This is a bad comicbook. I usually try to stay positive in my reviews and really look for things to love – but I have been unable to achievethat with this book. Perhaps – PERHAPS – this book could find a suitable audience in the under-10s demographic but the lack of nuance and subtlety pull the book down to a 3/10. This is for Ben 10 mega-fans and children who enjoy the cartoon only.

This is a four issue mini-series and from the first issue I know that I'll be reading every issue, barring a massive drop in quality. The market for this book is somewhat of a niche but I hope it can find a wider audience – it deserves it. Gischlers background in crime fiction has served him well here and the comicbook format has allowed him to let loose a bit and go to the more ridiculous side of the genre. It's Sucker Punch meets GTA without any of the pretension. You should read it.

I wanted to like this book, I really did but a stick is a stick and a bad comic is a bad comic. No amount of good will on my part can change that. It's a shame, I know Van Lente can write good comics but this just isn't one of them. I'm still itching for a Conan fix in my monthly schedule so next month I might tackle the ongoing series – hopefully it'll deliver the goods!

Naturally Vampirella has received a massive overhaul to her costume in the transition to all-ages material, covering up her modesty to a level that is palatable given the context but it's the fact that this is necessary that really speaks to the crux of the problem with this book. While it's clear that all involved have done their best to create a solid kid-friendly comicbook it struggles to get out from under the hyper-sexed blood-soaked shadow of it's source material, leaving it's only place as that of a quirky what-if issue for fans of the main series. Perhaps you won't have as much of a problem with this one-shot as I did and more power to you if you didn't but unfortunately I can't find it within me to give this book a higher score than I did.

Underneath this first issue there is a good writing team, seemingly waiting for the right story to tell. This is not that story. At least, not yet. The quality ofthe dialogue and the competency of the narrative will have me checking out the second issue of this three issue miniseries but my bar of expectation is set very low indeed.

There's little to draw me in to the next issue – even the last page reveal of one of the first female superheroes – Miss Fury – means little to me, especially since the series is billed as a team-up between Shadow, Sparrow and Fury. I hope the series picks up steam in the second issue as there is a lot of promise and potential here for a dashing noir adventure but unfortunately I'll have to give the book a 4/10. Mutti's art is the highlight of the book but the rest fails to deliver.

This issue lacks the scope and depth of the previousissue – more of a vignette with ties to the larger story but it's exactly that kind of story that Jack excels at. The series was never about Jack defeating Aku – that was a battle that could never have happened, rather it was about the journey leading up to that point and the same holds true here. If this is indicative of what we can expect of the ongoing then I'll be picking it up every month – and I'll be eager to do so.

Unfortunately I can't in good conscience give this book anything more than a 5/10. The story works on the levels that it's seeking to reach but we expect a lot more than something passablein our Transformers fiction now. It's a shame, I feel like the series could have had real potential if it had stretched itself slightly further in terms of the stories it's trying to tell. Fans of the Dinobotsmay find something to tickle their fancy in here, as they are all present and accounted for but outside of that I simply can't find a good reason to read the book – although doing so certainly won't offend the senses (unlike some other Transformers comics I can think of. I'm looking at your, Micromasters.)

There's minimal plot development here and no big “AH-HA!” moments here. Instead we have charaterwork out the wazzoo- all of which I expect to see being payedoff alongsidethe plot set-ups of last issue by the time we read the finale. I also have to give props to the Retailer Incentive cover for this issue – never would I have imagined that I'd be able to buy a comicbookfeaturing both Scoop AND his two Targetmasterpartners in an actual comicbook store

This issue, much like almost every issue since the series launch is completely solid. Story, art, characterisation; all are running at 100%. That said, the series is in danger of stagnating slightly. If next issue fails to deliver on Nightbeats promise then I can see me having some bones to pick. We need a big jaw-dropping moment to really kick things up a gear. Also, if we don't get a Rung toy by the end of next year I am going to be PISSED. Seriously. Make it so, Hasbro!

Cover props here have to go to Casey Collers Retailer Incentive cover, with Shockwave and his disciples taking centre stage. It's dynamic and splashy, exactly what a crossover events cover should be and it'd make an excellent choice for the Dark Cybertron Vol. 2 TPB. Alex Milne deserves a shout-out too, providing us with a cover that fits in more with the rest of the MTMTE covers. RiD #27 and Dark Cybertron #2 are just around the corner, hitting shelves before the month is done " and with them we'll get the climax of this 6 month 12 issue epic. As it currently stands it looks like it's going to be a doozy " but make sure you check back with us when those issues are due to hit the stands to find out if they manage to stick the landing!

While Shockwavesplan still seems somewhat vague we've got 9 issues of Dark Cybertronto go so to beexpecting big answers by the end of act 1 seems ill-advised. I can find very little to fault here, but it's lacking the blow-your-socks-off factorthat previousMTMTEand RiD issues have had but the potential is absolutely there. It's still as inaccessible to the uninitiated as the previous two chapters but I'm going to take that as par for the course from here on out. As a lifelong Transformers fan it fills me with glee to beable to hold up these books as examples of excellent comicbooks.

We still don't know what the grand masterplan is, and I have a feeling we won't until issue 7 at the earliest but I'm ok with that. I can speculate that they're keeping the Lost Light Crew off-page for this issue to give them a big triumphant return to Cybertron, Metroplex in-tow, to give the Bot/Con alliance a weapon to match the Necrotitan " in which case I'm totally onboard with that. Cover-props this time around go to the Regular cover " featuring Galvatron and Nova Prime looking suitably menacing! At this point I think it's fair to say that the distinction between an issue of RiD and an issue of MTMTE is nil, they are one book at the moment " Dark Cybertron " fortunately that book happens to be excellent!

Cover shout-out this time around goes to the Retailer Incentive cover " can't beat some bad-ass Dinobots firing some BFGs! Speaking of Dinobots " Sludge doesn't even get a mention on the cast list page, poor Sludge " he never gets anything to do! Dark Cybertron, for all it's faults, is still the best Transformers comicbook event to be published. We still have 6 more issues to go so there's plenty of room to really blow our socks off. Oh, and we need a Trailbreaker remold into Flatline " like, yesterday.

Dark Cybertron is, undoubtedly, the best Transformers event to date, so long as this current creative team stick around I think we can be safe to assume that the quality will be sticking too. By giving us closure on every dangling pre-Chaos plot thread it allows even more bold and daring storys to be told " and that is something that IDWs TF books have been completely excelling at.