I know this is supposed to be a critique/review, but I am going to gush about this series.
Every once in a great while a run in a comic book series jumps up to a higher level of artistic and cultural significance and becomes a touchstone for a particular historical moment, and for the generation that happened to be along for the ride. If you lucky enough to be the right age to be on board when that happens ”” then that series, in every way, will always be a part of you. The fun part is that no one can see it coming until it is well under way, and it may happen in a story that seems silly, or one that is just a vehicle to sell kids toys and action figures. For me it was The New Mutants Sienkievicz/Claremont run. I was totally captivated, and took it the world of its characters at face value, as if they were my peers because I felt my own struggles of fitting in and being different in the stories of these new recruits at Xavier“s school. Looking back now, we see how this run was revolutionary in so many artistic ways, but at the time I just bought it on the newsstand like any other comic or magazine ”” and yet it has never stopped being a part of me. In a similar way you would hardly know that an absolutely revolutionary event has happened recently in the world of Transformers, unless you are already under the spell of Lost Light and it“s amazing creative team. I doubt anyone could have predicted that in the age of bombastic Michael Bay films, a Transformers comic would quietly scale to those highest rarified artistic and emotional heights that only become clearer and clearer as a work recedes into history, but over at IDW ”” a saga of outstanding quality and lasting significance was produced under the authorship of John Roberts and the amazing art of Nick Roche, John Burcham, Alex Milne, Casey Coller, Brendan Cahill, Jack Lawrence, Joana LaFuente and many many more.
Roberts’ run on More Than Meets the Eye (MTMTE) and Lost Light (LL) captures just such a cultural and generational moment for now and for all time ”” and the fandom that united under this banner is likely to persist and stay bonded by the experience, even as many new iterations of Transformers lore come and go. It is truly inspiring and I predict it will continue to grow in popularity and veneration as time goes on. As the crew of the Lost Light declare while looking at one another, in an almost bewildered tone, “We have accomplished something.”“ Yes, Mr. Roberts and team, in every way, you have.
The idea that the Transformers lore and mythology could be improved by having characters hug and kiss more, be in committed and loving relationships, cross dualistic barriers of gender as well as good and evil, and thus become more than combat-oriented laser-batting self-aware mecha may seem simplistic or naive. These are Transformers, not My Little Ponies, why should we have love stories, canoodling, pet-names and pillow talk among these lumbering metal hulks. BUT ”” to get bogged down on this question is to entirely miss the point. The series is not good because the characters kiss and hug, and express sincere affection and love for one another, but rather the author has enriched the characters so much, that when they do these things it is genuine heartfelt and in no way damages the prior lore or context for these characters or their universe. These Cybertronians are so well realized and their hopes dreams disappointments battles deaths and transformations (emotional and physical) are as real as any biological entities in comics or on-screen. When an author truly makes his characters live and breathe for the reader at this level, anything becomes possible and the Lost Light crew is an unforgettable reminder of what that kind of magic feels like. Megatron the quintessential villain, undergoes so many turns of genuine depth and humanity, while still retaining his essential relentless nature even as he becomes a ”˜good guy“”” it is an astonishing feat of characterization that Mr. Roberts will be long remembered for.
Megatron like you“ve never seen before! Still badass, but with a heart. LOST LIGHT #4
For those worried that the series is all lovey-dovey and lacks action, space battles and explosions ”” FEAR NOT! There are epic scale armed conflicts, and character injuries, and deaths that are not cheaply done. They have real stakes and the affection and warmth that exists between the ”˜bots is only heightened by the death conflict and betrayals around them. If you love the TF world and mythos this series will only deepen your willingness to believe in these characters, and their plight.
As many have noted, the ”˜magic“ of the early 80“s Claremont run on Uncanny X-Men had as much to do with the readers spending time with the team enjoying down-time between adventures, as the epic battles they faced. That ordinary hang-out time with Kitty Pryde and Wolvie and Co. only bonded us as readers to them as real people. In the same way *this* series has accomplished a bond between its readers and cast that is a reminder of the highest ideals what comics in a serialized form can achieve when the right writer finds the right readers at the right moment in time.
NOTE: I would recommend that the reader not begin here with the Trade Paperback Volume 4. The story should be taken up much earlier at the beginning of MTMTE or LL since this volume is the bittersweet close to a saga that unfolded over almost 100 individual floppies! The recent HISTORIA book from Chris McFeely might also be a good starting place for this series for those curious about what makes this take on the Transformers universe so unique.
READ THIS!!! 5/5 Highest rating. But don“t start with Vol. 4. Start with MTMTE or LL Vol. 1.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
(W) James Roberts (A) E. J. Su, Casey Coller, Jack Lawrence, Brendan Cahill (CA) Nick Roche
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