Comic review: Robots in Disguise ongoing

[Paulbot]

(Please post comments or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details)

Comic review - Transformers Robots In Disguise
Creators - John Barber (writer), Andrew Griffith (artist)
Publisher - IDW
Retail Price - AU$4.50 (approx) per issue (US$3.99)
Page count per issue - 22 pages
Series length - Ongoing
Released - January 2012 to
Collected edition(s) - TBA

[Paulbot]

The book gets off to a good start with Issue 1 but not as great as MTMTE #1 did. The cast is smaller so far, but the introductions seem a bit shallower. It doesn't feel like something brand new but rather a continuation of the regular ongoing. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Bumblebee continues to grow into leadership in a very difficult situation. Prowl is not used as effectively as in the other book and I've got a good guess on who his ruthless partner is. The US version of Metalhawk is an interesting new character too but is far removed from the Japanese version. I did like the use of Ratbat as the former senator aims for control, and I think that's partly because I liked the out of the box thinking that made him commander in the Marvel comics.

The art is nice (although Horri-Bull looks an odd shade of yellow).

The issue tries to raise the stakes in the last few pages, but it's not as compelling as the adventure and interesting new takes featured in MTMTE. Overall if MTMTE hadn't been so good I would consider this a good book but it is currently the weaker of the two.

[kup]

Originally Posted by Paulbot

The book gets off to a good start with Issue 1 but not as great as MTMTE #1 did. The cast is smaller so far, but the introductions seem a bit shallower. It doesn't feel like something brand new but rather a continuation of the regular ongoing. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Bumblebee continues to grow into leadership in a very difficult situation. Prowl is not used as effectively as in the other book and I've got a good guess on who his ruthless partner is. The US version of Metalhawk is an interesting new character too but is far removed from the Japanese version. I did like the use of Ratbat as the former senator aims for control, and I think that's partly because I liked the out of the box thinking that made him commander in the Marvel comics.

The art is nice (although Horri-Bull looks an odd shade of yellow).

The issue tries to raise the stakes in the last few pages, but it's not as compelling as the adventure and interesting new takes featured in MTMTE. Overall if MTMTE hadn't been so good I would consider this a good book but it is currently the weaker of the two.

Nice review!

Although MTMTE is better than RID, would you still say that they are within the same league?

[Paulbot]

Of the two issues? No, MTMTE is all around better, but RID is a step up from the early issues of IDW's ongoings. It wants to be 'mature' and deal with politics but how well that will work? James Robert's writing finds interesting tweaks on TF concepts that make each of his issues a joy to read. This doesn't really say anything new, nor is it as outright entertaining. Omega gets a funny line but it's otherwise missing some fun to it.

[kup]

Originally Posted by Paulbot

Of the two issues? No, MTMTE is all around better, but RID is a step up from the early issues of IDW's ongoings. It wants to be 'mature' and deal with politics but how well that will work? James Robert's writing finds interesting tweaks on TF concepts that make each of his issues a joy to read. This doesn't really say anything new, nor is it as outright entertaining. Omega gets a funny line but it's otherwise missing some fun to it.

Just a step up from the early issues of the previous Ongoing? To me that is still classified as horrible as the Ongoing was like the worst trash I had ever read in a comic. It made the McCarthy issues look like a literary masterpiece. They were what made me give up on IDW.

I am asking because I really want to get back into reading TF comics but don't want to be disappointed once again as I was with IDW's previous offerings. MTMTE was superb and it reignited my interest in TF comics, I don't want it to be trashed again..

[Paulbot]

I think just stick with MTMTE, this issue deals with some of the fallout but the two should be independent enough that you could just read one book.

As far as the RID cast is concerned Rodimus and his crew all died when the ship blew up when they departed and are unaware it jumped into transwarp (and Metalhawk is pointing the blame at BB among the Nails) so there shouldn't be any overlap.

But also see what others have to say. My hopes were high so I think that has biased my review.