In the wake of the lacklustre Chaos event, IDW decided to split its ongoing book into two. One would be Robots in Disguise, helmed by John Barber and Andrew Griffith and the other would be More Than Meets The Eye, with James Roberts and Alex Milne (Although Roche would do the first issue and the preceding one-shot.)
This trade includes the Death of Optimus Prime one-shot and the three-part story Liars, A To D. The one-shot shows the fallout of Chaos as Cybertron is dialled back to it’s very origins as a primordial wasteland with only a small shanty town serving as port. The war is over and the planet sent out a signal to all it’s children, “Come home.” So while the Autobots are still rounding up wayward Decepticons, thousands of neutral Cybertronians make the pilgrimage home and they’re not pleased with what they find. The NAILs (Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeform) thought they were returning to a utopia, only to find a barren wasteland and the Autobots acting as an occupying force. It’s all very “War in Iraq” and tensions rise until Optimus Prime leaves. He renounces his leadership and heads off into space, leaving the two squabbling factions within the Autobot camp to their own devices. Bumblebee (interim-leader back on Earth) wants to stay and rebuild society with the NAILs while Rodimus (Former Matrix-Bearer) wants to leave to find the Knights of Cybertron to recover some of their lost heritage. Rodimus is resolute and despite what others think, he finds a willing crew to go on his quest.

Geez, that’s just the basic outline of the first two issues of the trade. Hoo-boy. Throughout those two issues, you really get a sense of where the characters are at. Tensions are high, nerves are wearing thin, 4 millions years of war ended in a massive anti-climax and the people they’ve been fighting for want little more than to throw them off Cybertron. The first part of Liars, A To D shows various members of The Lost Light (The irony is delicious) coming together and showing us why we will love every single one of them for the foreseeable future. The launch of the ship feels understated but as an “accidental” explosion launches them into the vastness of space (Leaving the Autobots on Cybertron to think they’re dead) an ominous message falls on deaf ears.

From here on, the series really comes into it’s own as an adventurous romp through the cosmos with plenty of laughs, horror and emotional whiplash. It’s also from the second issue of MTMTE that Alex Milne takes over art duties and he does an excellent job of blending Nick Roche’s expressive art with Milne’s detail and imaginative designs. Alex Milne really cemented his place as my favourite Transformers artists when he began this series and he hasn’t disappointed since.

The Lost Light is now, well, lost. They find themselves in deep-space and down forty crew members after a hull-breach. They set down on the planet below to pick up survivors and two new crew members, Skids and Cyclonus. Skids appears, oblivious to even his own name, in a mysterious ship that is coming apart at the seams. He escapes the crash only to realise he’s being hunted, as the ships parts seemingly form several sworld-wielding warriors. He works through his amnesia until he works out his own name, function and even his motto (Which he thinks is rubbish, a sly dig at his previous portrayal). Cyclonus is offered a place on the ship after his Heel Face Turn in Chaos and subtly threatens Whirl (whom he caught desecrating corpses last issue) and Skids is found by other members of the crew. Once all are on board and on their way again, Rodimus receives a message from Red Alert (Ships paranoid Director of Security) with grave news:

The final issue of the trade is one big homage to Alien and serves up a big dollop of space horror. I love it when they establish folklore for the Transformers, it makes them more than just robots, that they have their own mythology and deities, something Roberts has been putting plenty of in since he starting writing. In fact, James Roberts’ writing has a lot to do with the success of this book. He builds complex, diverse characters in such a small amount of time, builds worlds for them to inhabit and makes us care when they ultimately succumb to his sadistic whims. Oh, yes. Jimmy likes to kill, maim, torment and goad his characters in all manner of ways but it never feels mean-spirited. He loves all of the characters he uses and makes us love them too.

What I absolutely love about the creative team on this book is that they love to give the fans extras. James Roberts provided so much more material for both releases of Wreckers and Alex Milne has proven time and again to dole out concept work like it’s candy and this trade is no exception. After the four issues, you get a ton of bonus material like cover art, a “Meet the Crew” segment that humorously introduces most of the cast, concept sketches from Milne for various characters and ship locations (plus a look at two characters appearing in the next volume), and a 2-page editor’s comment with “behind the scenes” information about the series which is chock-full of interesting trivia. Not only that but Milne produced a brand new cover just for the trade off his own back, something that he previously did for the Drift miniseries rather than rely on one of the single issue covers.

While its sister-book is by no means a bad book but it really suffers when compared to this immensely fun series. It’s a delightful blend of humour, horror and Firefly-esque antics. Between an engaging story, beautiful artwork, brilliant dialogue and characters, and tons of extras, More Than Meets The Eye gives you your moneys-worth and then some. The first volume is available now through all good book retailers and the second volume will be out October 16th (According to Amazon)

As always,  if you have any thoughts, opinions or comments just leave them in the comment section below!

Last Stand of The Wreckers is a 5-issue miniseries released by IDW and helmed by British-born James Roberts and Irish-born Nick Roche released in 2010. Roche had written and drawn for IDW in the past and brought Roberts in to help on a coda story before they were both assigned to this series. Re-assembling the Wreckers (a black-ops Autobot team) in the wake of the All Hail Megatron maxiseries, the series follows the team as they attempt to retake Garrus-9, a prison facility that has fallen into Decepticon hands and, most worryingly of all, into the hands of renowned sadist, Overlord. To quote the ‘Wreckers: Declassified’ entry for this event, this is:

“The story of ten soldiers and a stowaway who rode into the valley of death. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them. Volley’d and thunder’d. It’s a story of sacrifice and betrayal, and of good people dying in stupid, pointless ways.”

And that sums up the series. In fact, it’s pretty much the central theme. Lies run rampant throughout; whether from the Wreckers’ superiors or the Wreckers themselves. Every character is flawed and broken, but, at the same time, put on a façade to convince the world that they’re not but ultimately transcend their problems in the face of the ultimate enemy. It’s really funny that most of the people I’ve shown the series to dismiss it outright because of it’s art-style and while Roche’s style might seem cartoony, that doesn’t detract from the horror and visceral nature of the book. If anything, it makes it all the more horrifying as the bright visuals contrast against the dark tone of the series. That’s not to say there aren’t lighter moments and our writer/artist duo does their best to inject some humour into bad situations, something that will be more prevalent in James Roberts’ future writing, whether as a guest writer or helming an ongoing series.

The themes of betrayal, sacrifice and hero worship run deep within all the characters and it’s the characters that really bring this book to life. The cast list runs into the dozens but I’ll focus on a few of the major players and do cliff-notes of some of the others. First up:

Ironfist is the fan boy proxy. He’s utterly devoted to the Wreckers and their numerous adventures, to the point where he takes on the moniker of ‘Fisitron’ to write Wreckers: Declassified, an abridged recounting of the Wreckers adventures, culled from mission reports and other sources. He is the series’ most tragic character and with good reason.

Overlord is the series primary antagonist; a Phase-Sixer, a Decepticon known for being immensely powerful and incredibly sadistic. Equal parts Caligula and walking nuclear warhead,  He would be part of Megatron’s “final solution” except for one thing. Overlord defected and has spent every waking moment since trying to goad Megatron into action, taking Garrus-9 being just the latest in a long line of “whimsical displays” Overlord has taken advantage of. Shockwave put it best:
“You think you’re enjoying this, but you’re not. … The open graves. The torture chambers. All just hollow theatrics. This is an exercise in provocation. This is you trying to get Megatron’s attention.” He’s an endearing villain and the perfect enemy to fight a rag-tag bunch of suicidal Autobots.

Rotorstorm, Pyro and Guzzle round out the newbie Wreckers, all on their first mission with Ironfist. These four (along with Overlord and a bunch of Decepticon Predators) are plucked from the depths of obscurity and given their first real depiction in Transformers media. Each have their own reasons for being on the team and each get their moment to shine, for good or ill. Rotorstorm is a hot-head narcissistic aerialist with a dark past and a penchant for chiding himself in private. Pyro is a sufferer of Primus apotheosis; an acute form of hero-worship bordering on the obsessive, and Guzzle is on a mission for revenge but never really gets it, which is one of the weaker points of the book.
The rest of the Wreckers consist of veterans Springer, Kup, Perceptor, Twin Twist, Topspin and stowaway Verity (A holdover human character from IDW’s previous Transformers series)

The series is available in trade paperback and hardcover. The TPB includes an 11-page prose story written by James Roberts that expands on the characters backgrounds and their motivations, a one page strip called Dead Man’s Boots, profiles of Overlord and Snare, behind the scenes facts and more all done off the creator’s own backs.
But the hardcover blows that out of the water with 46 extra pages of content, including all the profiles omitted from single issues that were omitted from the trade plus more, series covers, script extracts, guest artwork, a page on Squadron X, a 2-page segment called “Escape”, 2 pages of promotional artwork, 2 pages of Pin-Ups, a first draft, the 5-page “Zero Point” and “In Word and Deed”.
If you choose to pick up the series, you can’t go wrong with either option.

I cannot express my love for this miniseries enough. It brought together toy-only characters who hadn’t been seen in decades and finally gave them voices. If All Hail Megatron could be equated to a summer blockbuster then Wreckers would be the cult favourite and it has very much earned that status. It’s a fantastic story with an incredibly engaging story and lovable characters. It’s no wonder this series has been heralded by many critics as “The Transformers’ answer to Watchmen”. But come back next time when I’ll be reviewing the first volume of a series that’s so much More Than Meets The Eye!