IDW More Than Meets The Eye #57 Review
Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 11:59AM CDT
Categories: Comic Book News, ReviewsPosted by: D-Maximal_Primal Views: 26,534
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A semi-spoilerish Seibertron.com Review of More Than Meets The Eye 57
Hold back your tears for a little longer folks
Synopsis
END OF THE ROAD! On Luna 1, the scale of SENTINEL PRIME's ambition becomes shockingly apparent—and while RED ALERT struggles to separate friend from foe, PROWL convinces FORTRESS MAXIMUS to take the ultimate gamble.
Story
More Than Meets The Eye has taken us on some amazing voyages, traveling space, time, and all manner of other things. And here we are, issue 57, the last issue to bear the More Than Meets The Eye banner. And the series conclusion was nothing to be disappointed about either.
The Titans Return crossover to end the title is still a bit wonky seeing as how Transformers has yet to hit shelves, but we do reach this conclusion and Transformers can still tie up its part of the story. But for now, let's focus in on a few characters, namely Red Alert. As with last issue, I loved the Red Alert arc, and he once again made the issue. Red Alert's long standing mental trauma is finally brought to the light it was meant to be in, and it is handled very well. All the flashbacks, all the inner-mind battles, and Red Alert makes his character and owns the storyline as if it were his, not the titans.
Of course there are other characters, and they get their fair share of the light. Prowl goes some way towards incorporating his Sins of the Wreckers experiences, while still mainly being the momentous prick we've come to know him as. Fortress Maximus shows his character development as well, and Cerebros makes a good stand of himself despite only appearing in 2 whole issues out of 57. Serious, Cerebros got some good character in these 2 issues, and he has become one of my favorites. Sovereign doesn't skimp on his part either, and Sentinel is just... Sentinel.
Art
Priscilla Tramontano once more takes up art duties and once again she does a very good job of bringing these characters to life. If there is one thing that I could pick over the others, it would need to be her use of expressions. Several of the characters in this story have faceplates, and she somehow makes them almost more expressive than those with actual faces, and it makes for a great read. Cerebros once again nails it in this category, and there is no one panel that he looks bad in.
Coloring is done by Joana Lafuente, and her colors mesh well with Tramontano's lines and expressions. Darkness and light blend together in beautiful shades, and the story's main setting at night is done well, with the sky dark and lighting up as the events of the story unfold underneath it.
Lettering is once more done by the great Tom B. Long, and his words and action phrases flash across the screen as they should: pronounced when need be, emphasized when need be, always looking good. (We're not letting Red analyze his speech patterns again)
Oh, and Table flips. We get one more of those.
Final Thoughts
And here we are, 57 stories into More Than Meets The Eye, and we have found the end of this road. A journey that started almost 5 full years ago has hit a final point, the end of the quest, the final voyage. And it could not have gone out on a better note. This story was a joy to read and well worth picking up. It feels like the finale it was meant to be, and it is very entertaining to many audiences. The series has been a great read, and this story symbolizes all that was good about and with it.
And with that, everyone is good. Every loose plot line has been tied up, the fate of all the characters ever introduced to the series has been finalized. Everyone is happy. Success has happened. The story is fully complete.
And so it E---
but wait, it never Ends....
More Than Meets The Eye may be over, but the story will continue on! Transformers: Lost Light will pick up where we have ended, and is essentially Season 3 of More Than Meets The Eye in everything but in name, similar to how Transformers: Prime picked up that Beast Hunters line.
Now, your comics shops will see the new title and not the fact that they are the same story, so make sure you are subscribing to Lost Light, and we will start anew, all those plot threads ready to be continued on, in December!
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Posted by Rodimus Prime on September 28th, 2016 @ 12:15pm CDT
Are you saying this about #57, or the whole Titans Return story?D-Maximus_Primal wrote:This story was a joy to read and well worth picking up. It feels like the finale it was meant to be, and it is very entertaining to many audiences. The series has been a great read, and this story symbolizes all that was good about and with it.
Posted by Va'al on September 28th, 2016 @ 12:16pm CDT
I will cog you, rookie.
(Good review though!)
Posted by ScottyP on September 28th, 2016 @ 12:25pm CDT
Still loved it. Or a majority of it. At least half of it. Maybe ten to fifteen percent.
(Couldn't resist that bit. In actuality I really enjoyed almost all of it.)
And hey, wassup Brave Max colors. I see you.
Posted by o.supreme on September 28th, 2016 @ 12:42pm CDT
ScottyP wrote:And hey, wassup Brave Max colors. I see you.
?? --I've been waiting for this for years...for Fort Max to be portrayed in comics as he rightfully should (even if he is just piloting a Titan rather than being the Titan...but close enough) so are you saying the colors are off??? --I guess Ill have to wait and see.
Anyways...yeah its a shame TR had to be rushed and truncated for the sake of Revolution. I still think it would have been better to let MTMTE & TF go to the end of the year (#60) expanding on the TR story and TAAO would have been another 6 issue series. Then start Revolution in January 2017. We never even got to see any of the characters that should have been headmasters actually become headmasters etc...
January could have been wholly dedicated to Revolution, then they could have started everything fresh in February. Oh well.. it is what it is... I guess it could be a LOT worse *cough* marvel & dc *cough*
Posted by Xarmech on September 28th, 2016 @ 2:06pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on September 28th, 2016 @ 2:30pm CDT
Xarmech wrote:Am I seeing things or does the center of that computer screen say: MTMTE 2012-2016?
It does.
Every time I look at the panel I keep spending hours trying to look for some hidden meaning.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 28th, 2016 @ 2:40pm CDT
Rodimus Prime wrote:Are you saying this about #57, or the whole Titans Return story?D-Maximus_Primal wrote:This story was a joy to read and well worth picking up. It feels like the finale it was meant to be, and it is very entertaining to many audiences. The series has been a great read, and this story symbolizes all that was good about and with it.
I was saying that issue 57 was a good read, and that overall MTMTE was a good read as well. I can't really say for sure if Titans return was a good read until I read TF57, but overall I think it was pretty good too, and better done than Combiner Wars.
Dr Va'al wrote:Using my own thing against me. The cheek. The dishonour. The table flips.
I will cog you, rookie.
Dr Va'al wrote:(Good review though!)
Thank you
Kurona wrote:Xarmech wrote:Am I seeing things or does the center of that computer screen say: MTMTE 2012-2016?
It does.
Every time I look at the panel I keep spending hours trying to look for some hidden meaning.
Fun story: when I read this it took me 3 looks and over half an hour before I found the MTMTE 2012-2016 part. I was too busy trying to interpret that line below it that was all squished together.
Posted by ScottyP on September 28th, 2016 @ 5:34pm CDT
Probably either complete gibberish, or compete gibberish run through some hashing. Unless you've got an encryption key, do not try to decode that! (Assuming that this isn't your professional specialty or something, but if it is, ignore me!)Kurona wrote:Xarmech wrote:Am I seeing things or does the center of that computer screen say: MTMTE 2012-2016?
It does.
Every time I look at the panel I keep spending hours trying to look for some hidden meaning.
Posted by Kurona on September 28th, 2016 @ 5:40pm CDT
ScottyP wrote:Probably either complete gibberish, or compete gibberish run through some hashing. Unless you've got an encryption key, do not try to decode that! (Assuming that this isn't your professional specialty or something, but if it is, ignore me!)Kurona wrote:Xarmech wrote:Am I seeing things or does the center of that computer screen say: MTMTE 2012-2016?
It does.
Every time I look at the panel I keep spending hours trying to look for some hidden meaning.
Nowhere near a speciality of mine, no.
But you can't tell me what to do
Posted by ricemazter on September 28th, 2016 @ 8:22pm CDT
Not that I don't like Robert's as a writer, but it seems to me that character traits shouldn't be caused by twists, but that twists should be caused by character traits. If anyone gets me, that is. I can't think of a better way to articulate my thoughts.
Posted by newerthannew on September 29th, 2016 @ 12:05pm CDT
Did I miss something before issue 57?! I honestly do not recall ever learning what happened to the Lostlight crew on the Necroworld, or the mutineers, or the Geobomb. I'm lost
Sorry for sounding like such a rookie, I'm not a diehard fan and not always up to speed.
Thanks for any help.
Posted by newerthannew on September 29th, 2016 @ 12:37pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:iTunes has provided us with our a sneak peak to More Than Meets The Eye 57! Check out the preview listed below, which shows us Sentinel Prime and his army of titans. For those unaware, this is part of the Titans Return Crossover but also serves as an independent MTMTE story featuring lost lighters we have not seen in a while like Red Alert and Fortress Maximus.
(P.S. sorry if this is a double post on my part)
Can someone help me out here please?
So at the end of the issue (#57) there’s a sort of synopsis and final words. Within all that is a short paragraph about us now knowing what’s happened with the crew of the Lost Light, the mutineers, the Geobomb, and etc.
Did I miss something between issues 55, 56, and 57 because I do not recall learning what happened to any of those things beyond the final black and white panel in issue 55? Presumably the bomb detonated (but probably not, or at least not how we think).
In other words, did I miss something that would’ve explained the status of everyone left on the Necrobot's planet (or whatever other name it has) post battle-with-Tarn. And what happened to Getaway and the gang?
I am SO confused, and sorry if this all seems a waste of time or plainly obvious
Posted by MrBlack on September 29th, 2016 @ 1:01pm CDT
ricemazter wrote:Can't say that I really liked Red Alert's arc too much. Not that I'm saying his paranoia never be resolved, mind you. I just think it's a bit weird to have this character undergo mental trauma with a clear illness and then end his arc with his fears being totally justified with a clear root cause.
Not that I don't like Robert's as a writer, but it seems to me that character traits shouldn't be caused by twists, but that twists should be caused by character traits. If anyone gets me, that is. I can't think of a better way to articulate my thoughts.
Red Alert was paranoid even before Sentinel's rise to Prime status, so I don't think Sentinel's brainwashing created his mental issues so much as exacerbated them. In fact, his paranoia gave him the tools necessary to counter Sentinel's programming. He seems to be back down to a manageable level with Sentinel gone. He is at least aware enough to know not to indulge in any notion that the signal he received at the end of the issue contained any hidden messages, because he knows that will send him right back down the rabbit hole. That tells me that he still suffers from a degree of paranoia, just not anything as severe as what he was experiencing in Sentinel's presence, or during the war.
Posted by ScottyP on September 29th, 2016 @ 6:35pm CDT
That part was all tongue in cheek/sarcastic. Strip out the playful tone used, and the core of the message on that page is "there's a lot left unresolved so please keep following/buying the book once it becomes Lost Light."newerthannew wrote:
Can someone help me out here please?
So at the end of the issue (#57) there’s a sort of synopsis and final words. Within all that is a short paragraph about us now knowing what’s happened with the crew of the Lost Light, the mutineers, the Geobomb, and etc.
Did I miss something between issues 55, 56, and 57 because I do not recall learning what happened to any of those things beyond the final black and white panel in issue 55? Presumably the bomb detonated (but probably not, or at least not how we think).
In other words, did I miss something that would’ve explained the status of everyone left on the Necrobot's planet (or whatever other name it has) post battle-with-Tarn. And what happened to Getaway and the gang?
I am SO confused, and sorry if this all seems a waste of time or plainly obvious
Posted by newerthannew on September 29th, 2016 @ 8:30pm CDT
Phew! Thank YOU ScottyP.
I totally thought I'd missed an issue or two somewhere.
ScottyP wrote:That part was all tongue in cheek/sarcastic. Strip out the playful tone used, and the core of the message on that page is "there's a lot left unresolved so please keep following/buying the book once it becomes Lost Light."newerthannew wrote:
Can someone help me out here please?
So at the end of the issue (#57) there’s a sort of synopsis and final words. Within all that is a short paragraph about us now knowing what’s happened with the crew of the Lost Light, the mutineers, the Geobomb, and etc.
Did I miss something between issues 55, 56, and 57 because I do not recall learning what happened to any of those things beyond the final black and white panel in issue 55? Presumably the bomb detonated (but probably not, or at least not how we think).
In other words, did I miss something that would’ve explained the status of everyone left on the Necrobot's planet (or whatever other name it has) post battle-with-Tarn. And what happened to Getaway and the gang?
I am SO confused, and sorry if this all seems a waste of time or plainly obvious
Posted by Va'al on October 1st, 2016 @ 2:15am CDT
End of the Road
I was too busy writing More Than Meets The Eye to witness the birth of my second child.
That’s not strictly true; in fact, it was a big fat lie to get your attention.
I was writing MTMTE a few days before Kid B was born. We’re not even talking labour, so you can't judge me. I was sitting next to the hospital bed at 11pm, notebook on my lap, trying to decide what to put in Brainstorm’s briefcase. And I was also thinking up cool names for spaceships, just like any other 34 year old expectant father.
It was December 2010 - a full 12 months before The Death of Optimus Prime, the one-shot that I co-wrote with John Barber. A few nights earlier, Andy Schmidt had offered me one of the two ongoings that would rise from the ashes of Mike Costa’s Chaos storyline. Not that it was called Chaos. On the IDW story document, it was just called EVENT. And after EVENT came SCHISM. And after that, Rodimus and Drift (“and others TBD”) set off to find the Knights of Cybertron. At least the Knights were mentioned by name…
Anyway, Andy had made the offer and I was now starting to pull together the crew and the stories. “Plan for 12 issues, 16 at a stretch” – that’s what I was told.
The weeks after the birth passed in a blur, as they would have done even if I hadn’t been trying to work out why the Autobots would be silly enough to put Overlord in the basement. And was Frail Light a good name for a spaceship? Stolen Light? *Something* light, definitely.
First issue. What should that be like? Transformers does Magnolia. Separate lives – separate threads – pulling together. A metaphor for the series (he says in hindsight). Powerglide trapped underground. A blink, and the war’s come and gone. He’s our surrogate. Magnus the grump. Rodimus the worst captain ever, but the BEST captain if you’re a writer. Drift… Drift… can’t get a handle on bloody Drift.
A little detour: I ask Andy if I can write a one-shot about Megatron, because I love the character and he’s just surrendered and my GOD what an opportunity to get inside his head. Impactor will be in it, and the DJD, and… no. Just him and Optimus. A two-hander. Red Dwarf’s Marooned meets Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, because sometimes Transformers needs to be pretentious.
Alex Milne’s on pencils – it’s the first time we’ve worked together and hell’s bells the man can draw – and Joana Lafuente’s on colors. She’s an alchemist; each page is transformed. The one-shot is slotted into Mike’s ongoing, and one issue becomes two, and – somehow – in exploring why Megatron is the way he is, and in looking at a world bent out of shape by Functionism, MTMTE suddenly lays down roots.
Summer 2011, swimming at Saints Bay, aiming for a buoy that never seems to get any closer. On the shore, by my towel, another notebook; this one containing random words like ‘Delphi’ and ‘Pharma/Farmer’ and ‘sound bomb’; and, in big letters on the inside cover, ‘Justice League International’.
I’m inches from the buoy, and something happens that very rarely happens: a sustained rush of ideas. Fort Max, a hostage situation, Overlord, and Rewind projecting snuff movies onto the wall of Rung’s office. One of my favourite MTMTE stories, ‘Interiors’, takes shape by the time I’m heading back to shore. And when I get back to shore… Lost Light. That’s the one. Nice and alliterative.
The first six issues would be written by the time Death of Optimus Prime comes out in December 2011. Six issues, people. Six issues ahead. Something that would never happen again.
In the months leading up to Christmas I rewrite issue 1, spreading it over two issues (John’s suggestion, and a good one). The rewrite makes me more disciplined: I take the Delphi two-parter back off IDW and polish it, tightening the dialog. I’m getting a sense of how an issue of MTMTE should sound.
January 2012, a week or two after the youngest’s first birthday, and MTMTE #1 comes out. For nearly a year it’s had a typically smart arse placeholder name, ‘Launch Issue’, because, you know, the Lost Light takes off and there’s a problem – it explodes – and I know, I know, it’s awful. In the end, I subvert a Dexys Midnight Runners song title, ‘Liars, A to E’, and recycle the title of the first chapter of Eugenesis. Because if you think something sounds good you shouldn’t be afraid to show it to a wider audience.
The incomparable Nick Roche has by now designed our crew (Look at Whirl! Look at Magnus!) and is handling the interior art in issue #1. He’s also responsible for the JLI cover. (Yes, it’s been done to death, but to me, that cover and Alex Milne’s cover to the first trade… those images sum up MTMTE better than anything else I can think of.) Nick’s lines and Josh Burcham’s colors turn my try-hard script into a proper story. The characters feel real because they look real, and all of a sudden… we’re off.
Alex Milne arrives with issue #2 and makes the book his own. You think of MTMTE now and you don’t see my words in your mind, you see Alex’s lines. The noses, the floating question marks, sexy Rung, glowering Magnus… all down to him.
By Spring 2012 we’ve properly launched. We’re aloft. And somehow we’ve stayed aloft for 57 issues. Three months short of five years. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of Alex and Josh and Joana and Nick and Brendan Cahill and James Riaz and Atilio Rojo and Hayato Sakamoto and everyone else who has channelled their creative energies into the book.
I can’t really put into words what MTMTE means to me, which is a shameful admission coming from a writer. I suppose I live it through you, the people who read it. It sounds odd, but… I love that it has a readership! I love that people like it enough to read it! Because it’s a weird little book. It is. There’s not much fighting in it, and there’s not much transforming in it, and we haven’t refreshed the main cast in nearly five years, and in order to enjoy properly you kind of have to remember plot details for 40 issues ago, and we periodically kill people that you care about, and sometimes we focus on characters who never even existed as toys, and… yeah. God knows how it’s survived so long.
Actually, that’s another lie. I do know how it’s survived so long. It’s survived so long because my collaborators are all geniuses, and because IDW and Hasbro are supportive and committed, and because you – jaded G1-ers and jaded millennials alike – care enough to keep reading.
And MTMTE isn’t over. Let me restate that after pressing caps lock: MTMTE IS NOT OVER. The story continues under a different set of covers. You know that by now. Lost Light #1, December 2016. Because let me tell you – let me assure you – the MTMTE story is massive. It has a beginning, middle and end, and both IDW and I are determined to see it through. When we’re done you’ll know we’re done. And we’re not done yet. Not by a long shot.
So here we are. Here I am, nearly six years after sitting in that maternity ward. One has to be careful about disclosing too much on social media, and I’ve always avoided mentioning either of my children by name. But today is a special occasion, and so perhaps it’s appropriate that I share a little more than usual. I hereby dedicate the first 57 issues of the MTMTE/Lost Light saga to the little boy born days after I was given the best job of my life.
Minimus Dominus Rodimus Ambus Roberts... this one’s for you.
Posted by Kurona on October 1st, 2016 @ 6:28am CDT
Aside from, uh, the baby. I mean I'm sure it's like that for a lot of writers but unless someone's kept me out of the loop on these things, I certainly don't have a baby.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 1st, 2016 @ 6:37pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on October 8th, 2016 @ 12:29pm CDT
I'd also totally take a third party upgrade for Generations Red Alert into IDW Red Alert, just saying.
At that point though Prowl would be the only part of the Luna 1 squad that I'd use an official figure for, and he's so tall and imposing in IDW I'd probably go Masterpiece
Posted by Rodimus Prime on October 11th, 2016 @ 6:29pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on December 8th, 2016 @ 1:49pm CST
Posted by Va'al on December 14th, 2016 @ 11:24am CST
Posted by Big Grim on December 14th, 2016 @ 12:29pm CST
Posted by Easy Tiger on December 14th, 2016 @ 1:16pm CST
Posted by Kurona on December 14th, 2016 @ 1:31pm CST
Easy Tiger wrote:Wait - Huffer's in that picture. Huffer's not in MTMTE. Is Huffer going to be in MTMTE? I want Huffer in MTMTE!
Huffer's been aboard the Lost Light for some time. The image includes a lot of Lost Light crewmembers who aren't necessarily main players or even pull in more than background appearances, like Grapple.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on December 14th, 2016 @ 3:27pm CST
Posted by Easy Tiger on December 14th, 2016 @ 5:06pm CST
Posted by Va'al on December 20th, 2016 @ 3:17pm CST
Winner: Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye
James Roberts, Alex Milne, Joana Lafuente and Others / IDW
It’s monumentally difficult for a story to shift between cosmic space opera, alternate universes, sitcom comedy, heartbreaking romance, 4,000,000 years of wartime anxiety, and the kind of action that makes you afraid to turn the page and risk your favorite characters, without also being a mess of tonal whiplash, but James Roberts, Alex Milne, Joana Lafuente and crew did it every single issue with every single character — and I remind you, many of these characters are talking pickup trucks. [Chris Sims]
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on December 20th, 2016 @ 3:44pm CST
Posted by Kurona on December 20th, 2016 @ 4:44pm CST
Posted by Black Bumblebee on December 20th, 2016 @ 6:02pm CST
Posted by Microraptor on December 20th, 2016 @ 8:25pm CST
Posted by Kurona on December 24th, 2016 @ 6:49pm CST
Posted by Va'al on March 15th, 2017 @ 3:34pm CDT
With a new film due in cinemas soon, the new Trasformers series debuts in Italy! With The Death of Optimus Prime! we find a new beginning for Autobots and Decepticons, in a fierce war for the past several millennia. All robots are called back to home planet Cybertron from Earth... and here the problems begin! Is it actually easy to leave war behind you?
Posted by Va'al on March 15th, 2017 @ 3:35pm CDT
Posted by Itsacardgame on March 15th, 2017 @ 4:03pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on March 15th, 2017 @ 5:01pm CDT
Posted by DR0hNO on March 16th, 2017 @ 9:31am CDT
Posted by Microraptor on March 16th, 2017 @ 2:07pm CDT
Posted by WreckerJack on March 17th, 2017 @ 8:23am CDT
Now speaking of panini, I want a snack.