James Roberts and company put out the best narrative in Transformers history.

It blows your mind how much of this early run is paid off in both large and small developments through the rest of MTMTE and Lost Light. ( )

Let me start a slow clap for this volume, if I may. I absolutely adored it! Is it possible for a series to just get better? I'm terrified that it can't keep riding this high, but I think James Roberts might prove me wrong. There's so much goodness wrapped up in Volume 3 of More Than Meets the Eye. I was given so much back story. Events that happened before the war, the way some of our characters met one another, even the reason that personalities are the way they are currently. What's more brilliant, is that all of this information was given to me by way of our amazing characters sitting around, drinking, and telling stories. What could be better?

Remember how I keep mentioning how much real life issues make their way into these two Transformers series? Well, if one is more about politics, then MTMtE is the one that's more about common rights and the idea of religion. Some of the characters are highly religious. Some don't care at all. Still others are summed up in the panel below. That the world around us can be appreciated, no matter what you believe in. That last line in the panel hit me hard. So much truth, all in a comic.

I love following the growth of these characters also. Swerve, whom up until now has been a jokester above all else, almost broke my heart in this volume. Watching him talk about his guilt over harming someone he considers a friend, just floored me. It's so nice to see that these characters are multi-faceted. They don't always fit in just one box. They aren't afraid to break out of that shell if it's needed. Although, truth be told, sometimes that's a terrifying prospect. Like, for instance, when Ultra Magnus smiles. SMILES. *shudders*

So anyway, what all my rambling is really leading up to is that this was my favorite volume so far! I still love this series more than anything, and it's just being proven to me over and over again that James Roberts is a stellar writer. More. ( )

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

I knew from, like, page three of this volume that it was gonna be a good one. The book opens with Hot Rod and a number of the other Lost Light Autobots on some kind of vaguely defined mission. There's some running around, some banter (I laughed), and then you discover that the characters have been miniaturized and are running around inside the mouth of Ultra Magnus, Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, fighting off an infestation of nanobots. Ultra Magnus is so grim that the pistons he needs to smile haven't been used in centuries.

I should have seen it coming, but when the nanobots try to escape through those pistons, the solution to the infestation turns out to be Ultra Magnus smiling, which crushes the nanobots but also turns him into a figure of fun-- and there's probably not anything that Ultra Magnus likes less than fun.

This is all set-up for Ultra Magnus coming into contact with the Galactic Council, the only people who love the rules as much as he does, and what he does when offered a position in their ranks-- an even greater honor than you might expect, since the Galactic Council (quite fairly, it seems to me) hates all Transformers for the effect their eons-long war has had on the rest of the galaxy. Humor and a great character point! What else could I want from my comics?

Meanwhile, the Lost Light has reached Theophany, the planet home to the Circle of Light, who should be able to guide Rodimus and company on their search for the Knights of Cybertron. Well, alas, there's no Circle of Light to be found (even though Drift met them there a few years back), only a slumbering Metrotitan, an ancient, giant Transformer that can power a city. There's some interesting side effects from the presence of the Metrotitan, foremost among which is that Ore, who died back at the beginning of the series, comes back to life. This leads to a long conversation between Ore and Swerve, the Lost Light's bartender, only because Ore is blind, he misidentifies Swerve as Pipes, allowing Swerve to pour out all his secret hopes and fears. It's pretty touching, and the way the subplot of the Metrotitan ends (was there a miracle, or simply a scientific phenomenon?) is surprisingly well done for a comic book based on kids' toys about fighting robots. Or even well done without that qualifier.

The next plotline is an interesting story where Rewind the archivist tries to revitalize the comatose Rung by getting a group of the Lost Light crew to tell a story of pre-war Cybertron they all participated in, which will hopefully jog Rung's memories and reactivate him. So while Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, and Drift investigate the apparent murder of one of the crew, we get a flashback story about Orion Pax (the future Optimus Prime) in the time prior to Autocracy, when civil unrest on Cybertron was beginning to reach a fever pitch, but before open civil war had broken out. (Megatron doesn't appear in the story, having been sentenced to a penal colony during this time.) It's a layered, complicated story, with some good character moments, and some harsh surprises. (I knew the fate of Optimus's supportive senator friend thanks to the Transformers wiki, but still shuddered when it was revealed.) It's an interesting storytelling conceit, executed well, and it continues to add depth to this motley crew of misfit robots. Between it and the first story, this is definitely my favorite volume of More than Meets the Eye so far. Hopefully it can keep up this level of quality.

Also! So many jokes. I love Drift commenting on how often Rodimus overuses "'til all are one!"

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