Transformers More than Meets the Eye

James Roberts' work on IDW's Transformers franchise is some of the most explicitly political storytelling in comics right now. Politics is a core theme of Roberts' entire Transformers work, and while the comics do have some of the best action, romance and comedy, they're also all about refusing to let anyone else make your decisions for you.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. While Valentine's Day maybe behind us for another year, love is still in the air and to celebrate the seasons, we're counting down the best couples in all of comics.

We asked you to vote for the best comics, creators, and more in 2016, and over the last few weeks we’ve been sharing the results. Now you can check out all the winners in one place!

Check out the best sci-fi comics in 2016, including our critics' picks and the comics you voted the runners up and winner in this category!

If you know someone who has succumbed to the cult of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, whether they're a new convert or a long-time fan, we've put together a gift guide to some of the best of these toy robots, and other merchandise featuring them, so they can let the whole world know how they feel about Transformer.

There are a lot of ways that a comic book can reinforce the iconography of the superhero. A snappy costume; signature powers; an artist that defined the look of the book for a generation. But part of the iconography of the superhero is a good logo, and part of establishing that iconography is that hoary old comics tradition: saying the logo out loud.

Comixology Unlimted continues to grow as it adds to its already deep and plentiful catalog of comics available to read via subscription, but November's update to the service may just be the best yet. Among a host of great comics joining the service, fans can sample the very first volume of Michael Allred's Madman as well as some newer must reads and some additional volumes of series that are already part of the program.

As another month ends, Comixology is set to add another handful of titles to the Netflix-style Comixology Unlimited service, and while there's been good stuff in there since the beginning, September's offerings might be the all-around best bunch of comics put on there so far. There's the thrilling supernatural adventure in the pages of Hellboy and the BPRD: 1946, the year's most unexpected crossover in Archie Meets KISS, and even a stone cold classic in the form of Matt Wagner's Grendel: The Hunter Rose Omnibus.

Last year, I essentially made a bet with myself that led me to read every issue of IDW's current line of Transformers comics, and let me tell you, I learned a lot. I learned about alt-modes, about the 4,000,000 year war between Decepticons and Autobots, and I even learned to tell some --- not all, but some --- of those characters apart on sight. But more than anything else, I learned one indisputable fact: Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye is the single best comic book on the stands. Well. It was. The series is heading for an ending this summer with issue #57, and while the creative team and characters will return in the upcoming Transformers: Lost Light --- a book that writer James Roberts has assured readers is a continuation of MTMTE that will serve as "season three" of his story --- this still feels like the right time to look back at what's happened so far. Seriously: It's the best. Now let's talk about why.

It used to be a truth universally acknowledged that any time a robot gets emotional, comics are about to get real bad. But bucking the trend and breaking the mold are the Transformers, and specifically the Transformers of the Lost Light in More Than Meets The Eye #53, by James Roberts, Alex Milne, and Hayato Sakamoto. Those robots are in a real devil of a pickle now, and they're making their peace with it the best they can.