5 page preview of IDW Transformers: Infiltration #0 up...

[KingMob]

At Newsarama.

Get readin...

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthr ... adid=41520

Zoinked from seibertron

[Shanti418]

Can't really get a bead on the series from those pages, considering the characterization of the TFs is what's going to really make or break the series.

It's like, you can't explode in a blaze of glory in five pages, but you sure can screw it up. And they did not screw it up.

Liking Su, though. Very cel shady.

[Best First]

bah, i hate previews.

actualy i hate the fact i cannot come close to stoping myself from reading them.

Looks ok. Not going to pass too much judgement on 5 pages of what in itself is an extended preview.

Liked the Onion bit. Opening page is good but slightly decompressed from there (could have nicked the bag and been off the bus 2 panels later rather than walking through every movement), but again its a teaser so i don't mind slow burn and ill wait to see how the

Art is fine, but not stunning so far, but then its a slow start. But i can tell what is going on, which after some DW stuff pleases me no end. Colouring is v nice.

edit - actually the humans are really pretty damn good on second viewing.

Had to make out the Decepticon text. I think their cake is missing though.

Can't they get Mixmaster to bake a new one?

cheers KM

[Señior's Covenant]

Way to go Mob. Still ticks me IDW doesn't release any of this or links to this on their own forums though. I couldn't read a thing until saving and magnifying the images though. Bummer there wasn't a bit of more bot action, but hey it's a preview of a preview. Still like that inside shot with the Decepticon file on that dude. Looked great.

[spiderfrommars]

I really really like the look of that. Not just the pretty art, but the way the script engages you. Compare it to the human-centric blandness of the Dreamwave G1 preview and first few issues.

Si Furman seems to have gone back more to his Marvel style. Interior monologues = better characterisation. I'm really intrigued.

[sprunkner]

Yea, I was very impressed by Furman's writing. This hooked me in the first few pages, robots or not. There were enough clues that I knew there would be giant robots by the end.

[Best First]

I really really like the look of that. Not just the pretty art, but the way the script engages you. Compare it to the human-centric blandness of the Dreamwave G1 preview and first few issues.

good point.

[Denyer]

Not sure exactly who's been given the larger preview (amongst other things, I've been out of the country for a month) but whilst the stipulation was to not share images, I don't want to throw spoilers all over the place either... Torsten's got a slightly more spoiler-y overview in his first post here:

http://tfarchive.com/community/showthre ... adid=32117

And here's mine... bear in mind this is from pre-prod material.

Inside cover:

Credits, thanks, a slightly wild blurb by Furman and a mini-gallery of mugshots, with non-revealed characters unnamed and as silhouettes only. (This should minimise the need for characters to self-introduce in a comedy Budiansky manner.) Of course, the silhouettes should be easy enough for most people to guess.

Story:

Don't want to give too much away, but the simple fact this is a preview needing to be non-crucial to the rest of the series should clue you in that it isn't an introduce-everyone-and-their-dog-fest. We do get a decent intro to Verity though, the first five pages of which everyone will have seen here. It continues with another couple of pages of banter between her and Hunter, fleshing him out as a bit of a conspiracy theorist.

The dialogue's of a type that holds a shade more meaning for older readers without making anything inappropriate for kids—hopefully it'll set a trend for credible human characters, which have been rare in past TF fiction. And when the bad guys come for the computer Verity has stolen, the threat isn't underplayed; there's intent to kill shown. The strip ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (I'll be interested to see how that seques into #1) and an echo of a Terminator quote.

So far so good, and there's a decent amount packed into a few pages...

Extras:

...plus there's a range of other bits and pieces to round out the comic, including a splash ad for #1 featuring a Ratchet robot mode re-design, intro blurb from Chris Ryall, a Furman interview, some E J Su technical diagrams of robot joints / brief interview snippets, and some further ads. The interviews and introductions give exposition of some of the design and writing decisions IDW have been making, generally managing to avoid reading like filler—much won't be new to those who've been keeping up with things online, but should answer questions the casual older buyer may have (i.e. we could avoid a bit of the "why duzznt this follow [insert previous continuity]?!!!11!!" deluge that happened with Dreamwave.)

I'm very glad to hear reiteration that this won't be laid out as a retelling of old material—if I wanted that, I'd just read reprints. Battlechargers being in the initial Decepticon lineup are a nice corroboration of this; introducing characters in particular groups and in particular order would suck, in my not-so-humble opinion. I'm fervently hoping that we never see a Transformers: the Movie analogue in IDW continuity, nor any sign of Unicron and other clichés that've had every last drop of life pounded from them.

Strip art:

Not many glimpses of Transformers yet, so it's a bit early to be passing judgement. I'm not keen on some of the colouring, which in places is very stark and lacking in subtlety, in sharp contrast to a much nicer two-page spread of the camper van being overshadowed by a jet—it looks as if a different colourist did that. Here's hoping the less-saturated approach will be taken with the main series, as I'd hate for the art as a whole to be criticised because of the colouring job.

Summary:

I've pre-ordered mine from oneshallstand.com, and will be doing the same for the series once there's opportunity to do so.

[No, I'm not in league with Steve Bax. I've just had good service from him in the past.]

[Predabot]

Coloring good.

Don't like the way the humans are drawn.

I've got nothing else of any mentionable substance at the moment. Let's see when it acctually comes out.

[Best First]

I'm not in league with Steve Bat either, but i echo Denyer's sentiments.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

I like some of the colouring - the shot of megatrons jaw looks nicely rendered. and some of the other bits of decepticon tech look cool.

Other parts seem to contrasted and saturated like Denyer said, and im yet to know if thats going to bother me.

But otherwise I quite like it.