Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

But I've got to admit it's growing on me.   And the other comics are intended for adults, and a lot of the complexity - the wordplay and obscure references for example - would go over the heads of the children this comic is targeting directly.  

No about IDW and Hasbro appreciates the adults who buy all their Transformers tie-ins, but target audience does make a difference - and it should.   I doubt the target age for this comic wants, or would appreciate - the extended story lines, the multiple sub-plots and the winks at everything obscure that make it into the two other regular series.   (And the mini-series, which use almost all except nth extended storylines, obviously.  They aren't intended for that, though.)

This is meant to accompany the Robots in Disguise TV show which I don't enjoy very much.   And to be honest, I have issues with this comic that are, quite frankly, the same issues I have with the TV series.   That is, they set up a history for the Dinobots that they completely disregard now, although they suggest that this is a follow up to the Transformers Prime.  (Which is part of the Aligned Family, so that the comics, TV shows, and other assorted media are all supposed to line up, and should have for about ten years.   It lasted not even half of that time period.)

I've also complained that Prime managed to be fairly sophisticated and had psychological depth, without being so scary that it would not work for children.   It had this optimal balance, and Hasbro threw that out in what I consider is a very poor choice.   That lack of complexity and sophistication shows in this comic. 

That being said, it's my monthly dose of Grimlock, even if this Grimlock feels rather alien when compared to every other version I know.   I'm finding he's grating on my nerves less, even if he doesn't excite me quite as much.  

However, it helps to think of this as another Transformers Animated.  I know it seems counter intuitive, especially since the studio says it's all connected.   Except the only way to stop myself from thinking 'this isn't right, this doesn't match and this is a continuity error' is to think of it as an entirely new animal.   (Brief explanation: Transformers Animated does not refer to the original series, which is G1.   Animated was a recent show, in which they kept a lot of terms, but they meant something different, or worked differently.   Instead of one active Prime, they had multiples, with only one Magnus, for example.   It's the only continuity I can think of that took such liberties with the continuity, and it was surprisingly fun and complex itself.   It was divorced of any direct continuity relation to any other show.   If I divorce Robots in Disguise from Prime, think of it as different from any other continuity as Animated was from anything, then I have less of a problem reading this.   I stop searching for continuity errors, getting annoyed by them, and I can enjoy the comic.   It turns out I enjoy it much, much more when I think of it as something completely new.)

If you can compartmentalize your continuities, then this works nicely.   If  you don't need everything to be morally and ethically grey at times, this works very well.   Robots in Disguise is very much more of a simplistic 'good guys wear the white hats and are never evil while the bad guys wear the black hats and are always evil unless they become good guys' type of show.   Paring it down that way has never been my favorite way to do, or watch, anything, but it's nice for some brain candy.   (And eye candy.)

But as good as the writer is - and I think she is good, even not quite Roberts or even Barber good - and as well done as the art is, I don't think this can make it to five stars.   Not with Roberts and Barber writing the other Transformers comics, which blow everything away.