Comic reviews: IDW More Than Meets The Eye ongoing

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm surprised he's not dragging his knuckles on the ground.

[i_amtrunks]

MtMtE #25/Dark Cybertron #6

So the pressing thing from the first 5 issues could be boiled down to: what was Shockwaves plan with the Necrotitan, and how does this tie into Metroplex?

Come issue #6 and we get an issue with ZERO pages featuring the cycloptic one. Sure we got a lot more Lost Light pages than the last few issues so that helps alot. Things on Cybertron barely change. It is an RiD problem, so little happens on Cybertron again, but it takes up more than it's fair share of panels.

Same thing in the dead Universe, alot of panels rehashing and floundering for time but not much happens, in fact, Nova was shown to be landing at the end of last issue, yet it takes pages of useless dialogue from Prime/Hardhead/Rodimus before he makes his actual re-appearance.

This series is really starting to show the same symptoms as RiD, it is spending a lot of time doing nothing and wasting space with useless and boring nattering to fill a page quota to draw out for time while we wait for the rushed villian monologue in #11 and stupidly fast resolution in #12.

At the moment this event is boring me and I only wait for the resumption of MtMtE. I might even drop RiD in protest unless things really ramp up and the quality drastically improves.

-Edit- After reading some more info about the issue, it turns out someone who went on a trip in a totally nonsense tie in a few years ago is back, not that you can tell from the awful art he gets on the final page.

[Sharky]

On Twitter IDW have been posting some teasers for the future called

After The Dark


They are spoilerish so view at your own risk

ATD Teaser 1

ATD teaser 2

And the game changer

ATD teaser 3

[i_amtrunks]

Interesting...

If that last one turns to be true it could be very interesting, I wonder what Roberts had to trade to get that one.

[bassbot]

The teasers are definitely true, cause the April solicitations have come out!

[Bidoofdude]

Read MTMTE #22 (Skids pack in) and although it didn't really focus on Skids, it is by far my favorite of the comics I've read. So many funny moments and Rung's altmode was entertaining as well.

Characters were really funny as well:

Cyclonus: "I'm not a Decepticon. I want that on screen"

"Footage removed by order of the duly appointed enforcer of the tyrest accord."

Blaster: "I thought you didn't like hats."
Rodimus: "Theme night at Swerve's: "People you'd like to punch."
Rodimus: "I was a lone Megatron in a sea of Whirls." CLASSIC.

Whirl was by far the best here in this issue:

Whirl (boastfully): "Well, I bet you haven't been blacklisted by the galactic council."

Skids: "Oh, Whirl. Don't tell me you're going to-I think 16 million years of war just came to an end"
Whirl: "And that, my itty-bitty friend, is how the experts do it."

[BigTransformerTrev]

I thought it was quite out of character to see Optimus start in with bashing stuff and making threats, but there was reasoning behind it - breaking your knuckles then smashing your mate in the mouth is a hell of a way to tackle a problem though!

-Edit- After reading some more info about the issue, it turns out someone who went on a trip in a totally nonsense tie in a few years ago is back, not that you can tell from the awful art he gets on the final page.

Yeah, until I read DC7 I couldn't tell it was Kup either

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, until I read DC7 I couldn't tell it was Kup either

I initially thought it was Spanner!

[i_amtrunks]

So MtMtE #26 is out...

And the best issue of Dark Cybertron yet. Things move forward in all three (two?) sections, characters get some good lines and the art is also the best of the series.

There is still no Shockwave/Galvatron action, and with only 3 issues plus the finale #12 which will surely have to wrap things up and return the series to their regular ongoing status, I fear that we are getting a Furman-esque event comic, where 11 issues of slow build up culminate in a four panel fist fight that ends everything overly abruptly.

The three fembots get some decent time on screen and reveal what they have been doing, events from MtMtE #22 come back to the 'fore and also throw some light on events that are sure to be revealed as important in MtMtE season 2 (regarding a "Holy Grail"). I am also now intrigued as to what the ongoing with the fembots will fcus on, events pre-Dark Cybertron or post Dark Cybertron, since the fembots seem to not have just "appeared" out of nowhere. Getaway knew of them, so could they be experiments out of the "institute"?

Whirl and Megatron get most of the good lines here, but Bumblebee and ratchet also keep things moving. Starscream gets show to once again become a pathetic wreck once he gets into a power position. I am glad he gets bugger all time here, other than to help the newly back to Iacon (gone all of an evening) characters get back into the groove (of keeping him down). The Dead Universe stuff rushes through without even trying to explain anything (other than Rodimus's numbers) and I am sure Nightbeat has been kept alive to info-dump sometime near the conclusion.

So while nothing much actually happens until the final page, the dialogue and faint glimpses of information make it seem like stuff happens, and the flow of the comic is good again. There are still negatives and weak spots, but after 7 issues, it seems to be finding its feet.

Artwise it is very strong, Burcham's colours are incredible across the board. My main complaint is that on Cybertron, Prowl's crest continues to shrink, which is a shame since Coller's cover nails him perfectly, too bad he couldn't have been the Cybertron artist throughout instead of Rojo. Kup actually looks like Kup and the fembots have some awesome designs that sadly will be lost in the translation to toy.

If you can ignore that while everything that happens in/around the Lost Light apparently takes only a few hours on Cybertron (since it has been all of maybe a day since the Bots and Cons were ejected from the city) this is starting to improve. When you hit the bottom the only way is up.

[Lordy]

I've read the latest issue and notice that there is a huge issue with the scale of Metroplex and the undead Metrotitan.

It has been shown that the Metrotitan on Cyberton is small enough that his head is about the height of Starscream, whereas Metroplex is massive compared to that, even the Rodpod being smaller than his eye canal.

However in the final reveal on the last page it shows the Metrotitan and Metroplex to be the same height, which would be correct, but if they were using the scale from the most of the issues, Metroplex should tower over the Metrotitan.

Looks like they are going to kill off Metroplex, which I think is sad. Also the obvious writing out of Rodimus as captain of the Lost Light.

Other than that, the end is near (yay!).