Spotlight Doubledealer Review

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:54 pm

Poor, poor Simon.

Here is when you know the guy was pulling his hair out (if he had any) after having to suffer wrapping up a two year arc in four issues.

Speeding up the pace worked great the last two issues.

Here, we just get a jumbled manic mess, a mad dash to tie up loose threads any way we can, ala Transformers Marvel #80.

But you know what? It would still have been rather good had the art not been some of the worst I've seen since Megatron:Origins. Khanna only adds to the 'jumbleness', if that's even a word.

This story is also full of plot devices. The Magnificence is a glorified Bat-computer (you know, the one from the 70's Batman show that spit out the answer to every conceivable question). Who knows what the hell The Darkness is? Oh, and throw the Matrix in their too! Here comes Bludgeon, as if there weren't enough bots running around as it is.

Jumble, jumble, jumble.

Ah well, it was expected, wasn't it?

Take nothing away from Simon, the guy is performing brain surgery with a toothpick here. And actually pulling it off, for the most part.

Again, had Nick or Guido or Don pencilled this, I guarantee that, despite the manic pitch of this issue, it would have been a pretty good comic. It's just that the characters, like Nemesis Prime, looked so very stumpy and silly drawn as they were.

Give it a "C+". Feeling the pinch here as we wind down at a manic pace.

Despite that, kudos to Simon again, for working magic here without so much as a wand or rabbit.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:36 am

I think the thing that bothers me most about what's going on is the fact that all of the major bigwigs of Transformers lore are crammed into this tale as puppets and pawns with no chance for real characterization.

I mean, if you want to use Straxus or Sixshot or Thunderwing, why just have them all in there for us to just look at and say "Oh look, there's such and such".

I mean, they say hardly a word, carrying out menial tasks like digging Energon holes and guarding caves.

Again, I think this is a result of Simon being forced to wrap this up. I bet my bottom dollar if he knew it would end like this, he would have waited to use these guys in a way more befitting their status.

To be honest, I wish Straxus, Sixshot, Jhiaxus,etc. etc had been replaced by mindless generic drones of Nemesis Prime, thusly leaving these bigwigs for greater future tales down the road, a chance for them to get the attention these TF legends deserve.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:10 am

Yaya wrote:To be honest, I wish Straxus, Sixshot, Jhiaxus,etc. etc had been replaced by mindless generic drones of Nemesis Prime, thusly leaving these bigwigs for greater future tales down the road, a chance for them to get the attention these TF legends deserve.

Sixshot had his time in Devastation, Jhiaxus has gotten some attention in Spotlight: Hardhead, and we still have one issue left.

Here, we just get a jumbled manic mess, a mad dash to tie up loose threads any way we can, ala Transformers Marvel #80.

I disagree. It was paced a little fast, but I'm satisfied with how the loose threads are being wrapped up. It wasn't a jumbled manic mess.

But you know what? It would still have been rather good had the art not been some of the worst I've seen since Megatron:Origins. Khanna only adds to the 'jumbleness', if that's even a word.

I couldn't tell what was happening in M:O, but I can understand what's happening in S: DD. That alone makes the art in this issue much better than M:O's art.

Post by **snarl** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:09 pm

I thought the art was bollocks.

Tend to agree with Yaya.

It was ok.

The first thing I did after looking at the page 1 was check who did the pencils though. I really didn't like it.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:12 pm

Bloody hell, it's a bit of a rollercoaster, innit?

Just read through it quickly at work - gotta love Hot Rod, Jetfire and Prime in this issue, and while it does seem like Simon's building a League of Ultimate Transformers Supervillains, there are plenty more to choose from down the road, after all Scorponok, Megatron, Shockwave, Screamer and Soundwave are all still knocking about on Earth, in various states of repair.

Gotta wonder how the DU crew's activities are going unnoticed on Earth though. Presumably the Earthbound Decepticons must be getting a blip on their radar, if not the humans.

I have to say, I quite felt for Dealer getting wasted in his own Spotlight, but he was such a bastard he was always going to get his. Glad Hot Rod was the one to do it, too.

Shame there was no mention of Hardhead. I'd like to know what he's up to.

Khanna's art was serviceable. He's come on leaps and bounds, but I'm still not sure he's got what it takes to be one of the greats.

Who were the Autobots Nemesis offed?

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:24 pm

I felt this is the first sign of the drawbacks of making Revelation a four spotlight arc. The impact of the first exchanges between the Primes isn't as strong as it 'oght to. Nova doesn't mess about when he finally arrived at Garrus-9.

Dan Khanna's pencils tended to look squashed in the panels.

All in all, the big fight, known as Spotlight: Sideswipe is now ready.

Loved the exchanges between Hot Rod and Dealer, especially when the latter got his just deserts in the end, can you say PWNED!!1

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:43 pm

I know the next issue is going to be as crammed as this one, maybe more, but have you guys seen what E.J. has in store for us for a conclusion? It's freakin amazing.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:37 pm

Everyone's basically spot on.

A lot of stuff crammed together, but still works good, EXCEPT that yes, around page 10 or so I flipped back to see who the artist was, becasue the crappiness of the art got totally in the way of my enjoying the issue.

The Darkness, The Void, yada yada yada.

Optimus Prime and his Messiah Complexes, with the knowing everything and confronting evil and probably sacrificing himself to some extent at some point to make things right, yada yada yada then he's an Action Master. lol

stranger · Post by **stranger** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:14 am

Seconding what everyone else has said, although on the art front I don't think the colouring was helping, which was garish in places.

Also - whats with the blatant roll calling all of a sudden? Maybe this is something SF has being doing for a while and I hadn't noticed, but in this issue every conversation between the first appearance of characters was just really jarring. Red the first 4 pages and check-out the name checking action. I mean who would talk like that?

Otherwise - fairly enjoyable romp, despite being knobbled by its truncated format.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:46 pm

What the hell? This didn't come in to my LCS, and it didn't even show up on their order.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:05 am

sprunkner wrote:What the hell? This didn't come in to my LCS, and it didn't even show up on their order.

Funny, I felt the same way about AHM #2.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:31 pm

Loved the way Doubledealer got taken out. Real punch in the air moment. But Nova Prime's entrance was underwhelming - curse of the 4 issue restriction. The Magnificence was unveiled in an unexciting way - come on Khanna, this was your chance. How did Sixshot end up as guard dog?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:11 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:Who were the Autobots Nemesis offed?

I think one of them was a Rotorforce jobby.

Story deserved a better artist than Khanna. Not that he's rubbish or anything, it's just the rushed pace means a high panel/page ratio, and it doesn't have the room for him to breathe. A bit like Milne. It being his first issue for IDW doesn't help - we've not seen his takes on the character models before, so it ends up being a bit jarring. Would have preferred Musso.

Spidey wrote:How did Sixshot end up as guard dog?

Same way as Thunderwing. Got nabbed by Galvatron in part 6 of Devastation.

Also nice to have an explanation for why Galvy needed to preserve Earth - and it's great that it ties all the way back to the first Spotlight.

[EDIT] Off-hand, I think Manta Ray and Drench were the two that Nemesis Prime twatted.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:26 pm

Brendocon wrote:
Same way as Thunderwing. Got nabbed by Galvatron in part 6 of Devastation.

Ta. Knew I missed something.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:47 pm

Unlike you mate. Losing your edge?

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:18 pm

Kinda yeah.

When was Devastation? Seems a long time ago already. I've not been referring to back issues that much.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:51 pm

Devastation ended in February.

Yowsers.

Since then we've had Spotlight Mirage, which had bugger all to do with anything; Grimlock, which was setting up Maximum Dinobots; Wheelie, which was essentially standalone; and then Revelation started in June.

So we basically had about four months off from the storyline before the epic "everything hurtles together and resolves itself" stuff kicked off.

That in mind, I think a man of your stature can be forgiven forgetting one panel!

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:52 pm

I enjoyed it, but less so than the last 2 issues. It was all a bit too rushed.

It was interesting to get inside the head of Doubledealer and see that he did have some kind of connection with Hotrod. It was great when Hotrod wasted him though.

Hotrod has been a great character in the IDW-verse so far, anyone else agree? I never really cared for any of his previous incarnations.

I did find it a bit odd how at the end of Devastation, Furman made a big thing about leaving Hotrod on Earth to look for Sunstreaker, then plucks him out of his solo mission here, only for him to presumably continue looking for Streaker in Maximum Dinobots. It's a bit disjointed and I guess was never meant to go that way

Anyone else think Jetfire is gonna bite the dust in the next issue? I'm a bit worried about how they will squeeze it all in!

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:21 pm

Hound wrote: I did find it a bit odd how at the end of Devastation, Furman made a big thing about leaving Hotrod on Earth to look for Sunstreaker, then plucks him out of his solo mission here, only for him to presumably continue looking for Streaker in Maximum Dinobots. It's a bit disjointed and I guess was never meant to go that way

Odd as hell, that was. To me, it was one of the parts of the issue, the way Hot Rod, so bent on finding Sunstreaker, just ups and leaves to the planet where the Magnficense was housed.

Why not just have the thing hidden on Earth? It would not have jolted the reader out of the Hot Rod/Sunstreaker subplot so much.

I'm a bit worried about how they will squeeze it all in!

To get over your worry, I would suggest just accepting that it's not possible. I mean, it really isn't. Just try to enjoy the story knowing the limitations ahead of time.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:09 pm

Brendocon wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:Who were the Autobots Nemesis offed?
I think one of them was a Rotorforce jobby.

Yeah, Powerdive was it? I never quite got my head around that lot.
The other one looked like Stepper/Ricochet/whatever the hell is name is.

Also, who was the guy that was with Straxus? I didn't recognise his name from anywhere...

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:37 pm

Legion wrote:Also, who was the guy that was with Straxus? I didn't recognise his name from anywhere...

GRINDCORE!!

He's a made-up character.

With a name that just needs to be in allcaps.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:34 am

Brendocon wrote:Devastation ended in February.

Yowsers.

Since then we've had Spotlight Mirage, which had bugger all to do with anything; Grimlock, which was setting up Maximum Dinobots; Wheelie, which was essentially standalone; and then Revelation started in June.

So we basically had about four months off from the storyline before the epic "everything hurtles together and resolves itself" stuff kicked off.

That in mind, I think a man of your stature can be forgiven forgetting one panel!

I'm seriously thinking of switching to the trades after Revelations. I probably won't pick up another issue of AHM.

End of an era really...

Post by **Best First** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:41 am

Post by **Denyer** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:55 am

spiderfrommars wrote:I'm seriously thinking of switching to the trades after Revelations. I probably won't pick up another issue of AHM.

Count me in. AHM will doubtless make an average story in trade a year down the line... but, considering that the thing I've found most exciting so far is Casey Coller's cover for #1, another ten months of singles would probably be masochism.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:01 am

Giving it two more issues before I decide to go trade or not.

#3 and #4 are crucial to the success of this story, IMO.

The stage has been set, and the point has been made. New York is getting the **** kicked out of it. This needs no further elaboration.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:45 am

Well, this spotlight was erm fast paced - It seemed to be wanting to tie up as many loose ends in as few panels as possible per page. It felt like it needed to be stretched out over say 3 comics not 1, but oh well. I enjoyed it, the art was, ok'ish.

Does feel like things are comming to an end now, whilst being dumbed down for AHM, boo

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:56 am

Denyer wrote:
spiderfrommars wrote:I'm seriously thinking of switching to the trades after Revelations. I probably won't pick up another issue of AHM.
Count me in. AHM will doubtless make an average story in trade a year down the line... but, considering that the thing I've found most exciting so far is Casey Coller's cover for #1, another ten months of singles would probably be masochism.

Yeah, its had some gorgeous covers but thats not enough. And Guido's interiors are great. But I'll probably just be a sucker and by the AHM trades. In fact my mind is made up.

Only got issue 1 of Reign of Starscream. Again, probably trade. Skipped Transformers Animated. Am no longer the completist I was.

Big question mark over Maximum Dinobots. Again, I'm thinking just trades for all, keep it simple. We'll see.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:23 am

spiderfrommars wrote: Big question mark over Maximum Dinobots. Again, I'm thinking just trades for all, keep it simple. We'll see.

Maximum Dinobots is the only thing keeping me going to be honest...

Post by **Denyer** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:14 am

spiderfrommars wrote:Big question mark over Maximum Dinobots. Again, I'm thinking just trades for all, keep it simple. We'll see.

I'll see Furman out on this run in singles. Will probably pick up further Spotlights in that format too... especially looking forward to the Cosmos one.

Guido's welcome -- he's good enough to have a range rather than just his own way of doing things -- but the style and colour tones adopted for AHM doesn't really suit, IMO.

Max Dinos could be fun if Furman goes for something more than a chase/fight book. My enthusiasm's somewhat dampened by Spotlight: Grimlock forming the first chapter and the production job on that being terrible.

The Thirteen sounds like corporate-led faux epic wank. Hope it's not, but not encouraged by details so far.

Apparently the movie book's been good, so I may check that out in trade.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:38 pm

Denyer wrote:Max Dinos could be fun if Furman goes for something more than a chase/fight book. My enthusiasm's somewhat dampened by Spotlight: Grimlock forming the first chapter and the production job on that being terrible.

For those who haven't heard, IDW've confirmed that Spotlight Grimlock will indeed be recoloured for the TPB release.

Genuinely not sure what I think of that. Pissed off seems closest.