Stormbringer #1 (SPOLIERS)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:55 pm

Simon.

That was good. Damn good.

I was strong enough to resist reading the previews and blurbs on this sucker for a few months now, and I'm glad I did, because I thoroughly enjoyed this issue having not had prior knowledge of what it was about and who was in it.

Where to begin with the pleasant surprises here?

How about the cast? We have Jetfire and the Technobots bent on uncovering the source of mysterious energy signals emanating from a supposedly dead Cybertron. Very good character choice for such an expedition and I actually understood for once Simon's techno mumbo jumbo. Hell, we even had a Throttlebot in this one. You just have to pleased when you see a Throttlebot because you know an effort is being made to branch away from the standard cast, and in my book, that's always a good thing. Its nice to see a threat to Prime and Megs other than each other again too.

The dialogue? Yeah, its Furmanesque, but thankfully there were no unnecessary grunting noises and "Oh"s. The way the dialogue from the flashbacks flowed into the scenes of current events and then back to flashbacks was beautifully done.

The story? Very intriguing and darkly mysterious. I was hooked from the first few pages. Really, its the mystery aspect of this story that has me drooling for the next issue. I particularly enjoyed seeing the search team downed (but out?) by issues end, as this was unexpected.

I have not been this much pleased with a Furman work since his run on G2 at Marvel. And I haven't enjoyed a TF comic this much since DW's ongoing was cancelled. I called Simon "washed up" a while back, but if he can continue to hit home by series end, an apology from myself will definitely be in order.

The art? Hey. It's Don. Nuff said.

A solid "A" comic that will have TF fans raving.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:08 am

*climbs aboard bandwagon*

This issue ROCKED!!!!!!

This is the kind of pacing I've been waiting for. This is how you have Megs and Prime in the book, but don't have them overtaking the cast.

There's intrigue. There's kick ass art from start to finish. There are Transformers really getting knocked out of action. The whole vibe with Jetfire and the crew going to Cybertron felt straight out of Aliens for me.

BUY THIS BOOK. Like Yaya said, best Furman since G2.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:37 am

Lovely stuff. The cast is stellar - Pincher! Omega Supreme! Blaster! Carnivac! Searchlight! - the writing is top notch and the art and colouring **** all over Infiltration from a very high place.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:43 am

I thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps not as much as others, but it certainly was good. At any rate I have high hopes for this series.

First and foremost it was very well executed. A wonderfully dark, menacing, "clinical" tale, enhanced by some pretty nifty artwork; the emotions of the characters were remarkably conveyed while the setting personified the mood of the piece. It covered a broad range of ideas and styles. Furthermore the pacing was spot on.

I really enjoyed the Prime/Meg scene; a nice little touch but if that's the Matrix...

Prime came across as a believable, militaristic commander. The situation on earth didn't prompt him to say something on the lines of "I must protect the rights of all sentient beings- evil will not prevail”. It was certainly refreshing to see a non- boy scout, "Peter Perfect" Prime. He's got his troubles{Don't we all}, mental anguish, doubts etc but doesn’t go all Rodimus on us.

The actual layout of the piece was extremely well thought out. The contrast of the diverse flashbacks, Technobot and Prime scenes adds to the story and giving the “content” a more sprawling, widespread, feel as opposed to the more straight down the line “Infiltration”

The big action sequence, despite being somewhat of a cliché, was also excellently delivered; very exhilarating and quite cinematic ala Infiltration.

In terms of Transformers “Stormbringer” seemed to be slightly text heavy. That may put some readers off but I for one, welcome it. The Sci-fi “mumbo jumbo” was convincing and handled appropriately, never really going overboard.

More importantly the world of the Transformers was very much believable. The scene in which the scientists came together (Albeit in holographic form) to discuss Thunderwing’s findings, regardless of their respective faction, is a prime example of this. I’m glad to see a somewhat more diplomatic, sensible approach.

The story and artwork was slightly let down by some dodgy dialogue. The OTT dialogue is very Simon’s style. It’s what I’ve come to expect and for the most part suits the world of Transformers. No problems there. The sheer dramatic delivery is what enables Simon to incorporate those superb and furthermore memorable OTT lines which we all remember. (Re: Megs’ speech in Infiltration #6)

However some of the dialogue seemed very poor indeed; at times it was almost harking back to the “Indeed Scattershot, leader of the Autobot group know as the Technobots” Marvel days. Having said that there were some nice pieces of dialogue. As I said before, the “scientific mumbo jumbo” was handled rather well. The ending was grim, intriguing and somewhat thrilling. The best “big reveal” ending so far.

And now for the little things that brought a smile to my face:

Searchlight wasn’t roped in with the rest of the Throttlebots and moreover treated as an individual.

Pincher! I really didn’t expect my favourite scorpion to be it (Yeah that includes Scorponok)

Omega didn’t receive the DW “super size” treatment

And now for the nitpicks:

The Matrix (Which could be more than a little “niggle” depending on how Simon utilises it and how he portrays it...)

“Slag this, slag that…”

Overall it was great opening issue; it introduced us to the series, giving us a fair amount of background but withholding enough to keep the interest up. That aside, it was fine issue in it’s own right though I still think the TPB will be the more favourable format.

Corking stuff…

Post by **snarl** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:32 pm

Yeah, that was kwalitee

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:06 pm

I just wrote up a lotger review over at IDW but it was mostly squeeing so I'll just repost this here:

Thunderwing, Jetfire, the Technobots, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Searchlight, Blaster, Bluestreak, Soundwave, Perceptor, Omega Supreme, Pointblank, Downshift, Dogfight, Siren, Gunrunner, Pincher, Carnivac, Bludgeon, Finback, Bomb-burst and Bugly

Now there's a couple of background bots I've not got yet...the little dude with the wheels on his shoulders next to Gunrunner and the blue and red Autobot on the far right, and from the Decepticon pretenders, I'm having trouble matching some of those on the back page with those on the back cover - is the horned guy Skullgrin? Anyone wanna help ID them?

[edit] Should also mention Simon revealed the other two floating heads are Mixmaster and Swerve, who are both also scientists

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:37 pm

Red Autobot near Downshift-----> Overdrive

Little guy---> Beachcomber (But I could be wrong)
Skullgrin----->

----->Oh and Trypticon (Same page as Omega)

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:44 pm

Aardvark wrote:Red Autobot near Downshift-----> Overdrive

Are you sure? Looks like Pointblank to me, but I could be wrong. It's the guy on the right in blue and red I've having trouble IDing. Looks like Perceptor, I think, but his colours are reversed.

Aardvark wrote:Little guy---> Beachcomber (But I could be wrong)

Works for me

Aardvark wrote:Skullgrin----->
----->Oh and Trypticon (Same page as Omega)

Gah, how did I miss that?!?

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:52 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:
Aardvark wrote:Red Autobot near Downshift-----> Overdrive
Are you sure? Looks like Pointblank to me, but I could be wrong. It's the guy on the right in blue and red I've having trouble IDing. Looks like Perceptor, I think, but his colours are reversed.

--->Crosshairs.

I'm pretty sure that's Overdrive; same colour and shape, plus he's with his fellow Omnibot Downshift

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 3:10 pm

You lucky basts...

This issue hasn't become available to me yet! >_<

I'm glad to hear that it appears to be one awesome ride.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:55 pm

Aardvark wrote:I'm pretty sure that's Overdrive; same colour and shape, plus he's with his fellow Omnibot Downshift

Hmmm...I'm not 100% either way - the blue on his legs is very Pointblank, but the grey "wings" suggest Overdrive. The fact that he's barely an inch tall doesn't help, but he does seem to be a bit taller than Downshift, which is why I didn't think he was an Omnibot.

Post by **Best First** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:15 am

that was great.

especially the bit where the technobots get mashed up.

much brisker pace than Infiltraton.

this already feels like its going to have significant ramifications and leave a few bodies along the way.

roll on the next issue.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:03 pm

I.. I.. I can't find anything to complain about!

It's all there! All you need for some good ol' giant robots fighting!

Cheers to the lads over at IDW, this story might just be what will put the Transformers back in the comic-limelight.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:53 pm

And hopefully continue to add to the across the board artistic cred Don rightly deserves.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:46 am

I'll tell you where Simon needs to be careful in this series.

He has a tendency to do two things which, for me, threaten a good story.

1. He goes too epic too fast. His storylines of late have encompassed Cybertron-shattering events that effect all bots on a grand scale. For example, his War Within series always included themes that affected the entire TF race with Cybertron going through "second-skin healing processes" and the such. This is good once in a while, but he needs to take the focus back to individual character development and individual character interaction because ultimately, though the overall premise may be cool, the story ends up being stale if there is no character-driven focus.

2. He gets too mystical or spiritual. In other words, he forgets we are not dealing with fleshy creatures with religious inclinations or archaic sorcery, but with metallic, mechanic beings of a scientific nature.

This first issue, he steered clear of these things. For example, though Cybertron was a focus, the story focused even more on Jetfire and his crew and their individual personalities and how they were dealing with their newfound discovery. Secondly, though the Pretenders arrival seemed much akin to the arrival of ghostly spirits from another realm, he brought it back to a scientific level by having Jetfire exclaim that it was some sort of advanced warping armor being used. See? Scientific. With that one line, he grounded things for me, and I needed that.

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:03 am

Yaya wrote:2. He gets too mystical or spiritual. In other words, he forgets we are not dealing with fleshy creatures with religious inclinations or archaic sorcery, but with metallic, mechanic beings of a scientific nature.

Secondly, though the Pretenders arrival seemed much akin to the arrival of ghostly spirits from another realm, he brought it back to a scientific level by having Jetfire exclaim that it was some sort of advanced warping armor being used. See? Scientific. With that one line, he grounded things for me, and I needed that.

Just curious as to asking if you would personally prefer this to be a 'serious' division? Fictional sentient creatures not, uh, squishy, should not be in stories that feature sorcery, mythologising or religious trappings/commentary?

As your point about the Pretenders appearing as ghosts/wraiths and Jetfire analysing it and coming up with a scientific explanation I took to be more a characterisation moment for Jetfire than an authorial commentary on that sort of division. Seems having a combination of the factors then makes for a better story, re this Jetfire moment? And the atmosphere of Stormbringer as a whole?

Yeah, really like this issue along with most everyone else.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:37 am

Given that transformes are sentient i think the notion that there shouldn't be some aspect of myth or spirituality to be a totally false and with no real basis.

you can't say - "it needs to be more charachter focused" and then say "but they should be logical because they are robots" - if they are all logical then there is no character to focus on.

Basically its that spech that Scoprs gives Shockwave whilst smacking him in the face. yay.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:16 pm

I like the quasi-religious trappings to some Transformer stories, because like gods, Transformers are fictional. It helps keep everything in perspective.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:17 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:I like the quasi-religious trappings to some Transformer stories, because like gods, Transformers are fictional. It helps keep everything in perspective.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:06 pm

Best First wrote:Given that transformes are sentient i think the notion that there shouldn't be some aspect of myth or spirituality to be a totally false and with no real basis.

you can't say - "it needs to be more charachter focused" and then say "but they should be logical because they are robots" - if they are all logical then there is no character to focus on.

Basically its that spech that Scoprs gives Shockwave whilst smacking him in the face.

Yes, it makes sense that if Transformers are of a sentient nature, that there would be some inclination towards spirituality or a thought process that does not have a mathematical basis.

But my personal preference is to maintain those things that help distinguish the Transformers from say, the X-men. Namely, their mechanical natures.

It's a tough task to balance both of these, and sometimes I feel Simon goes overly spiritual which belies the Transformers mechanical essence.

I guess its just a matter of preference. Both ways make sense. They are sentient computers, which is kind of an oxymoron.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:18 pm

Yaya wrote:
Best First wrote:Given that transformes are sentient i think the notion that there shouldn't be some aspect of myth or spirituality to be a totally false and with no real basis.

you can't say - "it needs to be more charachter focused" and then say "but they should be logical because they are robots" - if they are all logical then there is no character to focus on.

Basically its that spech that Scoprs gives Shockwave whilst smacking him in the face.
Yes, it makes sense that if Transformers are of a sentient nature, that there would be some inclination towards spirituality or a thought process that does not have a mathematical basis.

But my personal preference is to maintain those things that help distinguish the Transformers from say, the X-men. Namely, their mechanical natures.

It's a tough task to balance both of these, and sometimes I feel Simon goes overly spiritual which belies the Transformers mechanical essence.

I guess its just a matter of preference. Both ways make sense. They are sentient computers, which is kind of an oxymoron.

no it isn't - all brains are essentially sentient computers.

so to suggest that because they are mechanical they must be logical or even more inclined towards logic, is, as stated a false leap.

the fact they turn into cars and stuff and live in space is what distiguishes then, what you are asking for is a false division based on your personal perferences.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:54 pm

TF spirituality is actually based on 'facts' too...

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:04 pm

I look at it like Tolkien and the Fighting Fantasy books (and loads of other fantasy/sci-fi) where the protagonists have origin stories and gods and all that, but of course within their fictional universe all those gods are real and their effects can be seen in the everyday world. In Transformers, there's no denying that Primus is real because he blatantly is. Even though Bludgeon quibbled over interpretation, he couldn't deny that Primus existed because he'd seen him. And the spiritual element was there from the start, with the Matrix and its mysterious power to grant new life. It's not a big issue at all for me, in fact I think it adds depth to the stories.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:12 pm

Amazingly If you compare a comic book and the bible they both contain as much reality as each other - niether can be proved except the TF story is more belivable.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:09 pm

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:Amazingly If you compare a comic book and the bible they both contain as much reality as each other - niether can be proved except the TF story is more belivable.

Here we go.

We are the only group I know of that can talk about something like lawn fertilizer and end up debating the existence of God.

Yaya

my personal preference is to maintain those things that help distinguish the Transformers

Best First

what you are asking for is a false division based on your personal perferences.

Polly want a cracker?

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:56 pm

Sad to say, but I must agree with Yaya, why does every damn thread have to end up about religion in some way?

On another note: If one combines the Multiversal Theory level 4 - Other Mathematical structures of laws of physics with Level 3 - the many worlds of Quantum Physics one can easily come to the old conclusion that any event or level of existance that we humans can hyphothesize is possible and has already happened, wich ultimately means that....

The Transformers are somehow real, somewhere somehow, and extra-dimensional energy-beings of Primus calibre, and higher, is theoretically possible.

On topic again: What do you guys figure happened with Thunderwing when they blew up several square-blocks of the ground where he was standing? Apparently he fell down a hole, but if his ultra pretender-shell could protect him from that immense barrage, then why is he seemingly deactivated?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:13 pm

Predabot wrote:Sad to say, but I must agree with Yaya

Sad. Terribly sad. God forbid somebody agree with Yaya.

On topic again: What do you guys figure happened with Thunderwing when they blew up several square-blocks of the ground where he was standing? Apparently he fell down a hole, but if his ultra pretender-shell could protect him from that immense barrage, then why is he seemingly deactivated?

At first, I thought that first page was dialogue from Thunderwing. Still not sure, but given the red outline on the dialogue box of Prime, and given my need to consult a dictionary to understand it, I would have to venture that those are the words of Optimus, no?

Post by **Best First** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:06 pm

Yaya wrote:
Yaya
my personal preference is to maintain those things that help distinguish the Transformers
Best First
what you are asking for is a false division based on your personal perferences.
Polly want a cracker?

slowpoke want to miss the point?

- yes you state it is your personal preferenace but you still insisted that the fact they are mechanical in some way suggests a tendnacy toward less spiriuality which, and would act as something that would keep TFs mechanical nature distinct, soemthing that in fact has no rational basis.

do you see?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:27 pm

Best First wrote:
Yaya wrote:
Yaya
my personal preference is to maintain those things that help distinguish the Transformers
Best First
what you are asking for is a false division based on your personal perferences.
Polly want a cracker?
slowpoke want to miss the point?

- yes you state it is your personal preferenace but you still insisted that the fact they are mechanical in some way suggests a tendnacy toward less spiriuality which, and would act as something that would keep TFs mechanical nature distinct, soemthing that in fact has no rational basis.

do you see?

If it's so rational, point me in the direction of such a spiritual computer. As far as I know, we don't have any Apple's or IBM's going around saying "I know now why you cry, but it is someting I can nevah doooo!!!".

Post by **Kaylee** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:32 pm

I fink besty's point is they're giant fictional aliens and just because they're robots, and the robots we've made on Earth don't do much more than sort frisbees and kill people for the insurance money, doesn't mean they would be less inclined to the idea of a God than we might be necessarily, especially given the number of other human traits they carry (mass murder and a tendancy for witty one-liners)