All Hail Megatron Issues 1 to 6 (Vol 1)

[Sky Shadow]

so.....AHM #6

What another fizzer.

I actually think that (except for Drift) All Hail Megatron #6 was good for the first twenty pages. Then the humans were in it again and the last two pages were utter @#!*. But it's a great improvement. (I've realised that one of the other issues I have with humans in this book is that Guidi can't draw them. His blackline approach is great for his Dreamwavey style robots, but it's jarring whenever humans appear.)

Finally the Decepticons got some characterisation (just in time for the last issue of the trade). Skywarp, Bombshell and Thundercracker were well-written as incarnations of their tech spec and Universe profiles. Which is progression... well, as progressive as twenty-something year-old profiles can be. Although now I'm somewhat worried about McCarthy being too adherent to old stereotypes. For the story to be any good, twist-wise, Mirage can't really be the traitor - it has to be someone else. It can't be anything else or it's a bit of a cop-out: it has to be an Autobot who's betrayed them. Preferably Cliffjumper. Unless they want to make Mirage a full-fledged Decepticon after this, which I would be happy with - defectors are great. (Carnivac; Catilla; Blitzwing; Dinobot; Blackarachnia: all awesome.)

Also, McCarthy or the letterer misspelled "feuds". Twice. What the hell is the editor of this book doing? Apparently he's not checking spelling. He's not ensuring the stories don't contradict what's come before. As far as I can tell, all he does is get someone to draw his head on Doubledealer and supply the briefest of replies to letters.

Still, with those exceptions, this was good.

[GoktimusPrime]

There's a grammatical error it it too (misplaced apostrophe). I did enjoy seeing the Decepticons getting more characterisation. Wasn't impressed with Drift... the panel where he uses his sword was visually badly done IMO because of the way he's holding it. It doesn't look like he's just taken a swipe - the blade is pointing down and the arm looks too relaxed, yet the Insecticon's (Insecticons'?) head hasn't even hit the ground yet... - unless Drift is bloody fast like Blurr, but if so they should've done something with the art to show that he's that fast, like drawing "speed lines" etc. As it is that panel visually makes no sense to me. (-_-)

[Lord_Zed]

Alas I still haven't goten a hold of #6 yet, hopefully I will tommorow and then I can add my 2 cents.

[kup]

I don't have #6 either and probably won't be getting it for a while as there are no comic shops near me

[FFN]

And I'm also slightly peeved that once again the Trade (due Feb) will contain added extras, it's kind of a slap in the face to the people who are buying the single issues.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea in books that deserve to be bought twice (like Infiltration), but I shouldn't have to buy this crap twice to get bonus items, as compensation for how crap issues 1-6 have been IDW should have been putting all extra cover art, sketches and the like into each issue.

So you're gonna buy an entire TPB of nothing happening?

There's a grammatical error it it too (misplaced apostrophe). I did enjoy seeing the Decepticons getting more characterisation. Wasn't impressed with Drift... the panel where he uses his sword was visually badly done IMO because of the way he's holding it. It doesn't look like he's just taken a swipe - the blade is pointing down and the arm looks too relaxed, yet the Insecticon's (Insecticons'?) head hasn't even hit the ground yet... - unless Drift is bloody fast like Blurr, but if so they should've done something with the art to show that he's that fast, like drawing "speed lines" etc. As it is that panel visually makes no sense to me. (-_-)

But you see, Drift is Japanese! He moves his sword really fast, like a ninja or a samurai or something Japanese involving swords that's in anime or manga.

I think his own name is spelled phonetically on his doors.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've seen Battoujutsu practitioners cut really quickly - I've seen a guy in Sydney who can leap in the air and slice a target (both straw and bone/flesh - he practices on pig-parts from the butcher) multiple times by the time his jump has finished and the target falls off the stand.

But there is no way he can hold his sword in a relaxed position with the blade pointing downward, even at that speed - especially considering that the Insecticons' head hasn't hit the ground yet. If he could move that fast then there needs to be speed lines or blurring effects added to let the audience know that he's moving at super speed... otherwise it's reasonable for us to assume that he's not. Even with speed effects it would still look bad IMO. He should actually look more like this:



The edge of the blade is pointing at the same angle as the cut - judging from the position of Drift's shoulder and arm, it ought to be pointing outward, not downward... even with speed effects (as demonstrated in the picture on the right).

Also, why is Drift's body facing square on to his opponent? Was that Insecticons' head attached by silly string? If it was so weakly attached to its neck then you could probably decapitate it with your bare hands... Drift would have to have his waist and shoulders turned in order to gain the torque and momentum required to swing his sword (which ought to be a freakin' heavy weapon) and hit his target with sufficient force to cut through enemy steel.

You wouldn't even draw a punch that way, let alone a sword slash. :/

[i_amtrunks]

This is a post from the TAAU boards by Dragontail that cast the series in a brand new light for me. I've always believed that AHM is (and will be ) set in an alternate Universe from the "-tion" and "Maximum Dinobots" stories, and I think that had it been I would have received the story better originally, I may have even figured this out myself rather than needing someone else to point it out to me!

I've been ruminating on this series for a while and, I think, what it comes down to two things:

1) McCarthy is not as good a writer as he wants to be.
2) The series was marketed poorly.

What I take from the most recent issues is that McCarthy's intent was not to give us a "the Decepticons have won; all must quake in fear!" story but, instead, a more introspective piece on what happens once you've achieved your ultimate goal.

Consider... Megatron is now without a goal or objective; he conquered the Autobots but lost Cybertron - he won the war but has nothing to show for it. Fearful of mutiny, he's trying to keep his mechs occupied with "pointless busywork" - smashing humans - and the strain is showing. Contrast that with the Autobots who have lost their leader and their religious artefact; once they get those back, they will have a link to the "purity" of their pre-war past and be restored, psychologically, in order to save the day.

McCarthy is trying to make a point about the essential differences between the Autobot and Decepticon mentalities. Unfortunately in doing so, he's ignoring a lot of character development and a lot of subtleties in personalities (like Megatron caring about more than just Cybertron, as we've seen time and again), his pacing is off, his dialogue is poor, his grasp of the cast is stuck in the cartoon era and he's ignoring/been told to ignore all Furman has set up.

This should have been an out-of-continuity mini-series.

Like I said earlier: I'm starting to enjoy the series more, but only for what it is - an incredibly flawed attempt to execute an interesting concept.

Unless the 2nd half of the story completely throwns this out on it's head, I too think I may be able to enjoy the series much more than I have been.

[Hereticpoo]

I agree that reading it like its in a different dimension makes it alot of fun.
Thats the beauty of the TF universe, you can choose what you want to accept as canon because there are so many different TF universe's.

I believe some of you are being a little harsh on AHM. Its like you're expecting a 120 page comic book series to have the depth of Tolkien's Middle Earth and the characterisation / social analysis of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Dragon Tail says

"What I take from the most recent issues is that McCarthy's intent was not to give us a "the Decepticons have won; all must quake in fear!" story but, instead, a more introspective piece on what happens once you've achieved your ultimate goal.

Consider... Megatron is now without a goal or objective; he conquered the Autobots but lost Cybertron - he won the war but has nothing to show for it. Fearful of mutiny, he's trying to keep his mechs occupied with "pointless busywork" - smashing humans - and the strain is showing. Contrast that with the Autobots who have lost their leader and their religious artefact; once they get those back, they will have a link to the "purity" of their pre-war past and be restored, psychologically, in order to save the day."

Um thats whats S Mac was going for? Quote on Newrama;

"If they were only after raw materials, sure. However this is less about the immediacy of conquest or the acquisition of resources and more about the psychology that underpins the reason for the Decepticons' very existence. Why do they want Earth? Why do they do anything they do to begin with? I'll be answering these questions as we go along. Like I said earlier, this is very, very far from just being a story about a big old fight."

Then Dragontail says S Mac's attempt is a "seriously flawed attempt at an interesting concept."

Dude WTF your critisism is the objective of the comic!

Dragon Tail I do agree that it should have been marketed as a stand alone one off series. That is more a fault of IDW than S Mac. I believe the story may have been 'smoother' and less 'clunky; is total artistic licence was allowed by S Mac. I honestly can't see the clunkiness and poor panel layout, for me its an easy to read comic.

The series is called ALL HAIL MEGATRON. Not the "lets characterise as many bots as we can half hour"

I can understand the critical eye G1 comic fans have for the series, but here's a news flash THE MAJORITY OF TF FANS ARE CASUAL FANS and the only continuity that really stands out to them is the G1 Cartoon. Before I joined this board the G1 comics were a repressed memory of terrible art and confusing stories.This story has been diluted FOR THE MAJORITY OF FANS.

This is a post from the TAAU boards by Dragontail that cast the series in a brand new light for me. I've always believed that AHM is (and will be ) set in an alternate Universe from the "-tion" and "Maximum Dinobots" stories, and I think that had it been I would have received the story better originally, I may have even figured this out myself rather than needing someone else to point it out to me!



Unless the 2nd half of the story completely throwns this out on it's head, I too think I may be able to enjoy the series much more than I have been.

[FFN]

This is one of the times where I can say the MAJORITY OF THE FANS taste in comics blows chunks.

Note: When FFN types in caps, most likely he is taking the piss.

[Hereticpoo]

This is one of the times where I can say the MAJORITY OF THE FANS taste in comics blows chunks.

Yeah what would the majority know. My advise to all the unique, well read, Transformers connoisseurs would be to stop reading AHM, and leave all the mainstream morons who like it to thier undeveloped trash mags.

Its pathetic that people are still saying how much they don't like it, but they are always the first to buy and review or opinionate on it.

I'm going to sit down and enjoy this comic with the rest of the drooling hoards, have fun blogging about something you hate but still purchase