IDW Comics Marathon

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:57 am

Issue 14:

The Sunstreaker story told is literally nothing that we didn't know before. What an incredible let-down.

The Galvatron story was great. It gets us firmly back into where Furman left off with the whole Dead Universe thing. The art was a bit too stylized for my tastes, but did convey a sense of raw arcane power. So, that's nice.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:14 am

Issue 15:

The Kup story was brilliant. I wish I could assume that this was the intention with Kup all along, but my gut tells me that this was more a patch-job than anything else. Still, what a patch job it is! There's a whole lot of awesome in these fifteen pages.

Then there's the Perceptor story. There's a little bit too much "YAY! DRIFT!" for me, but it wasn't a bad story. Some of the dialog could have been a bit more natural. You've got Springer being an uber-badass in the Kup story and then shouting "Thank Primus!" when Perceptor wakes up in this one.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:27 am

Issue 16!

It's over and not a moment too soon. First, we got another story about Spike. This recycles the same old "what the hell kind of animal is Ravage?" joke that's been made a bunch of times. Some of them as recent as AHM itself.

Something I've mentioned before, though. With all of these super-badass characters, who does IDW think their readers are? There was a reason that, traditionally, the humans in TF stories were kids. They act as a stand in for the viewer/reader.

Does IDW think that their readership is down because all their potential buyers are out re-building vintage muscle cars and getting fawned over by multiple beautiful women?

Then there's the Bumblebee story, which wasn't terrible. I loved the artwork. It's kind of sad that this same story is going to wind up being stretched out into a four issue limited series in the near future.

Ah, well. AHM is now officially a thing of the past. From here, we've got Maximum Dinobots, Ironhide, another Spotlight or two, and Last Stand of the Wreckers!

Woo, woo, woo! You know it!

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:39 am

Professor Smooth wrote: Rather than have the characters advance to the point they're at naturally, they try to do it retroactively. Which just seems like a cheat.

This pretty much sums up Mike Costa's run as well.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:59 pm

Best First wrote:
Professor Smooth wrote: Rather than have the characters advance to the point they're at naturally, they try to do it retroactively. Which just seems like a cheat.
This pretty much sums up Mike Costa's run as well.

*giggle*

The much-lauded Kup story definitely came off to me as a patch.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:13 pm

Man, i just reread Devestation care of getting IDW Coln vol 3 for my bday.

It's hard to find words to describe how much better it is than the mediocrity and half baked ideas that we get served up today.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:02 pm

It's tough. I've actually lost interest in reading post-2008 comics after Spidey and the TFs both went to hell creatively.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:25 pm

Spidey has gotten much better. Not because of One More Day, but in spite of it.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:13 am

Yeah, the run that Romita Jr came back for had its moments and how the Freak (worst supervillain name ever?) storyline resolved itself wasn't bad.

Yes, I'm about 2 years behind on the TPBs. Next one covers issue 600...

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 15, 2011 12:37 pm

After several long weeks, FINALLY the Prof HAS COME BACK to the IDW comics marathon.

Tonight's read: Maximum Dinobots

We're off and running with issue 1! Furman! Roche! Josh! Grimlock! This has promise and, right off the bat, it delivers. The story picks up pretty much where you'd want it to. Scorponok and the Machination are a credible threat. Sunstreaker and Hunter are not getting along terribly well. And HE, Grimlock has work to do.

The only negative thing I can say is that I don't really care for the redesigned Dinobots. But that's purely on me and not a criticism of the artists.

I haven't read this in a few years, so it's almost like new material!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 15, 2011 1:57 pm

Issue two sees Scorpy pummel Hot Rod. Grimlock and the Dinobots have a knock-down/drag-out fight in the middle of smalltown USA. Sunstreaker is, apparently, able to tell when Hunter is spelling something wrong vocally. And the big, last-page reveal? SHOCKWAVE

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 15, 2011 2:08 pm

Issue 3: The Dinobots are together again and joined by the Monsterbots. Many, many, many Sunstreaker Headmaster clones bite it. Flames galore! Shockwave is being all Shockwavey.

I think there's a mistake on the last page. It goes from Hot Rod's inner monologue directly Hunter's, but the two don't make any sense together.

Big last page reveal: SOUNDWAVE!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 15, 2011 2:19 pm

Issue 4:

It looks as though Sunstreaker and Hunter have met their ultimate fates. (They haven't, but it looks that way.) The Dinobots and Monsterbots come face to face with Scorponok and Shockwave. It seems that all is lost, except... Big Last Page reveal: ULTRA MAGNUS!

The artwork in this issue was a lot different from previous issues, thanks to James Raiz sharing the load with Nick Roche. Parts of the book appear more dirty and gritty. I like it. It is a jarring transition, though.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Sun May 15, 2011 2:37 pm

Issue 5:

And so ends Maximum Dinobots. Soundwave and his minions are back in play, as are the Dinobots. Shockwave and Scorponok have been captured and Grimlock's been arrested by Ultra Magnus. Sunstreaker's in the CR chamber, and I'm sure that he'll be back to his old, fun-loving self once he comes out of it. And it's nice to see that Hunter is more or less okay.

Hmmm. At least a few of those sentences get undone thanks to All Hail Megatron.

As far as clean up on Simon's "Ation" titles goes, this was a really fun book. Great characters, nice dialog, and some much-needed resolution.

It's interesting, though. This series came out about two years ago, and there hasn't been much in the way of a follow up. Magnus and Hot Rod factor into the ongoing, but what of Grimlock? Or Shockwave? I guess that it's time to start getting answers to those questions.

Coming Soon: Transformers: Ongoing, as well as limited series featuring DRIFT, Bumblebee, and Ironhide!

Post by **Best First** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:27 pm

oh deary me

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Sun May 15, 2011 5:26 pm

This will not end well.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sun May 15, 2011 5:31 pm

Maybe the James issues in July will give Smooth a ray of hope.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 4:36 am

Ongoing issue 1

First, the art: What can be said about the new hybrid movie/G1 style that Don's brought to the table for this issue? It's not my thing. It doesn't seem to be the "thing" of many people. But, as I've said before, Don's given us some of the best TF artwork of all time, so if he wants to try something new, then more power to him. Selfishly, I hope it doesn't last too long.

The story picks up two years after the conclusion of All Hail Megatron. It starts in an interesting place. Similar to how Season 3 of the Sunbow cartoon picked up with the Decepicons defeated. However, in this book, the Autobots are not glorious in their triumph. They've finally ended the war (by shooting one guy in the face), but they're all-but trapped on Earth.

Then...it all starts to go wrong. Ironhide is killed. Apparently because humans have a variety of "one-hit kill" weapons. The TFs have been at war for millions of years, mostly with superficial injuries, but the same military that took 10 years to find an elderly dialysis patient has developed superior weaponry in 1/5th of the time.

Ironhide dies. Ok. That's fine. You want a BIG event in your first issue. But ol' Ironhide's death leads to OPTIMUS PRIME QUITTING THE AUTOBOTS AND SURRENDERING. There is just so much wrong with that sentence, I'm surprised it wasn't flagged for grammar.

OPTIMUS PRIME does not QUIT...ANYTHING, let alone THE AUTOBOTS, and SURRENDER is not an option for OPTIMUS ****ING PRIME!

Ah, well. Only a few more issues of this until we get to the Bumblebee mini-series. That should be a nice pick-me-up.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 4:46 am

Issue 2:

Aside from the...unpleasantness with Optimus Prime, this issue's not bad. A nice step in the right direction. The Autobots nominate and elect Bumblebee as their new leader. Cliffjumper comes right out and says what we're all thinking. "This is just a popularity contest!" Kind of funny.

I dug Hot Rod's group of Autobots teaming up with Swindle's group of Decepticons. It felt like something that could happen. Natural. I like where it's going.

Ultra Magnus (wearing what looks like his 3rd Party Fan Project armor) shows up to, apparently, bust Bumblebee's bearings on the last page. I'm sure this will lead only to good things!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 4:57 am

Issue 3:

WTF, Spike?!? You exist purely to give the readers somebody to relate to. That is your purpose. That is your reason for being. You are a stand in for the reader. So what in the name of Primus, creation, the Allspark, or Primacron are you doing HUNTING DOWN TRANSFORMERS TO BASICALLY BLACKMAIL OPTIMUS PRIME!?!?!

Spike: PRIME! Give me information!
Prime: Ok. I'll tell you anything you want to know. Just so long as it doesn't harm any other Autobots.
Spike: BRING ME THE AUTOBOTS!
Spike's crew: *straight up ambushes a group of non-combatants with a roadside IED*
Spike: Now, Mr. Prime, you will tell me what I want to know!

Spike's the good guy, right? I didn't miss a "heel turn" somewhere, did I? How are we supposed to cheer for this guy when he's doing Megatron's job better than Megs himself ever did?!?!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 5:09 am

Issue 4:

Ultra Magnus shows up to arrest...er...question...er...fight(?)...people? I think Hot Rod sums it up best when he asks Magnus, "Under whose orders are you even operating under?" Megatron's "dead." Prime has given up. Seriously, what is Ultra Magnus even doing? Does he get printouts from the Dharma Initiative?

I think I'm gonna take a little break. This series is kind of killing my TF boner.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 8:47 am

Issue 5:

Was freakin' great! Yeah, I probably should have seen it coming, and the reasons for NOT seeing it coming were because I figured that a certain combiner team already existed, but...

The dialog between Spike and Optimus Prime was pretty damn good, and believable. Swindle was on top of his game. Pretty much everything just kind of "clicked" in this issue. The last page of this issue is definitely my favorite bit of art from the series thus far.

One issue left of the current arc, I believe. Lookin' forward to it.

Then, it's on to the BB mini.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:11 am

Issue 6:

Another great issue. Everybody's back to acting relatively sane. My favorite punching bag, Spike, included. Everything's back in a good place. Although Thundercracker's place in all of this is still something of a mystery.

Things seem to be lining up towards where they were towards the start of RotF. The Autobots are working with the government (sort of) to help in hunting down lost and leaderless Decepticons. And that's not really a bad place to be.

Once again, the discussion between Spike and Prime was very nice and made a lot of sense. Neither side came off nearly as poorly as they did in those first four issues.

At the end of the day, IDW's ongoing is off to an incredibly slow start, but it looks like there's still hope. It's not nearly as strong a beginning as Infiltration was, but it's not irredeemable.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 10:08 am

Issue 7:

Another rock-solid issue. It's a mirror image of issue 1. Where most of issue 1 was filled with Prime's internal monologue, issue 7 gives us Megatron's. Each begins with their respective tech-spec motto.

EJ is back on art, which is a great! The shading is done in blotchy camo-like style that I'm not really sure what to think of. I kind of wanted to open up photoshop and "fix" certain images.

...

The next issue is titled "Spike's Revenge." I'm pretty sure that this was the issue that got me to drop the book in the first place. So, I guess I'll pause here and get into the BB series, which I've been neglecting.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Mon May 16, 2011 10:50 am

Professor Smooth wrote: OPTIMUS PRIME does not QUIT...ANYTHING, let alone THE AUTOBOTS, and SURRENDER is not an option for OPTIMUS ****ING PRIME!

Well he did in the Marvel US comic, but then, he did have a much better reason.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 11:30 am

spiderfrommars wrote:
Professor Smooth wrote: OPTIMUS PRIME does not QUIT...ANYTHING, let alone THE AUTOBOTS, and SURRENDER is not an option for OPTIMUS ****ING PRIME!

Well he did in the Marvel US comic, but then, he did have a much better reason.

...fair enough.

Bumblebee #1:

Not bad. I dig the art. It reminds me of those older TF storybooks. The story is pretty simple, even if it does take some suspension of disbelief to get it to jibe with the ongoing. For a first issue, it does its job. I'm looking forward to issue #2!

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Mon May 16, 2011 12:18 pm

Bumblebee 2, 3, and 4.

I know this series gets a lot of hate, but I thought it was a fun Transformers story. It gets Bumblebee into his Bay-verse alt-mode in a way that makes sense. Moreso, anyway, than changing from an F-22 into an F-15 off panel, anyway.

The stuff with the little girl was a bit, well, silly, but it's definitely in-character for Bumblebee.

All in all, it was a good story. Better to show Bumblebee taking up the position of leader here than in the main book. I'm really happy to see that, while B got upgraded to his Camero alt. mode, they didn't have the EMP knock out his vocal processors.

...

...

...

I have to read Ongoing Issue 8. Don't I?

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon May 16, 2011 12:59 pm

Wow, I didn't expect this. I have never read any TF and few comic stories as putrid, misfiring, totally ill-informed and badly drawn as For All Mankind. Sort of weird to see this in conjunction with your AHM review--I think that once you divorce AHM from the Revelation context, it's not a bad story, just a generally mediocre one.

Every TF acted like such a colossal idiot in For All Mankind that I am still trying to understand why were supposed to remain interested. Bumblebee wins the popularity contest, and Hot Rod buys into Swindle's guff, and Optimus just gives up. Ugggh. Just remembering the comic gives me a stomachache.

Also, Bumblebee should have been rebuilt into the Universe Classics Mini. I ******* hate that Camaro mode.

Post by **Best First** » Mon May 16, 2011 2:36 pm

8 year old Spencer is spot on on this one.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:19 am

Issue 8:

I'm of two minds here. The one mind is screaming at me to stop reading this and remember why I stopped in the first place. Spike straight up executes a Decepticon. Stalks. Incapacitates. Boom, headshot! More or less with ease. Dude essentially took out DEVASTATOR with "no lasers. Just stuff anybody would have in their kitchen." Of course, immediately after that speech, he blows off the Constructicon's head with a goddamn laser. Once again. Millions of years of war. Same combatants, more or less. And all it takes to get the kill is a single head-shot? How has the war lasted this long?

The other mind is upset, but for completely different reasons. Spike kills a Decepticon. GOOD! That's what the good guys are supposed to be doing. It's in the theme song, right next to "robots in disguise." "Autobots wage their battle to DESTROY the EVIL forces of the Decepticons." So the fact that this is going to be a PROBLEM down the line, "He KILLED a Transformer, Prime!" is beyond stupid.

A third mind has just popped up to say "hello." "Hello," and "I don't pay four bucks plus whatever a bag and board cost to watch that kid in the yellow hard hat stalk and kill Transformers." You know who DOES pay for that? Aside from the person who signs the paychecks, NOBODY! This is your big LETS GET NEW READERS push? Hey, you know what brought everyone to see the TF movies? S. Witwicky! Get his ass in the comics! Oh, and change ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING about EVERY former incarnation of the character.

Huff.