IDW's Dead Universe? And where should I start, to catch up? (spoilers)

[Verno]

Ok, so I got hold of the IDW Collection 1 and All Hail Megatron volume 3, so my introduction to the IDW world has officially begun. (I was house-sitting for a mate in Launceston, so instead of looking after his dog, I read his comics )

I have to say I'm impressed thus far. Only a few complaints though.

Is it just me or is the art for Megatron Origins a touch messy and confusing?

I didn't enjoy SL: Cliffjumper. I feel I missed something or needed more of his backstory (ironically) to understand the full scope of the story.

Infiltration was ok, but please tell me the humans p!ss off as the '-tion' series goes on. I hate humans in TF stories, they're unnecessary. Comics, tv, movies, doesn't matter - get rid of them.

But the art for the most part is just spectacular. And the stories are strong.

[Paulbot]

Is it just me or is the art for Megatron Origins a touch messy and confusing?

It's not just you. That page with Grapple and Inferno and the crashing ship still boggles me.

I didn't enjoy SL: Cliffjumper. I feel I missed something or needed more of his backstory (ironically) to understand the full scope of the story.

He didn't have any other backstory, that issue was it. It's one of the Spotlight issues that doesn't have much purpose or contribution to the overall story.

Infiltration was ok, but please tell me the humans p!ss off as the '-tion' series goes on. I hate humans in TF stories, they're unnecessary. Comics, tv, movies, doesn't matter - get rid of them.

Nope, the humans are around for the whole run of -tion stories. They are most prominent in the first few issues, and they become less of a focus as the stories go on but they are still important to the plots. There are few IDW stories that don't include humans.

[Seraphim Prime]

Is it just me or is the art for Megatron Origins a touch messy and confusing?

It's not just you. Art was very gritty, for sake fo storytelling, but lacked the polish we were getting with EJ Su. Again, certain things that happen within the story (like the female TFs in crowd scenes) are a case of IDWs writers not talking to each other/editors not doing job properly.

What was in its favour initially, but hurts it now that the concept has been used again and again, was that it was the first time we saw Megatron as a lowly slave worker, witnessing first hand the corruption in the system, and deciding that drastic action needed to be taken. What hurt it was we didn't really get to see the evolution of an idea - why does he decide to go from a simple uprising to global devastation.

I didn't enjoy SL: Cliffjumper. I feel I missed something or needed more of his backstory (ironically) to understand the full scope of the story.

It's one of the true stand alone stories of the IDW SL series, however yes, I also found it was missing a certain je n'ai sais qua...

Infiltration was ok, but please tell me the humans p!ss off as the '-tion' series goes on. I hate humans in TF stories, they're unnecessary. Comics, tv, movies, doesn't matter - get rid of them.

Humans stay through to Devastation, though their roles are somewhat reduced. Prime basically tries to get rid of them at the beginning of Expansion, but is prevented from doing so for certain reasons. (Vague because of spoilers). Reading Infiltration/Escalation you do get a sense of the argument that humans provide you with scale of story. I found that, having focused on human-level story telling for a few issues, the minute we see the Transformers in full robot-mode we got a good sense of scale and escalation in story telling, and first sense that this just got real.

But the art for the most part is just spectacular. And the stories are strong.

EJ SU was spectacular with his art. The bonus features in the TPB just went to show how interested he was in nutting down the various mechanics of TF construction, and that shows in his art work. It's a shame we haven't seen any of him since finishing off with Revalation.

[Cat]

Since Revelation, EJ's pencilled SL:Jazz, an issue of the Ongoing (issue 7 I think?), and SL:Prowl. He also did some of the pages for AHM.

His style HAS changed a fair bit since Revelation though. He seems to have been going for a Mike Mignola style. YMMV on that.

Megatron Origin was never really that well received. It was also originally supposed to be 6 issues, not 4. I'm pretty sure it was originally pitched to Dreamwave.

It also had a pretty bad problem with the colouring. It was WAY too dark and murky for the single issues. This was somewhat fixed for the subsequent tpb release. It was also back when Milne didn't use much variation in his line-weight, so foreground characters and backgrounds all melted into one mess of a panel, further obscuring detail and making it a chore to comprehend.

Honestly, the 2 recent flashback Ongoing issues did their background way better than M:O did (22 and 23, I think it was?).

So it's far from just you on this one. It was a mess all round, really.

[GoktimusPrime]

I liked Megatron Origin. Although not a big fan of the way Milnesie draws mouths... you know, like when someone's grabbed your cheeks and stretched them out sideways... a lot of his Transformers' faces look like that... (-_-)

[Cat]

Yeah, I absolutely know what you're talking about there.

To be honest, I think he used to be awful. Lack of lineweight was a deathblow on clarity of his work.

BUT in the last year or so, he's REALLY stepped up his game. His work lately has been pretty impressive. It's like he's finally realised his potential (cleansed the spirit of Pat Lee?).

[GoktimusPrime]

BUT in the last year or so, he's REALLY stepped up his game. His work lately has been pretty impressive. It's like he's finally realised his potential (cleansed the spirit of Pat Lee?).

+1

[Verno]

Well I'm glad it wasn't just me then. I mean I can understand artistic interpretation and stylings, but when it comes at the detriment of the comic on the whole then it should be picked up on by the editor or by preview readings.

I know when BW: Gathering came out and looking at the different covers, I wasn't a fan of the cover of Magmatron by Nick Roche (I think). I liked the clear, concise models of Don. But having seen more of Nick's work, it's obvious he was simply trying something different in that cover, but is more than capable of drawing the wonderful models I like.

[i_amtrunks]

Megatron Origins was not well recieved due to issues regarding the art and pacing, but as has been alluded to, the fact that it did not flow oor meld into the TF lore/backhistory that had been established in Furman's stories.

It was a constant issue IDW had throughout most of it's ownership of the tf license that the editors never really tried to keep things in check, letting whoever was writing write whatever they wanted.

Also why we got such weak spotlights like Cliffjumper, Mirage and Ramjet (not to mention a terrible spotlight Prowl that while in universe made no sense from a character perspective.)

[Cat]

Megatron Origins was not well recieved due to issues regarding the art and pacing, but as has been alluded to, the fact that it did not flow oor meld into the TF lore/backhistory that had been established in Furman's stories.

It was a constant issue IDW had throughout most of it's ownership of the tf license that the editors never really tried to keep things in check, letting whoever was writing write whatever they wanted.

Also why we got such weak spotlights like Cliffjumper, Mirage and Ramjet (not to mention a terrible spotlight Prowl that while in universe made no sense from a character perspective.)

Even worse considering that SL:Prowl was meant to explain why Prowl acted so out of character in Ongoing #1, and was supposed to be a regular issue. They only published it as a Spotlight to try and quell the fanbase complaints. It didn't work.