Optimus Prime and Lost Light Volume 1 Review

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

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time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. and welcome

to the pull bag this is episode 320 yes that's

right and we are continuing on here in auto botley

august 2018 with us here inside the pull bag

on all things transformers brought to you by

the geekcast radio network that's a mouthful

i am of course tsu and mike joining me is that

um nightbeat person it is ryan the uneven flow

merkeley hello sir It seems like he wanted to

come up with something funny or entertaining

and then just failed miserably and just introduced

me as normal. That's impressive. Or unimpressive.

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. Anyway. That's just

the way you are. So, all right, folks. So far

here in Autobotly August, if you have been listening,

if you have... We've done Windblade Distant Stars,

Tell All I Want Volume 1, and Transformers vs.

G .I. Joe Volume 1. Last episode, Steve and I

celebrated 10 years of all things Transformers,

and now Ryan and I are continuing our journey

with the John Barber and James Roberts written

series from IDW. They were basically rebranded

after More Than Meets the Eye. Robots in Disguise,

or just Transformers since they had that cartoon

series, ended. And they're now Optimus Prime

and Lost Light, respectively. Respectively. Actually,

it'd be Lost Light and Optimus Prime, respectively,

but anyway. Whatever. Yeah, and the other interesting

thing is since we recorded the Lost Light and

XRID, or the Transformers, podcast is the series

and the entire universe in fact for idw has an

end date that doesn't happen often and it's it

sounds uh it's it's kind of weird that it's happening

uh in the one sense i am dreading it because

i don't know what they're gonna relaunch with

and i've really enjoyed This chapter in particular

of IDW stuff essentially the last stand of the

records through now right and so i'm sad to see

it end on the other hand uh it doesn't happen

often in comics it's kind of nice and to be honest

it actually makes it easier i think anyway to

recommend to people especially ones who aren't

necessarily transformer fans because it doesn't

require the same commitment so i think we've

had this discussion before but say i told you

to get into reading x -men yeah It's going to

be going for a little while now. Or, you know,

you could use, you know, Batman, because next

year is 80 years of Batman. I'm like, 80 years

of Batman? Where the hell do I start? Obviously,

there are specific starting points in Batman,

not just Bruce Wayne, but like Batman Beyond,

Nightwing, and Batgirl, and the Bat family. There

are specific things you can read that you don't

have to read. 80 years worth of time. No, and

even if he went into more recent stuff, so let's...

As an example of something that's really popular,

Walking Dead. Walking Dead is still going. It

shows no signs of ending, and it's already in

excess of, I believe they're closing in on 30

trades now. That's a huge commitment, and I feel

like it's easier, especially for this era. Yeah,

it's still about 30 trades, but you know there's

an ending, and... With the other books that I

mentioned, I mean, it'll probably never happen

to Batman or X -Men. Right. But, although God

knows they tried with X -Men, with Fox owning

the rights, they really tried to kill them off.

But, no, it's probably never going to happen.

And I think a lot of people, or at least people

who aren't used to comics, like having an ending.

So it's kind of interesting that this is one

series that does have a finite end, it seems

like. And I said that to somebody somewhere recently,

within the last couple of months, about the IDW

Transformers universe's ending. And someone was

like, ah ha ha ha ha. And next thing you're going

to tell me, Superman dies or something, or Superman

stays dead, or Uncle Ben stays dead or something.

And I'm like, no, really? They're ending the

universe, and they still have the Transformers

license. They're going to do other Transformers

things, but for the last 13 years, this incarnation

is coming to an end, and we don't know how the

hell it's going to end. Yeah, and I kind of like

the idea of I really hope it's not a Marvel and

DC -esque soft reboot. I think if they're going

to end things off or say they're going to, they

should actually do it. And I've said it before,

this is... really become my era of Transformers.

It's been my favorite, despite growing up with

G1, reading all the old Marvel and Marvel UK

comics, Beast Wars, which is fantastic, etc.,

etc. There have been all these different eras,

but I really think I enjoy this one the most,

and I'm okay with it ending. I mean, there's

13 years of books, and despite the fact that

some of it's not good, for example, I don't own

any of the now I can't thank you I couldn't even

remember his name Mike Costa which is weird by

the way because Costa is actually a good writer

I should mention that at some point but he just

never really got Transformers so I don't have

that I do have the stuff that started off the

universe Simon Furman's work which I generally

enjoyed but it's been the last few years of Barber

overseeing everything Roberts being one of the

writers And you mentioned Windblade and the others,

which, oof. I mean, when Windblade and Till All

Are One were starting up, I remember thinking,

we don't need a third Transformers series. This

is too much. Then I started reading it, and holy

cow. I've essentially become a fan for life of

Marga Heed Scott's writing. Yeah, Marga is awesome.

Yeah, she's fantastic. And I've gone on, I've

read other stuff she's done since Transformers.

And she's a great writer. So I was completely

wrong about that. Roberts came from Transformers

fan fiction to write More Than Meets the Eye.

And amusingly enough, we're going to talk about

somebody today. Key, Kai, Key. No, it's Kai.

Kai, Kay. Kay Zama. Me pronounced good. And Kay

Zama, who is the artist on the majority of issues

of Optimus Prime. Alex Milne took over for number

four. But most of the issues we're going to talk

about in this trade were done by her. And she

became a fan after Last Stand of the Wreckers

and went from that to she's an artist on the

series. And she's really good. Her art is fantastic.

And it's just amusing to me how long this universe

now has run that we have so many people who are

new to comics who have gone on to do other books.

And, you know, even John Barber himself did Doctor

Strange and did, yeah. But John himself within

IDW, oh my God, that guy, he's like this meteoric

rise to fame at IDW because he started out as

the writer. And he's now editor -in -chief. And

his non -IDW stuff is good, too. I enjoyed his

stuff on Doctor Strange. I thought his Doctor

Strange and the Punisher miniseries was fun.

And it's just interesting that he got the chance

to go outside of IDW while he was still writing

and really doing everything for them. I don't

know. I know she's going to be the new writer.

I don't know. how long it's going to last but

meredith is taking over batgirl at issue 25 at

dc and she's writing and she's writing the new

marvel animated cartoon series featuring squirrel

girl and kamala khan as miss marvel which actually

looks really good and like i said before she's

i'm just Much like some of the other writers

I really enjoy, like Jason Aaron and Greg Rucka

and others, I'm just a fan for life. Her work

is so good. So, yeah, I'll be following her to

Batgirl. Absolutely. Which, to be honest, I've

been on and off again with. Essentially, it depends

on if Gail Simone's writing it or not. And Gale

hasn't written it since the end of the New 52

or when they did that reboot with Cameron Stewart.

Yeah, and this stuff has certainly not been bad.

It's still been solid. I got so many books to

follow. Yeah, it's crazy. So let's follow these.

Normally we go at least every couple of pages

through these things, folks. Optimus Prime Volume

1. Now this is the interesting thing for me.

I am currently reading this. i trade to do the

these episodes of the podcast but i'm also simultaneously

reading the end of the universe like right before

i read volume one i read unicron number two because

it came out when we recorded this so it's like

um flip -flop flip -flop but well today i read

lost like 21 so But I have all the answers now

to the mysteries that started at the beginning

of the series. There you go. Let's see if I accidentally

let any of them slip. No, probably not. I think

we're safe. Optimus Prime Volume 1 is for both.

Yeah. Okay, so I pulled up our final episode

when we did Autobot in April last year. Last

of all, I published it May 3rd, but it's supposed

to be in April. Last year we did Transformers

One that Meets the Eye and RID Volume 10, Two

Trades, One Podcast, just like we're doing now,

Two Trades, One Podcast, because in this show

we'll talk about Optimus Prime Volume 1 and Lost

Light Volume 1. I almost feel like I have to

go back and listen to this old podcast to figure

out where the hell we are in Optimus Prime. I'm

going to repeat one of my lines from that podcast

that I remember well, and that is... John Barber

really likes his words. Yeah, he does. And he

does. Very wordy. Yeah, to get it out of the

way, this is a good book, and I enjoy it a lot.

And I think it continues to be, in a lot of ways,

Optimus Prime has surpassed Lost Light in the

last little bit in terms of quality, especially

sort of the last couple arcs, but we'll talk

about that when we get to them. Because this

arc here feels like... I don't want to say it's

a slog, but it was... No, it's a commitment,

and that's what I would say. It's good, it's

enjoyable. Things kind of click together, but

you kind of want to sit down and read this entire

thing. And I can't... So I don't get Optimus

Prime. issue by issue, or I didn't through until

about 14. Then I started, I picked it up again.

But I couldn't imagine reading this issue to

issue and not going back and rereading stuff.

Like, this is, it fits best in trade to me. Yeah,

it does. And so part of the reason, and so get

into it now, I mentioned already, Kei Zama's

art is incredible. Alex Milne, we've talked about

him before, is very good, but Zamas are sort

of... It's very stylized, but it works really

well. Everyone is ridiculously expressive while

still looking like a Transformer. Yeah, or a

giant robot, as in not human. And so one of the

reasons that this is kind of... a commitment

we have an awful lot of flashbacks and it's interspersed

with what's going on now and there's an awful

lot of politics and there's an awful lot of characters

and how they relate to one another and their

relationships that the book gets into if i wanted

to sum up the entire thing it's actually pretty

easy though You just say the Junkions arrive

on Earth, which Optimus Prime has taken under

his wing as one of Cybertron's colonies. And

Earth joins the Council of Worlds very slowly

in this. Well, to the point that we don't actually

see the end of it. It's just the beginning of

that is in these books, or in this trade. By

the end, the Junkions attack Earth with an army

of Sharktacons. They are repelled. I'm not, like...

Okay, 13 years. I started at the death of Optimus

Prime. So that's where I started. That one shot.

And then, as I've said before, I had two paths.

I could go lots of disguise, go political, or

I could go Lost Light, or I could go both. Or

more than meets the eye, whatever. I could go

both. And I went both. But see, here's the thing.

Like, the Junkions having control of the Sharktacons,

that's... My G1 inner brain is like, ah, what

the hell? Where are the Quintessons in this?

We don't know. We've only ever seen them depicted

on a mural, which is actually inside Unicron,

because the planet was eaten. That's... Well,

it says it was eaten. No, it wasn't Quintessa.

It was the planet Wheelie was stranded on, which

is... I can't remember. 117 something or other.

Oh, level one. Yeah, yeah. And it's in Unicron

number two that you see the mural briefly. Optimus

actually remarks on it. Okay, so before we get

too far into this, I know we're only going over

the... finer points but i have to i have to talk

about the actual trade paperback itself i have

the digital copy through comicsology .com i was

not i have not read any of this either one of

these optimus prime or lost light i specifically

waited for the trade to do so um i love the way

that they put together this trade The effects,

like the first three pages, like after you open

it up, it's like more Transformers from IDW.

And it's like this white background with these

like scrape marks on the wall, it looks like.

And I just, I love that design. I think that's

super, super cool. The print has the same thing.

And then we get the, we get a roll call of now

and then then. Yep. And that's necessary. Oh

yeah, it is, because you need to be able to keep

up with all these characters. I love how they're

not really focusing on Thundercracker and his

playwriting abilities anymore. Not until the

annual. Oh no. Although it works for that, so

that weighs off. Trust me, at that point you

need some comedic elements. There's not a whole

lot of comedy in this book either. They open

with, they kind of close off a lot of, yes, but

in terms of present time, they open by kind of

closing off the humans, Skywatch, and all of

these other ones that have these weapons lying

around and everything else kind of get closed

off as we get more into G .I. Joe as the book

continues. another thing i think we need to mention

is we i had i didn't have like definite plans

to do this but at one point or another we were

going to take a look at at least the transformers

part of the revolution event from last year we

have not done that so coming into this i have

not so coming into this i'm like humans i don't

care if it's not even spot humans no Robots versus

other things, great. Robots and humans, not so

much. I'll say this right now. The greatest thing

about this first volume is the jazz part of the

story. I love that part because we all know he

needs to make up for what happened X number of

years ago or whatever on Earth. Way back in the

Costa run, yeah, he killed a human and did so

in front of cameras. And I love what Barber did

with him here. I think that was one of the coolest

parts of this. All of this politicking, I get

it. That's what Robots in Disguise was at first,

or NotRid, or whatever you want to call it. I

get that's what it was then, and we're going

back to that now, and I'm just like, okay, when's

a Trump transformer going to come in and Optimus

cuts his head off or something? I wish. So there's

a bunch of... relationships that the book focuses

on. There is Optimus Prime and Soundwave who

have formed a much less uneasy alliance than

when we had covered the book previously. Now

they seem to kind of be getting along, so that's

not really the focal point. There's a lot more

of Optimus and Pyra Magna. Pyra Magna is the

leader of the Torchbearers who form Victorion.

And they're from a planet which, in general,

worships the Primes and the Matrix. However,

Pyra is very skeptical for reasons that become

apparent in a much later trade. And she doesn't

trust Optimus Prime. And to be fair, Optimus

is not the... So... I don't know how to say this

nicely. He's not 1984 Optimus, but he's not Favors

Optimus either. He's not perfect, but he's not

movie, angry, kill all the humans Optimus. So

he's not the kind of perfect character from the

84 series, which makes sense because, to be blunt,

those characters usually end up being kind of

boring if you focus on them too long. uh it worked

in 84 because he was optimus prime there's a

there's a disconnect there also i mean let's

be honest it was a kid's cartoon uh this is not

there's an awful lot more politics oh good lord

imagine a 1984 episode with this much politicking

in it oh my god but anyway it would basically

be um what was that episode Megatron's master

plan was Sean Berger. That's what it would be.

So, the main kind of relationship in this, though,

that gets covered a lot, especially through the

flashbacks, is Jetfire's relationship to everybody.

In particular, Optimus Prime, although there's

a good amount of Prowl in there. And Jetfire,

yeah. But it's mostly Jetfire and Prime and...

Jetfire, and the Autobot cause, and we finally

get a lot of his backstory, because he's been

a character in the universe. I'm trying to remember.

The first time he was introduced, I remember

from some of the spotlights in the background.

Yeah. If I remember correctly, that's when he

was first introduced, so roughly 13 years ago,

and he's never been really given much of a background

or characterization. He's just kind of been a

scientist. He's a warrior slash scientist. So

they finally get into his backstory here. And

it's well done, and I know the purpose is to

mirror what's going on currently. The doubts

that Prime and his troops have about their course

of action. the doubts jetfire has about the course

of action but uh i don't know i almost wish they

had just taken an issue and put all the flashbacks

in that and kind of gotten it out of the way

yeah there's an awful lot of jumping around here

yeah and that's one thing i've never ever liked

it doesn't matter what it doesn't matter if it's

this comic doesn't matter if it's a comic from

dc i do not like I think it works, and we've

talked about it before. Frequently, I'm a fan

of it, but for a book that's as, like I said

before, the word of the day, for a book that's

as verbose as this, the jumping around in time

periods, I feel like kind of hurts it, or at

least it makes it that much more of kind of a

commitment to read through. Yeah, it does. It

would be easier if it was a little more straightforward.

Like I said before, I would consider keeping

it to one issue. And it's interesting because

later on in the series, that's what Barber does.

He essentially does one issue flashback to explain

everything, to kind of lay everything out for

everyone. And that's it. So, yeah, I kind of

wish he had done that here. I'm really digging

for issues, though. I mean, aside from the...

aside from the overall issue of it being a tough

read in terms of like i said it's commitment

uh there's not a lot wrong with this the characterization

the dialogue the art the writing everything is

fantastic yeah so when i'm commenting on this

stuff it's it really just goes back to the fact

that this isn't a book it's a book that's important

and i'm happy i have and i enjoy it and i couldn't

imagine my collection without this series it's

really good and i love the idw transformer stuff

but it's not a book i'm gonna pick up off my

shelf super often to reread it's gonna be when

i'm reading the series from start to finish right

i'm not gonna sit down and flip through this

when you know i'm going to the bathroom yeah

no this is not a a go to the bathroom type of

comic um yeah i mean i like certain aspects of

it outside of having issues with the whole time

jump and you're right hopefully and you said

he does but what i wish would have happened was

like take um let's just say each issue has 20

22 pages worth of story let's just say that it's

probably a little bit more than that but let's

just say that's what it is take five pages and

do the flashback as one part of the story and

say hey all of this that just happened leads

up to what's going like the back and forth stuff

is just it's very jarring it really is and other

than that though i love the whole thing was i

want more sound yeah we've we've had more sound

wave throughout barbara writes sound wave and

he writes star scream Almost like no other, although,

and then Scott came along and really nailed Starscream

as well. But this is one of the best sound waves

I can remember, or at least one of the deepest

and most interesting. Yeah, I'll say this too,

going back to our discussion about XRID and the

end of that series, the Transformers, to now.

The human characters, I feel like he's nailed

them, or at least I find them a lot less aggravating,

with the exception of some of the G .I. Joe characters

are kind of your typical, Colton, are kind of

your typical, I want a war. We're going to blow

these guys up. Your military guys that you get

in pretty much every cliche action movie that

just want to blow shit up and think the solution

to everything is to go to war. Or starting a

war with Iran randomly. Oh, sorry. That's your

real life. No, that's something that's kind of

blah, though. I could have done without those

cliches. But overall, I found the humans written

a lot better and a lot less stereotypical than

they were earlier in the series. Because we've

seen it before. We've seen it in the Transformers

movies as well. That, you know, you've got the

human that likes the... and knows the difference

between them. You've got the human that thinks,

oh, all these Transformers can't be trusted.

You've got the human with the dark backstory

that his family was killed by Transformers. A

Transformer ran over his dog. So I'm much happier

to be past that and have actual characters than

just running stereotypes. And it's something

that he nails. That, man, so few Transformers

comics, even to a certain extent shows, have

managed to get through. Yeah, and I know I've

seen the classic G .I. Joe cartoon, Real American

Hero and all that, but I have not read any of

the I .D .W. G .I. Joe comics. Was Flint always

Marissa's dad? I don't remember that in the original

cartoon. And I'm just saying that because I don't

remember it. I'm not saying that that can't be

the case here, because it obviously is the case

here, that he is her dad. But I was like, wait,

when did that happen? I have no idea. I have

no idea. Any of the G .I. Joe familial relations

or anything at this point. That's one of the

reasons why I'm not pleased. Yeah, I watched

the original cartoon. I've seen some of the more

recent series. uh i can't remember the name of

it now but the one everybody likes that's from

probably about probably about seven years or

so ago now yeah that's it yeah i watched that

uh when it aired and it was really good and that

kind of thing but i couldn't tell you anything

i don't know at all like i know the names and

i know what i had seen on the old cartoon but

as far as story -wise I'm kind of glad and kind

of dreading that we didn't do Revolution. I know

everyone says, oh, Revolution is bad. It's horrible.

Don't read it. Don't this. It can't be that bad.

It's not that bad. There have been worse books.

It's not particularly good, though. And something

we'll get into later. Because this is also...

So, these books... The Optimus Prime books are

sort of a lead -in towards First Strike, which

is another crossover book. And then we also had

Rom and all these other characters that get added.

Mask, which, oof, yeah, that Mask relaunch really

lasted a long time. What was that? I think it

was three issues before they canned that. But,

yeah, I was in the lead -in. And in the previous

series, I was really critical with how the humans

were used, and I didn't find them all that interesting.

And that characterization continued into Revolution.

Here, the characterization is a lot better, to

the point that I considered reading First Strike

when it came out. I still didn't, because I don't

care about most of these non -Transformers characters.

I've read it now. I stand by my decision. It's

not bad. It's just I'm reading this stuff for

the Transformers, and I'm reading it for issues

like this where the relationships, the politics,

and everything else are really fleshed out. Everybody's

three -dimensional. Everybody has multiple reasons

for doing what they do and acting the way they

act in this series. start jamming all the characters

together into a fairly contrived team up and

everything else you lose that roberts actually

made fun of it in his revolution issue which

was hilarious but very sort of fourth wall breaking

i was okay with it though because i've read enough

comic team ups over the years Yeah, I mean, Roberts

always breaks the fourth wall, though. I mean,

that guy's basically tearing down the fourth

wall every single time. Yeah, Optimus Prime Volume

1, even though I felt a little lost in it, I

did enjoy it. As I said earlier, I enjoyed it

for a lot of the relationship stuff, more so

like Optimus and Soundwave, and seeing Soundwave's

point of view in all of this. Holy hell, seeing

Rumble and Frenzy again, and they actually got

the colors right this time. Yeah, and we get

more of their relationship with Cosmos as well.

That was really cool. He's been kind of forgotten

about for a little while. Yeah, I think this

is a book, or it's a trade, where everyone's

going to find at least an element or two to latch

on to or that they like, or a relationship that's

entertaining. It's well done, but like I said,

it's not something you're going to sit down and

decide to read in a few minutes. Not a few minutes,

a few hours. I don't even know if you would sit

down and read this in an afternoon. I'm not sure

I'd want to blast through it without a break

or two. I took breaks, but I basically blasted

through it in less than 18 hours. Yeah. that

was mainly so we could do this episode of the

podcast it wasn't like you see that's the thing

like you this is the difference between us you're

mostly reading for the pleasure of reading and

getting the story I'm doing that too but I'm

also wanting to have it fresh in my mind for

the podcast because I've got so much going on

in my real life at this point that remembering

a full six issues or five issues of a comic you

know If I read it a day before I'm supposed to

record, I'm like, I won't remember any of that.

That's one of the reasons why half the time when

we do episodes... I've been busy, too. I know,

I know. I'm not saying... It's more about my

memory, not about the fact that I'm busy. It's

more about my memory is mush. So that's why I

end up going page by page or this and this and

this. And I know we couldn't do that with this

because it is... We'd be here all month. Yeah,

we'd be here all month. It would be Autobotly

August 2019. Exactly. This is a good series,

though. And before we move on and before we rate

it, I did want to point out, too, the lettering,

again, is done by Tom Long. And in a book with

this much words and everything else, he continues

to do just, I still think he does the best job

in all of comics with the lettering. He has so

many more characters than most books have to

work with on a monthly basis. He does more than

one book, and just everything is always clear.

And it's fairly rare, considering the word count

on this, that there are errors. There are certainly

errors, but it's... I mean, if I did it, and

I'm... English major. If I did it... It would

not turn out this well. No, it would not. He's

really good. And I want to point out, too, the

colors are done by Josh Burcham, who I think

we've mentioned before, also does a fantastic

job. Love Josh. I should mention, too, the coloring

in this. There is... It's almost sort of a theme.

Like, it's very brightly colored, yet everything

kind of matches, too, at the same time. It's

hard to describe. Everything kind of comes together

and just works really well in this series with

the art, though. Everyone works well together.

It does, but at the same time, I felt that a

lot of the art in this, a lot of the colors in

this, were darker. Yeah, it's hard to explain,

though. So the backgrounds are generally pretty

bright, I guess is one way to say it. And then

the coloring on a lot of the Transformers is

a bit muted. they still look so distinct from

the background that everything just kind of pops

in a way that, you know, for example, we've mentioned

that Livio's art is generally on the darker side,

but certain elements sort of pop out like the

eyes and that kind of thing. But it feels like

everything pops out on this, despite it still

being darker. Yeah. And I think the thing with

Livio's art, and we can talk about this all day

long, but I think the thing with his art, though,

is I don't know this. I'd love to be able to

talk to the guy and ask him about this, but I

think... He replies to us, so... Oh, absolutely,

yeah, he will. Damn it. He, in my mind, after

seeing a lot of the stuff that he's done over

the last 13 years with these books, whatever,

at least since 2012... stuff his style is fully

ensconced in G1 as far as like the style and

certain aesthetics of the robots but also the

design of the art you look at like say Jack Lawrence's

art in Lost Light issue 1 or volume 1 or whatever

and it's reminds me a lot of g1 stuff it reminds

me a lot of other you know other transformer

stuff or whatever you look at at the art here

in optimus prime with zama and it it's i don't

want to say dirty but it's more rough looking

at times it's certainly part of the action shots

when they're moving whereas when livio does are

his action shots looks like it's almost basically

just like a portrait like Anything from Livio's

stuff could basically be blown up and put in

a museum to be sold. And before we move on, Ian,

too, with the universe ending, the IDW universe

that is, not ours, not yet anyway, the... We're

working on it. If Trump gets another term, you

know. Oh, jeez. Not even Canada would be safe.

The collection of artists they've found. So we

started with guys like EJ Sue, and we added people,

Nick Roach, Alex Milne, you mentioned Jack Lawrence,

who we're about to get to, Keizama, and now I

feel real bad, I can't remember her name, worked

with Marguerite Scott, Sarah Pitcher DeRoche,

there we go. All of them. completely distinct

styles you're not going to confuse one for another

but everybody works really well there have been

so few panels or so few drawings in this entire

run of 13 years that uh stick out as not being

great that it's just astounding to me i can't

remember book or a series of books where the

artwork has just been so consistently great and

so consistently distinct I mean I've got Punisher

books from poof probably well not probably it's

been about the last wow I have the last 18 years

of Punisher books and there are entire runs of

art that I just don't like right yeah And this

is 13 years, and I can't think of any. Even during

the Consta stuff, the art wasn't the issue. It

was the story. Yeah, it was the story and some

of the characterization. So that's one thing

that they're going to have a real hard time replicating

with the new universe. I mean, presumably they'll

have some of the same people, if not all, but...

Let's hope, yeah. Yeah, anyway. Yeah, no. All

of these artists, both on this series and on

Lost Light, past, present, future, more than

meets the eye kind of thing, everybody has been

so great. Yes, they've all been different. Even

the stuff that Corinne Howell did on the other

part of the Windblade series. She has a more

cartoony style, is the best way I can put it.

We had talked about it in the Windblade Distant

Stars episode we've done this month. And when

I see her stuff, I'm like, ooh, there's a line.

When it comes to Margaret Scott and her writing

Windblade with Starscream, I fully say that Windblade

and Starscream are an old married couple. They

really are with the way that she writes them.

And the way that Corrin drew them in that story

was like, you know, there's one point where Rattrap's

going on and on and on. They both turn to him

and simultaneously, shut up, Rattrap, because

Rattrap just should not speak that time. And

I'm like, ooh, it's Windblade in G1 style. That's

cool. Yeah, and her stuff reminds me a lot of

Sarah's in more sort of cartoony or exaggerated

looks. But both of their stuff works so well

with Scott's writing. Oh, it does. That's one

thing, too. They matched the artists to the writers

really well. And then there's some, like Milne

and some of the others, that get to bounce around.

Yeah. It's very, very cool. Optimus Prime Volume

1, for a rating 0 to 5, let's see. I'm giving

it a solid 4. I don't know if that helps you

at all. I'm giving it a 4 with almost sort of

an asterisk that I feel bad taking anything off

because everything is so spot on, but there's

just so much of it. Yeah. I... I gotta give it

a 3 .5 only because it's... Even though, off

and on, it took me 18 hours to read through the

entire volume, every time I was reading through

it, I felt like I was being politically breached

to, maybe? I don't know, I don't think that's

really what I was feeling, but, like, I'm like,

okay, when is something going to happen? When

are we getting to the action shots? When are

we getting to the war, the non -war, the this,

the that, the actual conflict? Most of this,

and I understand, that's what John's been writing

for X number of years now, and as I said earlier

in this episode, it's basically, you know, his

part was the political part, and the lost life

was the lost life. So, I still very much enjoyed

it, I just wished it was a better read, even

in trade. I don't know. I'm probably talking

up my ass like I normally do, so. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Give it a number. You always make me do

it. I did. Three and a half. Oh, okay. Whoops.

That's why I was explaining the number. Sorry,

I fell asleep during your rant. This is getting

expensive. So, the next book, before we start,

Jack Lawrence takes over for, it was mostly Alex

Milne who worked heavily on More Than Meets the

Eye. Lawrence, when he took over, took an awful

lot of flack online. And I think a lot of it

is unjust. It's people comparing artists. I don't

think that's a good idea. Different styles, etc.,

etc. Having said that, though, I will say Lawrence,

it takes him a couple issues to find his legs.

I think particularly in trade, I noticed how

much better he got as time went on. And then

reading issue 21 today, art is absolutely perfect

for that. But by the end of the trade here, it's

fantastic. His stuff with Megatron in the functionalist

universe that we'll get into, why he's there,

etc., etc., is fantastic. And the backgrounds,

everything. So yeah, it took him a bit of time.

I think the work in issue 1... And two, it's

not indicative of what he's capable of or what

he's doing by issue five and six. Right, yeah.

And see, I had almost the opposite effect. While

I love Alex Milne's art, I was ready for a change

on it. I know that's probably blasphemous, but

that's just the way I felt about it. And when

I first saw the cover... of lost light number

one issue one when the issues were still coming

out um i'm like oh are we going into shattered

glass here because roddy got a repaint and i'm

like what the hell so in terms of the issue hey

remember back in slaughterhouse the arc before

issue well actually it's a couple arcs before

50 if more than meets the eye. We briefly saw

Rewind's memories getting overwritten from a

universe where Megatron was never born. And it's

a universe where your alternate mode determines

your function. Thus, the functionalist universe.

And I found it interesting that that ended up

being a tease because in this book, So at the

end of More Than Meets the Eye, we had a number

of Transformers rescued by the Necrobot just

before the moment of their death. And they all

are awakened when we open here. And we're told

the story kind of by two new characters, Anode

and Lug. And meanwhile, Ronimus and his... group

are trying to transport off of the world to try

to get help and not to mention to get the lost

light back from getaway and they end up in the

functionalist universe which i didn't think we

were ever going to see that again i think it's

i think it's neat that we did because i think

it's interesting it's kind of a it's a this is

your life you know it's jimmy stewart Seeing

what things were without... It's a wonderful

life without the Christmas connotations or anything.

Yeah, exactly. And the crazy thing is, when it

comes to that movie, I subscribe to Batman's

logic of it. Christmas with the Joker from Batman

the Animated Series. Kevin Conroy says, huh.

It's a Wonderful Life. I could never get past

the title because he's never seen it. And that's

how I've always come to be with that. I've seen

the movie because, hello, whatever network it

ends up on, it's just like a Christmas story.

They play it all the freaking time every year.

So, but you're right. That's essentially what

this is. This is like, hey, this is your life

kind of a thing. And what I love right now in

Volume 1 with... with these characters, with

Rodimus and company. The whole repaint thing,

I love that, because, hello, I've never not liked

a black and blue or black and purple blue Roddy,

so. But what I think that, like, we were talking

about in one of the other episodes that we did

recently about who the main characters are or

what the main character would be to follow. In

this, there are so many to follow. However, what

I love was Rodimus and Megatron. Yeah, their

relationship continues to grow. Not to mention

Megatron and Magnus. Yep. Who are also kind of

at the heart of this book. And their relationships

are completely different. And yeah, Rodimus is...

So back when we were doing 50, it commented that

I wasn't sure Rodimus was growing. And it was

kind of annoying that he was not. He had kind

of taken steps backwards as a character because,

I mean, he tried to use Chromedome knowing that

it was hurting him to do what he was doing. I

don't want to get back into this plot, but anyway.

And as Rewind points out to him, he's just an

enabler. lets people or helps people do whatever

it is they want to do and even if it's something

they shouldn't be doing so yeah uh in this series

rhodomus gets a lot better i found he was kind

of back to himself he had kind of learned things

so yeah we really the book split into two parts

we have cyclonus and Tailgate as well as Brainstorm

and Nightbeat still on Necroworld and at the

other point we have Rodimus Megatron and Magnus

as kind of the main ones although Terminus and

Roller are a little important as well in the

functionalist universe there is so many things

in this that I absolutely love this first volume

is amazing I mean, I know it's James and whatever

else, but the art, the way it's designed, the

writing, the moment where Megatron is in front

of Ravage's grave, that was a nice touching moment

in the beginning of this. And then all, you know,

James has this nice touching moment. Goodbye,

dear friend. The world is emptier now, but you

live on and it's echoes. All of a sudden, Nightbeat

punches out, you know, the flowers and he and

Rung pop up out of the ground. Yeah, and we also,

in terms of remembering death from the previous

issue, we also have Rung finally finding out

that Skids has died after their sort of awkward

goodbye in the previous one. That was also said.

Rung gets a lot to do in this too. So in the

Functionalist universe, Rung is one of the most

important characters because he transforms supposedly

into something useless. And in this, he's been

turned into something else by the functionalists.

I don't want to spoil everything and go through

every beat, but in a lot of ways, so I mentioned

it before, this is It's a Wonderful Life for

Megatron, who gets to see a universe where he

didn't even exist. And this is after multiple

issues, actually really an entire season. of

the theme being you reap what you sow for Megatron,

and him having a pretty miserable time, here

he gets to, he kind of gets to start to do it

all over again. And that would end up being the

final theme of this issue, by the way, because

he ends up stuck in the functional universe,

functionist universe, there we go, and gets to

restart. everything possibly doing it different

who knows maybe we'll find out later on nudge

nudge wink wink uh but the the way in which it

all happens is interesting there's an awful lot

of political commentary in this yeah uh specifically

towards brexit and also a bit towards a certain

president I will say, though, that from issue

two onwards, Rodimus is basically on point with

all of it. As I'm reading this, I stopped almost

every single panel and just screenshotted Rodimus

and put it on the full -bag Facebook page because,

oh my god, it's just so funny. Yeah, and so for

the other character beats we have here... So

first of all, I want to mention that I kind of

wish this had lasted an issue longer in terms

of the trade, because actually the next issue

is very much a denouement to all of this. But

one of the bigger revelations is that Tailgate

is going through spasms when he sleeps. And Cyclonus

has been keeping him from killing himself, unbeknownst

to Tailgate. Which eventually basically nearly

destroys Cyclonus. Yeah, it's tearing Cyclonus

apart, literally, and killing him. And Whirl,

seeing that the two of them never talk to each

other, Whirl decides to just tell Tailgate all

this. And we can see the fallout of that in the

next issue. I kind of wish it had been included

here. Yeah, that should have been included here.

Because of the split, that just sort of peters

out. But that's one of the major storylines going

on. The other major storyline I alluded to and

mentioned is, in the end, Terminus tricks Megatron

and gives Megatron the chance he's seemingly

always wanted, which is to live his life over

again or start the Decepticons over again. Possibly

not as the Decepticons, we'll be curious to see.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. We'll find out. And

the other one I found interesting, so I mentioned

before, we start through the eyes of two new

characters, Anode and Lug. Anode is messed up.

And due to some guilt and personal trauma, we

discover something. I don't want to spoil that.

Yeah, don't spoil that. She's messed up. And

her... Her annoyingness and that sort of thing

is deliberate, and it's also a front for the

fact that she's suffering some pretty severe

PTSD. One thing the Transformers, more than Meets

the Eye and Lost Light, have not shied away from

is discussions on mental illness, and there's

another solid one here. So yeah, that's the kind

of other big, I'd say, storyline going on. I

love in issue 5 where Nightbeat essentially psychologizes

Rung. Basically plays doctor for Rung. Because

Rung doesn't have his job anymore. He hadn't

been a psychologist in a while. Yeah, he resigned.

And Rung's hurting because his best friend just

died. His last words to him were just kind of,

eh. See you around, huh? Yeah, eyebrows. And

that's it. So he's dead. Rung's feeling pretty

useless at this point. He's lost his job and

everything else. Again, wish the next issue had

been included. Because in the denouement, he

gets told the story of the Rung from the functionalist

universe. And so, yeah, that gets closed off

in the next issue. It's one of those things that

some normal story arcs are six issues and then

they start the next one. For whatever reason,

Roberts decided this would essentially be a seven

-issue arc and not including the last part gives

some of this some weird feels to it. I'm also

not helped by being up -to -date either. So if

anyone's listening to this and they haven't read

these series, first of all, for the love of God,

read the IDW Transformers stuff. It's fantastic.

Absolutely. Read the Furman stuff so you get

the basis of the universe. Then skip All Hail

Megatron. Then never read any of the Mike Costa

stuff. However, if you can get a hold of it,

just find it online or buy the issue from Comixology.

Read the stuff that's co -written by Roberts

because it's the basis for Last Stand of the

Wreckers and everything after. Then just jump

right in with Last Stand. Go buy that trade.

It's amazing. Quite possibly the best single

Transformers trade. It's definitely up there.

You could, actually. I think as of this month,

as of August 2018, I think you can actually get

the Wrecker's Saga in trade. Because I remember

seeing this station board a few months ago. Oh,

the Wrecker's. Yeah, the Wrecker's books are

fantastic. Last Stand, Sins, and the One -Shot

Requiem. Requiem is such a feel -good story.

Everybody gets a happy ending in all the Wrecker's.

They hold hands and everyone's happy. The other

moment in this that I absolutely love is, well,

first of all, I have to say, I don't know because

I haven't been really reading this stuff as it's

happened. Has Roller been around for a while

now? Or is he just here now? No, Roller's been

in a lot of flashbacks and the speculation forever

was that Roller was Tyron. Okay. I remember that

part. Yeah, side note. So Tyron was actually

Glitch, who we also saw in a number of flashbacks.

It should be noted that Glitch is one of the

people listening to Megatron in the other universe

at the end. So I'm legitimately curious if we're

going to see Tyron again. But anyway. The reason

why I say this is because... This is the first

time, by the way, that Roller's been brought

to the present. We've seen him a ton in flashbacks.

He's been mentioned. He was mentioned a lot before

he was finally shown. Does he actually have anything

to say or lines in the past? Yes. And in fact,

he appeared in more than meets the eye. When

Rodimus and co. went back in time to eventually

save Megatron and prevent the functionalist universe,

I remember it was Orion Pax and Roller and his

team. That's right. I remember that now. Okay,

the reason why I said that is because the moment

that he and Megatron have in this, I love that.

Where, you know, he's like, oh, during the battle,

or the whatever you want to call it, the skirmish

or whatever. And Megatron's giving all these

orders. And Roller's like, you kind of remind

me of someone I used to know. I think you met

him once. Orion, Optimus Prime. Like, that to

me just, like, Megatron basically taking that,

which it is a compliment. The thing of it is,

folks, we grew up with 84. We grew up with the

G1 Transformers. We grew up with Optimus Prime

and Megatron basically being enemies. Not necessarily

hating each other, but being enemies. This whole

brotherhood thing didn't start until the last

12 or so years or whatever. So seeing that and

just going back to when I was a kid and thinking

about all of it, I'm like, oh, wow, that's really

cool. That's a nice moment. for Megatron in this

and the ending is also a nice moment for him

too because we all know who it is that's responding

to him and he'll get the chance to be one of

the things that happened in the series where

they went back in time again was Megatron had

the conversation with Orion Pax and Megatron

has done all of these horrible things, and Orion

has just met the Megatron of the past before

he's done all that. And there's very much a sense

that they should have been friends, but obviously

couldn't because they ended up diametrically

opposed. So, yeah, it works here. Their conversation

in that was fantastic, where... Optimus said

there would always be a place for him if he can

find his way. Yeah, the way this ends is just

leaves you on such a cool cliffhanger that, you

know, when we get to Volume 2 later this month,

we'll be like, oh, hey, so that's what that was

or whatever. That's how that was supposed to

do. The alternate covers for this trade, for

these issues, I have two favorites. The one by,

and I'm going to butcher the hell out of this

name, folks. Sajid Sahi? It's the Rodimus and

Megatron one, where Megatron is standing behind

Rodimus and firing his fusion cannon. I love

that. I think that's a great cover. The fact

that Timothy Lim basically repurposed the...

transformers the movie poster to be transformers

the lost light oh my god i want that framed on

my wall that's amazing that is super nice like

if there was a print of that anywhere outside

of you know this this trade or whatever the actual

cover of that issue like i would love that i

absolutely love that is so i like most of the

you know well not most of i like all of the covers

for this the final one of Megatron and surrounded

by or punching at all of the functionalists do

is a personal favorite yeah that one's very cool

um I love the uh again as I said this is basically

Megatron and Rodimus story for me uh the one

by nelson daniel which is rodimus and megatron

in robot mode in the background there and then

they're all those basically rodimus is chasing

it they're racing chasing after him i love that

the one that joanna lafuente did of i assume

it's rodimus it looks like him but basically

he's looking at he's looking out at the world

there i'm like oh i can put that in the optimus

one from optimus prime together and it would

be like this big Thing of Optimus and Rodimus.

That would be cool. But no, this was super fun.

I really dug this story. Yeah, I enjoyed it quite

a bit. It's weird for me because in the end,

I'm actually going to... So I'm giving it a 4

out of 5. And I'm actually going to say it's

down a bit from a lot of the best of More Than

Meets the Eye. But it's also sort of a restart.

And this is the beginning of season three. And

it felt like everybody, Roberts included, is

just kind of finding their voice again. And it's

still quite good. I still enjoy it a lot. And

just, it's not as, it's close. It's just not

as even, or as non, I guess I'd say, as some

of his other works. Also, I mean, I'm putting

it up against, his work has been near perfect

since, gee, I don't know, since he started. Why

is Roberts calling you? That is my phone, and

it's Nine Inch Nails. So, in my continuing, that's

Trent Reznor, my pal. James Roberts heard this

podcast. We're not even live. We're recording

this. He's like, I'm going to call that Canadian

guy because he shouldn't be saying negatives.

I gave it an 8 out of 10 and said it was down

for him. It's still really good. It's just the

watermark just continues to be... ridiculously

high for this series and it's almost unfortunate

to have to rate it against itself yeah yeah see

here's the thing like this is the third season

of his story this is the quote -unquote final

season of his story because with the universe

ending he actually gets to put an end on his

story and who knows i mean with how talented

james roberts is He can go on to do anything.

It doesn't matter where he goes. If he stays

at IDW, great! We'll have another story with

him or whatever on whatever. It doesn't necessarily

have to be Transformers. He can go to Marvel,

he can go to DC, he can go wherever he wants.

I'd love to see him with really any superhero

comic, even if it's just a one -shot or couple

-issue arc or something like that. I just...

Would really like to see it. I want to see him

try something different. I think he's more than

versatile enough. Oh, absolutely. Now my phone's

playing Breaking Bad. Why can't I get through?

Why is Andrew text messaging you? No, it's not

him this time. So why is it only during full

bag episodes my phone goes off? I don't know.

I'm not sure. It never goes off when we record

anything else. Yeah. If this was a Mayhem Mike's

episode, I'd be like, why is Vince McMahon calling

you? For me, I'm going to give it a four and

a half. I was thoroughly enriched with this story.

I love the art. Jack Lawrence is doing great

things with these characters. I love his Megatron.

I love his Rodimus. The only thing I'll say about

James' writing, it has nothing to do with flashbacks

or any of that kind of stuff or anything. This

is a full -on character book, and there are so

many characters in this, it's hard to follow

some of them. Some of them, not all of them.

Part of it, too, is the way you're reading it.

So if I was loaning this out to somebody, I'd

tell them to just kind of stick with it, right?

Like, just keep reading it start to finish, and

we'll have that option again because the universe

is actually ending. Yeah. It's nice. in your

case you're you know the last time you read more

than meets the eye with a lot of these characters

yeah but that was what when did we record that

it was a year ago so that makes it more difficult

and even reading it month to month because the

focus shifts on characters often enough i think

it's just easier to read in trade Or easier to

read when you've got everything there. It is

easier to read it, and like I said, I enjoyed

Lost Light Volume 1 more than I enjoyed Optimus

Prime Volume 1. However, there are just certain

characters... Like how we often say, oh, WWE

could have cut out the first hour and a half

of Raw, and it would have been fine. We wouldn't

cut out all the unimportant... I'm not saying

the story here, any of the bits are unimportant.

The stuff with Adnode and all that, that's important,

but for me, I'm more interested in what's going

on with Rodimus Megatron or Rung and Nightbeat

or Cyclonus and Tailgate. I didn't really care

all that much for Adnode or whatever. That one

character was long and all that. But yeah, still,

four and a half out of five. I very much enjoyed

this. I can't wait to read more of it. And you

guys will hear us the next time when we do volume

two for each of these series in a couple of weeks.

When we do episode 323. We're going to take a

quick break and we're going to come back and

talk about some of the solicitations coming up

for... this series and others we'll be back after

this i thought you were made of sterner stuff

springer here and you are listening to all things

transformers such heroic nonsense we are back

and to close it out we're going to be talking

about the idw publishing october 2018 solicitations

we're going to start with star trek versus transformers

number two of four uh John Barber, Mike Johnson

on writing, Philip Murphy on art. The Enterprise

is burning, brought down by the united forces

of the Klingons and Decepticons. Captain Kirk

and Optimus Prime have a plan to strike back,

but can they bring their scattered Starfleet

crew and the Autobots together before Megatron

wipes them out? This no -holds -barred Saturday

morning mashup continues. So that's gonna be

interesting. I will say full -on spoilers for

everybody right now, so if you don't want to

hear this, press pause, turn it off, whatever.

Transformers Unicron, number six of six. Barber

on writing, Milne on art. Earth War, with Unicron's

ultimate goal revealed, the shaky alliance of

Autobots and Decepticons is all that stands between

Earth... and the planet Eater. Heroes will rise

and fall as Optimus Prime journeys into the dark

heart of Unicron for the final confrontation

with evil. At stake, the soul of a universe.

Bullet points for this is This Is It, the end

of an era, finishing off 13 years worth of continuity

with a bang. Double -sized story for the ages.

Don't miss the cover by the man who introduced

the IDW Age of Transformers, E .J. Su. So, I'd

like to point out the solicitation contains absolutely

nothing that we haven't seen. Right. I mean,

he literally went into Unicron to explore him

in issue two that you mentioned you'd read. Yeah,

I know. And I'm just saying, I haven't read over

these solicitations, so I don't know if there

are going to be spoilers. That's why I put that

out there. Trust me, there's none in the next

one, too. Lost Light? Yep. The lost light number

25 more than met the eye. The quest is over.

The dust is settled and everything has changed

forever. But before the fond farewells, before

the parting of ways, before the unkept promises

to stay in touch, there's time. Surely there's

time for one last drink. Oh, of course, there's

no spoilers there. They're all drunk robots.

Hello. The finale, the main cover. I think it's

cover A. Anyway, the cover A of The Shadow of

the Lost Light following Rodimus, and it has

a bunch of the items from different points of

the series. It's fantastic. Yeah, it is. And

the little items, if you can name where they're

from or which issue or that kind of thing, that's

impressive. I can, but I love the series. Yep,

it's so good. So yeah, that's also an extra long

issue. Basically all of Unicron, Lost Light,

and Optimus Prime are all extra long final issues.

Optimus Prime 25, Barbara and Zama. End of the

road. The battle is over. Heroes of fallen worlds

have died. Now Optimus Prime faces his final

ordeal as past, present, and future collide.

We'll stand with him. And when it's all over,

who will carry the mantle of crime? So I'm hoping

it's kind of a denouement to the series and an

end, or at least I hope they get to do something

sort of after Unicron, even if it's just an issue.

Yeah. I think this is like part of the bullet

part of the Summer of Transformers, all building

up to the end of the universe as we know it.

And now all I can think of is that REM song.

But yeah. Fun is the end of the universe. As

we know it. Yes. But yeah, I'm super stoked to

see what happens. I'm cautiously optimistic on

whatever that comes next, whether it's something

in this or something that's new, different, whatever.

So who knows? It's a long road ahead of us. Alright,

folks. Where can the people find you online,

sir? At Nightbeat on Twitter. Ask me Transformers

questions. Ask me wrestling questions. Ask me

why I do this podcast. I don't know. What? It's

not my sparkling personality? Wow. Alrighty then.

Alright, I am at TFG1Mike on Twitter. You can

also follow at ThePullBag and at GeekCastRadio

on Twitter. Check us out on Facebook as well.

Coming up next week, I know one host is joining

me. I don't know if the other one is or not yet

because we haven't really talked about it. But

next week in issue episode 321, it's going to

be Lady Wreck and myself talking about Requiem

for the record. So... If Ryan wants to be on

that, he can since he was on Sins, but... So

there's that. Alright, so in the finale, Overlord

throws a party for everyone and they all hug

it out. Alrighty then. We're gonna get the heck

out of here. Make your greatest game in the comics

and we will catch you next time here inside the

Pull Bag. You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pull Bag. the GCRN's first comic review

and discussion podcast. There are several ways

to get in touch with us and leave feedback for

the show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

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So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.