The Dying of the Light – Part 1! Since joining the Lost Light, Megatron has rejected everything that once made him the most feared and hated Cybertronian of all time. But penitence has a price, and before the ex-Decepticon can find true redemption he must first confront his darkest legacy—the Decepticon Justice Division.
Click the jump for preview page and a review of Transformers More Than Meets The Eye #50!
The issue starts out with Optimus receiving a distress call from several members of the Lost Light. Nautica appears first, and at first she just looks a little tired and stressed.
Then she turns her head, and half her face has been blown away.
It’s not really a distress call so much as a “we’ve got six hours to live and here’s how we’d like to be buried” call.
And no, we have no idea what happened, because in true James Roberts fashion we’ve been given a glimpse of the future, and then the story jumps back in time to when everything is quiet and calm, and we’ll work our way forward to the disaster, chewing our nails the whole time. Roberts does like to torture us, oh yes he does.
The threads of several plot lines appear in this issue: Rodimus’ first days as captain, Megatron’s introduction to the Lost Light, the strange symbol they keep coming across, Rodimus’ hand-drawn map on his desk, the Necrobot, and more.
A lot of the story was setting the stage for the final confrontation, which we’ll get next issue, but the ride is definitely worth it. While there’s lots of serious moments there’s also plenty of the clever, snarky humor that James Roberts is so good at, like this exchange between Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, and Brainstorm:
“Well I’m sorry if not all of us are catlike and unpanickable.”
“Not a word.”
“Jeez, Magnus. Time and place.”
“No no no, you can’t have people throwing made up words around willy-nilly. There are impressionable ‘bots on board.”
“Magnus is right. Making up words leads to criminanarchy and pandebordination.”
“Brainstorm! One more and you’re on remand.”
“Can we please focus?”
Also we get to see Megatron teaching a class. You heard me.
I know it’s hard to get used to Megatron being calm. It’s tough to let go of the maniacal tyrant that he’s always been. But watching ol Megs, teaching a class? Giving a lecture? Citing sources like the most badass professor ever? I may have swooned. Just a little.
And do I have to say it? Of course I do: the artwork by Alex Milne (and additional inks by Brian Shearer) is ridiculously good. I’m serious, it just defies description. It’s the artwork I wanted back in the 80s when I was first reading Transformers. It’s not just faithful to the cartoon, it’s better. (I know, that’s heretical talk, but I stand by it.)
The colors are also especially good. They’re always good, but this is a stand-out issue for colors. There’s several pages (I think this was Priscilla Tramontano’s work; the colors were divided between her, Joana Lafuente, and John-Paul Bove this issue) with Velocity and Megatron in the sick bay that I could just linger over forever.
It’s been over four years since this series started. When I first started reading it I was almost a little sad: it was so good I thought “well there’s no way this will last, or if it does last it won’t stay this good. There’s no way they can keep it up for long.”
Boy howdy am I glad to be wrong.
