Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Box Set Paperback – 15 Dec. 2015

I'm a massive fan of the Transformers and have been for my entire life, and its true to say that Transformers - especially the comicbook by Marvel Comics - defined my childhood. I still have all 332 issues of that weekly collection, and whilst there have been numerous Transformers comic book series released since them, I never expected that any series could take a place in my heart the way those early stories did - until now!What youre holding here is the first five volumes of IDW's excellent 'More Than Meets the Eye' comic, which in a nutshell is concerned with Hot Rod and his rag-tag group of Autobots aboard their space ship 'The Lost Light', and their quest to discover the fabled 'Knights of Cybertron'. But mainly its about a bunch of lonely disfunctional oddball robots stuck on a space ship together, arguing, cracking jokes, and getting sidetracked from their main quest by doing pointless, silly things that only they find amusing!The main cast apart from Rodimus consists of second in command, the obsessive-compulsive Ultra Magnus who trys his hardest to make life for everyone else on board as miserable as possible, third in command, the relentlessly optimistic Drift, talkative jokester/illicit barman Swerve, ships doctor Ratchet, dangerously unhinged ex-Wrecker Whirl, paranoid security officer Red Alert, timid psychologist Rung, disillusioned ex-Decepticon Cyclonus, robot with a fuel consumption problem ('alcoholic to you and I) Trailbreaker, 'super-learner' Skids, the first 'gay' Transformers relationship (yep, you read that right) between Rewind and Chromedome, and lets not forget erstwhile waste disposal...ahem, sorry...'bomb disposal' expert, Tailgate.Along the way the crew encounter the likes of the 'Decepticon Justice Division' (a group that concerns itself with hunting Decepticon traitors), a 'Sparkeater' (a powerful predator that feeds off Transformers life force), 'The Scavengers' (a bunch of misfit Decepticons just trying to get by day to day whilst having as much fun as they can), a visit to a planet with a terrible transformers-eating plague, an appearance by mass-murdering Decepticon 'Overlord', amongst many other adventures. In addition there is an intent focus on the stories and development of all of the prominant cast members throughout.Its excellent throughout, hilariously funny, full of compulsive characters, occasionally heart-rending, really a brilliant piece of work. Its truely amazing that the writers have managed to construct relationships between a bunch of robots based on an 80's kids toy franchise that are far more 'organic' than any of the half-hearted fumbling thats come out of the big two comic publishers in recent years.The creative team are admittedly huge fans of the early Transformers comics, and you can really see what a labour of love this was for them - their rabid fanboy fascination with the Transformers practically oozes out of each and every panel, and includes numerous little tips of the hat to the legend created by those early comics, which you'll notice if your sharp!I actually read all of these issues at the point of original release, and its a title that almost immediately found itself at the very top of my 'to read' pile each month. I dont have enough superlatives to describe how good a series it is and would recommend it to anyone - especially any person who, like me, grew up on a diet of Transformers cartoons and comics in the mid 80's!