Right. Transformers: Alliance came out yesterday, from Chris Mowry and Alex Milne. Anyone else read it? I thought it was an interesting start, though, uh, wasn't Sector Seven disbanded?
Also, who's reading All Hail Megatron? Cliche though it may be, it rocks to see Decepticons fucking shit up.
I read the first few issues of All Hail Megatron recently and actually found it to be pretty enjoyable. So I went back and read the rest of the IDW Transformers to catch up, although it took me a while to figure out the right reading order.
The problem is that most of the IDW stuff is by Furman, and another guy is writing All Hail Megatron and not bothering to follow up on Furman's plotlines. My impression is that its derailing what Furman had been setting up. I had actually started to get into the earlier IDW stuff (once you struggle past the first miniseries with its teenager main characters), so now instead of enjoying All Hail Megatron, I'm kind of annoyed by it.
Still, taken on its own it's certainly entertaining.
I find them pretty average. Let's be clear, this is mega-nostalgia comics, and a lot of the appeal for me is lost because the continuity I followed for 332 issues stopped there, and now I have to follow some poxy continuity with all sorts of crap in it.
I want: Galvatron! Thunderwing! Powermaster Optimus Prime! In their original continuity!
I suspect the new GI Joe relaunch will have the same problem, even if Hama is involved.
It has the potential to be worse, if they can't find any decent artists and end up using Image clones rather than artists who can draw human beings (a problem that plagued DDP's hash up of a quality series).
It didn't help that first it was announced HAMA! ATKINS! Then all of a sudden it was DIXON! ATKINS! and Hama, was shunted off to a flashback series. Dixon's work on Reloaded was pretty deadly bland, and I doubt he'll be any better this time around.
The way I figure it, the first time someone does a story that isn't in lockstep with the old continuity, the nerdrage will erupt.
>>The problem is that most of the IDW stuff is by Furman, and another guy is writing All Hail Megatron and not bothering to follow up on Furman's plotlines. My impression is that its derailing what Furman had been setting up. I had actually started to get into the earlier IDW stuff (once you struggle past the first miniseries with its teenager main characters), so now instead of enjoying All Hail Megatron, I'm kind of annoyed by it.<<
Apparently AHM is a soft reboot - so some stuff is changed, but they're not telling us exactly what. All that said, I've more or less enjoyed what i've read of it aside from the plot barely moving in 5 issues. In all honesty I'd have rathered Furman havehad his revelations/expansion minis plus spotlights to finish off his two plotlines instead of having to compress them into the "Revelations" spotlights and Maximum Dinobots.
Hmm. Wasn't Milne the guy whose work was passed off as Pat Lee's? Good to see he's getting gigs.
Pat Lee, THE ENEMY OF ALL TRANSFORMERS NERDS!
That's what I understood since they've gone the Desperate Housewives route with the time skip, Furman's set ups were interesting but there's still plenty of space for them to play out with the current story - plus Decepticons smashing the crap out of the Earth for a change.
To a degree they have, but Shane mcCarthy has said he's not stickign to the exact details of the Furman storyline, and it shows in the relative dispisition of Springer, Kup and Hot Rod.
I'll hold off making any judgements until it plays out a bit more but so far it's enjoyable and nothing is glaringly out of place, although Kup's 'cigar' is a tad baffling.
Some oddly Bendis-esque exchanges from McCarthy, and it's interesting that now even the Decepticons are wondering that so they've won, what's the point?
So, the full issue of #6 was pretty good. Except for the ending, which ripped off a plot twist from what's regarded one of the best Furman stories ever.
Let me guess, Ratbat gets relobotomized after he starts manifesting his original take no shit upper level management personality?
So, anyone reading the new ongoing? Figeuroa's artwork is bad, but Costa's script is a lot smarter and more interesting than McCarthy's wet firecracker material. Seriously, AHM was anti-climactic as all hell, but at least Costa is using it as a springboard to go in some different directions.
Cannon's Bumblebee mini is pretty dumb; it really requires the character to be stupid only because the plot dictates.
Last Stand of the Wreckers was kind of infuriating (Unnecessary time jumps, what's verity doing there) but it's fun.
I like the ongoing, although the use of the movie-influenced designs is annoying and Prime is acting like a martyr for no real reason. It's a lot better than the Bumblebee series, which only works if you ignore the ongoing (otherwise you get things like two separate, contradictory versions of Blurr).
I'm reading the ongoing but dear lord I hope they decide to step away from the Bay-former look soon because it's horribly distracting from what's proving to be a pretty good story so far.
The Bumblebee one's a real disappointment, but Wreckers is pretty cool, if only for Impactor.
I don't have too much of a problem with the G1 meets Bay look in the ongoing, but it does seem weird that they did those pretty subtle retouches to the G1 designs, and now they've gone for another one, when the previous look worked so well.
OK; I'm going to ask you guys: if I want to read IDW's Transformers books, but only the Furman stuff, what books/TPBs do I need to check out? Also, did Furman ever get to give his arc any sort of satisfying ending to his stuff or was it left unresolved/resolved crappily because of "All Hail Fail and AIDS: AKA How I Stopped Worrying and Loved Poochie, Also Known As Drift"?
Furman got to finish off his arc, but the Revelation Spotlights (which finished the space opera aspect) are pretty rushed and ultimately disappointing. Maximum Dinobots, which finishes the earth arc is ace though.
Furman's arc roughly runs though the following trades (though note Spotlights 2 and 3 contian non-furman stories):
Infiltration
Stormbringer
Spotlights 2
Escalation
Spotlights 2
Devastation
Spotlights 3
Revelation
Maximum Dinobots
Whoops, that should be Spotlights 1 between Stormbringer and Escalation
Furman's now in charge of the Bayformers comics; his Nefarious miniseries is supposed to bridge the gap between the second and third movies.
Last Stand of the Wreckers isn't THAT great- it's actually kind of confusing at points, but it's better than All Hail Megatron.
