(W)Rung Timing
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
JOURNEY'S END! Across time, across space, from prewar Messatine to postwar CYBERTRON—it's all been heading towards this—the moment when the fate of the AUTOBOTS and the DECEPTICONS is sealed. At the heart of it all: three killers, two outcomes... and one terrible, terrible choice.
Here's an unrelated image
Story
What we really get in More Than Meets the Eye #38 is three conclusions. The end of the Elegant Chaos arc, under Days of Deception; the end of the Cybertronian trilogy according to James Roberts, started in Chaos Theory (2011); the end of the world as someone knows it. How we get there, though, is a whole other journey.
Yeah, it was
There was a strange feeling running through my head as I was reading the issue, the same sense of unease that I had found in the other parts of Elegant Chaos, as if it was just building and building, without really reaching its climax - and it feels even more the case in #38. Discussing it with others on the staff, we believe we've cracked that mutual feeling: this is really not about the action, or even the story itself.
Good
What Chaos Theory, Shadowplay and Elegant Chaos offer are is a an exquisite series of character developments and spotlights, retreading older paths and forking ways, in the wider frame of time travel and end-of-the-world threats. We get, then, to see the origin of Megatron, but also Whirl and Orion Pax; of Rewind, Chromedome and other relationships formed and lost; of Rung's historic constant, and much more beyond that; of Rodimus' leader skills; of quantum jump technology; of the whole MTMTE series.
Thank you Whirl
If you're looking for a semi-linear, action-based story that revolves around and solves all the questions it poses, you may not want to read this just yet. Go back to 2011, and read the three parts from there up to today. This book deserves more of your time than just one read, and sheds a lot of (fragmented) light on what came before it. Give it time.
Art
The story, the arc, the events, are really about the characters, then - and Alex Milne's character work is probably the most appropriate combination that could've been had. Yes, the backgrounds and settings are as great as always, but it's the body language, the positioning, the interactions, the facial expressions that truly stand out here.
...
Combine that with the fantastic colouring work provided by Joana Lafuente, and the bodies and faces no longer need to speak for themselves, as the hues of colour, saturation and gradients seeping into the scenes offer not only background but also mood settings and indications.
I mean, come on
There is also plenty of space, from the title pages, to the captions, to some of the speeches, for Tom B. Long to flex his fontastic fingerskills, including a number of action-heavier scenes in the latter half of the book. While we've seen the decorative RI cover by Jeffrey Veregge already, the thumbnailed B cover, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham really makes sense post-reading, too.
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
I'd like to thank ScottyP for teasing out some of my own thoughts on this issue, as we briefly discussed why it did and didn't work at certain turning points. And I think I've highlighted most of those further above. But, in no particular order, I hope you pick up on the following: Rewind, Brainstorm, Tailgate, Perceptor. Some major, some minor, but all part of the intricate web of personalities that characterise the Lost Light crew.
Oh, and there's jokes too!
There are some very powerful, emotional moments in the overall arc of the issue, and sometimes it can feel as though there are maybe too many, too different and all together. But they have just enough time, and space, to work out, compared to other endings by Roberts' storylines - and then you have that very last page. Good luck.
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out of
out of
