Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #45
IDW Comics
Roberts, Milne, Shearer & LaFuente
The latest issue of "Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye" launches a side story about the Scavengers. The comic book is mostly aside from the long narrative and probably would be a decent chance for someone that is not following the series a chance to find out how this comic book is so much different from every other comic out there. The issue is funny, dramatic and a very deep and dense read. As always, this is a very good read as is the case each and every month.
Krok, Misfire, Spinster, Flucrum and Crankcase are bored. They are playing a version of laser tag, watching a Decepticon comedy and trolling a Decepticon social network when they crash land on a planet. Misfire is trying to rehabilitate their prisoner, Grimlock, but the planet they land on has a character that is running a junkyard that wants to purchase Grimlock.
The comic book explores several themes. The moral obligation of selling Grimlock is a big one. Another one is the idea that soldiers returning from a war have no place in a peaceful society. While these might be executed in a tongue-in-cheek way the themes are there and are thought provoking.
The comic book is a packed read. While the humor parts are done in a very dry way, they are effective at breaking up the longer dialogue sequences. The comic book doesn't have much action but the dramatic build-up at the end is also very effective. This series is usually very character driven, but I had a hard time getting a strong feeling for the differences in the five main characters.
The artwork is perfect. While each of the main cast has their own unique look to them the book works because of how the characters fill up the panels. When a comic contains this much dialogue, the artwork is required to fill a panel with the characters speaking but not in a way that the balloons will block them out. This is more difficult than you might think and the comic pulls this off very well. The comic also has a great visual flow to it where the panels capture the reactions to the dialogue that help to 'sell' the emotion of the scene. This is a great looking comic.
"Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye" takes a break from the longer narrative and tells a story about the five Decepticons that call themselves, "The Scavengers." The comic book is a character driven story with a lot of dialogue and not a lot of action. However, the comic book explores a number of interesting themes about soldiers returning home from war and the morality of selling off a prisoner. The book breaks up the dialogue with a number of funny moments that help to display the character's personalities. The comic book hatches an interesting plot by the end that provides quite a cliffhanger. The comic is one of the best out there today and this is a good opportunity to check out an issue that is removed from the long story. I highly recommend this comic book.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
