This series continues to be fun and enjoyable while still leaving me feeling like I'm missing a LOT of back story that could make reading this even more enjoyable.

Still going to keep with it as I'm enjoying the story regardless, but if you're not used to jumping into years of continuity in media res, then maybe sit this one out. ( )

Tarn.

Tarn!

TARN!!! ( )

Well, I can definitely say that this remains my favorite of the two series! It's honestly because of the thin line that James Roberts walks between tragedy, and humor. Let's be honest, these aren't always the happiest stories. Despite the fact that the war is over, well, it's not really over. Lines are still drawn in the sand. Hatred still exists. Our characters still die. Sometimes in ways that are a bit hard to stomach. If you don't think that you'd feel sad for a non-human character dying, let me assure you that you are dead wrong. Whether these characters are human or not, they have the kinds of personalities that draw you in and make you care. It's evil. It's brilliant.

I'll bet money you know someone like Magnus. Overly serious, possibly OCD. The life of the party? Not so much. You probably also know someone like Swerve, who is over eager and tells terrible jokes. Or someone like Rung, who tries their best to help others to such an extent that they often end up getting hurt themselves. Trust me, these characters are easy to fall into step with. They come alive, and I can't deny that I'm absolutely hooked. It's testament to how well this is written that I actually like some of the Decepticons. Yup, they may have been evil at one point, but now they're just as lost as everyone else. And... this motley band of buddies is kind of funny too.

What I liked most about this volume is that it's actually bunch of short story arcs all threaded together. Each one shows a little piece of something different that's currently going on. We have a mysterious plague that Ratchet and his crew have to figure out how to solve. That particular one almost made me cry. What a brutal way to go! Then, we have the crew of the Lost Light, where Skids is trying to figure out what memories he's missing, and poor Rung is having one hell of a day. Finally, there's our Decepticons in the panel above. Trying to band together, trying to get home, still kind of awful to one another. Yet, again, funny.

I'm really enjoying how Roberts takes the time to set up these relationships between characters. You can see who genuinely cares about others, who separates themselves from the group, and who just doesn't know how to belong. I can't deny, my emotions were all over the place this volume. I should have been prepared. I wasn't. I tell you, I'm more invested in this than you know. ( )

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

Even when reading a good Transformers comic, I still struggle. I guess I'll just have to accept this as a fact of life. But seriously, it is hard to tell robots apart when they don't have voice actors to provide you with another dimension of recognition. The problem with volume 2 of More than Meets the Eye is that the first two issues here are part of a story about medical robots-- and most medical robots are colored red. So keeping track of which guy is which was very taxing, and sometimes I made bad identifications that hampered my enjoyment of the story. The third story here introduces a group of scrappy Decepticon deserters, an idea I fundamentally enjoy, but man if keeping track of a whole new set of characters is just a bit too taxing for me. On the whole I didn't like this as much as the first volume, and I think it might be because of those factors; it's hard to get emotionally invested if you can't remember which robo-guy is which!

However, there's still a lot to enjoy. I do like Ratchet, the Lost Light's chief medical officer, a lot, and there's even a nice throwback to the Furman-written -ations series when Ratchet manifests his holomatter avatar, which I (like the characters) had totally forgotten about. Plus the way Ratchet gets his hands back is awesome and unexpected and dark.

The second story here was very good-- it's a hostage tale, where Rung the unassuming psychoanalyst is captured by Fortress Maximus, and the crew has to figure out a way to liberate him (as well as Whirl, Rung's current patient). A recurring theme of More than Meets the Eye is how psychologically damaged all these bots are by years of unremitting war, and this story brings a lot of that to the surface. My favorite moments are often those where the characters forge real connections between themselves, like when the hostage situation causes Whirl to confess something he never would in years of sessions with Rung, and in the process, Rung finds out that Whirl considers him a friend.

And like I said, though I found all the new characters hard to keep track of, I was predisposed to like a tale of Decepticon failures (the Scavengers) working to avoid the Decepticon Justice Division coming after them for desertion. The story is simultaneously dark and hilarious, something I'm quickly learning is a trademark of both James Roberts in general and this series in particular. Take for example this exchange:
"See that guy behind me with the scowl and the head wound? Don't be fooled: Crankcase is actually the most cheerful person you'll ever meet. The thing is, if he smiles, his precarious cranial architecture will collapse and he'll die. He's the only Decepticon who can be killed by a single punchline."
"Really?!"
"No, not really... you're just miserable, aren't you, Crankcase?"
"Bah!"
"Did he just say--?"
"I know. You've seen it written down but never heard it said out loud, right?"

I could probably quote panels like this in my review for days, but I'll refrain. And yet it's still a story of death and destruction and high stakes. If only an issue-ending cliffhanger didn't depend on my ability to recognize the "shock" reappearance of a character who hasn't appeared in this story before-- or, indeed, any of the IDW Transformers fiction I've read (as far as I remember). Well, you win some, you lose some, and it's clear this series isn't aimed at me, anyway.

The book's myriad ongoing subplots continue to simmer, providing me with a lot of the enjoyment that carries me through the confusing parts. For example, I like Tailgate, the Transformer who slept through the entire war, but still finds himself trying to decide if he wants to be an Autobot or a Decepticon. The problem is, if he wants to be an Autobot, he has to get past Ultra Magnus's love of rules. Magnus insists they close read all ten thousand pages of the Autobot code together: "Relax! A few weeks of cripplingly intense study and it'll be over! It might even be fff-- I can't--my mouth just won't--I can't say it."

It's not perfect, but it's still the best possible Transformers comic I could imagine.

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