IDW's Dead Universe? And where should I start, to catch up? (spoilers)

[Paulbot]

Hmm... See, this seems baffling to me as all I ever seem to hear/read is that the Furman IDW stuff was a far and away more coherent narrative and quite a bit better received, at least compared to what came after...

It was but the story made sense if you had read every single issue and all the spotlights and Stormbringer. Makes a good story as a whole but inaccessible to new readers. It was very hard to come in to late since the set up was different to what people were used to.

So All Hail Megatron came along and G1 cartoon'd the universe a bit.

Then the new ongoing became a mix of both.

[Cat]

Here's what AHM's author had to say on this board about it...

Which was later stated by editor Andy Schmidt to be false.

[Verno]

Oh well, we'll just have to see how they go from the upcoming re-re-reboot eh?

Yes, this re-reboot puzzles me.

Had the IDW universe that began with the "-tions" run its course? What has brought about the change?

[Paulbot]

No the universe is exactly the same. All that's changed is, spoilers obviously, the war is over. So what do the Autobots do now the war is over? One book is about them resettling Cybertron, the other book is about a group looking to find a way to reboot the Matrix (not exactly but it s a quest).

[Verno]

No the universe is exactly the same. All that's changed is, spoilers obviously, the war is over. So what do the Autobots do now the war is over? One book is about them resettling Cybertron, the other book is about a group looking to find a way to reboot the Matrix (not exactly but it s a quest).

Ohh, then this use of the term reboot has thrown me. Damn you Hursty!

[Seraphim Prime]

Yeah, it's more like a soft reboot, like AHM was, followed by Ongoing, now the new series.

I loved Furman's -tion series, however it was a slow build with only 1 six-issue series a year (from memory) which by the end became quite convoluted, requiring an understanding of all that had come previously. Slow pace + significant backstory = hard sell to new readers. At a similar time, Shane McCarthy was talking about this idea that he had for a one-off, a sort of "what if the Decepticons win the war?". IDW decided that this would become a new launch point for new readers. However it alienated some of the fans of Furman's work as it appeared to pretty much ignore the entire foundations that Furman had set. Later issues tied them better together, but the damage was done. Similar issue with the ongoing comic.


However, I have hopes for these new series, because it appears that in James Roberts and John Barber IDW have chosen writers who are interested in telling compelling Transformers stories, rather than just interesting stories with Transformers in them.

Sorry, this is a bit of a side track. Short answer is read the -ation series, plus Spotlight collections. Easily some of the best Transformers comic fiction written. Particularly the Spotloght issues, due to their (largely) self-contained nature.

[GoktimusPrime]

At a similar time, Shane McCarthy was talking about this idea that he had for a one-off, a sort of "what if the Decepticons win the war?". IDW decided that this would become a new launch point for new readers. However it alienated some of the fans of Furman's work as it appeared to pretty much ignore the entire foundations that Furman had set. Later issues tied them better together, but the damage was done. Similar issue with the ongoing comic.

Yeah, when I questioned McCarthy about the continuity issues in his stories, he only justified it by saying that it was what IDW told him to do and that it boosted sales figures of comics. i.e. it was an entirely commercial/business decision... (-_-) Marketing over art? You decide.

[i_amtrunks]

Yeah, when I questioned McCarthy about the continuity issues in his stories, he only justified it by saying that it was what IDW told him to do and that it boosted sales figures of comics. i.e. it was an entirely commercial/business decision... (-_-) Marketing over art? You decide.

Yeah those sales were great for all of an issue or two. Before AHM hit double figures their sales were already below the "-tion" books. Then the CODA books had to be released to try and link the series together. Looks like IDW have learnt from their mistakes with the new writing teams.

[Sky Shadow]

Did anyone else listen to the podcast where Mike Costa said that Transformers were just "things" with "no character" that are "silly" and "not looked upon favourably... in the comic book community". And that there are only "a hundred active" Transformers fans on all the internet and that we are all unpleasant, arrogant and hostile and don't know what we want.

Ironically, I'm pretty sure we do know what we want, and fortunately we should finally be getting it from James Roberts and Nick Roche. And I'm pretty sure we're a lot less hostile when people actually write comics that are good and we don't have to waste two years of Transformers comics on a writer who doesn't even want to be doing it.

[Cat]

Yeah those sales were great for all of an issue or two. Before AHM hit double figures their sales were already below the "-tion" books. Then the CODA books had to be released to try and link the series together. Looks like IDW have learnt from their mistakes with the new writing teams.

Not even that.

Andy Schmidt confirmed what many had suspected/been privately told: that sales weren't as McCarthy and co had made out they were.

I can't remember the exact wording.