(JULY-2013) Armada Era Comic - Reviews and Favourites

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Hmm, I am going to re-read the Armada comics, but I remember not really enjoying it until the Worlds Collide part of the story. And then it ended. And the boring Energon comic started.

I rather disliked the normal comic. Horrible art with fat stupid looking robots for the most part and boring as hell. I only bothered getting them all for the Armada Universe comics and by the time I had decided I hated them, they were working into the Energon so I kept going for the sake of continuity. Which I am glad I did because when the worlds collide, which iirc was written by Simon Furman, things got pretty good.

And then it went back to being boring, but boring Energon comics, with fat stupid looking robots

[GoktimusPrime]

The fatness was due to Pat Lee's influence/direction over Dreamwave's artwork... But Guido Guidi didn't allow himself to be influenced by it (at least not as much as other artists did*) and his artwork in the series was great. Armada was Guidi's debut as a Transformers artist in an official capacity, and thankfully he's stuck around.

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*Possibly because he was an "outsourced" artist from overseas while the others were directly working with/under Pat Lee at Dreamwave. Just my guesstimation.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Are they worth buying after all this time, and what is good or bad about them.
Got all the Dreamwave comics and 3 of the Panini ones when I was in the UK. The Dreamwave ones were very good with far better storylines than the cartoon. The Panini ones were average as more magazines than comics, but came with cool free toys. LOVE my mini-con holding cell! I'd certainly still pick up both series!

Are there any specific issues or stories you'd recommend to others?
Definitely the Worlds Collide story arc. Was brilliant to see G1 Galvatron & Bludgeon turn up and put the smack down on Armada Starscream and the Autobots! Also the issue where Leader-1 takes over the Mini-Con moonbase and tries to off Megatron - great stuff!

How do they compare to the current era of Transformers comics?
I was a fan of the Dreamwave stuff so I would say they are relatively on par. Obviously with only so many issues (19 I think) before it went from 'Armada' to 'Energon' they didn't have much of a chance to build an entire fictional universe out of it.


First Panini issue I got when in the UK (photo from the net as dont know which box it is in ):