FOR a change, I’m going to keep things as short as I can—to
encourage readers to actually pick up IDW Publishing’s “Transformers: More Than
Meets The Eye” (“TF: MTMTE”) # 37 because writer James Roberts and artist Alex
Milne continue to produce one superlative issue after another. Last issue was a
mind-blowing issue, and this one starts off seeming like it’s going nowhere,
begins to turn towards a different direction, and then plunges right into a
shock ending.
There
is so much going on in this issue that I will just keep to the most important
bits (since it can be argued that every little and big thing here is really
important). After missing the time-traveling Decepticon double agent
Brainstorm, Rodimus’ own time-traveling squad has arrived in the City of Rodion
in the past. It’s the time of the Clampdown, when the oppressive Senate has
enforced curfews and the functionist movement is gaining strength—just as the
Decepticon movement is growing. Cyclonus is shocked by how beautiful Rodion is.
Back in the present, Perceptor and Rodimus realize that time itself seems to be
starting to re-write itself, because the very act of Brainstorm traveling back
in time has already created a new timeline even if he hasn’t succeeded yet in
assassinating Orion Pax, the future Optimus Prime. The funniest scene is the
Maccadam’s Oil House in the past, where Rung, distracted by seeing his past
self, misses Brainstorm completely. We get an insightful conversation between
Nightbeat and his partner Quark about the oppressive nature of the Clampdown.
“The dirtier your job, the greater your chances of survival,” says Quark of the
coming Decepticon revolution.
