The Metrotitan kicks of the best Starscream storyline ever, but it's a bit weird how dithering the political plot is. Never a good look when Bumblebee and Prowl rehash the same problem often enough to resemble Hamlet. ( )

So let's see. How do I break down exactly how I felt about this particular volume of Robots in Disguise? Well, first off, I loved a lot of the art for various reasons. While the story itself was a bit difficult to wrap my head around, I loved the fact that it allowed for some interesting panels. Take the one below, for instance. There's a lot of jumping back and forth in time in this part of our story, and the panels manage to evoke that perfectly.

I also really liked the fact that there's a lot more backstory given in this volume. I learned a lot about Optimus Prime/Orion Pax and his crew. There's also an annual issue in here that hearkens back to the Transformers of old, and so I was able to get some insight into how their whole civilization came to be in the first place. Which, of course, further cemented in my mind that war is inevitable. They are always at war, even when they think they're not, and I sense that's coming around again.

The tension keeps mounting. Starscream, Bumblebee, Prowl and Metalhawk are all part of this never ending series of backstabbing and undermining one another. It's gotten to the point where I feel anxious every time I open a new issue. I'm terrified that war is on the horizon, and yet I can't stop reading because I have to know which "side" will win. I put side in quotes because let me tell you, I'm not even sure who is backing who anymore at this point. It's all so twisted. I suppose politics always are.

Then, there's Arcee. She's quickly become my favorite here, mainly because she's decided that the only person she backs is herself. I don't know which side she's on. It's possible she'll make me angry later. For now though, she's my favorite. She's the perfect example of an assassin, and yet I think there's something more than that to her. Time will tell.

So why the three star rating? Mainly, I just wasn't feeling this volume. There's a lot of backstory, some gorgeous art, but at the very basic level it felt like there was something missing. This series hasn't had the same kind of levity as MTMtE, and I've accepted that, but even so I felt like something besides that was missing. I can't put my finger on it.

Still, the ending was a cliffhanger and a half! I can't wait to see what happens next. ( )

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

In comparison to More than Meets the Eye, any comic book is going to come up inferior, but even trying to step outside of that, I don't think Robots in Disguise lands as well as it ought to. It hovers somewhere between mediocre and good, with occasional flashes of brilliance. At least part of the problem is the feeling that there's some filler here, that not enough of the book is dealing with the problem of postwar Cybertron, which is ostensibly its whole reason for existing. The first story here is another adventure of Orion Pax, the second and third are set on Cybertron, but the second is about 50% flashbacks to the early days of Cybertron, long before Optimus Prime and Megatron.

The flashbacks are actually pretty entertaining; I love how John Barber and Gudio Guidi emulate the style of Marvel's early Transformers comics with expository dialogue like: "IT IS NOT LEGENDS THAT INTEREST JHIAXUS! ONLY THE COLD TRUTH OF SCIENCE SWAYS MY THINKING." But what do these flashbacks have to do with anything, beyond providing some backstory? Amusing and interesting, but seemingly distracting.

That said, when these comics hit, they hit well. The moment where the Metrotitan reactivates and speaks to Starscream about his destiny genuinely gave me shivers. And the last-page revelation has lots of promise, too. I also like the power struggle within the Decepticon ranks, as we start to realize that Shockwave is up to more than we thought. (And recent revelations about Shockwave in More than Meets the Eye have me more interested in him than I was before.)

On the other hand, isn't Starscream a little too nakedly mercenary for the supposed smooth political operator he's supposed to be? Like he's openly disdainful of Autobot lives when talking to Metalhawk, who is his greatest political ally. Or, if Prowl thinks the Decepticons are a threat and he's so ruthless, how come he waits until Starscream tells him something to wipe them out, since he's apparently capable of it all along? It's things like this that stop this comic from being as good as it should be. Like the previous volume of Robots in Disguise, I enjoyed this because it felt like set-up for something good, but I hope the something good turns up soon.

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