Written by James Roberts
Art by Alex Milne with Inks by Brian Shearer
Published by IDW Comics
Especially for a book like “More than meets the Eye”, which is built on a solid foundation of world-building and character development, it takes a LOT to make an issue feel this, well, big. Even more so to make it feel too big, which issue 19 almost does.
A plot summary, or even basic intro, is almost impossible, because nearly every page contains some incredibly important bit of exposition, a dramatic character moment or some substantial world-building. Without spoiling anything, over the course of a mere 22 pages, we learn the true origin of Ultra Magnus, the secret behind cold-cast sparks, just how crazy Pharma’s gone (hint: very), just how crazy Tyrest’s gone (hint: VERY), why Tyrest is covered in holes, Why Whirl still has claws and a mono-eyed face, learn the fate of the Circle of Light and several important characters fall prey to levels of violence only otherwise scene in Hobo with a Shotgun.
And at times, it feels a bit overwhelming. One minute we’re learning incredibly important, world-changing details about the IDW’s Transformers universe (which hopefully won’t get the “New X-Men” treatment and get retconned or quietly ignored by future writers) and the next some poor soul is getting stabbed or dismembered, and you just KNOW someone’s gonna end up in that smelting pool. Probably multiple someones.
Things get so stab-crazy that at one point the book even pokes fun at itself for how often ‘bots have suddenly gotten a torso-piercing, and how often they seem to survive it.
However, as much as it sometimes feels like the book is hitting us with one jaw-dropping moment after another, so much of it makes so much sense that it never feels arbitrary or just thrown in for shock value. If you’re familiar at all with Ultra Magnus’ original action figure, the revelation about his true nature will make a bewildering amount of sense, and the moment where Whirl explains why he’s never had his hands and head put back to normal is just another card in the full-house of awesomeness the character is turning into under Roberts’ direction.
Alex Milne’s art continues to shine, although in this issue more than the last two it feels like maybe he’s starting to cut corners where possible, mostly in the backgrounds, which are often just one-color blank walls.
Also, if we’re going to get nit-picky (and we are), some of the revelations bring up more questions than they answer. Given what we learn about Magnus, doesn’t it seem odd that no one figured this out before, especially given the scene from that last annual issue where a team of shrunken Autobots fly around inside his body like in Fantastic Voyage?
These minor quibbles aside, “Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye” issue 19 will probably go down as one of the more important Transformers issues this year, and fans who haven’t picked it up yet should be on their way to do so. That is, if they aren’t busy contributing to the flurry of Cyclonus/Whirl fanfics their team-up in recent issues hasn’t doubtlessly inspired.