IDW's Bumblebee comic reviews.

[Paulbot]

Pretty sure it is set after the ongoing #1....

Bought this issue today. Yes you are correct. The Bumblebee series is set after issue #2 of the ongoing and you should read the ongoing issue first. Interestig this seem like a parallel series rather than a limited series set separate to the ongoing. I might start a review thread later.

[i_amtrunks]

I might start a review thread later.

Looking forward to it. I'm refusing to buy the main ongoing or Bumblebee mini in single issues after All Hail.

[Sky Shadow]

This was a really beautiful story. Despite some (welcome) blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos by late-eighties Decepticons, this looks and feels like an early Transformers picture book or the first couple of years of UK comic stories. It's a gorgeously naïve tale in which Bumblebee and the Geewun cast work for a fairly generic human army in order to hunt down Decepticons. The badges that the Autobots wear on their 'lapels' to communicate with the human military are hilarious. And it's a nice kiddy-friendly story - the humes aren't coming to work after one-night-stands with cheap sluts. (Or if they are, the book doesn't waste our time and an entire page to tell us about it.) It's densely packed too - we get real dialogue and sometimes up to nine panels a page. It feels like an early Bumblebee story and - unlike All Hail Megatron - it's not Geewunning us with a stupid overblown sequential art action movie, it's good old down-to-Earth old school storytelling. This is one time when I didn't feel like I wasted my money on a Transformers one-shot or limited series (or main series, for that matter). IDW's 'Bumblebee' is Transformers as it should be - it's like G1 was before anyone ever called it G1. I look forward to issue #2.

[i_amtrunks]

But when does the inevitable betrayal commence??? :rolleyes:

[SMHFConvoy]

But when does the inevitable betrayal commence??? :rolleyes:
Pretty much in the 1st issue.

I agree Sky Shadow the story and characters are being handled respectfully. I like the fact that this story is running concurrent with the ongoing and is a story that is important enough to published as a mini series.

[Paulbot]

It doesn't read like a miniseries about Bumblebee in particular. To me (from this first issue at least) it reads more like a second parallel monthly Transformers comic. There's some minor continuity issues (unless Bluestreak and Silverstreak are different characters in IDW-verse) but otherwise it's quite a nice first issue.

I totally agree with Sky Shadow's comments that the book "looks and feels like an early Transformers picture book" and it's one of the aspects of the art style that really appeals to me.


Mods, I wonder if this thread could be made the IDW Bumblebee review and comments thread and moved to the Review area?

[kup]

I'll post here since the thread is due to be made into the Review thread.

I agree, this was a fine little story. Unlike the crap we have been reading of late, this comic was pushing on all the right buttons by telling us a proper story in which significant things happened within the context of the issue without bloating everything to so called 'epic' and showing us (even if briefly) that they are acknowledging none Geewun characters. The story wasn't forcefully trying to be epic and 'hip' with swinging human characters and other such crap nor several pages of pointless 'action'. It simply focused on telling a fine and cooled down, interesting story even if we all knew where it was leading at the end and that's why it kind of worked, since it makes you feel for Bumblebee due to his naivity and desperation as current leader.

Since they are now making Wheeljack a bit of a jerk towards Bumblebee, he kind of reminded me of Dr Smoov's Wheeljack but only when he was being 'disrespectful' to Bumblebee at the start.

This was very good and as Sky Shadow mentioned, it was very reminiscent of Marvel UK stories even down to the art. I look forward to more issues.

[GoktimusPrime]

I enjoyed this story. I prefer it over the Ongoing G1 series, and I agree that it's one of the nicest stories to come from IDW in a long time. :)

[roller]

Where did ultramagnus disappear to?

[kup]

Where did ultramagnus disappear to?

He couldn't deal with Bumblebee.

[JustOwen]

Both Bumblebee and Hot Rod are going to mess up big time

[i_amtrunks]

I think the rest of the Mini will deal with how Bumblebee turns things back to the Autobots favour, while Hot Rod gets whats coming to him from his new "buddies", before coming crawling back to the Bee's team.

Will be very happy to be wrong. :D

[JustOwen]

from issue 3
it seems like Hot Rod is going to talk Jetfire to upgrade those new Decepticon comrades.

I hope the Stunticons will form Menasor in issue 5

[i_amtrunks]

Seems not even the IDW fan boys (on their forums) are too happy about the alt mode changes. I'm all for every artist having their own interpretations, but when these two series are meant to be running in conjunction with one another you would think the editors would at least get the artists to have the characters have a similar alt mode (choose one, earthen car, or alien hovercraft).

Not sure how the timeline is moving for these two series (and when/how Wreckers will tie into them) but the Bumblebee mini could be in a timeframe as short as a week.

[kup]

I have read Ongoing #3 and it seems that Bumblebee #1 takes place just before it.

[i_amtrunks]

Bumblebee #2 took a very obvious turn this issue. If you have seen the preview, you can likely guess what happens.

Ratchet continues his excellent form in Transformers comics, we get something showing he probably is one of the smartest Autobots in the ID-verse.

And he is nowhere near as conniving as Prowl either! :D

[GoktimusPrime]

Ratchet continues his excellent form in Transformers comics, we get something showing he probably is one of the smartest Autobots in the ID-verse.
<nods> That last part where Cliffjumper blurted out had me on the edge of my seat! Good save from Ratchet there. :)

[i_amtrunks]

Energon Soup indeed! :D

[JustOwen]

has anyone read Metroplex's spotlight
I think there's a good chance that he is safeguarding the Magnificence which it hasn't been seen since Hot Rod used it.

has anyone read the last stand of the wreckers?

[GoktimusPrime]

has anyone read the last stand of the wreckers?
Is it out??

[Paulbot]

has anyone read Metroplex's spotlight
I think there's a good chance that he is safeguarding the Magnificence which it hasn't been seen since Hot Rod used it.

has anyone read the last stand of the wreckers?

Yes reviews are here (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=6739)

[Lord_Zed]

I really didn't dig issue 2 of Bumblebee all that much. Yeah it was better than most of IDW's recent stuff, but I can't say I'm all that keen anymore.

I hope Last Stand of the Wreckers is the true savious of IDW's TF comics.

[Paulbot]

Issue 3 was a pretty good read, and of all the issues so far this one feels the most like a "Bumblebee" comic.

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, here's a question... why are the Autobots communicating with each other in English (or any other human language for that matter) when:
a: Outside the presence of humans.
b: They know that humans are eavesdropping and could potentially hack their code (even if considered highly unlikely)
???

They could possibly speak freely if they just started speaking a Cybertronian language, or if they're afraid that the humans could eventually crack their language and begin translating it, then they could use a sign language -- if they've learned Earth's languages you'd think they would have also learnt a sign language or two. Or they could write notes to each other! They have teleportation and ray guns but they don't have pens and paper?!? Can't they just use their fingers and scribble in the dirt like cavemen?! GRAAARGH!

Not only would it have made it much harder for the humans to intercept their communications, but it would have been more natural. Considering that English is not their first language, you'd think that the Autobots would be naturally communicating with each other in their own language when outside the presence of humans. I'd always assumed that this was the case, but that we always hear/read their language as English for the convenience of the audience (similar to how English represents Galactic Basic in Star Wars).

I thought the use of embedding their transmissions in junk code was a cool idea... but why would the transmissions be in English? Or are the transmissions in a form of machine language/code that the humans' computers are able to translate? But I find that really hard to believe considering that our computers can't even translate properly between human languages (using Yahoo! Babel Fish always yields hilarious results :D) -- I could believe that their computers would translate basic commands like "move left arm" etc., but I find it difficult to suspend disbelief that human-built computers could translate complex language.

This is part of what's bugged me about this series - it's along the same lines of some of the Autobots referring to each other with initials/acronyms like "BB", "CJ" and "JF" etc. (which arguably rules out the "Galactic Basic" theory and makes it more likely that the Autobots are indeed communicating with each other in English)... it makes the Autobots too human for my liking. These are non-biological extra-terrestrials -- I _like_ to see the Transformers being portrayed as being other worldly. It's why I like the concept of the movie designs in terms of making them look quite alien, and it's also why I enjoy seeing Transformers commit faux pas like G1 Bruticus squealing like a girl when he first saw a human, or movie Ratchet mentioning that Sam's pheromone level indicates that he wishes to "mate" with Mikaela etc.

</rant>

[Sky Shadow]

The preview for issue 4: http://www.bzzurkk.com/content.php/266-Transformers-Bumblebee-4-Preview

An awesome teaser for the final issue.

[Paulbot]

I read the final issue today. I didn't like it that much actually. It's okay but the previous issues were better.

Spoiler alert the last page may be controversial, and wasn't what I expected before I turned the page, I understand why it's being done but I'm not sure I like it. End spoiler

[GoktimusPrime]

Wow - overall a rather enjoyable issue with lots of twists. :) The final scene... meh, don't love it or hate it.

[SharkyMcShark]

Just read this all in one go. Didn't really like it, some of the characterisation was way off the mark I felt (especially in issue 2 during the scene in which they all have to bring Blurr in, but also in general the characters of Wheeljack and Skywarp).

Also that art style is yuck.

Re the ending, as much as I love the movie designs I don't really see the need to make BB look more like his movie counterpart. It's one thing to adopt a movie like aesthetic (which I absolutely love in the Ongoing series), but I'd not like to see the actual character designs moving in that direction (which his altmode certainly is).

[GoktimusPrime]

Both Wheeljack and Skywarp seem to be influenced by their G1 cartoon personas (Wheeljack the gadgeteer and Skywarp the eternal loyalist to Megatron). I quite like Skywarp and thought they improved him over previous incarnations of the character - exhibiting much greater initiative and creativity... arguably to the point where it starts going against the Skywarp character (as his G1 tech specs bio states, "Would be useless without Megatron's supervision" (his TFU profile also says the same thing)) -- but remember that he has been stranded on Earth for a considerable time, and they do say that necessity is the mother of invention. I see Skywarp's improved creative drive as a product of his desperation. Like many other Cybertronians on Earth, he no longer even cares about the Autobot-Decepticon War (at least, not for the moment); as apparent when he encountered Bumblebee... he didn't come looking for a fight with him, he just wanted the control panel (had Bumblebee surrendered it Skywarp might have simply taken off without harming the Autobot).

I quite like the artwork. It uses a neat contrastive style used by comic book artists like Frank Miller (300, Sin City, Dark Knight Returns), Nagai Go (Devilman), Jae Lee & Rob Armstrong (Transformers/G.I. Joe (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Line)). This kind of art style actually looks better in black and white and colouring it arguably ruins it. If anyone hasn't already read Lee/Armstrong's Transformers/G.I. Joe I would actually recommend getting the black and white reprint over the original colour issues. It'd be interesting to see if IDW releases a TPB of this series in black and white.

Having said all that, I think the colouring in this series was pretty well done. It's not as bad as colouring on TF/GI Joe and no where near as horrific as early attempts by American/Canadian publishers to colour in Japanese manga during the early days of publishing them in English (they also mirror-flipped the artwork to force the panels to read left to right... so suddenly almost everyone was left handed :p).

[SharkyMcShark]

re Wheeljack I don't remember him being that informal with regarding officers in the Autobots (although I haven't read all of the Marvel G1 Comics yet so I'm largely working off the television series and more modern G1 stuff by DW and IDW).

re Skywarp what got me there was that despite his entire "human germs" thing he went around stockpiling their weapons - I understand that its a dire time and that the ends justify the means (etc etc) but I felt it would have been more effective if he'd been after one very powerful human weapon (as Megatron has done in the past) than stockpiling other smaller ones (while you can't really call something that turns 40 square miles into glass conventional I still didn't feel it was consistent with Skywarp's character to be running around grabbing lots of human weapons given his contempt for them). That said I did feel that the scene with him sitting up on the roof with a blanket around his shoulders talking to the sky was really good - it did convey that he was indeed "useless without Megatron's supervision"

With the capture of Blurr I felt it was maybe missing a page or two more of agonising over it - I felt it was far too fast from CJs deactiviation -> confronting Blurr -> firing a shot to kill at a long time friend. It would have been nice to see some kind of closure on that later on, something like "why did you shoot to kill" "you're becoming one of them" or something similar, as opposed to it just being mentioned off hand as BB tried to convince Blurr to find a Beetle.

[GoktimusPrime]

Wheeljack is more formal toward ranking officers in the G1 comics than in the cartoon. But I saw his attitude toward Bumblebee as being symbolic of his inner resistance to acknowledge Bumblebee as his superior officer. A kind of resentment in a way... he probably voted against Bumblebee and isn't happy that he won.

Skywarp: I thought the writers were already pushing the limits of his intelligence (which his original G1 bios state is rather limited).

I... really hated how some of the Autobots started calling each other by abbreviated initials. (-_-) mY LiF3 iS paIN.

[i_amtrunks]

I'm conflicted about this series.

The art style was decent and far more enjoyable than the ongoings art, but it really didn't suit the changes made in the final few pages of issue 4. In those pages the comic looks terrible (but that is just my opinion).

I know the story was trying to flesh out Bumblebee more, as well as tell a story that ties into the ongoing, without taking up space in the ongoing, but I never found it all that interesting, the final two issues tied in well together, but the first two feel disjointed. A decent Spotlight: Bumblebee could have done most of the work of this four part series.

Overall this mini was another series that really didn't need to be made and further diluted the brand, but far superior to AHM, and at least it focused on an important character (especially in this post AHM world).

Should be interesting to see how long it remains relevant for.

[kup]

I'm conflicted about this series.

The art style was decent and far more enjoyable than the ongoings art, but it really didn't suit the changes made in the final few pages of issue 4. In those pages the comic looks terrible (but that is just my opinion).

I know the story was trying to flesh out Bumblebee more, as well as tell a story that ties into the ongoing, without taking up space in the ongoing, but I never found it all that interesting, the final two issues tied in well together, but the first two feel disjointed. A decent Spotlight: Bumblebee could have done most of the work of this four part series.

Overall this mini was another series that really didn't need to be made and further diluted the brand, but far superior to AHM, and at least it focused on an important character (especially in this post AHM world).

Should be interesting to see how long it remains relevant for.

For me this series started off pretty well. It had an interesting premise and story but then suddenly it begun to 'drift' (no pun intended :) ). The tension suddenly ended and it became about Bumblebee and the little girl which is fine but very distracting and the prolonged way it was executed only helped to show us that Bumblebee can be easily distracted and can't see the greater picture.

The part where the officer (what's his name?) kept info from the General and went to assist the Autobots felt rather forced and artificial and didn't make much sense to me. It seemed as something they needed to do to bring a conclusion to the story than part of the story flow. It made it worse when they didn't really address his motivations.

Something that was kind of annoying was Bumblebee's new body at the end. The first thing to come to mind was 'What's the point?' Each artist seem to have their own version of everyone's character models making them very inconsistent. What sort of impact is Bumblebee's new body supposed to make when it already changes from issue to issue?

It's really stupid to allow different artists to drawn characters however they want within the same or paralleling story.

Bumblebee was an 'ok' series but that's it. However it was certainly much better than AHM and Ongoing which seem completely lifeless.

[Gutsman Heavy]

I support the decision to allow artists to draw as they wish. I don't know why they gave Bee a new body, it pops up in #5 of the ongoing so its permanent.