There's nothing worse than a lovely concept that gets buried under subpar execution.

At first glance, a steampunk Transformers tale should be one of my absolute favourite stories since I love both of those aspects very much. But while the writing is passable, the artwork is far too muddy to really enjoy. In fact, I find the story takes itself too seriously. Something like this should've been written more entertaing and fun with artwork to match. Like the team who work on Transformers vs GI Joe, for example.

Going back to the writing, there were too many people in this book to keep track of or care about, like the Bayformers movies. Only Bumblebee and Starscream really contribute to the plot while the other Autobots and Decepticons are simultaniously unrecognizable or recognizable but background characters who do nothing to advance the plot. For the humans, too many of them look alike or very forgettable. Even the great Mark Twain, who manages to kill a Decepticon (an actual well done part of the book) doesn't really interact or move the plot along compared to the folk hero John Henry or original character Tobias Muldoon, who actively engage with the Transformers. In fact, both Optimus and Megatron are absent in this mini series. I imagine that they had the attitude of Marlon Brando and threw prima donna tantrums that lead to their uselessness here.

All in all, this feels like how a bad movie seeks aspirations to be a multi-sequel franchise with no hindsight of if it fails.