More Than Meets the Eye - Ongoing series

[Rich]

Last issue was fantastic, and by far my favourite of the series so far. Been reading it on my phone, so I'm pretty disappointed by the contents of the first trade - was really looking forward to reading this issue again full size some time soon (I found the similarity in the med bots' forms very confusing on my screen)

[The Doctor]

Saw the trade at FP. £15, or a fiver more than what it cost to buy the four issues insider. Er, no. I'll try online.

EDIT: Ah ha! £12 at The Book Depository.

And two of the three copies were already in very tatty condition. Comic shop browers can be arses.

-Ralph

[Jim]

The gatefold cover to the first issue finally arrived almost 6 months after ordering! I don't blame Disposable Heroes, seems like they had some confusion with them arriving later than the others, and when I nudged them the other day they sent this out quickly.

Are there any interesting extras in the trade then? How inevitable is a HC? On the one hand wondering whether to cancel my pre-order and wait, on the other I've been consciously voting with my wallet for this series by buying various alternate covers anyway.

[The Doctor]

Trade ordered from Book Depository.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Trade en route from The Book Depository.

Andy

[Jim]

Mine now en route from Amazon. Looks like I've benefited from the pre-order price promise, it's coming through for £9.74.

[Deleted]

I'll probably get my TPB after my next payday (just a week to go!)

[Andy Turnbull]

Trade arrived, comes with some behind the scenes factoids and some sketches from Mr Milne.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I too have mine. I really like the spine design.

-Ralph

[KnightBeat]

Jun 22, 2012 10:45:19 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

and some sketches from Mr Milne.

Only Herr Milne? I was hoping that we'd get at least one design by Nick that was painted like one of his french girls.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Just re-read issues #4 and 5 in a single sitting. Magnificent story, so well written. Meticulously planned from start to finish. And such an uplifting ending!

Martin

[dinogrrl]

Just read issue 6. Dude. *DUDE*

Fort Max. Rung. Whirl. Overlord. Swerve (guy is great comic relief).

This issue just slaps you around like a wet fish. Brutal. But awesome.

[primenova]

Does the tpb print up to #4 or 5?

[Andy Turnbull]

No. Death of Optimus Prime and issues 1-3.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

As I know a few of our patrons have yet to get their copies I shan't spoil anything.

Great to see Nick back on art, even if it was a one-off.

Chuff me I did not see the issue resolving itself like that. Also, Rodimus is becoming something of a monster.

Andy

[KnightBeat]

Just read the latest issue.

Words fail me.

[The Huff]

Yep, read the latest issue yesterday and can't comment so as not to spoil anything except:

'Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!'

[The Doctor]

I must admit I did see the ending coming (though I may not have been guessing as much had I not seen a few 'best issue ever' type quotes on the Twitter) and wasn't as engrossed as previous issues (bit too much like conversations I've had in my working life), but it was still a very good enjoyable read.

-Ralph

[Jim]

I saw those tweets too, and to be honest I preferred #4 and #5. I did of course thoroughly enjoy this, but the Ratchet story worked better for me. I understand people being excited by LSOTW call-backs, but "best issue ever" is a little over the top, especially in a world which has the Megatron half of Chaos Theory.

Not Rung! I'm sure there must be *cough* more than meets the eye to his death. There was something not quite right about it (unless I'm in denial). Perhaps his is the coffin not to be opened?

Whirl is becoming a great love-to-hate character. And I don't buy his story.

For some reason Swerve and Rewind working on the outside of the ship put me in mind of early Red Dwarf.

Great to see Nick back on art, but by the same token it's nice that Milne has become so good that it isn't some huge, much-needed step up.

[legios]

Not a bad issue I thought. I thought it made a fair stab about keeping the momentum in the story - often a problem with hostage situations as by their nature they are often quite static. I didn't think it was up to the same mark as the previous two issues - not that it was a bad comic, just that the previous two issues were much stronger on the story front.

I did quite enjoy it - the idea of Fort Max with PTSD is a decent one considering what had happened to him, and killing Rung was well-handled. It may have felt like the most likely outcome of the hostage situation from early on but it still has an impact because we've come to like him in previous issues.

Whirl is rapidly becoming my most favourite least-favourite Autobot as well, and without a psychiatrist onboard anymore I can only imagine how many more personality problems he is going to collect as things unfold. (And no, I didn't believe a word of his story either, but it was fun watching him tell it).

I definitely get the sense that Rodimus' complete incompetence at, and temperamental unsuitability for, leadership is definitely coming out as one of the running subplots here. I am looking forward to seeing where that goes, and how long it takes the rest of the crew of the Lost Light to twig to this fact.

Karl

[Andy Turnbull]

Issue 7 is now out.

So we get a look at the Decepticon Justice Division. I do so love what James has done with the "idea" of Decepticon justice, it's a very twisted take on the ideal, but entirely logical when building on what we've seen.

Also - we get to find out what Phase Seven would have been. Not that I knew there was one. Great usage of the formalities of war that Furman had introduced.

Ah Black Shadow, what an unpleasant fate, and an unusual death. The DJD are more interesting for their actions at the moment, as opposed to themselves. There's a devotion to Megatron's law that is unshakeable.

Loved the ramshackle group of Decepticons, and it's great to see what happened after the war had ended. Great moments from them all. Naturally I assume we will see the DJD encounter the crew of the Lost Light at some point thanks to the presence of Drift.

Another great issue.

Andy

[The Doctor]

Good grief, that was an utterly terrifying issue! The DJD! What they did to that chap in the opening sequence! The ship! Good grief, the ship!

******* hell!!!

That was one of the most riveting comics I have read in quite some time. The palpable air of horror and suspense was almost unbearable! Jings!

-Ralph

[dinogrrl]

This issue was pure fun. Well, okay, I lied, also a fair bit of sad. Namely Red Alert. Poor Red. All alone and completely given into his paranoia, he is going to do something unfortunate. I loved the emotion in the scene with him and Rung in medbay. I'd say 'Yay!' for Rung, but I know better than that with this comic.

The straggler group of Decepticons in this issue were adorable and fun. Well, except for when they killed that guy. But hey, Misfire, Spinister and Fulcrum are suddenly new favorites. And I've never had favourite Decepticons before. Things aren't going to end well for most of them though, I think.

Ah, the DJD. Impressive. I like Tarn with his air of sophistication. And the dude who turns into a frigging electric chair. Damn.

[Rich]

Brilliant, as always. Personally, I think the irreverent tone stops the comic from being truly moving, or scary, but it is nonetheless a work of stunning imagination, humour and charisma.

[KnightBeat]

Has anyone else tried to decode Vos' speech? Digging out my copy of TF Prime #10, I used Raf's codebreaker to attempt an translation. Sadly, this produced only gibberish:

P3 - "shtiredmeghnightxto?" - Erm... sounds a bit like "tired meg night to"

P5 - "shcl!aiejl" - p5 (Vos' first speech bubble) - no idea

P5 - "shcl!aiejlz_?" - (Vos' second bubble). I couldn't find the penultimate character (one before the question mark) in the TF Prime #10 codebreaker. I've used an underscore to note its absence.

The use of the same characters in both speech bubbles on p5 make me think it's intended for effect only. However, it's possible that it has meaning using another variant of Raf's codebreaker. James, were you trying to send a secret message to your flock?

[mellowshade]

Jul 26, 2012 2:25:20 GMT dinogrrl said:

Ah, the DJD. Impressive. I like Tarn with his air of sophistication. And the dude who turns into a frigging electric chair. Damn.

Electric chair or Variable Voltage Harness?!

[Deleted]

I loved issue 7, The Decepticons on Clemency are some of my new favourites

[legios]

Sat and read ish 7 this morning over a cup of peppermint tea. End result, cold cup of peppermint tea because I was so absorbed by the issue.

The DJD are genuinely frightening - bots who want to kill you are one thing, but bots who are out to hurt you are a whole different breed of psychotic. And their leader has such a fantastic full-on "White Room" manner about him.

The spaceship/experiment/charnelhouse fair put the wind up me as well. Has James Roberts been peeking inside my head to find out what unnerves me? Because there are very few ways that could have been better judged to give me the shiver.

Once again we got some great casual world-building too - off-hand references to an "Imperial" phase in Decepticon expansionism, to massive pitched battles at some point in the past and to whole classes of Decepticon space-ship built on the basis of propaganda and colossal arrogance.... and a wonderful grunts eye-view of the Decepticon war effort as well. That sense of the individual front-line Decepticon having little real clue what the long-term plan or the strategic objectives are, just taking it on trust that there are some and somewhere in the chain of command someone knows what they are rings rather true. (It amuses me that the left-over Decepticon forces out in space appear to be every bit as hapless and maladjusted as the crew of the Lost Light. Maybe it is something inherent in IDW Cybertronians that they just aren't handling the stress too well).

Karl

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Didn't like the LSOTW-style over-the-top sadism of the DJD scene at the start making its way into MTMTE, but loved the rest of the issue. You can't tell a comic by its preview!

Martin

[Death's Head]

Great to see Flywheels get some airtime. He's always been a personal favourite of mine.





(He's going to die horribly now, isn't he?)