IDW Comics Marathon

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:43 am

Issue 9 begins International Incident:

This isn't (just) a complaint about this issue, but of comic books in general. After a major, almost literally EARTH SHATTERING event, you can't just go back to the real world status quo. "The North has invaded South Korea." Really? After a year-long reaming by the Decepticons, there's still a North Korea? The South didn't just walk in there with two kids and a dog to put an end to that crap? China didn't just claim it?

Also: They rebuilt the world in two years? THE WORLD?!? It's been a decade and there's still a big empty spot in NYC. It's been half a decade and New Orleans still has thousands of people living in trailers. We're predicting three years to clean up Northern Japan after an Earthquake. Haiti is STILL waiting on those relief supplies. But they rebuilt THE WORLD in two years and, somehow, wound up putting back together EXACTLY THE SAME WAY IT WAS?!?!?!

I suspect I'm going to have some issues when Dark of the Moon comes out, by the way.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:59 am

Professor Smooth wrote:Also: They rebuilt the world in two years? THE WORLD?!? It's been a decade and there's still a big empty spot in NYC. It's been half a decade and New Orleans still has thousands of people living in trailers. We're predicting three years to clean up Northern Japan after an Earthquake. Haiti is STILL waiting on those relief supplies. But they rebuilt THE WORLD in two years and, somehow, wound up putting back together EXACTLY THE SAME WAY IT WAS?!?!?!

Actually, for a more analogous outburst, It's been nearly SIXTY YEARS since World War II, and they haven't completely finished rebuilding.

I suspect I'm going to have some issues when Dark of the Moon comes out, by the way.

I suspect you've already got issues. Nyuk, nyuk.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Tue May 17, 2011 6:54 pm

I eagerly await the issue where Prime wakes up, Magnus steps out of the shower, and he realises everything from AHM onwards WAS ALL JUST A DREAM...

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Wed May 18, 2011 1:40 am

Sunyavadin wrote:I eagerly await the issue where Prime wakes up, Magnus steps out of the shower, and he realises everything from AHM onwards WAS ALL JUST A DREAM...

And he spins a top--and does it stop spinning?

They were the dream.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:20 am

I didn't hate international incident. I did think it was kind of silly that they had to basically fight the Combaticons while in vehicle mode. Ok, I thought that was really silly. I also think it's kind of silly that Bumblebee is still the leader when, you know, Optimus Prime is in the next room.

But it was a cute little TF story. And I do mean "little." The entire series takes about 15 minutes to read. I dig Guido's art as much as ever. By the end of the series, he seems to have gone back to his G1-inspired style, all-but leaving the half-movie-ish stuff behind.

Oh, and then some dude apparently murders Bumblebee. Looking forward to seeing how that pans out next issue.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:21 am

Professor Smooth wrote:
Oh, and then some dude apparently murders Bumblebee. Looking forward to seeing how that pans out next issue.

****!!!!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:24 am

Did...

Did Mike Costa actually steal one of the worst bits from the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? (Remind me that there were three more words in that title at your peril) Did Mike Costa actually come out of that movie thinking, "man, that was great! I'm gonna pay homage to that!" really?

What. The. ****. Man?

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:26 am

And the worst part? I totally saw it coming. I was like, "he really went into detail about how sturdy that man-sized safe is. I'll bet that'll be important. Wait a second. He's not gonna... No way. Maybe he didn't... He did...

MUST RAGE ON MESSAGE BOARD!!!

*type type type*

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:28 am

Urgh! Now he's ripping off Back to the Future: Part 3!?!? And I'm POSITIVE that's what he was aping. Not the original Clint Eastwood pic. PO-SI-TIVE.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:32 am

As much as I'd like to rag on Mr. Costa for ripping of Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, I doubt that was intentional.

I WILL, however, rag on him for NOT doing the obvious TFTM homage when Hot Rod says, "Destiny. You can't DENY destin..." rather than "You can't DESTROY destin..." Seemed like such an easy thing to do.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2011 7:19 am

Everything's going pretty well...then Jazz just flat out kills a cop. FFS.

Post by **Best First** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:08 am

What kills me is that some people think this is in character

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Wed May 18, 2011 2:56 pm

SPECIAL OPS, DUDE!

Blech.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Wed May 18, 2011 8:58 pm

The more I hear about what I've been missing since I cancelled my order... The more I am convinced that Americans can't be trusted with ANYTHING.

Sorry to anyone from across the pond reading this. PROVE ME WRONG.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Wed May 18, 2011 9:04 pm

Sunyavadin wrote:The more I hear about what I've been missing since I cancelled my order... The more I am convinced that Americans can't be trusted with ANYTHING.

Sorry to anyone from across the pond reading this. PROVE ME WRONG.

My orchid just died, but my kids haven't... yet.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Thu May 19, 2011 10:04 am

bumblemusprime wrote: My orchid just died, but my kids haven't... yet.

TBH, British parents can't be trusted with kids. We're always leaving them in places like Portugal, and losing track of them...

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:59 pm

Sunyavadin wrote:We're always leaving them in places like Portugal,

That wasn't their fault - they're middle class. If they had been poor it would have been a whole different thing.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:22 pm

How many issues in IDW's Infiltration/AHM/Ongoing continuity have been released so far?

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu May 19, 2011 9:40 pm

Well, after issue 31 of the ongoing, they're jumping to 125, so 19 is sort of equal to 112.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:15 am

spiderfrommars wrote:How many issues in IDW's Infiltration/AHM/Ongoing continuity have been released so far?

To answer your question in order:

Not Enough/Too Many/I GOUGED OUT MY EYEBALLS AFTER READING THE FIRST STORY SO CANNOT KEEP TRACK ANY MORE

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 29, 2011 3:00 am

I just blew through the 4 issue Ironhide mini-series. I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about it. Art? Spot on. Story? Great and necessary. Dialog? Oh, man! Hilarious! From "I honestly do not give a single ****" Ironhide to "Ego-maniac" Alpha Trion, it was just a blast to read.

Highly recommended. Great story that's the right kind of laugh out loud hilarious at times. Five stars. A+. Two thumbs up.

Post by **Best First** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:01 am

pacing was a bag of sh*t if you want something to complain about.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:31 am

Best First wrote:pacing was a bag of sh*t if you want something to complain about.

I don't, but how so?

Post by **Best First** » Sun May 29, 2011 1:29 pm

first two issues are pretty much padding in my view, not un-nice to look at, but padding nontheless

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon May 30, 2011 12:56 am

It wasn't a bad story at all. I would be less hard on it if it wasn't for context--for starters, the long, looooong interviews and justifications and talk about how killing Ironhide was a major move, the fact that it replaced Spotlights and probably could have been done in a Spotlight, and the fact that it was a second monthly dose of Costa.

All that aside, it was better than the ongoing, and Casey's art was superlative. I would buy the ongoing every month if Casey were on it.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 30, 2011 1:28 am

I just read the Drift miniseries and will commence talking about it.

On its surface, it's not a bad premise. A down-on-his luck Cybertronian finds that he's adept at violence, gets recruited by Megatron, tries to seize power from his unit commander, winds up in a hidden city full of peace-loving Cybertronians, and discovers a better way to to fight for the cause he believes in.

It's such an absolute shame that the nice, simple premise had to be turned into the story contained in this mini-series.

The down-on-his luck Cybertronian who gets taken in by Megatron thing is pretty cool. It kind of ties in to Megatron: Origin (a series that is so universally reviled that it's been all-but banished from continuity), so at least there's some precedent.

Turning him into an unrepresented instrument of ultra-violence, however...
There comes a point when a character is beyond redemption. There are things that can be done that we, as readers, simply won't get in line to forgive. Kind of like when Darth Vader made that little stop-off to kill off every child in a nursery. Drift got exiled from THE DECEPTICONS for being TOO VIOLENT and bloodthirsty. And he never paid for those crimes. He just had a "revelation" and started thinking about joining the Autobots. It doesn't work that way. You don't get to commit murder and war-crimes, apologize (sort of) and then join up with the other team.

It was nice to see a bunch of Zone Transformers in the Crystal City. So powerful is their message of peace that, after a few weeks, the EXILED FOR WANTON BLOODSHED AND VIOLENCE Decepticon has been convinced of the error of his ways. Really? That's all it takes to get a lock-step Decepticon to switch sides? Be nice to them for a couple weeks? We readers have been following the ongoing Autobot/Decepticon war for decades. The war itself has been raging for MILLIONS OF YEARS and a few weeks of "there's a better way, you know" is enough to pacify Deadlock?

That whole idea is made even more laughable when the ENTIRE POPULATION OF CRYSTAL CITY shows up at the end of the series to MASSACRE a bunch of people (who, admittedly deserve it.)

So, let me see if I've got this straight.

Deadlock: Aaaarrgghhh! KILL! KILL! KILL!
Decepticon: You shouldn't kill so much.
Deadlock: KILL! KILL! KILL YOU! Aaaarrgggh!!!
Decepticon leader guy: You are TOO HARDCORE! You are banished!
Deadlock: Gotta get back! Gotta kill!
Ninja: Fighting is bad. Peace is good. Lets go fight these guys!
Deadlock: Aaaarghh! KILL! KILL! Oh, no! I'm getting killed!
Ninja: LOL! I'm a Cybertronian. And we fixed you.
Deadlock: I'm...Drift. But you are all not so Hardcore enough!
Ninja: Peace is important. I'm going to show you how to fight now.
Drift: Peace and sword fighting are great! We should all be peaceful.
Dai (freaking) Atlas: You are not peaceful! GTFO!
Drift: A bunch of people are coming to kill you all.
Dai Atlas: No! We are peaceful! We will not fight! Peace!
Drift: Very well, then I, reluctantly, will fight. But I like peace.
Ninja guy: I'm dead now.
Dai Atlas: GET ALL OUR GUNS AND KILL EVERYBODY!!! RAAARGHHH!!!
Everybody: Damn. We're dead. Dai Atlas and his guns killed us.
Dai Atlas: We will spread our message of peace! With guns!
Drift: I, too, will spread the message peace. Without guns.
Dai Atlas: Take this giant sword.
Drift: I will use this giant sword to spread the message of peace.
And it ends with, no joke, Drift drift-racing up the size of a mountain in Japan.

The message of the book is something like: Being a Decepticon is bad. But the Autobots aren't right, either. Because war is bad. And you can be forgiven for evil acts. Peace isn't always the right answer. And you can use (hyper) violence when necessary. Especially when slavery is involved. And drift-racing is a good way to, I don't know, clear your head?

Alex Milne handles the art on this series. It's better than what we got in Megatron: Origin, but while Milne does have some really great, and powerful robot art, it's simply not good comic book art. It doesn't flow. I often have to look at panels over and over again to figure out what is going on. I honestly don't see how he keeps getting assigned to draw TF comics. Is it just that they've got his phone number already? I'll buy posters, prints, and covers of his all the live-long-day, but reading his comic books is like trying to get a story in Rubic's Cube form.

You know the one little thing that bugs me the most about Drift? After the second half of All Hail Megatron, a Spotlight, and a bi-weekly 4-issue miniseries, we're still left with the unmistakable knowledge that Drift has done absolutely ****-all in regards to IDW's TF storyline.

Aside from showing up, "acting all Japanese and awesome" and slicing stuff, he's contributed nothing. All this time (and money) spent on Drift and he hasn't contributed a single goddamn thing to the story. He gets FIVE ISSUES of backstory that don't do a thing for any characters EXCEPT DRIFT. He is the most defining traits of Blurr, Sunstreaker, Beachcomber, Dinobot, and Octane combined into an over-long cliche.

Drift's entire history, from 2007 until present has been to say LOOK HOW COOL DRIFT IS...and we don't. None of us do. When I go to a Toys R Us store...IN JAPAN...and see nothing but a few dozen DRIFT figures, I feel my opinion is validated.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Mon May 30, 2011 1:41 am

bumblemusprime wrote:It wasn't a bad story at all. I would be less hard on it if it wasn't for context--for starters, the long, looooong interviews and justifications and talk about how killing Ironhide was a major move, the fact that it replaced Spotlights and probably could have been done in a Spotlight, and the fact that it was a second monthly dose of Costa.

All that aside, it was better than the ongoing, and Casey's art was superlative. I would buy the ongoing every month if Casey were on it.

If the events in this mini were actually like "meanwhile on Cybertron" for a few pages here and there in the ongoing, it probably would've helped the, let's say "content light" issues read a little better.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Mon May 30, 2011 1:42 am

Being able to draw is obviously not the same thing as being able to tell a story with pictures... which Milne doesn't seem to be very good at.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 30, 2011 2:03 am

DJ_Convoy wrote:Being able to draw is obviously not the same thing as being able to tell a story with pictures... which Milne doesn't seem to be very good at.

The dude's a great artist. Like I said before, his covers are excellent and I believe he's got a few posters/prints out there as well. But, yeah. His sequential storytelling could use a bit of tweaking. Then again, maybe it's just me who has trouble following it.

Post by **Best First** » Mon May 30, 2011 7:22 am

Professor Smooth wrote: The message of the book is something like: Being a Decepticon is bad. But the Autobots aren't right, either. Because war is bad. And you can be forgiven for evil acts. Peace isn't always the right answer. And you can use (hyper) violence when necessary. Especially when slavery is involved. And drift-racing is a good way to, I don't know, clear your head?

That statement cracked me up.

I think the last few pages of Drift may be the most dreadful thing i have ever seen - mainly because it forces you to confront the reality that you share a planet with at least one person who thought that was a cool way to end a story.

And that is not a planet i want to live on man.

The things that bugged me most about Drift were;
- Homeless guy, which generally implies you are a bit decrepid, somehow has mad fighting skills
- The whole disobeying orders thing - would be fine if the order in question was not so stupid
- Once again the only way to try and make the con's sympathetic is to make out the 'bots are not really the good guys
- the fact Megatron has to play a direct role in his origin, and that Deadlock is important to Megatron - bad fanfic 101
- His conversion, as you say, has no resonance to it at all, he may as well have gone on Celebrity Rehab
- The Autobots should have shot him on sight

As you say, it's basically a waste of comics