RID Dawn of the Autobots #28 (Spoilers)

[Computron]

Ok, I am really trying not to settle into a pattern of just criticizing Barber and putting Roberts on a pedestal, but there are problems here. There really are. Maybe others disagree but here we go.

First, the art is a serious and marked improvement over previous RID issues. (Aside from Megatron's face.) It's honestly really good art, especially Sky Lynx.

Plotwise, I really thought Barber was done with the inner monologue stuff, especially after parodying his own self, but no, it's back. It is insufficient to have characters explain things by doing them. No, what they are thinking has to be beaten into our skulls. It's really annoying and it wastes pages that could be better utilized.

Plotwise we are given pretty much one throwaway line as to why the Autobots are back on Earth, but it seems to set up a larger plotline regarding A3 so ok, I'll bite.

(I'll also ignore the fact that the Autobots are trying to sneak around on Earth while having HUGE Autobot symbols on their bodies but whatever.)

But then the last pages soured it for me. A planet that got brutalized by Decepticons then allies with them?

Hrmm...

Oh well, MTMTE is out next week!

[inflatable dalek]

I felt that for most of its length this was a great read, fun and frothy and like a breath of fresh air from Barber. Sure, the send up of the writing industry is the sort of thing only writers think is interesting, but it had a nice tongue in cheek feel to it. The only thing I'd complain about there (and agree with Compy about) is it'd be nice if, rather than making jokes about the overuse of first person narration Barber just didn't overuse first person narration.

The more serious Autobot stuff was nicely done as well, lots of interesting set up with the new cast and poor old Prowl continuing to be completely ignored everytime he makes a sensible suggestion.

The cliffhanger though is one of those things that will completely depend on the resolution, the idea the humans would be so bloody stupid as to trust any Transformers, let alone the Decepticons, in any way shape or form is so idiotic presumably they'll be a subversion fairly quickly. But with the way humans have been handled in IDW before (and in fairness, across most G1 fiction how governments react has never been handled very well) there's always that worrying feeling it might be something to take a complete face value.

Also, Fairborne is pure Brad Mick.

Still, a decent start apart from those worries.

Did anyone else feel this was intended to be released before Windblade? It covers most of the important stuff in the six month gap and actually sets up what "Dawn of the Autobots" is supposed to mean.

[Computron]

I felt that for most of its length this was a great read, fun and frothy and like a breath of fresh air from Barber.

I agree, and I want to be clear, since I wasn't in my initial post, that this issue is light years ahead of other Barber stuff. But finishing off on that Earth/Decepticon Alliance was so that I couldn't bring myself to write an overly effusive post.

I also agree that something kinda wonky happened regarding Windblade, as if something is out of order.

[Hound]

Yeah I enjoyed this too. Actually quite happy to see the Autobots back on Earth.

[snarl]

Didn't really note any significant improvements tbh.

Just more of the same - it's just that this was an opener without any events of real significance so it hasn't had the opportunity to go pear shaped yet.

Prowl still written terribly.

[Shanti418]

As someone who didn't read IDW from AHM - Chaos Theory, I was not looking forward to the return to Earth. Especially the human factor. So, with respect to the views already posted here, is it not conceivable that Auto/Decep factions distinctions are less important to the humans than "Megatron is bad. Whoever Megatron is with is bad."? That was certainly the logic intimated here.

Cosmos got some characterization and a Roberts-esque exchange. That was nice.

So Prowl is Construction-less? Or are those the "his guys" Prowl is referring to? And do we have any idea what the machavellian thing Arcee thinks Prowl is up to actually is?

I dunno, I guess it was OK. But yeah, that last page was a big bucket of cold water on whatever embers of enthusiasm I may have had.

[Yaya]

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the first few pages of Thundercracker's screenplay more than anything Barber has written in a long time.

After that it was just okay. The dialogue just doesn't do it for me and I think sometimes there are moments where Barber thinks he's being clever, but instead I'm just left confused by what the hell he's actually talking about. It's like he's trying to channel Roberts. Ain't gonna happen.

Agree, the art was much improved.

Not as bad as Dark Cybertron. But not really that good either.

[bumblemusprime]

Josh Boyfriend approves!

This was pretty good. Andrew Griffith has been getting better and better. As I was saying to ID on the old Facer-Booker, is that supposed to be Universe Galvatron, or are we due for a new toy?

Barber will have to really twist himself in knots to get me to buy that the humans threw in with the Decepticons. But he's already twisted IDW Galvatron in some serious character knots to make him into a Decepticon leader.

[Best First]

Hmm - i didn't mind it.

Still serveral bum notes (Prowl for sure) and stodgy internal exposition, but some nice bits and love Galvy's new look.

The theme of TF artists who are a bit rubbish at drawing hoomans continues...

[Sunyavadin]

Aw, they totally nicked the plot I'd written for a TF film, where America (And by extension Earth, as soon as they finish subduing it) is a client state of the Decepticon empire.

[Death's Head]

I haven't read this comic, but I'll venture my entirely uneducated and ill-informed opinion anyway - is there not a risk with Barber (and other, future writers on the franchise) that all they take away from James' work is his 'snappy' dialogue, when that is merely a function of the fact that MTMTE is the 'comedy' book (versus the more sober set-up of RiD)? There's far more to James' writing than that - the way he layers character and exposition into his dialogue, the seeding of plot points early on, setting everything up almost like the introduction to an essay - a novelistic approach to writing comics. Then there's his lovely use of language - for a man who apparently doesn't read much SF he's got a firm grasp of the potential poetry of the neologism - and his playful approach to structure.

He's good at this writing lark, is James - more so than most who end up writing for our beloved franchise. If all we get out of it is characters trading unfunny 'quips' in phonetically-spelled accents I'll be terribly upset.