was the jokes, particularly learning how much the D.J.D. is into forms; their ferocious, ruthless, murderous leader chastises his subordinates for poor safety etiquette: "You think we have a health and safety policy because it's fun? Which reminds me: appraisals, my quarters, soon as Nickel [their medic] gives you the all clear. And this time come prepared--bring you P.D.P.s." This last word is footnoted as "Personal Development Plans"; the D.J.D. has to fill out the same kind of forms my wife does as a high school teacher!

The next story is cute, mostly for Ratchet's considerations of his friendship with Drift, who departed the Lost Light all the way back in volume 4. I look forward to seeing where this goes, because I miss Drift. (Words I never thought I'd say after All Hail Megatron.) Hopefully Ratchet does bring him back to the Lost Light.

After that comes what must be one of the wackiest More than Meets the Eyes stories (though not the wackiest; that's coming up), where the Lost Light and the Vis Vitalis both come under attack by aliens who feed off charisma. New crewmembers such as Nautica and Nightbeat continue to get some much needed development, as the Vis Vitalis crew has been joined by a number of Camiens, including Nautica's amica endura. I like Nautica a lot. (Maybe I was predisposed to, because my wife and I both took a "which Lost Light character are you?" quiz and she got Nautica!) In some ways, though, this story gets to be James Roberts as his most James Roberts-ish because it ends with the characters having an indie music dance party!

THEN THINGS GET ABSOLUTELY NUTS.

Explaining it is probably beyond my powers, but in short there's a fake Earth based on sitcom tropes where the crew has to project their holomatter avatars... an Earth upon which their own adventures appear in the form of a comic book called More than Meets the Eye. Of course this leads to lots of self-referential jokes: Cyclonus complains that the planet is "weird and farcical and-- and unrealistic," but Hot Rod retorts that their own adventures are if anything, more unrealistic. But also there's some cute character-based stuff. So maybe More than Meets the Eye at its most More than Meets the Eye-ish isn't so bad after all.

The last story in the book was my favorite. The Lost Light arrives at a planet home to the Necrobot, a mysterious Transformer who visits Cybertronians at the moment of their death. There's more good character stuff here: Chromedome and Rewind's love for each other even though Rewind is seeking a previous lover, Nightbeat's hope that there's something more to the afterlife than the Dead Universe, and a couple great moments for Megatron, including one that's absolutely heart-rending. But also Megatron tries to learn how to banter, with little success.

Though it's never been bad, I feel like the post-Dark Cybertron iteration of More than Meets the Eye ("season two") is just now hitting its groove, finding its feet, &., &c. The new characters are starting to feel like old friends, and the drama and the comedy are in good shape. I can't wait to see what happens next... but I will have to, because as per the chronology I've been following, I'm about to hit my longest gap between More than Meets the Eye collections: I have six other books to read before I turn back to volume 9, whereas normally it's been one or maybe two. That's life in a shared universe, I guess.

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