My favorite pick this week is a little unconventional, and it’s also the next-to-last item in my stack, which means expectations weren’t very high. Transformers Spotlight has – wait for it – TRANSFORMED from a supplemental book of the main series to a complex ongoing story all its own. And complex it is.

This issue of TF Spotlight features Hardhead, an Autobot I’ve never heard of until now, and Nightbeat, an Autobot I never heard of until his issue of TF Spotlight several months back. The story centers around Nightbeat’s search for answers to his deleted/blocked memories of visiting a planet called Gorlam Prime. Hardhead is there for backup in case Nightbeat meets trouble or “loses control”, which doesn’t really make sense at first (but I go with it).

We get plenty of sub-plots as well, all of which are starting to tie together nicely (but only if you’re reading this series ongoing): 1-Optimus Prime attempting to piece together strange events, including the prison breakout of the combiner Monstructor; 2-Jetfire finding out what mysterious energy source is being guarded by Thunderwing; 3-Omega Supreme identifying recent attacks as done by Cyclonus and Galvatron; 4-Arcee continuing her quest for vengeance against Abraxus; and 5-Nemisis Prime making preparations to converge our universe with a “Dead Universe”. Did I miss anything? Well, despite all this happening in one issue, we stay on track prettly easily and the writer and artist do a good job of moving from one scene to the next. You’ll notice that I don’t use names; that’s because I couldn’t find any credits in this comic.

Without giving spoilers, I can tell you that the bad guys are both evil and conflicted, the good guys are at a constant disadvantage, and we get both a major death and a major plot cliffhanger before all is said and done. After reading the first issue of All Hail Megatron, I am convinced that the Spotlight series is the one to be reading this season.