Review: Transformers: Unicron by John Barber, Alex Milne, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Andrew Griffith, Kei Zama, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n. pag.
Published 2019 (contents: 2018)
Acquired and read April 2019

Transformers: Unicron

Written by John Barber, with Chris Ryall, David Rodriguez, Brandon Easton, Christos Gage, Magdalene Visaggio
Art by Alex Milne
Additional Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher, Andrew Griffith, Kei Zama, David Messina, Nelson Dániel, Juan Samu, Paolo Villanelli, Fico Ossio
Colors by Sebastian Cheng, David Garcia Cruz
Additional Colors by Joana Lafuente, Alessandra Alexakis, Mattia Iacono
Letters by Tom B. Long, with Curtis Fandango

Though I gave up on John Barber's take on Transformers a couple years ago now, I still had some curiosity about how it would all end, and so I dutifully picked up Unicron, which ties up the IDW continuity that began all the way back in Infiltration-- three-and-a-half years of reading for me, and thirteen years of storytelling for them.

I don't know why Rung of all people would be at the center of Optimus's memories of the fallen, but hey, I love Rung, so I'll take it.
from Transformers: Unicron #6 (script by John Barber, art by Alex Milne)

Anyway, it's about as bad as all post-Dark Cybertron John Barber Transformers comics have been. Too many characters I don't care about, too much ancient Transformer mythology, too many banal human beings, too many shoehorned-in other Hasbro properties, too much indecisive Optimus, too many characters reverting again and again. Why did Starscream undo his progress from Till All Are One? Why am I reading about yet another millennia-long Shockwave masterplan? Didn't the jokes about Thundercracker writing screenplays wear thin years ago?

Why yet another story where Prowl is a jerk and this backfires?
from Transformers: Unicron #5 (script by John Barber, art by Alex Milne)

I guess the biggest point of frustration for me is the title character itself. Say what you will about the 1980s Transformers film, but Unicron is awesome in the original sense of the word. Its coming feels ominous and significant and unstoppable; it is the doom of a universe. Where and why does it come from? Irrelevant. It hungers, and it will have you. Here, though, Unicron never dominates. Neither the writing nor the art give it the immensity it deserves, it always feels squeezed in, instead of dominating. And then to give it an origin story that ties into one of the mediocre Hasbro properties! Visionaries, I think? I've already forgotten. This diminishes Unicron and thus the whole story.

I usually like Alex Milne, but his Unicron just feels really unimpressive. Ooh, it's sucking up some rocks.
from Transformers: Unicron #0 (script by John Barber, art by Alex Milne)

The IDW Transformers universe had a strong start in Infiltration, and despite missteps such as All Hail Megatron, went some very interesting, unprecedented places once the war ended. But John Barber, the same architect of those innovations slowly dismantled them after Dark Cybertron and then piled on the mistakes with the Hasbro comics shared universe-- necessitating the destruction of the entire continuity, because there was no other way to reset things to the way they'd been. But that destruction turned out to be as banal and uninteresting as the writing that made it necessary to begin with.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in another universal stream... the Fall of Cybertron!

Review: Transformers: The Wreckers Saga by Nick Roche, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2018 (contents: 2010-18)
Acquired May 2019
Read July 2019

Transformers: The Wreckers Saga

Story: Nick Roche & James Roberts
Art: Nick Roche, Guido Guidi, John Wycough, Andrew Griffith, Geoff Senior, and Brendan Cahill
Colors: Josh Burcham, Joana Lafuente, and Josh Perez
Letters: Neil Uyetake, Chris Mowry, Tom B. Long, and Shawn Lee

Having enjoyed IDW's first two Wreckers comics, somehow I still missed the existence of a third, Requiem of the Wreckers until it was too late: the one-shot wasn't at my local comics shop, and wasn't even available at my usual aftermarket web site. It was collected in this trade paperback, but this trade paperback also collected the first two Wreckers miniseries, which I already owned, and I wasn't about to pay $20 for a collection of eleven issues that I already owned ten of. But then the collection appeared in my LCS's $5 discount pile on Free Comic Book Day, so of course I went for it.

The first time I read this comic, I kept forgetting who Impactor was. I'm so bad at robots.
from The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 (script by Nick Roche & James Roberts, art by Nick Roche & John Wycough)

I'm actually really glad I did. I liked Last Stand of the Wreckers and Sins of the Wreckers the first time around, and I'm not going to re-review them here, but I liked them even more a second time around, with a firmer grounding in Transformers lore, and knowledge of where the stories were ultimately going. Small details became significant with foreknowledge in mind, and reading Last Stand and Sins (and Requiem) back to back made how it's all one big story much more apparent. (Poor Guzzle.)

As you do.
from Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers #1 (script & art by Nick Roche)

Requiem is a fitting end for the whole saga, bringing together the villains of the first two stories, and tying off a lot of emotional and character threads, especially for Impactor and Springer, whose relationship is one of the backbones of the series. Kup is dead, so he can't feature like he did in the first two, but Roche turns that into a virtue.

Nooo, Ironfist/Fistiron!
from Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers #5 (script & art by Nick Roche)

I also appreciated the presence of Verity Carlo throughout. Verity was there when IDW's continuity began, so I'm glad Nick Roche kept her character going once Simon Furman left, and gave her an ending as IDW's entire universe drew to an end.

Hopefully if you lived through what Verity did, you'd gain some wisdom, too. I hope.
from Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers Annual 2018 (script by Nick Roche, art by Brendan Cahill)

Roche is oft-praised by Transformers fans, I think, but probably still not praised enough. Of course he knows his continuity and stuff, and we like him for it, but even better, he understands character and theme. This is a saga about the damage war does, and how we need friendship to overcome it, and what the appropriate bounds of friendship allow for and what they do not. How do you forge an identity that meets the expectations your friends place upon you when the entire universe seems to be conspiring against you? This informs every character arc, every story beat. He also has a way with big crazy ideas, and his art is incredible stuff. James Roberts (co-writer on some of Last Stand) justly gets a lot of praise, but Roche is surely the talent of the IDW era. I hope IDW keep him involved in their new era, or that he goes on to do his own incredible stuff. Or you know, both.

Well, that's one kind of personal growth, I guess.
from Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers Annual 2018 (script & art by Nick Roche)

Wreck and rule!

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Elonia... the universe is about to be devoured by Unicron!

Review: Transformers: Lost Light: The Plotters' Club by James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, Priscilla Tramontano, et al.

Issues #8-12 of Transformers: Lost Light (which roughly correspond to volume 2 of the collected editions) contain two stories, both kind of side stories but clearly also contributing to the long game of this comic book: a two-parter without an overarching title and a three-parter with two different ones.

"An Axe to Break the Ice" and "Chasing the Infinite" is about Nautica and Velocity going to a market planet, ostensibly for information, but actually because Nautica wants to bring Skids back to life; they're accompanied by new characters Anode and Lug, who get into hijinks of their own, before it all comes together. I wanted to like this more than I did. The problem is that the Nautica/Skids friendship and/or romance was never really at the forefront of More than Meets the Eye, so the depth of Nautica's grief never quite comes off. What does work, though, is the Nautica/Velocity friendship, which has been a strongly consistent element of these characters since they were introduced back in Dark Cybertron. The bigger plot elements here a little confusing, but I assume they'll become clear in time and/or the Transformers wiki will explain them to me.

The Plotters' Club takes us back to the Lost Light for the first time since Getaway stole it from Rodimus at the beginning of volume 10 of More than Meets the Eye; First Aid and the "Protectobots," who left the ship during Combiner Wars, finally make it back, only to discover there's been a change in management since they left. At first, things seem pretty chill-- under Getaway's leadership, the Lost Light is actually making progress-- but the longer they stay on board, the more suspicious things turn out...

This is another strong installment of MtMtE/Lost Light, undermined only by the fact that it focuses on some of the lesser characters, and I still find it difficult to distinguish unfamiliar robots from each other even after three years of reading Transformers comics. Like, when Ambulon came back, I wouldn't have known who he was without the TFWiki. But this is one of those James Roberts stories that blends interesting concepts, crazy antics, and chilling darkness into a coherent whole. The descent of Getaway into madness is fascinating, and I like seeing First Aid-- a guy I'd never given much thought to-- start to stand up to him. There are a lot of callbacks to earlier issues (Froid and Star Saber both return), and by and large they tend to work. It's another dozen-or-so issues before this series comes to an end, but things are clearly accelerating into the endgame at this point.

Also there are some good Thunderclash jokes, which I always appreciate.

Next Tuesday: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... the Dinobots are once again searching, this time for Salvation!

"An Axe to Break the Ice" and "Chasing the Infinite" originally appeared in issues #8-9 of Transformers: Lost Light (July-Aug. 2017). The story was written by James Roberts, illustrated by Priscilla Tramontano, colored by Joana Lafuente, lettered by Tom B. Long, and edited by Carlos Guzman.

The Plotters' Club (also known as The Mutineers Trilogy) originally appeared in issues #10-12 of Transformers: Lost Light (Sept.-Nov. 2017). The story was written by James Roberts; illustrated by Jack Lawrence (#10-12), Alex Milne (#11), and Andrew Griffith (#12); colored by Joana Lafuente (#10-12), Priscilla Tramontano (#11-12), and John-Paul Bove (#12); lettered by Tom B. Long; and edited by Carlos Guzman.

Review: Revolution: Transformers by John Barber, Mairghread Scott, James Roberts, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n. pag.
Published 2017 (contents: 2015-16)
Acquired January 2018
Read April 2018

Revolution: Transformers

Written by John Barber, Mairghread Scott, Nick Roche and James Roberts
Art by Andrew Griffith, Naoto Tsushima, Alex Milne, Corin Howell, Kotteri, Josh Burcham
Colors by Thomas Deer, Joana Lafuente
Letters by Gilberto Lazcano, Tom B. Long, Chris Mowry

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.

Has any IDW artist outside of E. J. Su been good at both humans and robots?
from Revolution: Transformers #1 (script by John Barber, art by Andrew Griffith)

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.

I'm down with anything that makes fun of M.A.S.K. Like, why are they even called that? They don't wear masks, or anything, their power is driving cars.
from Revolution: Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #1 (script by Nick Roche & James Roberts, art by Alex Milne)

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.)

Crankcase accurately summarizes the plot of Revolution.
from Revolution: Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #1 (script by Nick Roche & James Roberts, art by Alex Milne)

This Friday: Meanwhile, in space... we return to the Lost Light!

Review: Transformers, Volume 10 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, Livio Ramondelli, Priscilla Tramontano, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2016 (contents: 2016)
Acquired and read January 2018

Transformers, Volume 10

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith, Casey W. Coller, Livio Ramondelli, and Priscilla Tramontano
Additional Inks by Jamie Snell
Colors by Josh Burcham, John-Paul Bove, Josh Perez, Joana Lafuente, and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry

In this volume (which has "All Hail Optimus" on the cover, but not the title page, but finally does drop "The" from the title page even though it disappeared from the cover with volume 7), Optimus Prime essentially annexes the Earth in order to protect it from Galvatron, bringing it into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds that was established in Windblade: Distant Stars.

This could be interesting. People wonder if Optimus is doing the right thing, or if he's turning into a conqueror like the Primes of old; Camiens, on the other hand, wonder if Optimus is really a Prime after all, given that he no longer bears the Matrix.

At no point in reading a Transformers comic have I ever thought, Thank God they added yet another combiner.
from Transformers vol. 2 #53 (art by Priscilla Tramontano)

But what happens? Does the story examine this stuff? Instead, Optimus stands around in a desert a lot, reacts to what the humans are doing, and the whole thing ends with (what feels like) the one millionth fight with Galvatron, who in his brief run as this series's principal villain, has already been around too long. Plus it just feels like Barber is shifting gears to set up for the next storyline (Titans Return), even though this one never actually took off!

That's right, Prowl. Do nothing. Nothing at all.
from Transformers vol. 2 #50 (art by Andrew Griffith)

At the beginning I was worried that Prowl was going to be in it, but thank God it just turns out to be a one-issue cameo.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... Windblade learns that there are lot of challenges to be overcome Till All Are One!

Review: The Transformers, Volume 9 by John Barber, Sara Pitre-Durocher, and Andrew Griffith

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2016 (contents: 2015-16)
Acquired October 2016
Read January 2018

The Transformers, Volume 9

Written by John Barber
Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher and Andrew Griffith
Colors by Josh Perez
Additional Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long

I just cannot get into this series's post-Dark Cybertron change of direction. At least Prowl is gone now, thanks to the events of Sins of the Wreckers (though I'm not sure there's actually a continuity gap where Arcee and Kup could have gone off and done the things they did in that series, at least not yet), but the premise isn't very interesting (fighting over ancient Cybertronian mysteries), and it just doesn't go anywhere. I am pretty sure that Spike and Blackrock have a conversation in a jail cell that lasts for all four issues collected here. Meanwhile, there are too many Combiners, and too little focus on that characters and situations unique to this book.

One of the issues is told from the perspective of a dog and a nonverbal diagnostic drone. It's kind of cute, but it's been done better elsewhere.

Panels with gray borders depict how the dog, Buster, hears things. I like the way the dialogue is done, with most of it jumbled, but occasional fragments a dog would understand in the clear. (And of course a dog's first question to someone he doesn't already know would be "Do you have food?")
from Transformers vol. 2 #48 (art by Andrew Griffith)

This is the last volume of the series formerly known as Robots in Disguise that was contained in the Humble Bundles that are my primary source of Transformers comics. I've already bought volume 10 in a comiXology sale so that I can wrap the series up, but it will have to be very good to convince me to carry on into the post-Titans Return/Revolution relaunch of this series as Optimus Prime.

Also this sequence is pretty good. Go Buster!
from Transformers vol. 2 #48 (art by Andrew Griffith)

Next Week: Meanwhile, throughout the galaxy... it's time for some Christmas cheer in the Transformers Holiday Special!

Review: The Transformers, Volume 8 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, and Livio Ramondelli

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

The Transformers, Volume 8

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith and Livio Ramondelli
Colors by Josh Perez and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long

There was no volume 7 of this series, you know that? I guess Combiner Wars: First Strike is being retroactively counted as volume 7, but that wasn't on the title page or cover. (Maybe it was on the spine; I'm reading the eBooks.)

Anyway, volume 8 primarily serves to confirm that the post-Dark Cybertron, Earth-focused approach of the series formerly known as Robots in Disguise is doing nothing for me. There's more obnoxious stuff about Prowl, continually making Optimus Prime the galaxy's most ineffective faction leader:

C'mon, dude, accept some personal responsibility. Optimus Prime was more convincing as a great leader when he wasn't actually leading.
from Transformers vol. 2 #42 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

Plus Galvatron does his evil thing, in a way that's incredibly obvious yet somehow his ideologically motivated followers fail to notice. I do like the focus of the post-DC era on Soundwave, as he's an interesting fellow, but he's also a bit of a patsy, especially considering his ability to monitor electromagnetic radiations. He should know better!

Spike cares as little about this subplot as I do.
from Transformers vol. 2 #45 (art by Andrew Griffith)

All the stuff with G. B. Blackrock and Alpha Trion and ancient Cybetronian artifacts is the complete opposite of what got me into More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise: a serious exploration of the issues raised by a civilization that's undergone millions of years of war. This is just tedious cod-mythology, lots of mysteries where there's no reason to care about the resolutions.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... Windblade must make overtures to some Distant Stars!

Review: The Transformers: Combiner Wars: First Strike by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

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

The Transformers: Combiner Wars: First Strike

Written by John Barber
Art by Sarah Stone, Livio Ramondelli, Andew Griffith, and Brendan Cahill
Colors by Josh Perez
Additional Colors by Joana Lafuente and Thomas Deer
Letters by Tom B. Long

Unlike its sister title, Robots in Disguise didn't lose its leading article... it just lost the whole rest of the title! Now plain old Transformers, but at least it's gained full subtitles in lieu of volume numbers, as this volume is called Combiner Wars: First Strike. To my surprise, it actually opens with a Windblade continuation of sorts, keeping up that series's development of events back on Cybertron, and even using Windblade's artist, Sarah Stone. Awakening after his apparent death (back in volume 5, I think? I lose track), Wheeljack is confronted with a strange new Cybertron, ruled by Starscream and inhabited by women! (like Windblade), and he has to decide where his loyalties lie. It's slight, but I like Wheeljack.

A girl!?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #33 (art by Sarah Stone)

After that, though, it's just confirmation that the new direction of this comic book is not one that I am enjoying. Pompous journeys into Cybertronian history are becoming increasingly dull to me. They're just a cheap way of attempting to add weight to banal proceedings (so is Livio Ramondelli's artwork). And then we're off to four whole issues of Prowl being an asshole to everyone, another thing I have rapidly become tired of. It doesn't even make sense for Optimus to leave the mentally compromised Prowl in charge, something he seems to acknowledge:

Everyone says Optimus Prime is a Great Leader, but when I read scenes like this it's hard to believe it.
from The Transformers vol. 2 #35 (art by Andrew Griffith)

Prowl dominates the book so much in its current form that there's not much enjoyment to seek elsewhere. I've never really cared for this version of Spike Witwicky since he was introduced in All Hail Megatron, and though I liked Jimmy Pink in Simon Furman's stories, he's not really the same without Hunter and Verity alongside. I like Arcee, but she's mostly a bystander here, and the rest of the Earth-based Autobots are barely interesting at best.

Even when Prowl's not there, all everyone else does is talk about him!
from The Transformers vol. 2 #38 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I just don't get why the series has gone in this direction, throwing aside its unique selling points in favor of generic, uninspired Earth infiltration while everyone chases after some kind of generic, uninspired maguffin. Why make Optimus the leader of the Autobots and then send him out in the field? Why isn't he leading his people? Why can't he delegate? It's a weird and not very organic development of the series post-Dark Cybertron.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... even the Decepticon Justice Division can be More than Meets the Eye!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 6 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2014 (contents: 2014)
Acquired March 2015
Read July 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 6

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Flashback Art by Guido Guidi, Brendan Cahill, and Casey W. Coller
Colors by Josh Perez
Flashback Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long

I guess that what I have to admit is that I actually don't find the original premise of The Transformers terribly compelling in most of its iterations. Like, Transformers in giant space epics: awesome, but Transformers hiding on Earth from humans who can't tell the moral difference between Autobots and Decepticons: tedious. Furman put a nice new spin on it in Infiltration, but most of the time, I get tired of the Autobots having to plan their actions around really dumb humans, like in the 1980s cartoon, or in Bob Budiansky's G1 stories.

Unfortunately, this volume of Robots in Disguise resets the series premise. No longer is it about rebuilding on Cybertron after the end of the Autobot/Decepticon war, but now it's about Autobots and Decepticons back at it, fighting on Earth while looking for... I've already forgotten. Some kind of maguffin. Alpha Trion? Something something combiners? Humans are working with Decepticons now because the Decepticons told them that Megatron (who led the Decepticons when they massacred one billion humans back during All Hail Megatron) is an Autobot now. Does it even make sense that humanity would just take Galvatron's say-so on this? The Decepticons on Earth are a combination of true believers (like Soundwave, who, I'm coming to like) and exploitative cynics (Galvatron, whom it seems implausible that no one sees through). Also part of the problem is that artists hired for their effectiveness at drawing robots are often not great at drawing human beings.

Oh, this genocidal robot showed me a hologram. I bet he can be trusted!
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #29 (art by Guido Guidi)

Oh, and geeze, there's just so much manipulative Prowl stuff it gets tedious. I'm tired of Prowl by this point. Optimus Prime can't be the Greatest Leader of All Time if he can't rein Prown in effectively.

Actual consequences will stop him from doing the wrong thing so much. Instead, you make him Deputy Leader!?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol 1 #32 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I do really love Thundercracker, the Decepticon who's gone native (to the extent that a Transformer can go native, I guess), binge-watching DVDs and writing screenplays of his own:

I should note that her name is "Susan Journeyer," which is on-the-nose-- but then of course most Transformer names are incredibly on-the-nose.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #28 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I mean, it's not terrible; Barber and Griffith never fall below baseline competence. But it is pretty far from what interests me about Transformers.

Next Week: Meanwhile, on Cybertron... dark forces are moving against Windblade!

Review: The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, Volume 1 by John Barber, James Roberts, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2014 (contents: 2013-14)
Acquired March 2015
Read April 2017

The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, Volume 1

Written by: John Barber and James Roberts
Art by: Brendan Cahill, Phil Jimenez, Andrew Griffith, Atilio Rojo, James Raiz, Livio Ramondelli, Nick Roche, and Robert Gill
Colors by: J. P. Bove, Josh Perez, Livio Ramondelli, and Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters by: Tom B. Long and Gilberto Lazcazno

Between Dark Prelude and the potential frisson of two series I enjoy meeting up, I was really looking forward to Dark Cybertron. But six issues in, and it hasn't really gone very far. The two casts haven't even really met yet, except that Orion Pax, normally a recurring in Robots in Disguise, has gone off on an away mission with a couple characters from More than Meets the Eye. Oh, and I guess the completely nondescript friends of Orion are temporarily in the crew of the Lost Light. But most of the Robots in Disguise characters are still doing their own thing on Cybertron, while the More than Meets the Eye characters are off doing their own thing out in space. (All three groups are, of course, responding to actions initiated by Shockwave in the previous volume of Robots in Disguise, but exactly how what's going on in More than Meets the Eye links in hasn't yet been made clear.)

Worse than that, the story has the feel of one artificially stretched out to twelve issues, instead of a story so big it needed twelve issues to be told. Shockwave reanimates a dead Titan and... then it just stands around in the wilderness a lot while Autobots and Decepticons shoot at it, but don't really get anywhere. Orion, Rodimus, Cyclonus, and the other characters in the Dead Universe move through it looking for Shockwave... very slowly... The Lost Light crew doesn't even appear in some issues! In the last two issues, things start happening, but it sure took a long time for those things to come along. It doesn't help that some of the many artists are poor at choreographing action when it does happen. (Or that Starscream and Bumblebee have radically new head designs that are just wrong.)

Like, how can you take a guy whose whole shtick is being yellow and give him a blue head? Also Prowl is awful mean given most of Bumblebee's leadership "failures" were his fault.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #23 (art by Atilio Rojo)

It has it moments. The clash between Orion's staid crew and the Lost Light losers is of course good fun:

The ringtone is actually shown in use in volume 2.
from The Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1 (art by Phil Jimenez & Andrew Griffith)

Or that fact that Rodimus has a ship that looks like his head (why? no one ever explains this), or the Lost Light crew going on a mission inside the body of a giant Titan, or some of the grace notes of the characterization of Arcee and the Dinobots and such (which Barber is always good at). But mostly this feels like six issues of build-up and gratuitous action; hopefully volume 2 pulls it together in a way that makes volume 1 retroactively more compelling.

Next Week: More darkness! More Cybertron! Volume 2!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 5 by John Barber, Livio Ramondelli, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2013)
Acquired March 2015
Read April 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 5

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli, Atilio Rojo, Dheeraj Verma, and Andrew Griffith
Colors by Livio Ramondelli, Priscilla Tramontano, and Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long, Chris Mowry, and Shawn Lee

This volume is sort of a mixed bag-- there's clearly a lot of set-up going on here for the imminent Dark Cybetron crossover. While in More than Meets the Eye, that was seemingly all done in a bonus text story at the back (and one throwaway comment in the final issue), a lot of what's here are stories about the secret agenda that Shockwave's been running in the background for almost the entire duration of Robots in Disguise. We get a flashback tale that integrates some of the revelations about Shockwave from More than Meets the Eye with the backstory shown in Autocracy (appropriately drawn by Autocracy's artist, Livio Ramondelli), yet another tale of Orion Pax and company chasing Shockwave's mentor Jhiaxus but failing to accomplish anything, and a two-part story that parallels Shockwave and Soundwave fighting in the present with their relationship in the past.

This stuff is okay. Some of it feels belabored and stretched out: Shockwave and Soundwave's fight, for example, was never particularly interesting. I did really like the insight I got into Soundwave's relationship with his cassette servants; probably the best bit of the whole two issues is where we see their first meeting. Soundwave has the power to basically hear all things, which leaves him overwhelmed, but the Cybertronians who will become his cassettes reach out to him and teach him how to filter his perceptions to make them manageable. It adds a bit of pathos to a Decepticon character I hadn't really thought about before. (I still don't get why his cassettes are cassettes, though.) Other aspects of the flashbacks, though, were informative, but not entertaining, more like reading the Transformers wiki than a story-- as always, Barber seems to be sewing up a lot of continuity details for the faithful.

And then they all became evil.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #22 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

Orion Pax chasing but not getting Jhiaxus is becoming dull, but I suppose this formula will come to an end with Dark Cybetron. It was fun to see a Beast Wars character make a significant contribution to the story in the form of Waspinator. Those are the Transformers stories I'm nostalgic for!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 4 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Up now at Unreality SF: my take on the most recent UNIT audio set from Big Finish, the return of the Silence in Silenced!

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2012-13)
Acquired March 2015
Read March 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 4

Written by John Barber
Pencils by Andrew Griffith
Inks by Andew Griffith and Brian Shearer
Ink Assist by Rick Ketcham
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Shawn Lee and Chris Mowry

EVERYTHING YOU KNEW IS WRONG!

It's maybe not quite like that, but John Barber totally upends the situation on Cybertron by returning Megatron to Iacon, disrupting the carefully calibrated peace between Autobots, Decepticons, and neutrals, as Megatron not only mobilizes the Decepticon remnants, but reveals that much of what had been happening since the beginning of the series was actually his own doing, down to the fact that he had a key Autobot under mind control as far back as volume 1! Iacon suddenly goes from a city under Autobot rule to one besieged, as the Decepticons move across the city in the night, the Autobot forces are scattered and leaderless, and Starscream insists that he could have won through democracy but Megatron messed it all up.

Don't ask, Bumblebee.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #14 (art by Andrew Griffith & Brian Shearer)

It's the most compelling Robots in Disguise has been thus far, building on hints Barber has been dropping all along, large and small-- thank Primus for the Transformers wiki and its careful unearthing of minute details. Some of the book is still a little underwhelming: I think this is because Barber's twists and reveals are often less character-based than James Roberts's over in More than Meets the Eye, relying heavily on technology. For example, Megatron tells us that the space bridge technology in his old body allowed him to manipulate the energies of the reborn primordial Cybertron, causing the madness outside Iacon. Well, um, okay, sure, why not? As an answer to an ongoing mystery, it's not exactly satisfying. The mind-control reveal is also a bit meh, I think, as it doesn't actually tell us anything about the character in question. (Well, I guess it does tell us he's not as bad as he seemed.) And there's a key moment that really relies on you knowing about the attitudes of multiple characters toward Spike Witwicky from the previous ongoing... which I only read the first volume of...

These guys mostly just put in small, periodic appearances-- I hope we see more of them because they're awesome.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #12 (art by Andrew Griffith)

That said, there's good stuff here. I like the growing group of former Autobots and Decepticons who feel they have more in common with the neutrals. I like how Wheeljack manages to save the day retroactively with a nice callback to an earlier issue.

Two issues of Megatron not talking turns out to be Megatron at his most unsettling.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #13 (art by Andrew Griffith)

And best of all is the developing friendship between Metalhawk, leader of the neutrals, and Starscream, the Decepticon Who Would Be King. At one point I gasped aloud. Very enjoyable stuff-- I spent volumes 1-3 feeling like Barber was continuously setting up, and here he finally pays off, and it's definitely worth the wait. I look forward to seeing where Robots in Disguise goes more than ever.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... the Lost Light finally gets somewhere on its quest in More than Meets the Eye! Well, kinda.

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 2 by John Barber, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 98 pages
Published 2012 (contents: 2012)
Acquired August 2014
Read February 2017

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 2

Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli, Brendan Cahill, and Andrew Griffith
Colors by Joana Lafeunte, Josh Perez, and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Shawn Lee

Physically, all IDW trade paperbacks are thin. IDW as a company just doesn't like collecting more than four issues at once, and this is as true of The Transformers as it is for Star Trek, Doctor Who, or My Little Pony. And besides, I'm reading these Transformers volumes electronically. But despite that, this one collects four issues and still manages to feel thinner than most. Probably at least partially because the first issue collected here is not about the Autobots forging a new future on Cybertron, but Orion Pax nee Optimus Prime following up on clues from crazed Decepticon scientist Jhiaxus about Monstructor. Though I'm sure it'll play into events on Cybertron in the long run, it feels like filler: Orion is not a main character in this series, and I barely know who the other robots on this mission-- on either side-- even are. Livio Ramondelli's art doesn't help; his painterly style is attractive, but the storytelling is often difficult to follow.

Give him an amazing discovery in an ancient ice cavern, though, and he'll draw the hell out of it.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #6 (art by Livio Ramondelli)

The remaining three issues here advance some of the plotlines of post-peace Cybertron: Wheeljack investigates a mysterious Decepticon recently arrived on Cybertron, while Ironhide and the Dinobots brave the wilderness of post-reformatting Cyberton and Bumblebee tries to balance his desire to be inclusive with his fear of giving Decepticons a bigger role in the global government. The stories are decent if not great, enlivened by the stuff Barber and his artistic collaborators do with voice and structure. One issue, for example, parallels happenings in Autobot HQ depicted in conventional comics formats with Wheeljack's explorations in a sixteen-panel grid filled with narration:

Forget the nine-panel grid, Alan Moore. John Barber is here!
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #7 (art by Brendan Cahill)

Also, the little touches make it sing, like the former Decepticon who produces terrible poetry at open mic night, or just how goddamned smug Starscream is all the time:

I also dig every little crack he makes about the elections.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #7 (art by Brendan Cahill)

I've never really paid much attention to Bumblebee before, but I like him here-- a nice guy harried by every person, trying to live up to an impossible ideal in a difficult decision, always too hopeful that there will be an easy way out, and completely lacking confidence in himself. There's a lot simmering in this book, and it's an enjoyable simmer, but I look forward to seeing it boil over. Too often I feel like something interesting is about to happen, not actually happening.

Next Week: Meanwhile, in space... as always the Lost Light crew encounters something that's More than Meets the Eye!

Review: The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 1 by John Barber, Andrew Griffith, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2012)
Acquired August 2014
Read November 2016

The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 1

Written by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Additional Art by Casey Coller
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Shawn Lee

While the Lost Light gallivants through space having wacky space adventures, Bumblebee and the other Autobots have to figure out how to rule after the war is over back on Cybertron. The real strength of both these Transformers series is their strong character focus, but each writer takes a different approach to get there. While James Roberts's More than Meets the Eye is all about the dialogue, John Barber in Robots in Disguise uses narration; each issue is narrated in the first person by a different character, giving us a particular perspective on the events unfolding from Bumblebee, Starscream, Wheeljack, Prowl, and Ironhide in turn.

We get murder investigations, terrorist threats, ancient Cybertronian systems coming back to life, assassinations, and political machinations. Probably Starscream was my favorite character here, as he makes the ultimate power play: deciding to genuinely, actually, nicely help the Autobots... so that he can come out on top as always. Also he has a sense of humor, which always helps:

Megatron never cracked jokes this good.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #2 (art by Andrew Griffith)

The real heart of this series is the question of when the war actually ends. Bumblebee is an idealist, and now that the fighting's over, wants to do things without compromising, as ethically as possible-- hence his forming a government that includes representatives for both the Decepticons and the non-aligned Cybertronians. Prowl, on the other hand, doesn't believe that the war can ever end, and is determined to be as cunning and manipulative as ever. Most of the other Autobots are somewhere in the middle, as Wheeljack's narration here indicates:

The ends justify the means... but how do you know when you've actually got to the end?
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #3 (art by Andrew Griffith)

I also really liked the ongoing saga of Dirge, a Decepticon who was abandoned by both sides when he escorted Autobot prisoners across the space bridge during All Hail Megatron and got stuck on Cybertron, where his partner was killed by the Insecticon swarm. He survived alone on Cybertron until the end of the war, and now wants nothing to do with either side, but every attempt he makes to build a new life is doomed to failure. Those he reaches out to die, but going it alone doesn't work either when he's perpetually a victim of others' machinations.

Poor guy.
from The Transformers: Robots in Disguise vol. 1 #4 (art by Andrew Griffith)

This book is not quite as good as the first volume of More than Meets the Eye, mostly because I had a harder time keeping track of all the characters, especially in action scenes, where I had to spend too much time attempt to decode significant events. (Thank God for the Transformers wiki.) I look forward to seeing where this goes, because Barber has the foundation here for a whole new kind of Transformers storytelling.

Next Week: Meanwhile, back in space, the Lost Light discovers the terrors of a space plague that's More than Meets the Eye!