IDW November Solicits

[Best First]

Some very nice cover business going on here.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... ore/28145/

Trying to maintain the faith that MTMTE will lift RID rather than RID sinking MTMTE through Dark Cybertron.

That Prime and Roddy cover is fantastic - how can they not save the Universe?

And then you get to Senior's cover. Oof.

[snarl]

Those are mint

[Computron]

Beautiful. Didn't realize Dark Cybertron is a year long though, but I really hope it works out.

For me the best part of MTMTE has been the subtle (and not so subtle) exploration of what it means to be a TF. I mean yea, MTMTE's Tyrest is about to pull a lever to kill every non-forged TF, but what I love about MTMTE is the sense of exploration, both of a TF's personality and relationships, but also the new places they find. I'm not sure I'm ready for that to be replaced with another Apocalypse story if it means abandoning what made MTMTE special.

Or to put it another more accurate way, I'll just repeat what BF said. "Trying to maintain the faith that MTMTE will lift RID rather than RID sinking MTMTE through Dark Cybertron."

[Best First]

i think its 6-7 months - 12 parts over both regular series with bookends.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

So this month is the last mtmte issue?
Then it merges with rid?

Looking at the covers I take it optimus turned up in rid?

[bumblemusprime]

I don't THINK it merges... then again, thirty issues or so was the critical mass for Costa. Maybe IDW will do yet another relaunch.

I'd still rather get MTMTE and RID every month than just one TF comic, especially since ReGen will wind down soon. Buuuut I want RID to shape up a bit.

I think Barber has potential as a writer. As we've all pointed out, his priorities all seem to be in the wrong place. This last issue was a three-tiered monologue from Starscream, with just a bit of intrigue on the religious front. The story didn't move much, and Starscream didn't get much more character development than he already had.

Compare that with MTMTE and you see that Barber is having a lot of trouble with a big cast. Roberts can write Magnus, Hot Rod, and Ratchet all in multiple crises, but Barber has been giving us one-offs of Starscream, Bumblefire, and Orion Pax. I think that if Barber could MOVE his subplots each issue, RID would be a more enjoyable story, even if it was made up of the same banal and less imaginative material.

[Computron]

Without trying to sound too much like self righteous nerdrage, I think Barber's fundamental problem is that he's like a cook in a kitchen full of great tasting ingredients, and thinks that the best way to make a fine dish is simply to throw in all these ingredients, because, to paraphrase Parks and Recreation "Jazz + Jazz = Better Jazz."

Deep, character examining monologues? It worked for Shakespeare so it's in!
Themes of Betrayal and Loyalty? Isn't that why people love Game of Thrones?
Wheels within wheels and "Aha!" plot reveals! Roberts does that all the time and it works for him!
Gestalts and Dinobots? 'Nuff said.

Yet it all ends up like a badly cooked casserole. You can see and identify the ingredients and your brain is telling you that it shouldn't taste this bad, but when it hits your tongue...ouch.

I know they say repeatedly that they've sketched out the long term plot arcs to the TF comics, and for Roberts I do believe that. However, RiD is written as if the writer woke up at 10AM, saw that their deadline was 5PM, and like students around the world, rushed to turn something in, even if it was a bit of a mess. The plot twists don't come naturally, instead they occur almost as if in a seizure, twisting violently in a new direction that leaves most readers confused, angry or just plain bored.

Maybe the problem is that RiD is too full of characters that have become archetypes for the TF universe. I remember years ago Denyer wrote up a post stating that after you've read the basic foundational Batman comics (Long Halloween, Killing Joke etc), that you may as well end there because everything else is just a retelling of the same story. There really isn't anything new to explore in the Batman comic persona without fundamentally changing who Batman was. Thus the stories just become the same thing over and over. (Which I find hard to argue against. For example, one of the few "new" additions to the Batman character that was truly worth it was Batman Beyond. The rest is mostly meh, although TAS is brilliant.)

In RiD's case Starscream is Starscream. Megatron is Megatron. Even Prowl, who was being a jerk, just ended up being mind controlled into evil. It's the same archetypes fighting over the latest McGuffin as a reason to fight in the first place. There is a real sense of same crap different day, which while a great dissertation topic for Transformers and their relationship to there being Only War in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, really makes for boring literature.

I'll stop ranting now. I'm just vomiting word salad at this point.

In other news Samuel Adams White Lantern is really fraking good beer.

[bumblemusprime]

That Parks & Rec metaphor was TEH BEST METAPHOR EVERZ.

[Best First]

Maybe the problem is that RiD is too full of characters that have become archetypes for the TF universe. I remember years ago Denyer wrote up a post stating that after you've read the basic foundational Batman comics (Long Halloween, Killing Joke etc), that you may as well end there because everything else is just a retelling of the same story. There really isn't anything new to explore in the Batman comic persona without fundamentally changing who Batman was. Thus the stories just become the same thing over and over. (Which I find hard to argue against. For example, one of the few "new" additions to the Batman character that was truly worth it was Batman Beyond. The rest is mostly meh, although TAS is brilliant.)

i loathe this analysis - it's basically writing off the creativity and ideas of everyone else in the worldever because "you" can't personally concieve of something new to do with a character. It also ignores fundamental things like say, new readers, the passing of time and history and therefore the changing context of the world these characters remain some kind of reflection of.

If you follow it to it's logical conclusion you might as well just say "everyone, stop writing, we've finished".

The rest of what you say i broadly agree with - but i think it actually points to a failure in eexecution rather than imagination - i reread The Death of Optimus Prime the other day and i the set up for RID is brilliant, bloated with promise and a post war world is something that has not been extensively explored with these characters and offers an almost perfect background for shaking up characters that have become staid or predictable. The problem is the execution, as you say for example round the plots twists, and the good ideas competing with half baked ones (like Superion just evolving) which sully the whole thing - if you can't figure out a good way to execute an idea.... drop it.

[Computron]

Maybe the problem is that RiD is too full of characters that have become archetypes for the TF universe. I remember years ago Denyer wrote up a post stating that after you've read the basic foundational Batman comics (Long Halloween, Killing Joke etc), that you may as well end there because everything else is just a retelling of the same story. There really isn't anything new to explore in the Batman comic persona without fundamentally changing who Batman was. Thus the stories just become the same thing over and over. (Which I find hard to argue against. For example, one of the few "new" additions to the Batman character that was truly worth it was Batman Beyond. The rest is mostly meh, although TAS is brilliant.)

i loathe this analysis - it's basically writing off the creativity and ideas of everyone else in the worldever because "you" can't personally concieve of something new to do with a character. It also ignores fundamental things like say, new readers, the passing of time and history and therefore the changing context of the world these characters remain some kind of reflection of.

If you follow it to it's logical conclusion you might as well just say "everyone, stop writing, we've finished".

That's a good point. I agree that good writing will always overcome even the most static of characters. It really does come down to execution. Just have to look at the various incarnation of X-Men to know that the same characters in two different authors hands can be...well...wildly different in quality.

If what you are offering in an attempt to "take characters in a new direction" doesn't pass the smell test than you should probably scrap it and start over.

The Superion example is a great one because it just appears in front of you sans explanation and sans impact. It just is and almost dares the reader to complain.

[Best First]

The best mainstream example in recent years, i think, is Cyclops - it's not been perfect but you can see the power of editorial in the journey he has been on, why he has changed and he is in a sufficiently different place from his origins that they can actually juxtapose it on his former self and make good stories out of it.

It's the inverse of Costa's run where Jazz narates himself into being a total **** in the space of about 3 panels. Jazz killing a human isn't in itself a bad idea, Jazz killing a human because all of a sudden he decides that's the kind of thing he does in a situation where there are probably lots of other ways out is a terrible idea.

I suppose it depends on the level of editorial sponsorship you have and commitment to long running stories to an extent - but Barber seems to have that. And i think you can overhaul a character in a short period of time - Drift's post Chaos shift was well justified and took well for example.

It's mainly just down to talent i think, on both the part of the writer and the editor. But the possibility is always there for me.

The Superion example is horrid for exactly the reaons you state, and there have been a few too many of those in RID for my liking. Notable no one even bothered to comment on the last issue.

[Computron]

I think Barber needs to sit down in front of a mirror and tell himself he isn't George R.R. Martin, and that it is ok not to be Martin.

I wonder how RiD would have fared if it had been written primarily from the perspective of a nobody. Some Throttlebot or Seacon. You could still have the political shenanigans, and if anything it would have a more powerful impact when the average 'bot or 'con on the street has to deal with the idiots in charge of things. I think Barber was hinting at that perspective with that Generic Aerialbot who exploded, or Blurr's bar, but it never seemed to have the impetus behind it that the Prowl, Ironhide or Starscream storylines had.

Don't get me wrong, you could still have Bumblebee and Starscream and whatnot, but what better way to show a post-war Cybertronian society than by, I dunno, actually showing a post war Cybertronian society?

It would also bring some depth to the term Robots in Disguise. There are tons of TF's who are effectively "in disguise" from their own command structures and treated as disposable elements in whatever grudge match is playing out, especially amongst the Decepticons.

[Best First]

yeah i like that.

The whole thing through the perspective of a p1ssed up Wideload.

Ok, too far maybe...