Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #36Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #36
IDW Comics
Roberts, Milne & Lafuente

The latest issue of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye begins a new arc. This one deals with the complicated issue of time travel. Basically, a rogue Autobot (or Decepticon spy) has decided to travel back in time and kill off Orion Pax, before he becomes Optimus Prime, to change the outcome of the war. While this is not original at all, it is executed to near perfection and has many a bright spot in the comic. I recommend checking this comic out.

Megatron (who is now an Autobot) waits in the present as Rodimus leads a team back in the past to find the renegade spy. The concept of time travel is slightly different here because if an hour passes in the present, it will also pass in the past. This helps to keep the idea of parallel timelines consistent. It also allows for communication between the two groups.

While the comic book has a ton of great things in it, the best is the two-page communication over the time-phone between Orion Pax and Megatron. Pax believes he is talking to the movement writer Megatron. The Megatron that exists before the revolution and the war. The two share a very candid exchange that reveals a lot about the characters. With the benefit of hindsight, Megatron is able to see Pax for what everyone seems to see him as: out to do what's best. The reader can sense what Megatron is thinking: if only the conversation had taken place four million years earlier then a lot of deaths could have been avoided.

The book ends with another time jump. This leaves Pax and friends in an interesting situation, but one that Rodimus and company prepare for.

The comic is the best on the stands when it comes to letting the characters reveal their personalities and drive the entertainment. The book is loaded with characters and they all seem to have a chance to show what they are made of. The book definitely has a complex plot but the story unfolds in a simple fashion that helps to make the concepts easy to understand.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is exactly what you want in a Transformers book. The colors are bright and the line work is sharp. The entire book has personality and that is a tribute to the artwork. Of course the book has some action to and the artwork responds in kind to those images.

Transformers is a franchise that simply not everyone can get into. There are a lot of comics and it's a confusing place to be continuity-wise as well as concept-wise. However, this particular series is about characters. It's probably the very best character-driven comic book I've come across in the past five years, maybe even ten. This issue begins a new arc. It appears to be a decent jump-on point. If you have any interest at all in comics that are driven by characters in a deep and meaningful way then I recommend checking this out. Forget that they are robots.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles