Wreckers TPB review

Post by **Best First** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:07 am

http://duggerton.blogspot.com/2010/09/o ... -side.html

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 2:15 pm

So I got this.

Twas excellent. Still not a big fan of the cluttered art and coloring style, but reading it in one sitting was better than over the span of five months, of course.

But what really makes this TPB worth it is the prose work at the end by Roberts. This guy can write, and write well. His work really helps flesh out the new recruits, and more than any other time since IDW got the license, the Transformers war felt galactic. It felt epic. Amazing what a few pages of good prose work can add to a comic story.

Which brings me to something I hadn't considered before. It would be so nice if, within the pages of the comic, there were a few pages of prose to sort of fill in the gaps as the issue unfolds. I think it would do wonders. Don't think this approach is used as often as it should. I think the first time I saw it was the Watchmen, but I'm hard pressed to come up with another, where the prose was in the middle of the comic or at the end of chapters, instead of at the back. In this way, it's not something ancillary or secondary, but a legitimately integral part of the overall comic reading experience.

I think this TPB will finally do justice in proving to the fans that Rochert's isn't 70% Roche and 30% James, but something a lot more even keel.

If these guys take on the ongoing, we will have a real gem.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 2:54 pm

JarJar wrote:If these guys take on the ongoing, we will have a real gem.

Everybody knows it except IDW.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:24 pm

i cant find it anywhere

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:17 pm

Found it at Books a Million.

Post by **Best First** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:17 pm

i have no doubt if these guys got on the ongoing we would have a gem.

Whether half the TF fans out there could cope with a genuinely smart take on TFs would be another matter entirely.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:19 pm

The other thing is that I get the feeling Roche doesn't want to tie himself down to Transformers.

I think he's said as much.

Roberts, on the other hand....could be the next Budiansky or Furman.

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:30 pm

Yaya wrote:Which brings me to something I hadn't considered before. It would be so nice if, within the pages of the comic, there were a few pages of prose to sort of fill in the gaps as the issue unfolds. I think it would do wonders. Don't think this approach is used as often as it should. I think the first time I saw it was the Watchmen, but I'm hard pressed to come up with another, where the prose was in the middle of the comic or at the end of chapters, instead of at the back.

My assumption is that there has been a conscious effort across the board in the comics industry to move away from the idea of an illustrated novel or short story and towards the idea of a film or TV series on paper. Like computer games, comics seem to have had trouble establishing themselves as a legitimate art form with their own language of engagement, so they ape other, more popular art forms.

This is in part what's responsible for the ongoing being so light - Costa is just one of innumerable writers who indulges heavily in establishing shots, close-ups of changing expressions and other techniques lifted from film and TV whilst very rarely employing devices unique to prose (which are designed to make the most use out of limited paper space!) It doesn't work because the rate at which people read and absorb visual information far exceeds the rate at which actors convey their lines and audiences absorb aural information, which means that a 22 page book must equate to something like ten minutes max of screen time if you insist on lining up the visuals with the dialogue in the same way.

Long story short: what you're suggesting is entirely sensible, but an industry and a world seemingly convinced that books are on their way out and TV/cinema the future of art will see it as a major step backwards.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 1:13 am

Jack Cade wrote: Long story short: what you're suggesting is entirely sensible, but an industry and a world seemingly convinced that books are on their way out and TV/cinema the future of art will see it as a major step backwards.

Then at least turn back to the comic days of yore, when descriptive boxes were at the top of panels to assist in setting the mood and tone. If you look at Marvel's Transformers #1, for example, you've got a character with a speech bubble, but then the, what do you call it, ?monologue box (the word escapes me now, help me out) is there to add some depth to what's happening.

It's killing me, what IS that dialogue box called again that we no longer see in comics?

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 4:22 am

Thought bubbles?

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 1:59 pm

Good Writing?

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 3:21 pm

Your Momma?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:49 pm

Prologue? No.. Dialogue box... no.

Sigh.

Yo Momma it is then.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:50 pm

Exposition!!!!

Phew.

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 4:30 am

Someone who actually cares?

Or knows what he is writing about?

Or knows how to write?

All of the above?!?!?

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 3:15 pm

Yaya, are you talking about inner monologue? It depends whether the narration is done by a bodiless all-seeing narrator or is intended to be one of the characters.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 4:29 pm

Jack Cade wrote:Yaya, are you talking about inner monologue? It depends whether the narration is done by a bodiless all-seeing narrator or is intended to be one of the characters.

No, inner monologue is done quite often. And when it's done well, adds a lot.

But what I'm talking about is some bodiless all-seeing narrator type, yes. Someone who imparts what or how a character is feeling and why. Essentially, filling in that which the art and dialogue cannot.

Yes, it's quite retro. Yes, if not done well, it could make the comic a disaster, taking us back to the 'dark ages' of comic book history, thereby speaking down to the reader.

But I think there may be a place for it, having read Bullets. I really think there's a way to incorporate descriptive exposition into the body of a comic and enhance the experience.

If that is too much a risk, then perhaps a bodiless narrator whom is revealed to be a character at the end of the story, a historian type.

The discussion is almost moot, though. Why? Because the days of comic book storytelling as we know them are numbered. Web-based interactive comics, with sound effects and limited animation, are likely the wave of the future.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:29 pm

It's DreamWave's kind of exposition, you're really missing, isn't it?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:49 am

I don't recall DW having narrator's POV exposition.

Thinking more of the Marvel days actually.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:40 am

Yaya wrote:I don't recall DW having narrator's POV exposition.

DW compensated for that by having Shockwave pop up every so often to fill us in on what had been happening

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:23 pm

Yaya wrote: The discussion is almost moot, though. Why? Because the days of comic book storytelling as we know them are numbered. Web-based interactive comics, with sound effects and limited animation, are likely the wave of the future.

You mean something like The Engine?

How's that coming along, lately?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:49 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:
Yaya wrote:I don't recall DW having narrator's POV exposition.
DW compensated for that by having Shockwave pop up every so often to fill us in on what had been happening

Which would be DreamWave's kind of exposition.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:57 pm

Hey, don't blame DW.

If I'm going to have a bedtime story read to me, I'd choose Uncle Shockers too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 3:31 pm

Haha!

Gives me an idea for a new childrens' storytime programme (e.g. Jackanory, The Storyteller, etc.):

Uncle Shockers sits in his fireside comfy chair, replete with pipe & slippers.
Greets the kiddies then proceeds to tell a fairy story about 'Heroic Autobots' and 'Evil Decepticons.'
Ends with a smile, a wink, a 'Goodnight Children Everywhere', and disappears down a hole.
Every week.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:37 pm

Ends with a smile, a wink, a 'Goodnight Children Everywhere', flips a switch killing children everywhere and disappears down a hole.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:14 pm

Best First wrote:Ends with a smile, a wink, a 'Goodnight Children Everywhere', flips a switch killing children everywhere and disappears down a hole.

Every week.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 9:45 pm

Can it be called a "wink" if he has but one eye?

For surely, a winking eye is but possible only when compared with the status of the fellow open eye.

Nay! Tis but a blink, and nothing more!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 12:50 am

Apparently, the difference between winking and blinking is mainly to do with intent, so if Uncle Shockers wants to wink at the camera, who are we to call it a blink.

And just to put us back on topic, I thought Bullets was an interesting addition, kinda like the UK annual text stories were, but more closely tied to the stories it fleshes out.

Fisitronisms. Heh.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:16 am

Uncle Shockers sounds like someone you dont leave your daughter with.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:44 am

Don't start calling people nonces again! It ends in... publicity.