IDW Comics

So I picked up MTMTE Ongoing 1-4 and Issue 1 of Robots In Disguise Ongoing.
Firstly, I absolutely loved MTMTE. I haven't done much comic reading for about 4 years now and this has totally reignited my interest in them. RID was pretty good but I'll need to get the next couple of issues before I get into it.

I want to read through the back catalogue of this Universe but there's quite a few series to get through so I have a couple of questions, hopefully someone can help me out. :p

Are all of the IDW Generation 1 comics from the same continuity? TFwiki indicates that they are.

Also, for those that have done so, would it be better to read through in chronological order, or in publication order?

Thanks guys!

I prefer by release date, but with the excellent IDW Collections, they do it by timeline (mostly, as they're still releasing new stuff set in the past, so that's obviously a problem to fit in again).

They're really good value though, and are over-sized.

The IDW stuff is in the same continuity (unless you've picked up some of their Dreamwave and/or Marvel reprints).

Now, continuity has been disjointed at times, and some bad decisions made by bad editors, but it's still pretty good.

Did you pick up the 'Death Of Optimus Prime' oneshot? It acts as a prelude for both new series, but mostly MTMTE.

RID is my favourite of the two, but I'm in the minority there.

So it depends on what you want, and how much you want to spend.

Infiltration was the first miniseries, followed by Stormbringer (which took place in space, and some parts occured at the same time as Infiltration, but it all fits), then Escalation, Devastation, Revelations, Maximum Dinobots, and a couple of volumes of Spotlight issues (spotlighting a particular character. Sometimes they're stand-alone stories, sometimes they're part of the main plot at the time).

If you've got some specific questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to help. :)

If you're wondering what these 'IDW Collections' I mentioned are, they're oversized hardcovers, and actually work out cheaper than buying the separate trades it collects (provided you get a good price of course, but even the RRP works out better generally).

But again, it's all up to you, how far you want to go back, and what it is you're looking for.

I agree with cat on most points here (I prefer MtMtE over RiD!). If you can get the IDW hardcovers for a decent price (book depository, amazon etc) I highly recommend it. I also think starting at the beginning is also a better way to go, but it will cost you.

Failing the hardcovers, collecting the individual trades works too. I too would say start at Infiltration and work your way through Escalation, Devastation, Revelations (a series of spotlight one offs) Maximum Dinobots, Last stand of the Wreckers. If you track down the first two or three volumes of the spotlight collections, all the better.
You can skip Stormbringer if you like, it's not required reading.
Megatron: Origins and Hearts of Steel minis are not relate to the main story (HoS being an alternate universe and M:O just being plain old terrible and contradictory)

The series released after Maximum Dinobots (Last Stand ties in Maximum Dinobots with the new ongoing series well) are where the controversy really began. The All hail Megatron stuff mostly ignored, retconned or barely tied into what came before it. You can skip it and save it for last to save money, and it won't really impact the reading of the new series.

The ongoing "Transformers" was also a hit and miss series that had positives and negatives. The Bumblebee and Ironhide miniseries are skippable too, they have limited impact on the story. Again, I'd save these trades until near the end of your collecting, the recaps on the tfwiki cover the few important bits that relate to the two new issues.

The Chaos and Police Action trades may be worth a pickup as they really tie straight into the two new ongoings.

These are only my opinions. I was a big fan of the path the series was heading down with Furman before it all got canned for a series that I personally hated. So my advice is somewhat tainted.

IDW's run is broken up into four eras each with a different feel

The Furman era (Escaltion 1 to Maximum Dinobots)
The McCarthy era (The All Hail Megatron stuff)
The Costa era (The 'ongoing' series)
The modern era (MTMTE and RID ongoing)

Furman's take was 'robots in disguise' indulged in a long covert war (a fresh take but it started a bit slow). The McCarthy era is like the G1 cartoon but with movie-level-violent Decepticons. The Costa era is like the start of ROTF (complete with more Movie-like designs and Autobots working in disguise with humans) but then ends like the G1-comic with space epic feel. The current era is politics on Cybertron and adventures in space (as you know - but for others with the same question; I prefer the adventures in space).

What you might like in MTMTE and RID, you might not find in all of the other eras. All of them set up the current books. Furman's does the bulk of universe-building and introducing characters so would be the most important, and it's the best stuff. The later Costa era sets up the new books, in particular the Death of Optimus Prime oneshot, and the pair of issues 22&23 (all by James Roberts).

Can't go very wrong with publishing order. That's how most people read these stories originally. It doesn't add much to read a book that's set in the past (like Spotlight Jazz or Megatron Origin) before you read Escalation and Stormbringer, the first modern day IDW books that establish their take on the G1 Universe.

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Originally Posted by i_amtrunks

The ongoing "Transformers" was also a hit and miss series that had positives and negatives. The Bumblebee and Ironhide miniseries are skippable too, they have limited impact on the story. Again, I'd save these trades until near the end of your collecting, the recaps on the tfwiki cover the few important bits that relate to the two new issues.

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Agree with you on most points also, but I would probably advise you to read the Ironhide miniseries, as it really does set up some major plot points for the main titles, and their 'big' final arc.

Bumblebee? Don't bother.

All Hail Megatron? Kill it with fire.

I know it goes against fashion, but All Hail Megatron was a decent entertaining read for what it was. The issue that many fans had against it was that it replaced the much prefered Furman stories, and lacked the nuance and layering that Furman's stories had.

Sadly because of this Furman's slow burn had to be wrapped up fairly quickly and the Dead Universe saga takes all of 4 issues, rather than the longer story I think he had intended. It leaves the whole thing feeling rather rushed, but was a nice swan song for his first set of stories.

All Hail Megatron is largely disliked, but it had a fantastic premise and some great G1 movie like moments. It must also be noted that the AHM Coda is responsible for providing us with the IDW Prowl that we've come to love. It also gave us Drift. But we got a really good toy out of him, and Roberts is using Drift pretty well. The AHM spotlight is kinda unessential though.

Costa's run had some great ideas in it, but he seemed to lack the capacity to write Transformers as actual people (some would say he was unable to write people as actual people, too) and his stories felt dry and insubstantial. There was no flesh to support what looked like great bone structure.

I haven't read much of Roberts or Barber's ongoings as I but the trades, but from Barber's work on the DOTM comics, he'll do a great job. Roberts is fantastic, and manages to condense so much into each page. Some of the story is a slow burn, but it appears people are happy with the parts that do that because the parts that relate to the story in that issue are fantastic.

Both Roberts and Barber have shown that they are not only keen to draw from what's come before, but do so in a way that pulls something you wouldn't even expect, but in a way that respects what's been put down by the other authors before them.

One book that people seem to have forgotten about is Transformers: Drift. It wasn't that great by itself, but it introduced us to the Knights of Cybertron, the legendary ones that the Lost Light is searching for.

Short answer - well worth picking up the mainline comics
Infiltration - Stormbringer - Escalation - Devastation - Maximum Dinobots - All Hail Megatron 1 & 2 - All Hail Megatron Coda - Transformers Drift - Transformers Ongoing 1-7

If you pick up Spotlights 1,2,3, and 4 they will add to your enjoyment of Infiltration - Maximum Dinobots.

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Originally Posted by Seraphim Prime

It must also be noted that the AHM Coda is responsible for providing us with the IDW Prowl that we've come to love.

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Ah, but McCarthy had nothing to do with that. That coda was written by Nick Roche, who had previously only worked on the Spotlight Kup issue. He was one of the CODA writers who did an outstanding job of trying to stickytape the mess of AHM into the actual pre-existing backstory of the IDWverse.

AHM may have been an alright 4-6 issue miniseries set in an alternate universe ala Hearts of Steel, but it was downright terrible as a sequel!

Wow guys, thank you all for the great responses! :D Especially for differentiating between the good material and the bad; I picked up Hearts of Steel (I know it's a different continuity but I found it cheap) and I have to say I was seriously disappointed. I guess I walked in expecting the same level as MTMTE.

H.O.S. aside, I'm going through a transition, in that I'm starting to think that the G1 cartoon-Beast Wars universe might be supplanted as the TF universe against which all others are judged :P.

I've been looking at Comixology as a way of getting issues cheaply. I presume it's better for IDW than buying issues off of ebay, etc, anyway - since they will get a cut of my purchases.
Sounds like most of you read the physical comics, do any of you do them digitally?

I made the switch to digital with these two new ongoings.

Do you have an iDevice. I read via iPhone but I'm told the iPad is better due to the larger screen. It takes a little getting used to but the comixology apps (and its TF, Marvel and DC branded versions) are all free and all offer free comics so you can download and give it a try. I think there's android versions too.

When it comes to price though it can't be beat. Most back issues are $2 (AUS). New issues are $4.50 or so but if you wait a month until the next issue comes out it drops down to $2 (which is what I'm doing with RID). The bonus with buying with the phone for me is I buy iTunes cards on sale so I'm actually getting 20% to 25% off.

There's also regular sales. You just missed one where all the ongoing issues from the Costa era were $1 each.

Comixology purchases can also be read on your computer via their site and your account can be synced between devices.

I still plan to get the books when they are collected for physical copies but in the meantime I'm saving money and physical space.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Wow guys, thank you all for the great responses! :D Especially for differentiating between the good material and the bad; I picked up Hearts of Steel (I know it's a different continuity but I found it cheap) and I have to say I was seriously disappointed. I guess I walked in expecting the same level as MTMTE.

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The Hearts of Steel story isn't very good but the main appeal of that comic is the Steampunk retro designs of the TFs. To me, that's the main appeal although I don't mind the story too much but it could have been a whole lot better. At least it wasn't tragic like the post AHM ongoing.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Do you have an iDevice. I read via iPhone but I'm told the iPad is better due to the larger screen. It takes a little getting used to but the comixology apps (and its TF, Marvel and DC branded versions) are all free and all offer free comics so you can download and give it a try. I think there's android versions too.

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I have an ipod touch, and plan on getting a tablet some time this year but I'm quite happy reading them via comixology's web based service for the time being.

You should try the free apps for the touch (and get a few of the free comics) and see if you like it. If you have a web account with Comixoloy you'd be able to synch any purchases to the ipod.

Yeah, I got the app & had a play. It's good and I think you're right, it would reach its full potential on something like an iPad.

I'm used to reading large collected series that have been recommended to me after their completion. For example, I read all of 'Y: The Last Man' in a few weeks and that was heaps and heaps of issues all just collected under one name. Awesome series, by the way.
Anyway, the IDW stuff seems to be lots of mini-series (Infiltration, Escalation, etc). So is there not a main story line I should read up? Is the whole thing piecemeal?

The recommendations have mostly been for the "main" story. You could read all the Furman books as the first "main story" with a beginning and an end (Maximum Dinobots #5 as the conclusion). It was just sold as many mini-series to get more #1s out there because they sell well - but all those books had another number on their cover for the overarching numbering (I think they fell off the covers after the second year).

You could read the "All Hail Megatron" books as the next main story (it's all collected in one big book). It's, I guess a sequel, and it's got it's own beginning and end. The "Ongoing" is the next main story, again, a sequel. Overall though that's three chapters of "IDW's G1 universe" with the current books as the fourth "chapter".

These are what I meant by the "four eras"; each had an overriding main story and a lead (usually single) author.

Ahh, I get it now. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all for me Paulbot! :)

Thanks to Comixology and a few other sources I have read through the entire IDW timeline up to and including Last Stand of the Wreckers.

This has changed transformers forever for me. Prior to starting the IDW comics (about 2 months ago) my TF media was entirely G1, Beast wars, Prime & some Animated. Now I have a whole new perspective on characters I thought I knew about and see that there's so much more to the G1 universe than the G1 'toon.

That may sound pretty lame... this wasn't a religious awakening or anything :P, but, yeah, I used to think I knew what i liked but turns out I'd only been dipping my toes in.

Here's where I may expose myself as a bit of a philistine... I really liked All Hail Megatron. It had it's issues, like the ridiculous size discrepancies with some of the 'bots, but overall I felt that it had a great story and was jam packed with action.
Last Stand of the Wreckers was great also, I hope it's kept up in the ongoing series.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Here's where I may expose myself as a bit of a philistine... I really liked All Hail Megatron. It had it's issues, like the ridiculous size discrepancies with some of the 'bots, but overall I felt that it had a great story and was jam packed with action.

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Here's where I (probably alone) agree with you. All Hail Megatron when considered in isolation was a very good series. My issues with it were more that it was written with no care for what Furman had previously done, and the universe that he had set-up. I really liked the Furman style, and to see it changed so quickly, with so little carry over, was disappointing.

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Last Stand of the Wreckers was great also, I hope it's kept up in the ongoing series.

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LSotW was fantastic, and with Roberts working on MTMTE, you can rest assured that the style of writing from Wreckers is going to be definately be carrying on. Though the effect of doing an ongoing as opposed to a set length comic is yet to be seen.

Jinto, if you thought IDW was good, you should check out Marvel's G1 and G2 comic run. IMHO Marvel remains the best continuity for Transformers ever written so far. :) Super-duper-highly recommended. ;)

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Originally Posted by Seraphim Prime

Here's where I (probably alone) agree with you. All Hail Megatron when considered in isolation was a very good series.

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The same could be said about Beast Machines. ;)

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Originally Posted by Seraphim Prime

My issues with it were more that it was written with no care for what Furman had previously done, and the universe that he had set-up. I really liked the Furman style, and to see it changed so quickly, with so little carry over, was disappointing.

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The same could be said about Beast Machines (just replace "Furman" with "DiTillio and Forward" ;)). :p

Transformers Beast Machines and All Hail Megatron: both great stories if you just ignore everything that's come before them. :D I'd like to be able to say the same thing about Dark of the Moon... but alas I cannot. :(

This user has ignored board staff's directions to not belittle others & re-edited his editted post. His post has been deleted.

-- dirge.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Thanks to Comixology and a few other sources I have read through the entire IDW timeline up to and including Last Stand of the Wreckers.

[snip]

Here's where I may expose myself as a bit of a philistine... I really liked All Hail Megatron. It had it's issues, like the ridiculous size discrepancies with some of the 'bots, but overall I felt that it had a great story and was jam packed with action.
Last Stand of the Wreckers was great also, I hope it's kept up in the ongoing series.

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Glad to hear you liked them.

The Costa series (we really can't keep calling it "the Ongoing" when it stopped going 6 months ago :) ) starts off a little slow, and quite a few dropped off reading it early on, but it gets better towards the end, and leads into the current two ongoing series which are really good.

You could probably skip the Drift, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Hearts of Darkness limited series. Ironhide's a good bridge between AHM and events later in the Costa series, but the others are pretty much unessential but have some selling points. (Except Hearts of Darkness. That's pretty much a mess.)

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

You could probably skip the Drift, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Hearts of Darkness limited series. Ironhide's a good bridge between AHM and events later in the Costa series, but the others are pretty much unessential but have some selling points. (Except Hearts of Darkness. That's pretty much a mess.)

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The Drift ongoing was trying to be something a little different, and it currently ties in rather well with the events of the second main arc of RiD, so it might be worth a read if you can borrow it or get it very cheap.

Ironhide mini was.... an interesting choice, but does exactly what Paulbot suggested. The events are ridiculous but did enable Bob to enter the IDW Mythos!

As of Yesterday I am completely up to date with the IDW ongoing universe comics. Except the Bumblebee 4-parter, I quit that after the first issue.

The whole experience was SO good! An epic tale. So many back stories, characters I now care about that I had only vague ideas of from the G1 toon (Thundercracker, for instance, has taken on a much more significant identity now).

I definitely enjoyed the later half of the set more (All hail Megatron, Wreckers, Ongoing 1-31). And it's given a completely new perspective to everything that's happened in RID and MTMTE. I'll be reading those two sets again with my new background knowledge.

And now... and now... no more comics! Weeks and weeks of exciting Transformers story telling and now I have to wait for monthly releases?! :eek: *rocks back and forth in the corner*

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Originally Posted by Jinto

The whole experience was SO good! An epic tale. So many back stories, characters I now care about that I had only vague ideas of from the G1 toon (Thundercracker, for instance, has taken on a much more significant identity now).

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See... that's the way Thundercracker SHOULD have always been portrayed. Thundercracker has always been one of the more interesting Decepticon characters if you read his original toy tech specs bio - as someone who is not fully convinced by the Decepticon cause, but fights for the Decepticons only because he finds the Autobot cause even more unconvincing (kinda like when you vote for one political party not because you agree with them, but because you disagree with the other party more!). And yet for decades the potential in this character was disregarded by G1 writers - cartoon, comics, books... everything. He was basically always portrayed as just another "grunt" when really he had arguably the most interesting persona of the original 3 Seekers. It almost became a running joke that the one Decepticon Seeker with the greatest character potential was also constantly underused and undervalued by writers.

I made this skit back in 2004...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...madboard02.jpg

And Thundercracker's been gipped by HasTak too!
+ Armada = Thundercracker's just a repaint of Starscream whereas Skywarp's a retool. Oh, and apparently Thundercracker's not even Thundercracker -- he's a powered up version of Starscream! That's right...
+ Classics = Starscream & Skywarp were released as regular retail, Thundercracker was not. He first came out as BotCon exclusive, then a Gentei... then finally as a Generations toy, some 5 years after Starscream and Skywarp hit retail! :rolleyes:
+ Robot Masters = Starscream was the only one released in retail. Skywarp and Thundercracker were eHobby exclusives (at leazt Thundercracker haz company ;))
+ Masterpiece = last of the MP03 mould Seekers to come out, was also more expensive than Starscream and Skywarp and some (not all) MP Thundercracker toys were misassembled.

And IMHO Thundercracker was the nicest of the original Seeker toys. Look at the metallic blue on Thundercracker. It's just beautiful -- Starscream and Skywarp both have flat colours (which are nice in their own way). Sadly the metallic plastic effect is much less pronounced on the Encore reissue, but it looks beautiful on the original toy IMO. I reckon Thundercracker's a much nicer toy and character than some people give him credit for.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

And now... and now... no more comics! Weeks and weeks of exciting Transformers story telling and now I have to wait for monthly releases?! :eek: *rocks back and forth in the corner*

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Maybe you can go hunt down the old Marvel Comics (much of which has been reprinted in TPBs), get up to speed then start collecting Re-Generations. :) The IDWverse isn't over either, it's still continuing with the current More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise series -- so there's still plenty more out there. Oh, and there's also the Dreamwave comics, which kinda starts off not that good, and Pat Lee's art is... umm... yeah... but it gets gooderer after the first series. The DW comics actually got canned just as they were getting good, which was a shame IMO. And there's various other comics like Devils Due and if you can read Japanese, there's a plethora of manga you can access too. The G1 manga isn't that exciting (it's written to a very young audience -- although some characters make their sole canonical appearances in the manga, e.g. Stepper, Artfire -- and during the 1980s guys like the Omnibots & Hubcap only ever appeared in the manga -- they never appeared in the comics or cartoons), the Henkei! Henkei! manga is okay, and I quite enjoyed Stargate Battles.

Otherwise... feel free to "relive" the comic adventures with your toys! :D

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Maybe you can go hunt down the old Marvel Comics (much of which has been reprinted in TPBs), get up to speed then start collecting Re-Generations. :) The IDWverse isn't over either, it's still continuing with the current More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise series -- so there's still plenty more out there. Oh, and there's also the Dreamwave comics, which kinda starts off not that good, and Pat Lee's art is... umm... yeah... but it gets gooderer after the first series. The DW comics actually got canned just as they were getting good, which was a shame IMO. And there's various other comics like Devils Due and if you can read Japanese, there's a plethora of manga you can access too. The G1 manga isn't that exciting (it's written to a very young audience -- although some characters make their sole canonical appearances in the manga, e.g. Stepper, Artfire -- and during the 1980s guys like the Omnibots & Hubcap only ever appeared in the manga -- they never appeared in the comics or cartoons), the Henkei! Henkei! manga is okay, and I quite enjoyed Stargate Battles.

Otherwise... feel free to "relive" the comic adventures with your toys! :D

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Lol, yeah, I'll probably replay a few of those scenes with my figures when my boyfriend isn't home to roll his eyes at it :P.

I was thinking I'll go through the Dreamwave stories. Regeneration one doesn't really interest me; the style actually kind of freaks me out... The bots with organic looking faces and proportions look like humans wearing car parts. It just doesn't jel with me. I'll take another look in a few issues to see if they take it in a different direction. After all it is, what, 20 years later?

I don't necessarily want him to come back right now, but I'll be interested to see what happens to Thundercracker when he reappears. Hopefully they continue with his current development.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

And now... and now... no more comics! Weeks and weeks of exciting Transformers story telling and now I have to wait for monthly releases?! :eek: *rocks back and forth in the corner*

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I've had this feeling when catching up on TV shows on DVD. Great to watch a whole heap of seasons but then when you've caught up you've got the wait.

With two new (same continuity) TF comics a month the wait between issues isn't too bad these days.

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Lol, yeah, I'll probably replay a few of those scenes with my figures when my boyfriend isn't home to roll his eyes at it :P

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Ppffftt... my wife quickly got used to the sight of me lying on the floor doing the voices and sound effects. Of course, I always carry a Transformer toy with me to play with whenever we go out too, so she's used to seeing me do the same thing in public. ;) :D

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Originally Posted by Jinto

I was thinking I'll go through the Dreamwave stories. Regeneration one doesn't really interest me; the style actually kind of freaks me out... The bots with organic looking faces and proportions look like humans wearing car parts. It just doesn't jel with me. I'll take another look in a few issues to see if they take it in a different direction. After all it is, what, 20 years later?

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But that's the whole point of it. Wildman drew Transformers in that organic style during the 1980s/90s, so it carries a kind of nostalgia. Having said that, Wildman's style has changed -- it's more mechanical and less organic than it used to be during G1. And Baskerville's inking isn't "saturated" anymore. I like how Wildman's going back toward his old school way of drawing Transformers. I also love the "retro covers" by Guido Guidi. :D

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Originally Posted by Jinto

I don't necessarily want him to come back right now, but I'll be interested to see what happens to Thundercracker when he reappears. Hopefully they continue with his current development.

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I think there's an opportunity to bring him back in Robots In Disguise... after all, we've already seen Starscream and Skywarp. <shrug> Or maybe introduce him in More Than Meets The Eye as another misfit Decepticon. After all, with the war officially over, what reason does Thundercracker have to remain with the Decepticons? He'd be likely to ditch his allegiance and just become factionless. :)

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime;

But that's the whole point of it. Wildman drew Transformers in that organic style during the 1980s/90s, so it carries a kind of nostalgia.

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Nostalgia: trying to explain that warm huggy feeling to someone who hasn't got those memories. Often referred to as: the explanation of the unexplainable.

80's - appalling fashion. Otherwise pretty neat as a kid.

Wow, I can see why the Dreamwave comic series went under. That stuff is craaaaaap. :-/

So no TF comics this week... Guess MtMtE #8 is next weeks release, with the special out the week after... I hope.

I NEED MY TF COMIC FIX DAG NAMMIT! :D

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Wow, I can see why the Dreamwave comic series went under. That stuff is craaaaaap. :-/

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I'm curious what you read though to come to this conclusion.

I personally really liked the ongoing series and was disappointed it ended, but it took 6 awful issues (but some people like that series), and another 6 okay issues, to get to the ongoing's starting point.

Yeah, the DW run started poorly and I felt the following six issues were even worse, but the ongoing was starting to get very interesting just prior to it's abrupt ending.

I re-read the first two DW collections last weekend, forgot how much I hated that the second mini completely ignored the end of the first (which was later retconned into the ongoing). Mick was an awful fanfic writer, and Shockwave was omnipotent in his knowledge and planning in that series. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

I'm curious what you read though to come to this conclusion.

I personally really liked the ongoing series and was disappointed it ended, but it took 6 awful issues (but some people like that series), and another 6 okay issues, to get to the ongoing's starting point.

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Mmm... I wasn't keeping tabs on issue names as I was reading but I read up until what may have been the start of the Ongoing...

*Spoilers* for anyone who hasn't read these comics----

I read the series that culminated in Superion sacrificing himself for San Francisco (which I thought was a great comic, that scene really stabbed me in the heart) and Wheeljack stopping the Technovirus.
But the next set I started to read was a battle in the snow... Shockwave arrived in a ship with Astrotrain, Blitzwing, etc, and started a battle with Prime and Megatron. The dialogue just felt so contrived and cliche and... silly. Like it was written for kids.
You think I gave up too early?

The DW series got better as they went along. I didn't like the first series at all, the second series was okay, then after that things improved IMO (although the editing/proofing was shocking :rolleyes:). But I can understand why you'd give up if an earlier series didn't engage you. As much as some TF series get better toward the end, ultimately they should be good from the beginning (and hopefully improve from there), because without that early goodness, you're not likely to engage and retain audience interest later on. That's also what I didn't like about Animated -- didn't like Season 1, Season 2 was hit and miss (loved some eps, loathed others), then Season 3 was brill, but by that time it was too little too late -- and of course Season 3 is the only season of Animated that's never been released on DVD! :mad: Beast Wars Neo... almost that entire series is a snooze-fest... so damn repetitive and formulaic, but toward the end it gets interesting with the Blentron/Unicron story arc -- but who wants to sit through the rest of the entire series just to get up to that point?? :eek:

Maybe next time you attend a fan meet you could ask someone to bring a copy of their DW issues or TPB for you to have a browse or even a read... try before you buy?

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Mmm... I wasn't keeping tabs on issue names as I was reading but I read up until what may have been the start of the Ongoing...

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You got to the start of the second DW limited series.

The third series was the "ongoing" and that's when the writing & art improved (IMHO).

What you might want to read is DW's War Within series. Very different to their "G1" books and the first is particularly well-regarded.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

What you might want to read is DW's War Within series. Very different to their "G1" books and the first is particularly well-regarded.

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Cool, I'll give it a shot. Thanks :)

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Originally Posted by Jinto

Cool, I'll give it a shot. Thanks :)

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Also written by Simon Furman, author of the "-tion" IDW stories and the latter part of Marvel US and the entire Marvel UK runs.