Ultimately, there's not much I can say bad about Transformers: Dark Cybertron. I imagine that if I were a big fan of Transformers, I would absolutely love this comic, but as someone who's not familiar with the franchise, I see an interesting comic full of dense material. I won't lie: this comic takes effort. It's extremely wordy, but it's beautiful, and it sets up a potentially engrossing story. If you're a fan of Transformers, I'm going to guess you'll really like this comic. If you've never experienced Transformers, this might not be the best place to start. It's not that the comic requires you to know a lot of backstory, but the ability to differentiate between the robots seems like an acquired taste. Much like the vernacular in Huckleberry Finn comes with practice, I expect that recognizing particular robots will be easier with more exposure. If you can master the Transformers universe, you'll likely find a lot to love here. Read Full Review

That all said, it's fun getting Ye Olden Optimus back into the mix, and seeing the whole gang starting to get back together now that Starscream's actually asking for help. The art from Phil Jimenez and Andrew Griffith is very solid as well " the double-page splash of the Metrotitan erupting out of the very fabric of Cybertron and absolutely dwarfing Bumblebee and the exiled Autobots is actually breathtaking. So it's up to Roberts and Barber to make sure that this exploration of the past doesn't wind up just rehashing old stories " and they've both more than earned enough trust in their work so far that we can rest assured that it won't be. Elements here are great threads to hang a story upon, and Dark Cybertron promises to shake things up considerably for the whole IDW TF universe. Read Full Review

The work that's been done on IDW's main Transformers' comics lately has been very good. The intricate and layered storytelling is more about internal struggles for power and compromised deals with enemies than about robots punching and shooting. It's dense, though, so I hope that new readers can figure out what's happening in Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1 because I think the series will ultimately be quite rewarding. Read Full Review

I do want to read this series, but I do feel like I have some catching up to do to enjoy this story. I'm curious to see what happens with the Transformers line after this event, and hopefully IDW can make me a consistent reader. Read Full Review

A great start to the run, with art that's expected from IDW's Transformers range, and a story that sends both books face first into the newest cosmic threat! This is not a jumping on point for new readers, and it is highly recommended that they read the Dark Prelude, collectable as a trade or via Comixology, as well as the two ongoings. Read Full Review

Their pages are a bit more ambitious in terms of storytelling as well as the attention to details, with the characters and the panel layouts being a bit more expansive and lively there. While both artists haven't the talent in bringing humans emotions to robots like Alex Milne, they do a decent job here in portraying confusion, anger and basic emotions on those robots. Where they are perhaps a bit more successful is in how they draw some of these characters, with a good quantity of them having rather intricate designs. The backgrounds and sceneries are also rather well done, with an emphasis on scope put in some pages, whereas the science-fiction and technological aspects are prevalent in others. Overall, the art by Jimenez and Griffith is rather good-looking, albeit not in ways that is breathtaking. Read Full Review

Dark Cybertron pushes the cast forward into the beginning of this story. Not a ton happens beyond getting the characters together and making them discover the mystery that will lead to the threat. The characterizations seem watered down for the larger audience but that should only affect the diehard reader. This is worth checking out. Read Full Review

The writing by John Barber and James Roberts was adequate. I just wish they would have had a few more pages to flesh out the story some more. Still overall, I feel that this was a very good start to a colossal event. I have my interest peaked and am looking forward to following this crossover to completion. Read Full Review

In short, it looks better than it reads. I have hopes for the cross-over, but it's got to do better than this. Read Full Review