In my case, it is a lack of time. And, I am trying to avoid speculating too much. The book is running in "event mode" at the moment. And, there is only so much once can say about "stuff what happens".I'm shocked at how little discussion this has gotten with you guys in my absence, that suggests to me A) there's only been 3 issues; and B) nobody cares much about those issues. Speaking of which, I'm on issue 7, so 1 issue behind. I do know that Dom has started reading the series though, and his pre-reading defenses have generally disappeared in our conversations.
Wait and see for now.Ugh, that gives me so little confidence it makes me want to stop reading altogether. On that statement alone, I'd drop RID at the end of this event and consider losing MTMTE as well.
Sorry about posing the spoilers.
Similarly,{SPOILER - Mouse-over to read:}Kup's return(which I know about, despite not having read yet) is likely to functionally undo {SPOILER - Mouse-over to read:}"Infestation" .
And nothing of value was lost.
In any case, it is not about how much we like something or how good/bad it was.
I dislike back-writes and fixes on principle.
For example, I never liked Byrne's back-write about the Vision (not being the Human Torch) in "West Coast Avengers". (If anybody wants to run with that, we can pick it up in the retro comics thread.) But, Busiek's fix in the 90s was even more idiotic and self-serving.
Back-writes and similar fixes should be used sparingly, and only when necessary. (Marvel back-writing in other Captain Americas to explain the character during the 40s and 50s is a good example. Marvel had to fix that because fans were not letting it go.)
Similarly, I do not like comics that exist just to undo previous comics (outside of a hard reboot), especially when they are there to "fix" something. For example, I am not happy that Marvel brought back Bucky or that DC brought back Barry Allen. But, if I were to end up in charge of either company, I would not demand that the characters be re-deadified in any way. I would want the comics to move on and be better in the future.
So, yeah,
Spoiler
A good barometer for how much we can expectThis is something I have no faith in sticking, no moreso than
Spoiler
The way I see it, there are two levels of possible status quo re-setting.
The first is setting it back to IDW status quo, maybe pre-Costa. This will involve raising dead characters, or restoring the setting to how it was back then. Will the Kimia facility be rebuilt (or replaced to completely that it may as well never have been destroyed)? Will Cybertron be rendered uninhabitable (as it was pre-"All Hail Megatron")?
The other level will be setting it back to "Transformers" status quo. This would involve restoring traditional faction lines. Will Cyclonus be a Decepticon again? Will Galvatron and Megatron be revealed to have some connection? What happens when the TFs return to Earth?
IDW is trying to split the difference between pack-in comics and regular comics. The Mini-Con set nicely shows the problem with this. The Minicons in chapter 4 (which is also included with the Mini-Con set, despite the Mini-Cons not being much more than a mob in that story. (The three figures from the set may well not even be in the crowd scenes.)If this were a new reader's first TF comic, it'd be their last. This is nonsensical and just smashing toys together with a few light pretenses. This is very dumb compared to RID and MTMTE beforehand. And there's almost no transforming, there's no robots in disguise, there's no rhyme or reason to betrayals and actions and physics of scenes. This is the end of a new reader's journey, not the beginning.
I have read good pack-in comics. They need to be limited in scope to a few characters and tell smaller stories. Hasbro generally hit this mark about a decade ago with TF and Joe pack-ins.
So long as Hasbro and IDW figure this out, I will be willing to see "Dark Cybertron" as a failed experiment in marketing. (It is not enhancing the comics nor is it really showcasing the toys.)
We know from solicits that "Robots in Disguise" cast willMTMTE actually seems remarkably insulated considering the swath of storyline destruction going on here. RID is where the real tragedy is, that's been horribly derailed, there's no more politics, only lip service in the pretense of serving that idea.