Review: Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Volume 7 by James Roberts, Alex Milne, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2014-15)
Acquired October 2016
Read July 2017

Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Volume 7

Written by James Roberts
Art by Alex Milne
Additional Art by Atilio Rojo
Additional Inks by Brian Shearer
Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long

The series name of More than Meets the Eye has slightly changed, with the removal of the leading article from "The Transformers." Beyond that, though, this volume is more of the same in both good and bad ways, with More than Meets the Eye at its most character-based but also perhaps its most obscure. After a prologue with a couple minor characters running afoul of the Decepticon Justice Division (poor guys), the main story kicks in with the reveal of an alternate universe where the Functionists (a political faction which believes Transformers' functions are defined entirely by their forms) are in command. This appears to be the responsibility of Brainstorm, who is secretly a Decepticon and has traveled back in time to kill Orion Pax (the future Optimus Prime).

Megatron is starting to suspect he's in a different, more ridiculous comic than he used to be...
from The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #35 (art by Alex Milne & Brian Shearer)

So what we get is time travel hijinks, More than Meets the Eye-style, as Brainstorm skips through time, and Rodimus and company skip after him, blundering into key historical events and trying to stay out of trouble, but not very well. It's fun-- of course-- and funny-- of course-- and gives us some nice moments of insight into our characters, including Megatron and Rung. The Functionists are terrifying, and we get to see some flashbacks scenes from volume 3 in a new light, which is clever.

...but he's starting to figure out the rules whether he likes it or not.
from The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #38 (art by Alex Milne)

Almost too clever. I've been reading IDW's Transformers comics for almost three years now(!), and still a lot of the intricacies went over my head. Dramatic revelations were only comprehensible because I read the articles on the Transformers wiki. There were definitely moments where I felt like this story was in danger of disappearing up its own self-referential backside, unfortunately. It's so clever you can admire what Roberts is doing, but it's hard to enjoy it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I always enjoyed it. More than Meets the Eye is, as always, replete with details large and small that make it one of the sharpest comics on the stands. But being its most typical isn't its best.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Earth... Optimus is dumb enough to leave Prowl in command in First Strike!