TF comics are back!
Oct. 19th, 2005 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uftakiI have Transformers issue 0 by IDW in my hot little hands right now... X3 And so far, right now... I'll say things are looking good. :D It's just a teaser taste, but... *grins* Grabbed the cover with the four Autobots on the cover, of course. ^_~
Okay... first off, on the inside cover, along with the credits, we've got two columns -- one for the 'bots, one for the 'cons, showing the 8 characters from each faction that're gonna be focused on (at least in the early issues). Ratchet is the only 'bot that's shown for the 'bot side -- the others, since they haven't shown up yet, are all shadow profiles. But I can make good guesses as to who the rest will all be. ^^; In order, top to bottom, it looks like the 'bots 'll be compromised of Ratchet, Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Prime.
For the 'cons, they have more characters shown in this issue: Runabout, Runamuck, Starscream and Thundercracker. Hard to tell who the others are, though, but I can make educated guesses. As we've seen him in one of the other variant covers, I'd say Soundwave is definately among that crew. Astrotrain and Blitzwing are also on another cover (and there's even a glimpse of what looks to be Blitzwing in the comic itself -- in a "grainy photo") That leaves the last to be -- of course -- Megatron.
On to the story itself. Looking very good, so far. :3 Okay, so the art style isn't as overly-detailed as Dreamwave's stuff. Fine by me. Sure, the eye candy is nice... but story/pacing/layout etc all that should come first. Good art is good art... and if it's crummy art (or if it really puts me off), I won't really read a comic... but I'm open to a LOT of different art styles, for comics. Variety is good. I've said it before, but Marvel TFs had a number of artists in their run, some of their styles VASTLY different than others... but it all worked. Cuz art and story balanced. None overrode the other -- they worked together. That's important. And IDW seems to understand this, so that's a good sign. It's nice art, but not hyper-realisitc, not overly cartoony, not bogged down in details... the art flows along with the story. Yay.
I'm liking the story, too... so far. Verity is neat. :3 Believable character so far, and interesting. :3 (her little bit with the pepper spray made me chuckle. X3) She's cool. :) Hunter looks interesting too... if in just a 'laugh at the conspiracy theorist' way at the moment. ^.^;; It'll be interesting to see how they both develop. :)
That first 2-page splash of Thundercracker attacking the van..... WOW *____* Lovely use ot size and intimidation... Nice art. Very nice.
On that, there's interviews at the back of the book, with Simon Furman and E.J. Su... Furman mentioned how they've updated a couple/most of the TFs alt. forms... and the seekers became F22s... I haven't SEEN any pics of real F22s, but they do look a lot like the good ol' F15s... so at least in plane mode, the seekers still look oh-so-familiar. :3 He said the alt. modes needed updating, but not so much to "change the basic robot mode configurations ... [they (Su + Furman) worked long] to come up with the best possible modern variation, one that's immediately identifiable as that character" So that's good. :3
Last panel -- Ratchet to the rescue! XD ... hmm... hologram human driver him... Not bad... ^^; But I'm biased towards![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
straya's interpretations. ^__~ *grins* Ah well.
On the interviews... Lots of good-sounding things from Furman -- wanting to keep pushing himself as a writer, not fall back onto "cruise control" and what's 'safe' and 'predicatble'. Sounds like they've really put a lot of heart and thought into it, which is good.
On Prime and Megatron, in Furman's interview... he mentioned showing them in the comics in one of two ways: "Should they just be there, in the thick of things from the get-go, or should they be each faction's almost last recourse, their 'it's all gone to hell, all else has failed' option? I kind of like the latter. It immediately gave them a more mythic status. They're discussed, often in hushed whispers, but not (at least initially) seen."
This had me groaning and rolling my eyes, and face palming. Great. As if Optimus Prime wasn't elevated ENOUGH in TF mythos. -__- The "golden boy"... the mech who can do no wrong. He's ALREADY looked up to, admired, nearly WORSHIPPED by [most of] the crew enough as it is, in all previous continuties.... let's raise him up a bit more!
*gag*
Sorry... I have nothing against Optimus, really, but... ...he's just too perfect for my tastes. -.-; Sure, Furman gives him weaknesses and doubts -- the silly mech soliloquizing endlessly sometimes. c__c; But still... sheesh. That's the only kinda thing that rubs me the wrong way. Optimus already, before... was held UP, and held APART from the rest of the Autobot rank-and-file, for the most part (canonically, he had to get SMOKESCREEN to talk to the other Autobots for him, to see how they felt about things)... It impersonalizes Optimus too much. Puts him on too high of a pedestal. And this is putting him on an even HIGHER one.
Ah well. One good thing -- less 'talk' and sight of Optimus, at least early on, gives space for focus and development of all the OTHER Autobots... X3 *grins*
Well, all said and done... this looks like it'll be good. I'm hopeful. ^_^ And one very happy Transfan. XD
Okay... first off, on the inside cover, along with the credits, we've got two columns -- one for the 'bots, one for the 'cons, showing the 8 characters from each faction that're gonna be focused on (at least in the early issues). Ratchet is the only 'bot that's shown for the 'bot side -- the others, since they haven't shown up yet, are all shadow profiles. But I can make good guesses as to who the rest will all be. ^^; In order, top to bottom, it looks like the 'bots 'll be compromised of Ratchet, Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Prime.
For the 'cons, they have more characters shown in this issue: Runabout, Runamuck, Starscream and Thundercracker. Hard to tell who the others are, though, but I can make educated guesses. As we've seen him in one of the other variant covers, I'd say Soundwave is definately among that crew. Astrotrain and Blitzwing are also on another cover (and there's even a glimpse of what looks to be Blitzwing in the comic itself -- in a "grainy photo") That leaves the last to be -- of course -- Megatron.
On to the story itself. Looking very good, so far. :3 Okay, so the art style isn't as overly-detailed as Dreamwave's stuff. Fine by me. Sure, the eye candy is nice... but story/pacing/layout etc all that should come first. Good art is good art... and if it's crummy art (or if it really puts me off), I won't really read a comic... but I'm open to a LOT of different art styles, for comics. Variety is good. I've said it before, but Marvel TFs had a number of artists in their run, some of their styles VASTLY different than others... but it all worked. Cuz art and story balanced. None overrode the other -- they worked together. That's important. And IDW seems to understand this, so that's a good sign. It's nice art, but not hyper-realisitc, not overly cartoony, not bogged down in details... the art flows along with the story. Yay.
I'm liking the story, too... so far. Verity is neat. :3 Believable character so far, and interesting. :3 (her little bit with the pepper spray made me chuckle. X3) She's cool. :) Hunter looks interesting too... if in just a 'laugh at the conspiracy theorist' way at the moment. ^.^;; It'll be interesting to see how they both develop. :)
That first 2-page splash of Thundercracker attacking the van..... WOW *____* Lovely use ot size and intimidation... Nice art. Very nice.
On that, there's interviews at the back of the book, with Simon Furman and E.J. Su... Furman mentioned how they've updated a couple/most of the TFs alt. forms... and the seekers became F22s... I haven't SEEN any pics of real F22s, but they do look a lot like the good ol' F15s... so at least in plane mode, the seekers still look oh-so-familiar. :3 He said the alt. modes needed updating, but not so much to "change the basic robot mode configurations ... [they (Su + Furman) worked long] to come up with the best possible modern variation, one that's immediately identifiable as that character" So that's good. :3
Last panel -- Ratchet to the rescue! XD ... hmm... hologram human driver him... Not bad... ^^; But I'm biased towards
straya's interpretations. ^__~ *grins* Ah well.On the interviews... Lots of good-sounding things from Furman -- wanting to keep pushing himself as a writer, not fall back onto "cruise control" and what's 'safe' and 'predicatble'. Sounds like they've really put a lot of heart and thought into it, which is good.
On Prime and Megatron, in Furman's interview... he mentioned showing them in the comics in one of two ways: "Should they just be there, in the thick of things from the get-go, or should they be each faction's almost last recourse, their 'it's all gone to hell, all else has failed' option? I kind of like the latter. It immediately gave them a more mythic status. They're discussed, often in hushed whispers, but not (at least initially) seen."
This had me groaning and rolling my eyes, and face palming. Great. As if Optimus Prime wasn't elevated ENOUGH in TF mythos. -__- The "golden boy"... the mech who can do no wrong. He's ALREADY looked up to, admired, nearly WORSHIPPED by [most of] the crew enough as it is, in all previous continuties.... let's raise him up a bit more!
*gag*
Sorry... I have nothing against Optimus, really, but... ...he's just too perfect for my tastes. -.-; Sure, Furman gives him weaknesses and doubts -- the silly mech soliloquizing endlessly sometimes. c__c; But still... sheesh. That's the only kinda thing that rubs me the wrong way. Optimus already, before... was held UP, and held APART from the rest of the Autobot rank-and-file, for the most part (canonically, he had to get SMOKESCREEN to talk to the other Autobots for him, to see how they felt about things)... It impersonalizes Optimus too much. Puts him on too high of a pedestal. And this is putting him on an even HIGHER one.
Ah well. One good thing -- less 'talk' and sight of Optimus, at least early on, gives space for focus and development of all the OTHER Autobots... X3 *grins*
Well, all said and done... this looks like it'll be good. I'm hopeful. ^_^ And one very happy Transfan. XD
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Date: 2005-10-20 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-20 02:16 am (UTC)now i'm gonna have to start terrorizing comic stores here.