Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #13
IDW Comics
Roberts & Giudi
This comic book series is the most unique thing I've read in a long, long time. It's not the kind of comic that is for everyone and it isn't because it's about Transformers. The comic book is dense. I'm talking more dialogue this side of Alan Moore dense. However, the richness of the comic is in the character interactions. The comic uses a wide cast to tell an entertaining story about characters interrelating with one another and it is a thing of art. This is a great comic book not for everyone, but it is really, really good.
This issue is as standalone as they come. The Transformers head for some R&R at a station normally meant for human beings. That's it, that's the entire story.
However, in the book's execution we get some fantastic character defining moments. One of the characters that gets explored a lot is Ultra Magnus. This book bounces a couple of characters off the big guy as we get down to what makes him tick and we even get a glimpse into what he thinks of himself. I know it doesn't sound like much but the book is so thick that many aspects of his personality are explored, dissected and pushed around. The beauty is that Magnus isn't the only character that gets a long look in this book as Roberts jams in so much story into twenty-two pages.
The best part about the comic book is that Roberts bounces dialogue back and forth between three, four and five characters at a time. The comic book reads like a normal conversation rather than one character dumping a bunch of dialogue at one and then the other returns the favor for a panel or two. The last time I recall seeing this done with so many characters was with Alan Moore's Top 10. I was amazed at the juggling that Roberts does in this issue.
The artwork is good but the same trap exists as with all Transformer comics in that some are very hard to tell apart. The comic has some action which is always a plus but the bulk of the book is characters talking and it's done very well artistically.
This comic book simply isn't like the others. The plot is paper thin, the comic book seems to only exist because Roberts wanted to play with a small group of Transformer castoffs. However, the book is very entertaining and very deep. As if the comic story itself isn't enough, the comic contains a four page essay as a supplement to the story! What more could you be looking for? However, if you like your comics to be read in five minutes with a lot of explosions then move on. If you take the risk on this book I suggest you settle in for a very entertaining and different kind of comic book that will take you north of twenty minutes to plow through. If different is your thing then pick this up. It's the perfect jumping on point.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
