Trial and Error
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
CERTAIN DEATH, HERE WE COME! MEGATRON assumes control of the quest to find the Knights of Cybertron—a quest that has never before been so urgent, so personal, and so likely to end in tears. An incredulous Lost Light crew is left asking the same thing you are: how exactly did it come to this?
Credits!
Story
This week in the third beginning of Dawn of the Autobots, we finally get back to the Lost Light ship, and the events between Megatron becoming its new captain and the defeat of Shockwave in Dark Cybertron - though we flit between the two settings, taking a look at how Cybertron reacted to buckethead donning the red instead of the purple, and the beginning of his trial.
Well, they're best of pals
James Roberts shakes up the crew of the ship, too, adding some new faces like Nautica and Riptide to old friends like loudmouthed Swerve (who actually appears to have toned down a little, or has he?) and dutiful Ultra Magnus. Dynamics have changed, there is very expected tension on board, but not as much really, as everything seems to have solved itself in the time since the trial - more or less.
The Tyrest Tiara, now in stores
Swerve and Rodimus still hold some of the best lines, or at least some of the best dialogue happens around them. Nautica is a really interesting addition to the crew, and one that speaks to my linguist self, but as expected, it's Megatron that holds centre stage - in his sessions with Rung, in the preparation to the trial, in his reflections and in his actions, there's definitely a lot more than mee-- fine, sorry.
What indeed..
The issue definitely does a lot of packing of multiple threads and plots. A lot of them. In terms of action, nothing actually happens except for one brilliant scene over a number of pages, because everything has happened in the six months leading to this issue and moment, and the six million odd years before that. But in that void of action, a lot happens.
Art
As far as the art is concerned, Alex Milne returns to pencils and inks, and in something that seems almost impossible, increases the amount of detail we were used to seeing in the pre-Dark Cybertron run of the series! The double-page spread with the beginning of the trial is astonishing, and the panelwork between the multiple time frames excellently executed.
You can actually see people's houses
Everything is helped by colourist Josh Burcham, who makes sure the linework really pops or shines where needed. There are some amazing sequences, one in particular, where the colours prove that red is not a single hue at all, and each character really comes through with their own deco - and again, that trial scene is ridiculous.
So is this, to be fair
Tom B. Long continues on the legendary lettering, from fonts to effects, to graffiti to captions and more fonts - it's always a good thing to get good lettering, especially non-intrusive, art-complementing lettering. Word. Three excellent covers, too, with Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente on A, Milne and Josh Perez on B (thumbnail) and Livio Ramondelli on interlocking RI!
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
All the packing I mentioned earlier? That's both the strength and, for lack of a better word, weakness of this issue. Flitting between time frames can be distracting, though both the storytellers do it well, and the plotting has seeded so many different things that you will have to read it multiple times. Including the whole first season, too.
That's.. pretty accurate
The art team have upped their game in terms of everything, and Roberts has gone all the way back to the very first issue of More Than Meets the Eye, and picked up some unanswered questions from there. Will we finally see answers to them though? Eventually? Maybe? Perhaps? ..please?
. 
½ out of
½ out of 
