Transformers: Optimus Prime

It's almost cheating to include the Annual, The Starscream Move, here. It might be the single best story told in the run of IDW's universe. Thundercracker under John Barber is an utter joy.

The mainline issues though are another matter. A lot of Prime's critics are basically rehashing the same points over and over again. I get it Slide/Pyra Magna...

Still what's clever about Barber's run in the end is his approach to Optimus (and Cybertron in general) not at as a hagiography but rather as a the more fallible character that Arcee memorializes. We all know how Primes end... but Barber and company did try hard to achieve something something noteworthy compared to conventional “such heroic nonsense.” :D