IDW Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #32 Variant Covers Revealed

I swear, if I have to see Ratchet die for a THIRD time....

Moonlighting, the one with Bruce Willis? Awesome

Now, speaking of time travel, anyone else wondering if this is the, "Don't let them take Skids" arc hinted in the first issue?

It is all of the above, and none of it, and again backwards. With death. And horror. And horrific death. And deathly horrors.

And the second, horrific, twisted offering from IDW Publishing this week comes in the shape of a briefcase, death, spaceships, death, Megatron and more death. Take a peek at the horrors of Sector 113 below, in the full preview of More Than Meets the Eye #32, out this Wednesday, and head back here tomorrow for the Seibertron.com review.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #32: Dawn of the Autobots
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
SLAUGHTERHOUSE! The crew of the Lost Light are used to past decisions coming back to bite them, but nothing—not even an ULTRA MAGNUS-certified crash course in the law of unintended consequences—could have prepared them for the horrors of Sector 113. Be warned: this issue is not for the easily distressed—or the easily heartbroken.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
MEGATRON leads the AUTOBOTS into the gravest danger they’ve ever faced!
What is the horror of Sector 113?
Variant Cover by Casey Coller!

Nice alt. mode for Nautica... Kinda looks like a cross between a G1 Sweep & G1 Thrust.

Synopsis
SLAUGHTERHOUSE! The crew of the Lost Light are used to past decisions coming back to bite them, but nothing—not even an ULTRA MAGNUS-certified crash course in the law of unintended consequences—could have prepared them for the horrors of Sector 113. Be warned: this issue is not for the easily distressed—or the easily heartbroken.



Story

We've seen parts of the Lost Light slowly disappear. We've seen members of the crew do the same. We've seen Ravage, openly, finally revealing himself to the crew. We've seen Megatron's position questioned by several of the older cast, and the new additions being more lenient. We've seen the horrors of Overlord, the DJD, the fighting pits, the mines and Empurata. Now, welcome to Slaughterhouse.



Premise: More Than Meets the Eye is already dealing with time paradoxes and multiple planes of existence, and has done so in its first season and during Dark Cybertron (that was the whole point, actually). So why not take it further? James Roberts, indeed, does, and gives us a glimpse of what might be, could be or potentially will be/has been depending on the observation point - and it ain't pretty.



In fact, it's horrific. As the title might suggest, it's slaughter. And even if we know something's not really happening, or not as we know it, it does not detract that much at all from the impact of the scenes. The scenes with Overlord so far are nothing compared to what we see in this issue. And actually, we don't really see it happen, wading as we do in the aftermath of the perpetrator(s)' rampage.



The stand-out moment of the entire book for me, however, is a long scene between Megatron and Ravage, in which we learn more about both of them, about the Decepticon ideal and loyalty, about Megatron's true nature, and Ravage's presence on the ship. And we see some old friends. Quite a few of them. So to speak. And some very nice interactions between Nightbeat and Nautica, as they discover a briefcase's contents. So to speak.

Art

As the issue was being drafted and inked, Alex Milne took to Twitter to add a running commentary of the horrors he was made to draw for the issue - and he was right. There is nothing pretty here, it's a splatter film in panels, on printed/digital pages. It's a Helex Chainsaw(hand) Massacre with excellent photography and art direction. It even has some formal experimentation to match the temporal paradoxes.



To make the art work so much more, Joana Lafuente adds some amazing effects in her colours. Most of the ship is adumbrated, shadows shifting in the background, with the only sources of light coming from optics, quantum foam, emergency lighting - until the very end, when power is restored. And the difference in tones is gigantic, and stunningly executed.



Similarly, the lettering touches that Tom B. Long brings to the issue, used sparingly once again, but to their full effectiveness when in their more creative moments, add to an already eerily tense, situation. And the lower case, almost rounded title font is brilliant in its contrast with the content. As for the covers, we've seen all three now, and how fitting it is to have the Coller/Bove variant, and the realisation of what cover A is actually showing.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Roberts does not hold back on the horrors and emotions running through at high voltage throughout the book, even though some may complain about the warped time nature somewhat detracting from the full impact - but it's powerful enough visually to overcome those (fairly apt) critiques. Milne and Lafuente have created a carnival of sparks, a morbid feast for desensitised optics, and one that is bound to stick with readers for a while.



This issue of MTMTE, much like its RID counterpart this month, reminds us of the many genres that the Transformers comics can span in their fiction, and lands squarely in full-blown cosmic horror, from splatter to gore to psychological thriller - via a couple of Doctor Who references, time warping and well-placed interactions between characters. On an unrelated note, ever noticed how the 1-2-3 Transformers emoticon looks a bit like the puppet from Saw..?

This issue blew my mind!

MTMTE's "2nd season" is looking worse than the first, if that's at all possible. Apparently Roberts is using 3rd party toys in MTMTE because that was definitely "not Megatron"! The real Megatron would never be so down on himself, or hold a conversation with a stuffy old Ravage! In the end we get Rewind back, but only a few readers will care. The Z-list cast of MTMTE is old and stale now.

Bounti76 wrote:

1984forever wrote:MTMTE's "2nd season" is looking worse than the first, if that's at all possible. Apparently Roberts is using 3rd party toys in MTMTE because that was definitely "not Megatron"! The real Megatron would never be so down on himself, or hold a conversation with a stuffy old Ravage! In the end we get Rewind back, but only a few readers will care. The Z-list cast of MTMTE is old and stale now.

IF IT ISN'T A REHASH OF THE 1984 CARTOON SEASON IT'S CRAP!!!!!


[/sarcasm]

I have seen the face of our enemy; he is green and has a laptop.

The ship is strong with those two.