Transformers IDW discussion thread [SPOILER WARNING]

[FFN]

Got to

SPOOM!

I'd love to know that too.
I should probably know this but i havnt been reading up on comic news lately- why was the series trimmed down in the first place?

There are plenty of posts about this in other comci threads, so I'll be brief:

Sales were not what IDW had wanted, they were constantly dropping, I think they were down to the 15,000 or so.

So All Hail Megatron was pitched and accepted to take the place on the "-tion" series as the #1 Transformers book by IDW.

Exactly, and Furman's story, being pretty complex, serialised (you needed to have read since Infiltration to fully understand it), and the fact the characters weren't written like their most well-known classic G1 personalities likely contributed to normal comics fans and more casual TF fan not picking up the books. People like the safety of familiarity and simplicity, it seems.

Hence All Hail Megatron.

[heroic_decepticon]

I've read very little interviews and background material as to the whys and wherefores of the all the series' and its direction, but I've read every Transformer comic published by IDW since Infiltration and in terms of complexity and characterisation I think these are some of the best TF comics ever written- especially the Furman/ EJ Su combination (and I'm secretly glad the Su pencilled the entire Revelations arc).

[FFN]

Su only penciled Spotlights Cyclonus and Sideswipe. Nick Roche did Spotlight: Hardhead (and will also do Maximum Dinobots) while Dan Khanna did Spotlight: Doubledealer.

[STL]

SPOOM!

Exactly, and Furman's story, being pretty complex, serialised (you needed to have read since Infiltration to fully understand it), and the fact the characters weren't written like their most well-known classic G1 personalities likely contributed to normal comics fans and more casual TF fan not picking up the books. People like the safety of familiarity and simplicity, it seems.

It's not the safety of familiarity. It's the fact that you expect certain archetypes to develop of a character. For instance, if Batman started acting like the boyscout that Superman s or Wolverine quipped like Spider-Man and Spider-Man growled like Wolverine, you could certainly understand why people would hate such a move.

I'm not as conservative as most but what Furman has done horribly is given little time to make these changes in the characters work and give them time to blossom and become expected. As a result, we're left with this sucky piece of rushed excrement.

Furman is out of touch with the fandom. He's being ambitious but where he's failed with his run this time is that he hasn't kept the fandom at heart and that's why its deserted him. Say what you will but I'll just point you to the sales figures. They do not die. Furman is responsible for the decline of the TF brand comic wise. Period.

I'm all for what he tried to do but it was convoluted and choppy. His worst crime was the poor pacing of the series and breaking it up between Spotlight and mini-series. That's where this title feel apart. Ryall and Furman so frequently towed the line that "oh they can be read independently and it wont' affect your enjoyment one iota." Right.

They're a joke. What they produced was a joke. But the worst misdemeanour was that the victims of this joke were TF fans.

Furman's IDW run will be remembered for it's promising direction with new interesting concepts. But promise alone is not enough. You still have to deliver. And that they did not.

[FFN]

The responses in this thread seem to disagree with you. As do I.

[GoktimusPrime]

His worst crime was the poor pacing of the series and breaking it up between Spotlight and mini-series. That's where this title feel apart.

Yeah, I also haven't enjoyed the breaking up of the story into multiple mini-series. DW did the same thing and I didn't like it all that much either. I miss the old days from G1/G2 when there was just one single continuous comic run - no pressure to hastily wrap up story arcs until the very end when G1 was unexpectedly axed (ditto G2 - and Furman showed his frustration for that through the introduction of the character name "Jhiaxus").

But was it Furman's decision to do all this or was it Ryall's or someone else's? My suspicion is that it was IDW's decision and Furman has been simply following his orders and writing stories according to this designated format. Furman has been writing Transformers stories since 1985 and this format really doesn't seem to be his style.

Either way, I prefer his writing style back in the old Marvel days when it was just one continous run where seemingly insignificant events would later resurface much later! DiTillio and Forward did the same thing in Beast Wars too which I really enjoyed.

[Paulbot]

Yeah, I also haven't enjoyed the breaking up of the story into multiple mini-series. DW did the same thing and I didn't like it all that much either.

I think Dreamwave was a bit different. Both the first and second G1 series, and both War Within series, were primarily self contained stories (with some teases for the future).

It's not the safety of familiarity. It's the fact that you expect certain archetypes to develop of a character. For instance, if Batman started acting like the boyscout that Superman s or Wolverine quipped like Spider-Man and Spider-Man growled like Wolverine, you could certainly understand why people would hate such a move.

Yep. And it's called Bendis' New Avengers/Mighty Avengers where every character is now a Smart-Alec.

As a result, we're left with this sucky piece of rushed excrement.

I agree Revelations is rushed but in general IDW's various series as a whole has been good. It would have been nice for the four Spotlights to have been their own comics and the main plot to have taken place in a six parter but twas not to be.

It is good for others authors to get a run on Transformers, as in All Hail Megatron, or Dreamwave's Generation One Vol 3 (which is my favourite of the revamps). Between the IDW books and the UK ones, Furman is simply responsible for too much of TF fiction at the moment and a break could be good. (These comments also apply to Bendis and the Avengers )

[heroic_decepticon]

It's not the safety of familiarity. It's the fact that you expect certain archetypes to develop of a character. For instance, if Batman started acting like the boyscout that Superman s or Wolverine quipped like Spider-Man and Spider-Man growled like Wolverine, you could certainly understand why people would hate such a move.

and some examples would be...?

I'm not as conservative as most but what Furman has done horribly is given little time to make these changes in the characters work and give them time to blossom and become expected. As a result, we're left with this sucky piece of rushed excrement.

Furman developed the story and characters over what is close to 3 years now. There were also character spotlights which in many cases focused on developing 2 or more key characters (eg: Spotlight Hot Rod developed Hot Rod and Doubledealer). It takes time. 500+ Transformers cannot be scripted to blossom over the term of just 3 years. G1, including Marvel UK ran for 9 years, 3 times the length of the IDW-verse.

Furman is out of touch with the fandom. He's being ambitious but where he's failed with his run this time is that he hasn't kept the fandom at heart and that's why its deserted him.

Some justification needed to convince me.

Say what you will but I'll just point you to the sales figures. They do not die. Furman is responsible for the decline of the TF brand comic wise. Period.

The appeal of something should hardly be gauged by sales figures. Transformers: The Movie performed dismally in 1986, but look at its longevity and potential to still sell and outsell its rivals in terms of dvd sales (for example).

I'm all for what he tried to do but it was convoluted and choppy. His worst crime was the poor pacing of the series and breaking it up between Spotlight and mini-series. That's where this title feel apart. Ryall and Furman so frequently towed the line that "oh they can be read independently and it wont' affect your enjoyment one iota." Right.

I'm with Gok regarding your comments on this.

They're a joke. What they produced was a joke. But the worst misdemeanour was that the victims of this joke were TF fans.

Furman's IDW run will be remembered for it's promising direction with new interesting concepts. But promise alone is not enough. You still have to deliver. And that they did not.

Don't agree. Not one bit.

[Paulbot]

Mod note: Reviews of the latest books added here instead of in the old News thread about the covers.

[Hereticpoo]

[Spoliers]


I' finally sat down and read IDW's REVELATIONS TPB after getting it when it first came out.

I've have Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation, and all of the Spotlight TPB's.

A question for the well read IDW guys;

What the hell is going on?

I missed something major, coz at the end of Spotlight Sideswipe the planet that Nightbeat was investigating turns out to be Cybertron? And what was Nightbeat's dark mission that Nova Prime declared to be pivotal? Hardhead turned Nightbeats head into an exploding watermelon and that was that.

Im totally confused. Did I miss some timemachine stuff? The Dead Universe is destroyed but Jiaxus (whose power comes from said universe) is still immortal?

Galvatron was a prime? And did he merge and explode with Nova Prime, at the confrontation with Optimus and both matrix's?

I dunno about buying any more of IDW's stuff, the pictures are pretty but the story is.....bizarre? And i can't begin to see how AHM fits because I'm waiting for the Second AHM TPB.

Oh and Arcee as a psycho murder = Awesome.