Graffiti My Soul.
More Than Meets the Eye issue 3: Liars, A to D Part 3: The Chaos of Warm Things. March 14th 2012.
This is better. This is a bar.
Happy Halloween! And what a perfect issue to hit this weekend, the first time Roberts and Milne get to go all out on body horror, with enough they, both separately and after they split as a team, will further explore ways of grossing the reader out with a barely contained and entertaining glee.
There’s also some commonality with the opening of the second issue of Robots in Disguise as we jump back to slightly before the cliffhanger, with Shock looking sadly at Ore’s body meshed with engine, fondly recalling their many adventures (mostly places and events mentioned in the past), before paying tribute with a vial of him innermost energon. A ritual debuting here, but which we’ll see a lot of in a series with a lot of death. Him making a point of mentioning the irony of now being the only Duobot also introduces a long trend of Roberts deconstructing names and subgroups. Sometime well and deftly, sometimes in a “Why am I writing about toys anyway?” sense.
Shock then more cynically starts clearing up any evidence they were doing an unspecified job for Prowl, deleting calls and looking for a tracker they were meant to plant… at which point a monster bursts into the room and rips out his brain module through his mouth, and then his spark through his chest, in a wonderfully grizzly few panels.
This is better. This is a bar.
Happy Halloween! And what a perfect issue to hit this weekend, the first time Roberts and Milne get to go all out on body horror, with enough they, both separately and after they split as a team, will further explore ways of grossing the reader out with a barely contained and entertaining glee.
There’s also some commonality with the opening of the second issue of Robots in Disguise as we jump back to slightly before the cliffhanger, with Shock looking sadly at Ore’s body meshed with engine, fondly recalling their many adventures (mostly places and events mentioned in the past), before paying tribute with a vial of him innermost energon. A ritual debuting here, but which we’ll see a lot of in a series with a lot of death. Him making a point of mentioning the irony of now being the only Duobot also introduces a long trend of Roberts deconstructing names and subgroups. Sometime well and deftly, sometimes in a “Why am I writing about toys anyway?” sense.
Shock then more cynically starts clearing up any evidence they were doing an unspecified job for Prowl, deleting calls and looking for a tracker they were meant to plant… at which point a monster bursts into the room and rips out his brain module through his mouth, and then his spark through his chest, in a wonderfully grizzly few panels.
Shocking. Positively shocking.
Which is where we came in, as Red Alert reports finding the body to Rodimus. Who, after thinking about it for a second, simply replies with “Cool.”
Which, along with his half-arsed eulogy for the dead last issue, is a significant sign of a major retcon in Rodimus’ character for this series: The IDW version has been wrecked with guilt over the death of the team under his first command and actively avoided any situation where he could be responsible for others who might die as a result. Here, he’s too self-absorbed to actually properly care about anyone else, and his journey across the series is going to be about getting him back to the place Furman introduced him at.
He does at least have the sensible idea to order everyone into their quarters. And then has Magnus lock them in on the grounds he himself would never listen to such a sensible idea.
But, in what is clearly a planned romance by this point, Rewind insists on going with Chromedome to protect him when Rodimus has a small team (also including Ratchet and Trailbreaker) stay out of quarters to help deal with the “Sparkeater.”
Which, along with his half-arsed eulogy for the dead last issue, is a significant sign of a major retcon in Rodimus’ character for this series: The IDW version has been wrecked with guilt over the death of the team under his first command and actively avoided any situation where he could be responsible for others who might die as a result. Here, he’s too self-absorbed to actually properly care about anyone else, and his journey across the series is going to be about getting him back to the place Furman introduced him at.
He does at least have the sensible idea to order everyone into their quarters. And then has Magnus lock them in on the grounds he himself would never listen to such a sensible idea.
But, in what is clearly a planned romance by this point, Rewind insists on going with Chromedome to protect him when Rodimus has a small team (also including Ratchet and Trailbreaker) stay out of quarters to help deal with the “Sparkeater.”
Drift: Read the room challenge (failed).
In what, as we’ll see next issue, is very much not planned as a romance at this point but which becomes the foundational stage for one, a stuck half-Transformed Tailgate appeals to Cyclonus, the first person he’s recognised from his own era, for help… Which gets an initially disdainful look.
At Shock’s body, we get the big debate scene of the issue, one that gets broken up by a few cutaways, but which I’m going to talk about as a whole.
The discussion is based around the idea that Drift is a full believer in Sparkeaters, and, even though everyone else there is a disbeliever or indifferent, the corpse and his insistence starts a debate. With Magnus talking about a crook he once caught who claimed to be a Sparkeater, but was really called Blip, and Rewind making a Patterson-Gimlin film reference that firmly puts the idea of Sparkeaters into Bigfoot territory.
Trailbreaker tries to change the topic by asking why the brain has come out as well when it’s the Spark that gets eaten, letting Chromedome handily explain Roberts attempt to square the circle on the differing takes on the “Important” part of a Transformer over the decades: Rossum’s Trinity. That the Spark, the Brain Module and the Transformation Cog are all linked and dependant on one another. It’s a fascinating idea that we will get a surprising amount of milage from.
At Shock’s body, we get the big debate scene of the issue, one that gets broken up by a few cutaways, but which I’m going to talk about as a whole.
The discussion is based around the idea that Drift is a full believer in Sparkeaters, and, even though everyone else there is a disbeliever or indifferent, the corpse and his insistence starts a debate. With Magnus talking about a crook he once caught who claimed to be a Sparkeater, but was really called Blip, and Rewind making a Patterson-Gimlin film reference that firmly puts the idea of Sparkeaters into Bigfoot territory.
Trailbreaker tries to change the topic by asking why the brain has come out as well when it’s the Spark that gets eaten, letting Chromedome handily explain Roberts attempt to square the circle on the differing takes on the “Important” part of a Transformer over the decades: Rossum’s Trinity. That the Spark, the Brain Module and the Transformation Cog are all linked and dependant on one another. It’s a fascinating idea that we will get a surprising amount of milage from.
The inside of James Roberts' head as he thinks of things to do to his characters.
Ratchet is clearly annoyed at the religious element Drift has brought into the conversation and grumpily brings the reality in, the “Sparkeater” is just an unfortunate technopariste…
And when Drift finishes his sentence for him to bring the mysticism back in, he is genuinely pissed off. Not in a Spock and McCoy bantering way, but with genuine hatred. That Drift was originally going to be a villain and Ratchet the main hero opposing him come the mutiny is incredibly obvious when you know that was the plan.
Chromedome lightens the mood by asking to have Shock’s brain put back in his mouth, as “With corpses, I prefer to go through the eyes.”
Leading it to be explained to Trailbreaker that Chromedome is a “Mnemosurgeon”, who can use his finger needles to go into the minds and memories of other Transformers… including dead one. He can also do other stuff when he’s in there, but they don’t talk about that...
It feels a little unlikely that Trailbreker both wouldn’t know that about Chromedome or what the word means considering how far back it will turn out they go (usually, this sort of “Explain the new concept that as far as the character’s are concerned in an old concept” moments will go to Tailgate or other out of the loop characters), but it’s another key idea that will play a big role down the line. And the black and while near full-page spread of Shock’s POV memories of his last moments is Milne, once again, going hard on the horror.
And when Drift finishes his sentence for him to bring the mysticism back in, he is genuinely pissed off. Not in a Spock and McCoy bantering way, but with genuine hatred. That Drift was originally going to be a villain and Ratchet the main hero opposing him come the mutiny is incredibly obvious when you know that was the plan.
Chromedome lightens the mood by asking to have Shock’s brain put back in his mouth, as “With corpses, I prefer to go through the eyes.”
Leading it to be explained to Trailbreaker that Chromedome is a “Mnemosurgeon”, who can use his finger needles to go into the minds and memories of other Transformers… including dead one. He can also do other stuff when he’s in there, but they don’t talk about that...
It feels a little unlikely that Trailbreker both wouldn’t know that about Chromedome or what the word means considering how far back it will turn out they go (usually, this sort of “Explain the new concept that as far as the character’s are concerned in an old concept” moments will go to Tailgate or other out of the loop characters), but it’s another key idea that will play a big role down the line. And the black and while near full-page spread of Shock’s POV memories of his last moments is Milne, once again, going hard on the horror.
Oddly, the same nickname IDW creators gave me.
This is such a painful experience for Chromedome, it turns out the very first words he ever said to Rewind were “The worse the death, the more painful the memories”, a story Rewind repeats as he cradles Chromedome’s head in his lap in a level of closeness that shows this being a Relationship rather than a relationship had now solidified.
And the irony is, all Chromedome manages to do is confirm what they already knew: Something really like a Sparkeater is running about. The fundamental uselessness of this skill, at least in comparison to the cost it takes on Chromedome, will be a recurring motif.
It’s actually down the Ratchet, after telling Drift to STFU again, to explain the solution: The Sparkeater can’t be shot directly because its half-digested meals will explode and take out half the ship, and it will now go after the brightest spark on board. Which Rodimus is far too confident in thinking will be him.
In the middle of this, we get two short cutaways: The first of Cyclonus carrying Tailgate into a hab suite, that Tailgate is very exciting to be sharing as it seems such a nice room, before Cyclonus (trying not to show he’s shaken by the dirty stares he got from some of the crew) unceremoniously dropping the little Autobot on the floor.
The other see Swerve and Skids go into what turns out not to be a hab suite… but a bar. Abandoned so rapidly that there’s still a glass on one table.
And the irony is, all Chromedome manages to do is confirm what they already knew: Something really like a Sparkeater is running about. The fundamental uselessness of this skill, at least in comparison to the cost it takes on Chromedome, will be a recurring motif.
It’s actually down the Ratchet, after telling Drift to STFU again, to explain the solution: The Sparkeater can’t be shot directly because its half-digested meals will explode and take out half the ship, and it will now go after the brightest spark on board. Which Rodimus is far too confident in thinking will be him.
In the middle of this, we get two short cutaways: The first of Cyclonus carrying Tailgate into a hab suite, that Tailgate is very exciting to be sharing as it seems such a nice room, before Cyclonus (trying not to show he’s shaken by the dirty stares he got from some of the crew) unceremoniously dropping the little Autobot on the floor.
The other see Swerve and Skids go into what turns out not to be a hab suite… but a bar. Abandoned so rapidly that there’s still a glass on one table.
Trailbreaker will be remembered most for something else by the end of the series.
Which excites Swerve as opening a bar after the war with his good pal Blurr has been his dream for years… But Skids doesn’t care, he’s missing both recent and ancient memories and has decided to treat this as a liberating experience. Meaning he isn’t going to follow orders, but, only taking the time to ask Swerve if he likes music, instead is going to escape through a ceiling air-vent (I wonder why Transformers bother with air circulation systems when they don’t need them, and an atmosphere is an incredibly difficult thing to maintain in space?) for the sheer lols of it.
After Rodimus has decided he is the target, we the Sparkeater isn’t yet that fussy, going straight for the first Autobot out of quarters, the mentioned in Bullets Animus. Who was originally intentionally locked out of his suite by Whirl for fun, but now the automatic lockdown means the cyclopic Autobot can’t let him in anyway (an editorial mandate to not make Whirl complicit in what happens next?), leading to another messy death.
Which pisses Whirl off enough to blast through the door and take fire… and be annoyed enough with “one trick pony” Trailbreaker (setting up another recurring element) using his forcefield to stop the shots landing for the aforementioned will explode the ship reasons. This let’s the Sparkeater escape, and run towards a part of the ship where there’s only on inhabited room…
Rung’s office.
After Rodimus has decided he is the target, we the Sparkeater isn’t yet that fussy, going straight for the first Autobot out of quarters, the mentioned in Bullets Animus. Who was originally intentionally locked out of his suite by Whirl for fun, but now the automatic lockdown means the cyclopic Autobot can’t let him in anyway (an editorial mandate to not make Whirl complicit in what happens next?), leading to another messy death.
Which pisses Whirl off enough to blast through the door and take fire… and be annoyed enough with “one trick pony” Trailbreaker (setting up another recurring element) using his forcefield to stop the shots landing for the aforementioned will explode the ship reasons. This let’s the Sparkeater escape, and run towards a part of the ship where there’s only on inhabited room…
Rung’s office.
Of course, Cyclonus not being there explains why his flashbacks are wrong.
Which has been carefully described by Roberts and designed by Milne for the events of issue 6 to work properly, again showing the solid well thought out reality the artist brings to this ship.
Rung is delighted to have finished placing all his models, when the Sparkeater breaks in and only Skids grabbing “Eyebrows” from the ceiling and pulling him through the vent saves him.
Back in their suite, Cyclonus decides to play the sort of mind games on Tailgate he’d later become susceptible to from Getaway. Because, when asked about the war, Cyclonus (who of course, also missed nearly all of it) paints it as a story of two equal sides, but one that wanted to properly sweep away the old order and one that just wanted to keep the status quo with the “Right” people in charge. All in a way to make anyone listening lean more towards the Decepticon side, before he asks which of the two Tailgate would have fought for.
It's accompanied by a lovely montage of new flashback moments, including Grimlock having to chose between Autobot and Decepticon and Megatron about to assassinate Zeta Prime in a way that will be immediately contradicted by Autocracy. But, as with the more overt moment in the aftermath of this little arc, I definitely think this is not a bit Roberts would have written if he’d even thought he’d set up a long simmering romance between these two (and, of course, Tailgate’s original long-term role was to die).
Rung is delighted to have finished placing all his models, when the Sparkeater breaks in and only Skids grabbing “Eyebrows” from the ceiling and pulling him through the vent saves him.
Back in their suite, Cyclonus decides to play the sort of mind games on Tailgate he’d later become susceptible to from Getaway. Because, when asked about the war, Cyclonus (who of course, also missed nearly all of it) paints it as a story of two equal sides, but one that wanted to properly sweep away the old order and one that just wanted to keep the status quo with the “Right” people in charge. All in a way to make anyone listening lean more towards the Decepticon side, before he asks which of the two Tailgate would have fought for.
It's accompanied by a lovely montage of new flashback moments, including Grimlock having to chose between Autobot and Decepticon and Megatron about to assassinate Zeta Prime in a way that will be immediately contradicted by Autocracy. But, as with the more overt moment in the aftermath of this little arc, I definitely think this is not a bit Roberts would have written if he’d even thought he’d set up a long simmering romance between these two (and, of course, Tailgate’s original long-term role was to die).
Only one of these guys is in any real danger.
Rodimus, who has no idea who Rung is and has to doublecheck his name, then calls in to the two fleeing from the Sparkeater bots, to apologise for being wrong about who had the brightest spark (the speed of this issue is why the characters don’t have chance to think “Why Rung?”, but it’s fair to say that this started a long five year chain of speculation by readers), and for the locking everyone in idea not working. Turns out the room the Sparkeater had been trapped in (and fed turbofoxes to keep it happy) just had thicker walls. But there’s a new plan, so Rung needs to get down to the engine room to help. Or, as Skids cheerfully puts it, be bait.
Speaking of bait, there’s an excellent moment of bait and switch when, after Skids and Rung escape down a lift-shaft and into an elevator Brainstorm is cowering in and run past him, the Sparkeater seems to not eat him because he waves his briefcase at it. Implying something terrible and powerful is in there.
There is, but it will turn out not to be the reason the Sparkeater ignores him.
Within the engine room, Rodimus grabs Rung against his will (after Drift has knocked Skids back), and, as Rung objects loudly, holds him out as a tasty snack for the Sparkeater…
Before throwing the psychiatrist aside at the last second and grabbing the Sparkeater as, much against his better instincts, Perceptor activates the Quantum Engines just long enough to repeat the accident that killed Ore: Moving the ship half a foot forward whilst Rodimus and the Sparkeater stay stationary, burying the monster and Rodimus’ arms within it.
Speaking of bait, there’s an excellent moment of bait and switch when, after Skids and Rung escape down a lift-shaft and into an elevator Brainstorm is cowering in and run past him, the Sparkeater seems to not eat him because he waves his briefcase at it. Implying something terrible and powerful is in there.
There is, but it will turn out not to be the reason the Sparkeater ignores him.
Within the engine room, Rodimus grabs Rung against his will (after Drift has knocked Skids back), and, as Rung objects loudly, holds him out as a tasty snack for the Sparkeater…
Before throwing the psychiatrist aside at the last second and grabbing the Sparkeater as, much against his better instincts, Perceptor activates the Quantum Engines just long enough to repeat the accident that killed Ore: Moving the ship half a foot forward whilst Rodimus and the Sparkeater stay stationary, burying the monster and Rodimus’ arms within it.
I mean, that is cool.
Which is both a very nice action beat and memorable image, but an incredibly satisfying payoff to the death of Ore itself. Roberts will often, if not always, be very good at long-term setups and payoffs, but something done so neatly within just two issues will be much rarer.
As Rodimus has his new arms attached in the aftermath, Ultra Magnus tries to take him to task for being so reckless in using Rung like that (and pointing out Drift wouldn’t call him out for this in a way that, again, feels like foreshadowing for the evil Drift path not taken), but Rodimus simply shoots him down and is firm that, on this ship, Magnus takes orders, not gives them.
So, again, not remotely the same character as early IDW Hot Rod, who would be disgusted by all this.
As the issue wraps up, and Ratchet fixes Tailgate’s transformation cog (some scrap metal got in there), the Minibot drops a bombshell: He thinks it’s important to pick a side, even with the war over. And he’s picked being a Decepticon…
This is an extremely satisfying end to the first arc, effectively ending with the major cast for what will come to be called “Season 1” all together, their basic relationships established, and the basic layout of the ship and it functions made real in the readers minds. If this was a TV series (and Roberts will very much define this comic in TV terms), Liars A to D is an excellent pilot.
As Rodimus has his new arms attached in the aftermath, Ultra Magnus tries to take him to task for being so reckless in using Rung like that (and pointing out Drift wouldn’t call him out for this in a way that, again, feels like foreshadowing for the evil Drift path not taken), but Rodimus simply shoots him down and is firm that, on this ship, Magnus takes orders, not gives them.
So, again, not remotely the same character as early IDW Hot Rod, who would be disgusted by all this.
As the issue wraps up, and Ratchet fixes Tailgate’s transformation cog (some scrap metal got in there), the Minibot drops a bombshell: He thinks it’s important to pick a side, even with the war over. And he’s picked being a Decepticon…
This is an extremely satisfying end to the first arc, effectively ending with the major cast for what will come to be called “Season 1” all together, their basic relationships established, and the basic layout of the ship and it functions made real in the readers minds. If this was a TV series (and Roberts will very much define this comic in TV terms), Liars A to D is an excellent pilot.
Choices to be almost immediately regretted.
And the specific plot of this issue, with the Sparkeater, is a nice self-contained horror story that lets Milne really show what he can bring uniquely to this run. That there’s two moments that you get a full-page flashback spread where he, along with colourist Josh Burcham, work hard to make them distinct and memorable is a strong sign of the craftmanship going into this book.
Coupled with Roberts finding his groove with the characters (notably Rewind and Chromedome) and having great fun throwing out plot hooks like they’re going out of fashion, and you have a very strong start to the series, with only some, when read in this context coming off the previous IDW stories, of the reinvention of Rodimus as a less concerned for his men ass coming off as odd.
Speaking of things that come off as odd in the wider context of IDW, next week, more Autocracy.
AUTOCRACY CHAPTER 4
2012
COMMENT
KO-FI
Coupled with Roberts finding his groove with the characters (notably Rewind and Chromedome) and having great fun throwing out plot hooks like they’re going out of fashion, and you have a very strong start to the series, with only some, when read in this context coming off the previous IDW stories, of the reinvention of Rodimus as a less concerned for his men ass coming off as odd.
Speaking of things that come off as odd in the wider context of IDW, next week, more Autocracy.
AUTOCRACY CHAPTER 4
2012
COMMENT
KO-FI
