Death in the Family: More Than Meets The Eye # 34!

THIS is the last issue of IDW’s “Transformers: Robots in Disguise”—technically speaking. But it’s not going away, it’s just changing titles next month to just plain “The Transformers” # 35. Read into that what you will, but “TF: RID,” though well-written and well-illustrated, still somewhat remains overshadowed by its even-better-written and better-illustrated sibling title, “Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye.” That is not helped by the fact that “TF:RID” is now jumping all over the place. Originally, the series seemed focused on the Earth-bound adventures of Optimus Prime and the remaining Autobots, but it’s since jumped back to life on a bittersweet Cybertron and then back to Earth now that the humans have aligned themselves with the Decepticons. But now, it’s going back in time with some surprising and defining back stories. That’s a lot of moving parts and it speaks to writer John Barber’s ambition that he even dares to juggle so many ideas in one book. Last issue leads into this one, as Barber tells a tale from Cybertron’s history ten million years ago, one that speaks of a heretofore unknown alliance between the unstoppably barbarian Galvatron and the Autobot sage Alpha Trion. Trion tells Prime this story after they leave the Ark-7 in Earth’s lunar orbit without telling anyone where they’re going.

Present Tense: More Than Meets The Eye # 32!

Wow, it feels like forever since the last issue of IDW Publishing’s “Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye” (“TF: MTMTE”) How many mega-cycles has it been since “TF: MTMTE” # 31? The answer is 12.387 mega-cycles (that’s 48 days for us non-Cybertronians). That wait feels especially long considering that “TF: MTMTE” is the best of IDW’s TF comic series, and that writer James Roberts has the crew of the Lost Light is the middle of a major mystery. Good thing “TF: MTMTE” # 32 is here or fans would start breaking the Tyrest Accords in frustration. “Slaughterhouse” is an apt title for this issue as the remaining crew of the Lost Light have just discovered that all those on the ship’s original crew have vanished, as has the ship itself. But the accidental skeleton crew led by disliked captain Megatron and the detective Nightbeat are surprised to find an older, virtually destroyed version of the Lost Light has appeared covered in quantum foam, meaning –time travel! As the survivors enter the dead hulk, they discover body after body of dead Autobots (including Ultra Magnus, Tailgate, Drift, Ratchet, among others) in various states of mutilation.