War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

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Dominic
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Dominic »

I do not hate that page as much as pretty much everybody else does. I knew what Lee was going for with Megatron's face. And, Devestator is clearly supposed to be giving a sort of yell to the sky.

I am not defending all of Lee's work. But, damn, this page gets more heat than it probably should.


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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Gomess »

I love how tiny Air Raid is in it. Hilarious use of "artistic license".
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by BWprowl »

Dominic wrote:I do not hate that page as much as pretty much everybody else does. I knew what Lee was going for with Megatron's face. And, Devestator is clearly supposed to be giving a sort of yell to the sky.
Really? Because I'm with Sparky and everyone else: Megatron doesn't really look like he has any sort of emotion besides vague satisfaction, and Devastator looks more like he's been struck dumb by seeing something off-camera than yelling triumphantly. The whole arrangement really just makes it look like something *bigger* showed up just off-panel and caught everyone off guard. Besides that, it's really just an abrupt way to end an issue.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Sparky Prime »

Dominic wrote:And, Devestator is clearly supposed to be giving a sort of yell to the sky.
But there is no speech bubble given to Devastator to show he's yelling. As it is, he just appears to just be looking up towards the sky with a similar generic expression that the rest of the characters on that page have. With the art not conveying the right emotions, and a lack of a speech bubble for Devastator, the page awkwardly indicates something they're all looking at in the sky rather than at Devastator triumphantly yelling.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Onslaught Six »

Add to the fact that there's a 'huge vague piece of sky' right above Devy's head. Why even put that there? Maybe that was supposed to be bubble space and somebody messed up.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Gomess »

I get that he was going for a Godzilla Roar, but having Devastator looking *down* at the viewer, and drawing him from a steeper angle (as if Dreamwave ever had trouble giving TFs tiny heads!) would've HUGELY improved the intended effect, I reckon.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by andersonh1 »

Retro review, because I felt like reading these issues again after a long time. Hard to believe issue 1 has the 20th anniversary logo on the cover. Has it really been that long?

War Within: The Age of Wrath #1
Simon Furman and Joe Ng

Optimus Prime and Megatron are missing, having both vanished at the start of the previous mini-series. The book opens with a very blocky and huge rendition of Ultra Magnus holding an Autobot flag, noting that "We did it. We took it back."

This story has an interesting take on Ultra Magnus, as the powerful and capable soldier who is nevertheless very insecure. Despite that, he got the job done. After both Autobots and Decepticons had broken up into smaller factions with the loss of their leaders, Magnus united the Autobots and they won the war against a divided enemy. The terms of peace are about to be dictated and agreed to, with only Starscream and his faction refusing to participate. This is Furman's Starscream, so he's arrogant, vain and stupid, a characterization I've never liked. Shockwave and Ratbat meet with Magnus to sign a peace treaty, when Starscream's forces attack. Starscream murders the ruling council and his army checks to see if their bombing run killed everyone, only to find out that it didn't, and a real battle gets underway.

Ultra Magnus isn't too worried, since Starscream's small group is trying to fight against a united Cybertron, but while he's expressing his thoughts, Motormaster attempts to snipe him. Grimlock takes the hit while protecting Magnus and dies, with Magnus protesting that he can't do it without Grimlock. "Me... peace... wouldn't have worked" are Grimlock's last words, after which we get the biggest "No!" from Ultra Magnus that I think I've ever seen. And about this time, the Autobots and Decepticons find themselves quietly surrounded by Seeker clones, led by... Megatron. The issue ends on that note.

You can't mistake the Dreamwave house style artwork. Big, thick, chunky bots with color that's been photoshopped to within an inch of its life. It's dated, but it brings back fond memories of really enjoying these books when they were first published, so despite the semi-Pat Lee style, it's not too bad. The story and the characterization is so different from IDW that I find myself making comparisons and looking at character models and wondering what Dreamwave Transformers would have looked like if they were still going. There's an ad for Transformers #10, which I think may have been the final issue of Dreamwave's ongoing series. Energon #28 is also solicited, as is Transformers, GI Joe Divided Front #1, and Micromasters issue 4.

I enjoyed Dreamwave's continuity tremendously. It drew a bit too much on the cartoon timeline for inspiration, but the War Within mini-series were very strong, and so was the second G1 mini, which was, as the writer put it "all about Ultra Magnus making choices". These guys were the first to really play with redesigning the G1 Transformers, and I remember a lot of interest in Don Figeroa's designs. Ultra Magnus as an insecure and unsure leader leaning heavily on Grimlock is very different than any other Magnus before or since, and I'm not quite sure how well it works. But it's certainly interesting, as is the fact that he gets the job done despite his lack of confidence.

Overall: good story, interesting characterization, and very dated art that is of it's era. Considering that the series wasn't finished and hasn't been reprinted as far as I know, I'm glad to have all three existing issues. I still wish the story could be finished and published, though I appreciate Simon Furman releasing plot details.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

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The Age of Wrath #2
Megatron is now in complete control of Cybertron, thanks to his million-strong Aerospace Extermination Squadron that he brought back from wherever he went. He's torturing Starscream for many reasons, not the least of which is just because he can. In the meantime, he has Shockwave examining a few of the clones in an attempt to understand and replicate the technology, something Shockwave admits may be beyond him.

In the meantime, the clones are after Getaway, who is attempting to avoid capture. The majority of Autobots are enslaved and working deep underground, suffering abuse from the Decepticons. Brawn can't take it any more and starts to fight back, but the clones "pacify" him and take him away. We see Magnus, his spirit apparently broken. Megatron is in contact with someone, whoever supplied him the drones apparently, and they're arguing about progress and goals. The Autobots are drilling the underground shaft for some goal of Megatron and his benefactors, all the way to the core of Cybertron.

Meanwhile, Getaway was just bait to capture a drone for a group of still-free Autobots, including Perceptor, Siren, Hosehead, Joyride, Slapdash and Nightbeat. They capture a drone, destroy the others in the fight, and on the last page we see Blaster, some of his cassettes and Turbomaster Flash.

So, issue 2 is a complete reversal of the first. The Autobots had won the war and were on the verge of a cease-fire when Megatron arrived with his army and conquered the planet in a very short time. Almost all Autobots are enslaved and working, while the few that are free do what they can. It's a classic resistance storyline so far, with a few characters that are rarely seen in Transformers fiction, and some that are completely different in modern books. All the ads for various books are a bit sad, considering most of them would never be published.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by Dominic »

Odd that Dreamwave art is "dated". I know that Lee's art has not aged well (even if the "dull surprise" of the first series is way over-sold because "Lee durp derp durp jokes lolderp").

we get the biggest "No!" from Ultra Magnus that I think I've ever seen.
"No" screams should have been banned from comics 25 years ago. At the very least, it should be the next battle, after thought balloons and explication boxes.

It's dated, but it brings back fond memories of really enjoying these books when they were first published, so despite the semi-Pat Lee style, it's not too bad.
Dreamwave generally profited from having a hungry fan-base. Remember, in '02 (when DW first dropped), there had been no TF comics in the US outside of convention books. (And, similarly, even anemic efforts from 3H were praised.)

There's an ad for Transformers #10, which I think may have been the final issue of Dreamwave's ongoing series. Energon #28 is also solicited, as is Transformers, GI Joe Divided Front #1, and Micromasters issue 4.
Not sure if G1 #10 came out. But, those were the last issues of "Energon" and "Divided Front".

These guys were the first to really play with redesigning the G1 Transformers, and I remember a lot of interest in Don Figeroa's designs.
Dreamwave really validated the idea of making the comics look like the toy, just by using subtle cues for some characters (like Brawn). The old Marvel comics did that as well. But, Dreamwave generally did it better.

DF's art was the best thing to come out of Dreamwave.
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Re: War Within (and general Dreamwave) thoughts

Post by andersonh1 »

Dominic wrote:Odd that Dreamwave art is "dated". I know that Lee's art has not aged well (even if the "dull surprise" of the first series is way over-sold because "Lee durp derp durp jokes lolderp").
I guess what I'm thinking of is the absolutely huge, blocky Transformers as opposed to the fine technical designs of EJ Su or the cartoony style of Nick Roche or Alex Mile. And the colors are rich and photoshopped to within an inch of their life as opposed to the more restrained colorists of IDW.

I don't mean that it's necessarily poor art, just that it's "of its time". The style of art in the Dreamwave books is very distinct from the IDW books.
Not sure if G1 #10 came out. But, those were the last issues of "Energon" and "Divided Front".
I was thinking Energon made it to issue 30. That's the issue where Megatron and Scorponok fight it out. The G1 ongoing series did make it to issue 10.
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