Transformers: Optimus Prime and Lost Light Vol. 1 Review

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

You are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

You've just jumped inside the pull bag. Join

TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic reading crew

here at the GCRN as they make their great escape

into comics. From DC, Marvel, IDW, Boom Studios,

Xenoscope, and more, we have everything you want

to read right here. Transformers comics? Yeah,

we cover that. He -Man! Yeah, sure. DC superheroes

like Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond?

Yup. We have those too. How about TMNT from IDW

and I Hate Ferland from Image Comics? Yeah, we

have all that here. Plus, so much more. It's

all inside the pull bag here on the Geekcast

Radio Network. So without any further ado, it's

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode 320.

Yes, that's right. And we are continuing on here

in auto -botly 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 nightbeat person. It is Ryan the Uninvulnerable

Merkley. 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, alright folks, so far here

in Automotly August, if you have been listening,

if you have - We've done Windblade Distance Stars,

Tell All or One Volume One, and Transformers

vs. G .I. Joe Volume One. 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 and robots in disguise

or just transformers since they had that cartoon

series uh ended and they're now optimus prime

and lost light respectively respectively um actually

it'd be lost light and optimus prime respectively

but anyway whatever uh yeah and the other interesting

thing is since we recorded the lost lights 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 it's it's kind of weird that it's happening

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 So I'm sad to see it end. On the

other hand, 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 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, I think, and Batgirl

and the Bat Family. There are specific things

you can read that you don't have to read. 80

years worth of progress. 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 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 gonna happen and I think a lot of people

or at least people who weren'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. 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. They've 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

Which is weird by the way because cost 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 Barbara overseeing everything Roberts

being one of the writers And you mentioned Windblade

and the others, which, whew, I mean, when Windblade

until All or 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 Marguerite Scott's writing. Yeah,

Marguerite 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, K. K Zama. Need 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 even John

Barber himself did. Dr. 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 Margaret is taking over Batgirl

at issue 25 at DC. And she's writing the new

Marvel animated cartoon series featuring Squirrel

Girl and Kamala Khan as Ms. 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 she's i'm just a fan for life her

work is so good so yeah i'll be following her

to that girl absolutely which to be honest i've

been on and off i get uh with the essentially

it depends on if gail simone's writing it there

And Gale hasn't written it since the end of the

New 52 or when they did that reboot with Cameron

Stewart and Brandon Fletcher. Yeah, and this

lecture 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. by trade to do these episodes of

the podcast, but I'm also simultaneously reading

the end of the universe. Like, right before I

read Volume 1, I read Unicron Number 2, because

it came out when we recorded this. So, it's like,

huh, flip -flop, flip -flop, but... Well, today

I read Lost Light 21, so... But I have all the

answers now to the mysteries that started at

the beginning of the series To see if I accidentally

let any of them slip So Optimus Prime volume

one Yeah, okay, so I pulled up our Final episode

when we did Autobot in April last year last fall

Published it May 3rd, but it's supposed to be

in April Last year we did, uh, Transformers More

Than 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. Uh, one of my favorite

lines... I'm gonna repeat one of my lines from

that podcast that I remember well, and that is...

John Barber really likes his words. Yeah, he

does. This is 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's 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 art 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 a case Alma'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... 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 a one of Cybertron's colonies and

Earth joins the Council of Worlds very slowly

in this Yeah, well to the point that we don't

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

of that is is in these books or in this trade

and By the end, the Junkions attack Earth with

an army of Sharktocons. 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 for 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 Chunkions have in control

of the Sharkticons. That's... My G1 inner brain

is like, ah, what the hell? Where are the Quintessons

in this? Uh, we don't know. We've only ever seen

them depicted on a mural, which is actually inside

Unicron, because the planet was eaten. No, it

wasn't Quintessa. It was the planet Wheely was

stranded on which is I can't remember 117 something

or rather And it's in Unicron or it's in Unicron

number two that you see the mural briefly Optimus

actually remarks on it finer points, but I have

to talk about the actual trade paperback itself.

I have the digital copy through Comixology .com.

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. 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 and 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

you get the we get a roll call of now and then

then 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. That's ways off. Trust me,

at that point you need some comedic elements.

There's not a whole lot of comedy in this book

either. Yeah, they open with they kind of 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 it more into GI 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 over this I have not

so coming into this I'm like I don't care if

it's not even spotted 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, Ranier killed a human and did so in front

of cameras. And I love what Barbara 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 not RID, 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 Faber's 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. 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. 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...

What was that episode? Megatron's master plan

with 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. But it's mostly

Jetfire and Prime and Jetfire and the Autobot

cause and we finally get a lot of his backstory

because it was 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 to 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 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 more I do not

like 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 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 Barbara

does. He essentially does one issue flashback

to explain everything, to kind of lay everything

out for everyone. And that's it. So yeah, 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, its commitment,

there's not a lot wrong with this. The characterization,

the dialogue, the art, the writing, everything

is fantastic. So when I'm commenting on this

stuff, 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.

I'm not gonna sit down and flip through this

when I'm going to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom

type of comic 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 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 on. 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. I want more sound wave. We've had more

sound wave throughout. Barbara writes sound wave

and he writes Starscream. 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 at least

one of the deepest and most interesting Yeah,

I'll say this to going back to our discussion

about XR ID 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 gonna 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. We're starting a war with Iran randomly

or oh, sorry That's something that's kind of

glad 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 see it in the Transformers movies

as well that you know, you've got the human that

likes the Autobots and knows the difference between

them. You've got the human that thinks 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 I'm much happier to be asked

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.

I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea.

I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea.

I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea.

I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea.

I have no idea. I can't remember the name of

it now, but the one everybody likes that's from

probably about Probably seven years or so ago

now Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I watched that when

it aired and it was really good and that kind

of thing, but I Couldn't tell you anything 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 yeah that

mask relaunch really lasted a long time What

was that like it was 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 to not

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 flushed out Everybody's

three -dimensional. Everybody has multiple reasons

for doing what they do and acting the way they

act in this series and when you start jamming

all the characters together into a fairly contrived

team up and everything else, you lose that. Robert's

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. Oh, I mean that guy's basically tearing

down the fourth wall every single time Yeah Optimus

Prime volume one 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 sound wave and seeing

sound waves point of view and 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 onto or that they like, or a

relationship that's entertaining or... something.

It's just, it's well done, but like I said, it's

not something you're gonna 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... There's a difference between

us. You're mostly reading for the pleasure of

reading and getting the story because you love

the characters. 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 know. It's more about my memory, not

about the fact that I'm busy. It's more about

my memory as mush. So that's why I end up going

page by page or this and this and this. I know

we couldn't do that with this because it is...

We'd be here all month. but It would be auto

-botly August 2019 Series though and before we

move on and before we rate it I did want to point

out to 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 a foof i mean if i

did it and i'm too english major uh if i did

it oh It would not turn out this well. 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. 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. Right. I guess is

one way to say it. And then the coloring on a

lot of the transformers is a bit muted, but...

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 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. Dammit. He,

in my mind, after seeing a lot of the stuff that

he's done over the last 13 years with these books

and 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 it like you look

at like say Jack Lawrence's art in Lost Light

issue one or volume one or whatever you know

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 art

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

the museum to be sold. And, before we move on

again too, just with the universe ending, the

IDW universe that is, not ours, not yet's anyway,

the, we're working on it, the... 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

Added people Nick Roach Alex Milne With me you

mentioned Jack Lawrence. We were about to get

to Chazama And now I feel real bad. I can't remember

name worked with Marguerite Scott Sarah picture

de Roche. There we go all of them just Completely

distinct Scott styles. You're not gonna 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 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 consistent consistently distinct

I Mean I've got Punisher books from Who 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 This is 13 years and I can't think

of any even during the cost of stuff. The art

wasn't the issue Yeah, it was a story and some

of the characterization so That's one thing that

they're gonna have a real hard time Replicating

the new universe. I mean presumably they'll have

some of the same people if not all but All of

these artists, both on this series and on Lost

Light slash 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 Distance

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, 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 Glimblade in G1 style. That's cool.

Yeah, and her stuff reminds me a lot of Sarah's

in the more sort of cartoony or exaggerated looks,

but both of their stuff work so well with Scott's

writing. 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 but yeah yeah it it's very very

cool optimus prime volume one uh for a rating

zero to five let's see um I'm giving it a solid

four. I don't know if that helps you at all I'm

giving it with a four 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 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 preached 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 when are we getting to the action

shots? When are we getting to the war the non

-war this the that the actual conflict because

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 Light was the lost life. So, I still

very much enjoyed it, I just wished it was a

better read, even in trick. I dunno. I'm probably

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

give it a number. You always make me do it. I

did three and a half. Oh, okay That's why I was

explaining the number. Sorry. I fell asleep during

your rant 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, et cetera,

et cetera. 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 is 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 a bit of time i think the work

in issue one and two is 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 Millen's art,

I was like ready for a change on it. I know that's

probably blasphemous, but that's just the way

I know about it. And when I first saw the cover,

of Lost Light number one, issue one, when the

issues were still coming out. I'm like, ooh,

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 rewinds

memories getting overwritten from a universe

where Megatron was never born and It's a universe

where your alternate modes determines your function

thus the functionalist universe and I found it

interesting that ended that ended up being teased

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... anonymous 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 gonna

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, you know, what

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

without the Christmas connotations or anything.

Yeah, exactly. And the crazy thing is, you know,

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. Fizzy'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 friggin' 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 one with... With these characters with

Rodimus and company the whole repaint thing.

I love that because although 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 One of the other episodes that we did recently

about who main characters are what the main character

would be to follow In this there are so many

to follow. However, what I loved 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 chrome

dome Knowing that it was hurting him to Do what

he was doing I don't want to get back into this

but anyway and As rewind points out to him he's

just an enabler he 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.

In this series, Rodimus gets a lot better, I

found. He was kind of back to himself. He had

kind of learned things. So, yeah. Really, the

book split into two parts. We have Cyclonus.

and Tailgate as well as Brainstorm and Nightbeat

still on Necro World 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 in

its echoes. All of a sudden, Nightbeat punches

out, you know, the flowers, and he and Rung pop

up out of the ground. 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, 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 functional 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 but the the way in which

it all happens is interesting there's an awful

lot of political commentary in this specifically

towards Brexit and also a bit towards a certain

president I will say, though, that from issue

2 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. 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 of 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 but Which eventually basically nearly

destroys Cyclonus. Yeah, it's tearing Cyclonus

apart, literally, and killing him. And Wurl,

seeing that the two of them never talk to each

other, Wurl 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 or

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 thing one I found interesting so I mentioned

before was we start through the eyes of two new

characters. I know it in love I know it is messed

up and Due to some guilt and personal trauma

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

That's good She's messed up and her Annoying

this 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 lights have

not Shied away from his 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 five where Mike Beat

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. 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 Functionist 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, Robert's 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 having

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. Read the Furman stuff

so you get the basis of the universe. Then skip

All Hail Megatron. Then never read any of the

Mike Kosta 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 a few months ago. Oh, that's a good

deal. The Wrecker's books are fantastic. The

Last Stand Sins and the One -Shot Requiem. Requiem

is such a feel -good story. Everybody gets a

happy ending and all the Wrecker's are... They

hold hands and everyone's happy The other moment

in this that I absolutely love is 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 rollers have been in a lot

of flashbacks and the speculation forever was

that roller was tarn Remember that part. Yes,

I know so Tarn was actually glitch who we also

saw in a number of flashbacks It should be noted

that glitch is one of the person one of the people

listening to Megatron in the other universe At

the end, so I'm legitimately curious if we're

gonna see Tarn again, but anyway 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 save, to eventually

save Megatron and prevent the functionalist universe.

Remember it was up or I'm sorry Orion Axe and

Roller and his team That's right. I remember

that now. Okay. The reason why I said that is

because I asked that is because the moment that

Megatron have in this I love that Where you know,

he's like, oh when during the battle 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

that 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 in 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

it 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 gonna butcher the hell out

of this name, folks. Sajid Sahi? I could be,

I'm proud. 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 it 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 they actually covered that

issue like i would love that i absolutely love

that is so i like most of the you know 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

I Love the again as I said, this is basically

Megatron and Rodimus story for me the one by

Nelson Daniel, which is Rodimus and Megatron

in robot mode in the background there. And then

there are alt modes where basically Rodimus is

chasing, or 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 it basically, he's looking at, he's looking

out at the world there. I'm like, Ooh, I can

put that in the Optimus one from Optimus Prime

together. And it would be like this big thing

of Optimus and Rotomus. 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 gonna... So

I'm giving it a 4 out of 5. And I'm actually

gonna 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

3, 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 it's not, 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 Robert's calling you? That is my phone.

And it's nine inch nails. So in my continuing,

that's Trent Reznor. James Roberts heard this

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

this He's like I'm gonna call that Canadian guy

cuz he shouldn't be saying negative I gave him

an out of eight out of ten and yeah 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 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? Now it's not him this time. So

why is it only during Full Bag episodes when

the 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 Mikes episode, I'd

be like, why is an instant man 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's 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 I'm so if

I was loaning this out to somebody I 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 like

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

have like, cut out all the unimportant - I'm

not saying the story here, any of the bits are

unimportant. The stuff with, uh, Adnode and all

that, that's important, but like, for me, I'm

more interested in what's going on with like,

Rodimus and 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 wonk, 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

We do episode 323 we're gonna take a quick break

and we're gonna come back and talk about some

of the solicitations coming up for This series

and others will 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. 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, malign, mill 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.

I mean, he literally went into Unicron to explore

him in issue 2 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. 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 fun 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 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. Yeah, 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. Do we stand with

him? And when it's all over, who will carry the

mantle of prime? So I'm hoping it's kind of a

denouement of 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 notes here,

it says it ties into the Unicron event, 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 R .A .M. song.

But yeah. One 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.

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 already then

All right, I am at TF2 and Mike on Twitter You

can also follow at the pull bag and at the cast

radio 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

gonna 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 to come,

so we will catch you next time here inside the

Pole Bag. You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pole 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

.com where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate and

leave a review for the show on iTunes. Be sure

to leave us feedback. Become a fan of us on Facebook.

Facebook .com slash The Pull Bag. Send us an

email, feedback at GeekCastRadio .com, follow

us on Twitter at The Pullback and at GeekCastRadio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.