IDW Publishing's episodic Star Trek style Transformers comic, More Than Meets the Eye has fundamentally altered how I look at graphic novels in terms of both writing and illustration. Written by James Roberts and illustrated primarily by Alex Milne, it tells the tale of a large band of misfits coping with living in a post-war society, when war is what has defined four million years of their existence. We mainly follow the crew of the starship The Lost Light as they venture into space in search of the mythical Knights of Cybertron, who they believe will aid their fractured society and explain the meaning of being.
Pretty heavy stuff for a bunch of characters initially invented to sell toys to kids in the 80s.
The story arcs deal with how people deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, how factions in a war can be perceived differently by one who spends the entire time unconscious and misses everything, and the different understanding of what it means to be responsible for the lives of others. Roberts and Milne utilise self referential, dry comedy to explore these themes in a relatable, engaging way.
The main reason this comic has been so influential to the way I think about character and story is that the artist and writer have developed this diverse cast of people from nothing more than a blocky drawing of a robot with some doors hanging off it created in 1983. The cast of the story largely focuses on smaller, more obscure characters from Transformers history, in an effort to give them a story to tell and give some individuality to a character who had no real description beyond "good guy" or "bad guy" before. This appreciation of history and the subculture is the strength of the stories and the designs, redeveloping simple ideas into complex and memorable ones.
When most people think of Transformers, they think of terribly written, horribly shot, almost objectively terrible films that give everyone a headache but still somehow make a billion dollars.
The precise nature of More Than Meets the Eye is to get away from this stigma, by using colourful, realistic personalities to light up these unique and iconic designs.
Later in the story, the focus shifts to big baddie Megatron (who you'll remember as a big growling pile of CGI nothingness in the movies), as he defects from his own cause to join and become the captain of The Lost Light. With this, Roberts and Milne draw parallels between Megatron's faction, The Decepticons, and concepts of socialism and radical Marxism. The initial outset of Decepticonism is to bring the working class to the awareness of the corruption of the ruling class, and tell them they are not tied to a single function in society based on what they transform into. This is a metaphor for working classes being forced into their place over generations in the real world by factors like lack of opportunity, exclusivity of certain professions, family, money etc. Roberts refers to Megatron's journey from idealistic youth to violent warlord as a transition from idealistic Communism to totalitarianism that has consumed so many in our world.
Roberts explains in an interview with the Guardian: “In More Than Meets the Eye, I explored the idea that, millions of years ago, the Transformers existed in a system with a ‘functionist’ doctrine – meaning the thing you turn into determines your status. The more commonplace a device you became, the fewer privileges you had.” An extension of this doctrine in the story is that once a certain shape/device is made redundant, any Transformers that happen to change into one of these things is also made redundant and cast aside by society. This parallels how a lot of governments disregard the disabled and the elderly, if they don't serve a function then they aren't of any use.
All these elements of the story of this comic have really opened my eyes to the vast possibility of storytelling through this medium, and the audience it can reach. Any teenager who thinks Bumblebee is cool could pick issue #1 of this title up with that in mind and by issue #10 be embroiled in the thought processes of what it means to exist in peacetime when you were crafted specifically for war, or how a dictator comes back from the edge to realise his mistakes and reassess his core values. That same kid could have forgotten about the flashy yellow car advert that is the film version of Bumblebee and could be relating to the mouthy yet insecure bar owner Swerve:
the neurotic and naïve Tailgate,
hot shot captain with everything to prove, Rodimus,
the neurotic and naïve Tailgate,
hot shot captain with everything to prove, Rodimus,
strong willed and talented female mechanic Nautica,
stubborn couple with real love for one another, Chromedome and Rewind,
or any number of characters available to latch onto and learn from.
or any number of characters available to latch onto and learn from.
And this is the reason this comic has changed how I think about comics. None of those characters have appeared in the movies, there is little to no brand recognition with most of them and the general public, and yet Roberts and Milne have taken them and lifted them beyond a cartoon truck or a toy, and given a diverse cast for a diverse audience to relate to. Promoting same sex relationships, equality for women, self confidence and endurance for teenagers and young adults in todays world is incredibly important and something I believe I should be doing in my practice. Equally, making younger audiences aware of social and political issues through comparison and metaphor has been an essential part of comic books since their conception. As James Roberts puts it: “People say there’s no place for politics in comics, but comics have been political from the start. If you don’t think X-Men has been telling a story about marginalisation and ostracisation for the past 50 years, you’ve been reading a different title to me.”
