Possible Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning Future for TFs

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:33 pm

http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

Infestation solicit says "new TF writing mainstays Abnett & Lanning."

There are countless reasons why these guys should replace Costa, including the one reason Furman and Rocherts didn't have--their names will bring in non-TF readers.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:41 pm

i would love these guys based on their recent Marvel work - they are good at ensemble stuff, they do epic well, they can juggle light and serious and they seem to have a strong grasp on what has gone before.

Whether that last point would also apply to TFs i am not sure - may be they have followed the MU galactic stuff in particular before getting their hands on it but lets hope it is a reflection of their general form.

Plus as you say they may well bring in others.

They would bring in JaJa, but we already have him

Hope it's true. Altho at this stage i'd be pretty happy with "new TF writing mainstays Mr and Mrs Potato Head."

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:39 pm

I was really hoping Nick Roche or James Roberts were next in line. They are proven. They know Transformers.

Why have they hesitated? If the position is open, you just know IDW must have offered it to them.

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:00 pm

Best First wrote:Altho at this stage i'd be pretty happy with "new TF writing mainstays Mr and Mrs Potato Head."

I would hope that they would bring in their angry eyes, for plenty of angry eye-searing action.

Post by **snarl** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:55 pm

He's worked on TFs before hasn't he?

Marvel UK?

Sure he did...

Post by **Best First** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 2:11 pm

Yaya wrote:

Why have they hesitated? If the position is open, you just know IDW must have offered it to them.

Bluntly - no you don't.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:32 pm

Ouch.

Brutally, painfully, honest assessment.

Duly noted.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:36 pm

snarl wrote:He's worked on TFs before hasn't he?

Marvel UK?

Sure he did...

Until I wiki'd him, I had no idea he had, actually. Now I feel the need to dig out the evidence.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:05 am

Abnett is really good news - I've been reading his 40K stuff a lot lately and can't wait to see Ultramarines when it comes out. I think he's got what it takes to make Transformers great.

[edit] and yes, he's familiar with the property from the Marvel UK days

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dan_Abnett

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:13 pm

I'm a huge 40k fan and read all of Dans work, I'd love to see him onboard with TF again, so long as it doesn't take away from 40k...

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 12:12 pm

Gah, I got bought the Assault on Black Reach box set for my birthday this year (from my best mate, celebrating 20 years of us being friends after I invited him over for a game of 40K when we were 12) so I'm spending the Xmas holidays painting Orks. Of course in revenge I bought him exactly the same box set and I've just got him Astorath the Grim as a Xmas pressie.

It's very weird going back into GW after all this time.

Post by **Denyer** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:10 pm

Whilst the premise of Infestation doesn't interest, I like Abnett's mini Damnation Crusade. Unoriginal but it slots together nicely. May check the new TF mini out in trade.

Having not read any of his novels -- anyone care to recommend a starting point? Ian Watson's stuff set a high bar so I've generally avoided modern 40K fiction, but maybe it's time to give some a shot.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 10:43 am

Astorath and all the new blood angles models are amazing!
I don't play much now but u lap up the books, both codexs, art books and novels like a 40k hoover.

The novels pumped out by the black libary at the moment are 75% brillant, be it 40k or fantasy.

The Horus heresy is a fantastic read, and if u love jumping deep into the dirty darkness of the 40k universe then it's fantastic. Don't expect any happy endings, there are none...

Abnett has written a few of the HH novels, and they are considered the richer ones, Legion is an amazing reveal on the alpha legion and thier place in the heresy.

But you can't mention Dan without Reading eisenhorn, which is about a select bunch of imperial inquisitors. Epic...

My personal fav is titanicus, which focus on the priceps (pilot) of a warlord Titan. Oddly enough I love giant robots so this resonates with me.

I could go on and on... If u like space marines go with the heresy, for a different perpective check out eisenhorn and gaunts ghosts.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:20 pm

DnA coming onto TF could be a good thing indeed.

I'm a bit surprised Paul and Brendan is cautiously optimistic about it tho? I recall something like 4-5 years ago, when you were both fairly critical towards one half of the duos continued work in comics, since you disliked Dan Abnett's run on Death's Head II.

Well, that was a looong time ago. He's much better now. Ever since he started teaming up with Andy Lanning, really.

Plus, they're both proper British blokes.

ALSO: DENYER IS ALIVE?!

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:09 pm

Predabot wrote: DENYER IS ALIVE?!

working on it

targeting was a bit off.

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:08 pm

The longer they hold off from saying something official, the better it looks. You'd think Andy or Denton would be quick to scotch false rumours that undermine their current writer.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:10 pm

I think it's kind of interesting that Abnett and Lanning are always co-creating together, it seems. Even when leaving Marvel and doing work for IDW, it's both of them, like they're one person. Guess they have kind of a Rocherts thing.

It always makes me wonder if they really are both necessary, or is one guy the brains of the outfit and just carrying the other along for company. Like Costa/Gage on G.I.Joe Cobra.

Then again, I can actually see the benefit of a writing tandem. When one has an idea that's ****, the other is there to keep him in check and tell him like it is and vice versa.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:00 pm

It should perhaps be noted that DnA aren't leaving Marvel completely, they're just scaling back.

After the implosion of their Cosmic stuff they're down to one Marvel title instead of 3 - Heroes for Hire.

I'd say the failures of the Cosmic titles wasn't necessarily because of bad writing btw, more like bad art, if you ask me.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:53 am

Predabot wrote:It should perhaps be noted that DnA aren't leaving Marvel completely, they're just scaling back.

After the implosion of their Cosmic stuff they're down to one Marvel title instead of 3 - Heroes for Hire.

I'd say the failures of the Cosmic titles wasn't necessarily because of bad writing btw, more like bad art, if you ask me.

I don't know, the writing started off good with the Annihilation stuff and steadily got worse from there, to the point where I thought it was mediocre at best.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:26 pm

i'd take medicore at best right now.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Yeah. I think you're right.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:43 pm

I grabbed For All Mankind at the library my last time out.

Holy crap.

Has there ever been such a colossal misfire of a comic? I cannot imagine something so completely designed to confuse, alienate and bore a reader. The heroic Autobots stand around and gripe. Their major threat until Chapter 6 is a bunch of humans in Hulkbuster armor. The once-slick and fun drawings are a messy batch of overdone circuitry. The story revolves around a sleazy stereotyped Army officer coming to love ET.

By the end, the story had gotten slightly better, but it was based on the most horribly misunderstood notion in TF history--that the war could "end" and humans could be a credible threat, Prime as a military leader could compromise his army, and that the Autobots wouldn't act like a military unit who had fulfilled their mission.

I thought I liked Costa's writing better than AHM. I was so ******* wrong. Let it be known that Bumblemus enjoyed All Hail Megatron far more than For All Mankind. AHM was a good idea written badly. For All Mankind is a bad idea written badly and drawn badly.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 5:51 pm

bumblemusprime wrote: I thought I liked Costa's writing better than AHM. I was so ******* wrong. Let it be known that Bumblemus enjoyed All Hail Megatron far more than For All Mankind. AHM was a good idea written badly. For All Mankind is a bad idea written badly and drawn badly.

Yeah. I think you're right.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Wed Dec 08, 2010 10:08 pm

Yaya wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote: I thought I liked Costa's writing better than AHM. I was so ******* wrong. Let it be known that Bumblemus enjoyed All Hail Megatron far more than For All Mankind. AHM was a good idea written badly. For All Mankind is a bad idea written badly and drawn badly.
Yeah. I think you're right.

I think the earth just spun backward.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:23 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:
Yaya wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote: I thought I liked Costa's writing better than AHM. I was so ******* wrong. Let it be known that Bumblemus enjoyed All Hail Megatron far more than For All Mankind. AHM was a good idea written badly. For All Mankind is a bad idea written badly and drawn badly.
Yeah. I think you're right.
I think the earth just spun backward.

*Uses the Earth as a plaything, and spins it like a spinning top*

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:03 am

bumblemusprime wrote:
Yaya wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote: I thought I liked Costa's writing better than AHM. I was so ******* wrong. Let it be known that Bumblemus enjoyed All Hail Megatron far more than For All Mankind. AHM was a good idea written badly. For All Mankind is a bad idea written badly and drawn badly.
Yeah. I think you're right.
I think the earth just spun backward.

Did you flush the toilet, and the water spun round the other way?

That's one way to be sure.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:03 am

saysadie wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote:
Yaya wrote: Yeah. I think you're right.
I think the earth just spun backward.
Did you flush the toilet, and the water spun round the other way?

That's one way to be sure.

He's not certain. There's a copy of For All Mankind clogging it up at the moment.