Tag Archives: James Roberts

More Than Meets The Eye #34 Recap

TF_MTMTE_34_cvrLast month’s More Than Meets The Eye ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. Questions abound. Brainstorm, implicitly fingered as a Decepticon mole by a marking underneath the faceplate of his alternate-universe corpse (though still, confusingly, slaughtered in the DJD’s rampage), enters Swerve’s, opens his briefcase, and announces that he can do “whatever the hell I want” amongst the limp bodies of the bar’s patrons. It was shocking. So many questions unanswered. I had to know what happens after the shocking end to MTMTE #33.

After reading More Than Meets The Eye #34… I still want to know what happens after the shocking end to MTMTE #33, because MTMTE #34 sure doesn’t seem to care.

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More than Meets the Eye #33 Recap – Morality is shades of grey.

TF_MTMTE_33_cvrI love it when literature makes me think. Whether it’s books, articles, essays, comics or poetry, it is like hitting the gym, only with my brain, challenging me to think and ponder things in new ways. One of the reasons why I like to rank MTMTE extremely high on my list of favorite comics of all time is for this very reason, that besides engaging my emotions, there is always something in every issue which makes me think. This ongoing story line with Autobot Megatron has been particularly stimulating in how it makes me think about morality and good versus bad. And this issue was no exception. Spoilers below!

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More Than Meets The Eye #32 Recap – Here there be monsters

TF_MTMTE_32_cvrAI have a long standing love/hate relationship with horror and splatter films, particularly the ones from the 80s. Though they near always result in bad sleep and nightmares, I still watch them, coming back for that surge of adrenaline and the feeling like your heart is about to leap from your chest (and there is something to be said for watching them with someone who doesn’t mind if you cling to them in your fright).

With all the hints about this upcoming issue that trickled down to me via friends and social media I knew I was in for something more than just “a hit to the feels”. With my reptile brain fully engaged, heart beating in my chest I made the dubious decision to sit down and read this issue late at night. And yea beware, for below there be monsters (and spoilers).

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More than Meets the Eye #31 Recap – The bottle episode

TF_MTMTE_31_cvrAThe term “bottle episode” refers to an episode limited in the number of characters and its setting, originating with the 1960s Star Trek where the term referred to episodes only shot on the starship Enterprise. More than Meets the Eye shares one thing with that old classic sci-fi series, in that it also takes place in outer space and since Roberts likes to use other TV series terminology, like splitting his issues up in “seasons” and “multiple episode story arcs” it wasn’t surprising when he announced that he was making a “bottle episode”, to be a bit of calm before a greater storm.

 Spoilers ahoy!

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More than Meets the Eye #30 Recap – How do you solve a problem like Megatron?

TF_MTMTE_30_cvrSUBThere’s a saying…In a lot of different languages that something that’s good is well worth waiting for. With this latest issue of More Than Meets the Eye; I was starting to doubt that. With over a month to wait for the resolution to the cliffhanger and story hooks from last issue, I was going a little loopy. Well, the wait is finally over and here is the promised end to the first mini arc, where we would finally find out how Megatron ended up where he is right now and let me tell you, it’s made me like the character in a way I did not think possible.

Spoilers ahoy!

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Review: More than Meets the Eye 29 – Story Hooks

TF_MTMTE_29_cvrAOver one year ago I attended a writing class and one of the lecturers brought up the term “story hook”; something, a mystery or an unanswered question that keeps us readers invested in the story and compels us to keep turning the page to see what happens next. With Roberts’ choice to have storylines from both six months ago as well as the past, he has created a pretty good “hook”. We see that Megatron has somehow ended up as the new captain on the Lost Light without any clear answer to how this came to be, so we eagerly follow the proceedings in the past, during the trial to see how on Earth Megatron will dodge the death penalty that everyone seems to clamor for and end up leading the expedition that Rodimus himself started…

Spoilers below!

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Review: More than Meets the Eye #28 – The one with Megatron on the cover (Spoilers!)

TF_MTMTE_28_cvrAThis issue comes out on the 30th of April, which is close enough to my birthday (one day, but who’s counting) that I consider it an early birthday present…And it is quite the present!

When I first held an issue of this comic in my hands it was the characters that made me fall in love with it, their relationships and their trials and tribulations with the main plot, the search for the Knights of Cybertron as an excuse to put all these robots together in one confined space. Now that MTMTE is entering its author-named “second season”, 25 issues with one overarching plot line, it is the characters that still jump out and grab me.

Spoilers below the cut!

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One Foot In The Dead Universe: IU Talks to John Barber and James Roberts

Now that Dark Cybertron is well and underway, we here at Iacon Underground were fortunate enough to get to ask IDW writers John Barber and James Roberts some questions about the series so far and both Robots in Disguise and More Than Meets The Eye going forward!

IU: Thank you both so much for taking the time to talk to us! Now that we’re halfway into the event, what’s your favorite part of DARK CYBERTRON so far? What upcoming part of the series are you looking forward to finally seeing the light of day?

John: Well, we’re a little past halfway, but that’s my fault for not writing this quicker… it’s funny, because of the way this comic came together, that so much of it kinda crushes together in my head… it’s hard to remember what’s out, what’s done but not out, and what’s still in progress… Early on, I think the combination of Phil Jimenez and Andrew Griffith in issue 1 was really exciting to see. I’ve known Phil a little bit for a while, but never actually worked with him or even spent any real time talking to him before we started this comic—and it turned out we grew up really close by each other. And Andrew, I love working with. That first issue coming together was really cool.

As far as looking ahead—I think the last act of the story, the last third is really strong. Issue 9 is really crazy action, and I think James and I found a good rhythm to the writing there. And issue 10 is a lot of fun, there’s sort of a breath to take, before the end comes.

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IDW “After The Dark…” Teaser Images Reveal HUGE Twist

AfterTheDarkOptimus AfterTheDarkWindbladeAfterTheDarkMegatron

 

Over on their Tumblr, IDW’s been tossing out teaser images for what comes after Dark Cybertron with the “After The Dark…” tagline. The first one, with Optimus Prime (or possibly still Orion Pax?) over a planet that looks suspiciously like Earth, was a bit of a surprise after IDW swore off Earth-based stories a couple years back. The second, with Windblade and Cybertron, surprised no one (but was nice to see!).

It’s the third one that’s the real shocker, not so much for the character it features – Megatron – but for the details. Yep, that’s an Autobot symbol on Megatron’s chest, and his associated setting? The Lost Light.

Things just got a whole lot more interesting.

 

Spoiler-Free Review: More Than Meets The Eye #22

TF_MTMTE_22_cvrAThis issue of More than Meets the Eye is a bit of an anomaly. It’s not a continuation of the issue before it and I am not quite sure if there is anything in it that relates to the Dark Cybertron story which will be the main storyline in both MTMTE and RiD until next spring. What it is though, is a light-hearted bit of relief from the darker plots and emotional shock therapy that we’ve had before. It’s been called “More than Meets the Eye – The Movie” for a good reason. Not only is it the last chance to see the core group from the Lost Light together for one last adventure, but it is also a fictional movie, as the premise of the issue is that at the beginning of their journey Rodimus asked Rewind to make a travelogue about their quest, giving him full access to all the cameras on board, so most of the issue is supposed to be this movie played back for us (or is it just us?).

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