IDW Comics

[GoktimusPrime]

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

[Cat]

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.

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.

[Jinto]

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

[i_amtrunks]

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!

[Paulbot]

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

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.

[i_amtrunks]

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.

[Jinto]

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.

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?

[GoktimusPrime]

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 ). 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! 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??

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?

[Paulbot]

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...

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.

[Jinto]

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.

Cool, I'll give it a shot. Thanks