Ten Things We Love About You
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
Having saved the universe—kind of—the Lost Light crew deal with the fallout in a manner befitting the gravity of the situation. Kind of.
..with a hearing
Story
If last issue of More Then Meets the Eye gave us a look at the inner workings of the Decepticon Justice Division, this month we get a full return to the core, and the heart, of the Lost Light and its ever evolving crew, with all the weak joints that might need fixing among its members.
So, yeah
The general backdrop for the issue is the aftermath of Brainstorm's 'adventure', in the form of the first internal affairs the trial has seen. A general backdrop, however, that leads into the focus of the story: the crew's reactions, especially chief medical officer Ratchet. Of course.
Always busy (and grumpy)
Ratchet is shown by James Roberts as a primus motor of the crew, particularly its higher officers, but also the more marginalised, unheard and unsung voices so far. He operated with tactical and surgical precision, trying to cure, fix and mend whatever relationships seem to be not working on the ship, in an attempt to mend his own failures, of a sort.
Superscraplets, a terrible blight
The relationships, though not always as savoury as they could be (Getaway, what are you doing?), are one of the other major tenets of the series, and it was a fantastic opportunity to take one issue to wrap up some of the current plots, seed some more and bring up as many emotions as possible. While also, coincidentally and casually, leading into Drift: Empire of Stone, and past stories in the IDWverse.
Art
The artist for the issue is a regular single-issue contributor - and one who deserves all the possible praise for his work here: Brendan Cahill. The characters' emotivity is wonderfully rendered in their almost organic facial expressions, body language, and interactions aboard the equally wonderful settings of the Lost Light. And giving a hand or two (ten fingers) to develop the style of one of the creative, visionary, shy Lighters.
Ten
Joana Lafuente's colours not only highlight the stellar artwork, they also keep a sense of continuity with previous Lost Light scenes and art, and adding the personal shades (from lilac rooms to corridor greys) complementing the going-ons inside both the ship and its inhabitants.
Mood lighting
And even if there is less space this time for Tom B. Long's letters to have fun, they are always there, helping scenes, dealing with Roberts' script, keeping out of the way of the artwork, making noises pointed out when necessary. In terms of covers, Cahill and Lafuente shine yet again with the Brainstorm-centric variant (thumbnail), as Alex Milne and Josh Perez take an emotional Ratchet to the fore, and Nick Roche and Burcham show a more light-hearted 2015 Tailgate in B.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
If you're looking for a long look at Brainstorm's actions and their reception as a plot point, this is not the issue for you. This is an issue that digs into the raw stuff underneath all that, how the 'human', emotive responses of almost every member of the crew resonate and interact with each other, shifting the dynamics and preparing for the road to #50.
:>
And it's a touching, moving issue, with moments that wrench, twist, punch, induce smiles, grins and the potential tearing up - unashamedly so, mostly positive, but all undoubtedly powerful. It does it with the visuals, with the textual, with the story and most of all, the characters. Flawed characters, feeling characters, 'human' characters and -- wait, what did Ravage just do?
. 
out of
out of
