Review: The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 3 by Shane McCarthy et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 122 pages
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Acquired August 2014
Read August 2016

The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Volume 3

Written by Shane McCarthy, Josh van Reyk and Shawn Knowler, Andy Schmidt
Art by Casey Coller, E. J. Su, Robby Musso, Marcelo Matere
Colors by Joana Lafuente, Priscilla Tramotano
Letters by Neil Uyetake, Chris Mowry

This volume doesn't really follow up the previous two parts of All Hail Megatron, instead it moves backward, filling in some of what we know about its characters, though some of the stories here are about Transformers who don't have anything to do with All Hail Megatron at all. Like any collection of standalone comics, it's a mixed bag.

I liked the tale of Blurr, the narcissist racer who doesn't even notice that society is unraveling around him (as we saw in Autocracy) until it directly impacts his need for speed and his livelihood.

"Have you heard of Our Lord and Savior, Optimus Prime?"
from The Transformers Spotlight: Blurr (script by Shane McCarthy, art by Casey Coller)

The rest were so-so. The story of Jazz is framed as a story told by Tracks during All Hail Megatron to cheer up the Autobots trapped on Cybertron. It's unclear to me where this is supposed to take place, mostly because there's no point where the Autobots are ever cheerful, and besides, it's pretty much an action story that reveals little of character anyway. (Plus I can never remember which one is Jazz.) Cliffjumper's story is also dull, being a stereotypical tale of a soldier from an neverending conflict washing up on an "island" (i.e., planet) and tended to by a loving female native, until the war comes back for him. I know a lot of Transformers fans hate Drift, the Decepticon-turned-Autobot-with-"badass"-swords, and I don't, but his story here didn't win me over.

"AND I HAVE SWORDS!"
from The Transformers Spotlight: Drift (script by Shane McCarthy, art by Casey Coller)

The story of Metroplex is designed to communicate his size with a lot of two-page spreads, which is  neat idea. Unfortunately, the e-version of the story I read split them all in half, really ruining the effect:

This is the right side of a two-page spread, presented as its own page. Seriously, what's going on? Too much work to figure out, sorry.
from The Transformers Spotlight: Metroplex (script by Andy Schmidt, art by Marcelo Matere)

Next Week: It's the final end of All Hail Megatron, with a little bit of Coda!