I'm No Superbot
(Spoiler free-ish)
SynopsisThree years into their quest, and the crew of the Lost Light were starting to think that the universe held no more nasty surprises. And then a planet started chasing them.
Nobel-worthy dialogueThere comes a point in a series, be it on television, in comics, or whatever else have you, when a certain sentence is brought onto the picture, featuring an aquatic creature, a certain type of physical effort and usual negative connotations. Do any of those descriptors fit issue 43 of Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye? Find out below (maybe)!
'Why are all these Us in our colors?'Writer James Roberts has made no secret of his fascination with popular culture, in music, TV series and the wider comics world - and has often woven in MTMTE this passion of his, with multiple results, usually as one-off gags or non-impacting moments. And then this issue happens, where all of those strands come once again together into a truly bizarre read.
Scene OneAs the solicits, previous issue, covers and various previews have shown us, Swerve takes centre stage in the most peculiar of ways, and fans of the last twenty years of anything and everything outside of the Transformers will probably find that the Idol of Millions has indeed something for everyone - even if some readers may find the frequency and awareness grating at times.
So MetaAnd yet, that last point also feeds into the story, and I'd be curious to see the varying reactions to the experience of getting through this new instalment of the series among the readership. Especially as whatever journey we take for 20 pages suddenly screeches, swerves (heh) and slams somewhere very very different indeed. At last.
ArtFrom a visual side of things, on the other hand, this issue proves that give Alex Milne a direction, and he will dress a world out of a streetname. Both his linework and Brian Shearer's inking collaboration really bring out the individual, non-robotic elements of each character that Roberts' script helps create, however on the nose or in your face, with some seriously on point representations.
Introducing: CyclonusAnd if we needed any more beauty and poignancy to any of the meta-mess that the story develops, Joana Lafuente's colours makes sure we don't miss the emotional stream trickling beneath the apparently farcical surface. Sets, settings, dresses, clothing and texture in general is deftly captured and covered by her tones, ensuring a full surround of no laughing matter.
Also introducing: BluestreakLaughter which is instead, where necessary (and unnecessary, given the setting) provided by letterer Tom B. Long, whose efforts are not slight in populating a sign-crowded world with more words than you can shake a boom mic at. There are covers for all flavours too, from the Milne/Josh Perez main Cyclonus one, to the cameo making multi-Swerve by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham, a Texas exclusive Casey Coller and JP Bove G1-esque variant, and the thumbnailed James Biggie ad-style Unicron.
ThoughtsSpoilerish aheadSimilar things have been said for other issues of MTMTE, but this one in particular is going to be discussed quite a bit, one expects, not for its impact on the wider story - though it inevitably will on that account too - but for what it's trying to do and how it's accomplishing the A plot, and how far some readers will take it - or leave it.
Wait.. what? What?!What goes well with the issue, however, goes really really well, from both a writing and a visual perspective, and the latter in particular. Milne and Lafuente are at top form, and all the characters receiving a holomatter avatar, a whole lot of them, are perfect renditions of their personalities, and Shearer and Long provide equally excellent assists.
