IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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Shockwave
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by Shockwave »

andersonh1 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:21 pmIt's a decent four-part story, and I certainly enjoyed it more this time than I did originally, which I'm finding has often been the case. Maybe I'm just mellowing out or something.
It also could be that these stories read better when read as a single story rather than the weekly format. Kinda like how some tv series are better when binged than they are when on a weekly schedule. Personally, I like the all at once method better since you can pick up on a lot more than when there's a week or a month between issues or episodes. It feels more complete.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Shockwave wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:21 pm
andersonh1 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:21 pmIt's a decent four-part story, and I certainly enjoyed it more this time than I did originally, which I'm finding has often been the case. Maybe I'm just mellowing out or something.
It also could be that these stories read better when read as a single story rather than the weekly format. Kinda like how some tv series are better when binged than they are when on a weekly schedule. Personally, I like the all at once method better since you can pick up on a lot more than when there's a week or a month between issues or episodes. It feels more complete.
That is definitely a factor, no doubt.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by andersonh1 »

Punishment
John Barber, Livio Ramondelli

Optimus Prime returns to Cybertron just in time to become involved as someone is murdering Decepticons in the ghetto outside Metroplex. After some investigation and after a few suspects are eliminated (including the Firecons and the Dinobots) the culprit turns out to be Sandstorm, who is seriously suffering guilt and anger over his time in the Wreckers, and taking out both Decepticons and Autobots who committed atrocities during the war (all of whom seem to be conveniently close together and easy to target). That's fair enough, the Wreckers did terrible things in the name of winning the war, it makes sense to find one of them suffering from PTSD and guilt and wanting to punish those who committed war crimes.

However, I didn't care for this mini-series at all. It's just bleak and grim from start to finish, and features gems of wisdom from Optimus Prime such as Prime telling Slag that he and the Dinobots should have been killed by the Autobots when the war ended. And how many of these characters open a bar after the war ends, anyway? Add Gutcruncher to the list. Post war Transformers sure do feature a lot of drunks in the cast. Barber writes some cynical comics sometimes, but this one has to be one of the darkest in tone. I had not read it before, and I can't say I enjoyed it.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by Dominic »

I am of two minds about "Punishment".

The idea itself is sold, and Barber makes good use of Sandstorm's original character profile.

Similarly, liquidating the Dinobots is the kind of idea that somebody should at least consider. But, it does not work for Optimus to be the guy who is openly discussing it. (And, it really does not work when Optimus is saying it....while investigating the murder of Decepticon war criminals. If Optimus would seriously consider liquidating members of his army, he should be fine with killing the other side's monsters.)
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by Ursus mellifera »

I never read "Punishment," but I'm sure going to go read it right now.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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I'm jumping ahead a bit here, but Prime's attitude toward the Dinobots in "Punishment" reminded me of his attitude towards Prowl at the end of Combiner Wars, where Prowl (rightly) accused Prime of giving Megatron more of a chance than he gave him. Barber seems to have the idea here that Optimus really takes what he sees as any betrayal of the peace by an Autobot far more personally than he does when a Decepticon does it. At least that's how I read it. But telling Slag (I refuse to call him Slug) to his face that he and the other Dinobots should have been killed if they can't let the past go is both stupid and harsh, and not at all what I would expect from Optimus Prime, who I would expect to try and win them over, change their attitudes and approaches rather than simply wish them dead. Dom is right, if Optimus is willing to kill the Dinobots, he should have no problem with dead Decepticons. Windblade makes the most sense in all of this, asking everyone "what's wrong with you people?"

I agree about Sandstorm, I think given what he'd been through, his attempt to deal out justice for war crimes makes sense. I whould have spoiled the name of the killer if I'd realized not everyone had read it. I might do a bit more of that going forward.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by Ursus mellifera »

I'm about halfway through this thing, and I love the art, at least. It's like someone ran Geoff Senior through Photoshop.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by Ursus mellifera »

That was... huh. I was really digging it until the very end, because I assumed that Prime telling Slug that the Dinobots should have been killed after the war was part of his ruse to lure out the murderer. I also assumed that about Slug's intentions to kill Prime.

But then, if Prime really never lies, and he actually thinks that the Dinobots should be murdered because they've outlived their usefulness? Or, what, because they're detrimental to the "new" Cybertron, but the Decepticons, some of whom are still actively criminals, aren't? "Oh, those Dinobot punks fighting each other by the statue are what's wrong with society today, but those active thieves and bootleggers? Why, they're part of the community!"

I liked the whodunnit, but why does Prime turn into a crochety old man who better not see those Dinobots on his lawn again?

Still, great art, though.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Yeah, I really enjoy Ramondelli's art. I didn't at first because it is admittedly hard to follow sometimes, but I have really grown to like his, as you put it "Geoff Senior" anglular style, and the way he uses lights and darks and color washes, and the way everything looks painted. It's just a unique look that stands out among all the other IDW artists.

Optimus Prime's attitude is what really made me go negative about this story. Everything else works fairly well and the whodunnit is not badly done, all things considered. But Prime is just really out of character here, even for IDW Optimus Prime. I thought it was all part of his plan too, but no, apparently he meant it when he said the Dinobots should have been killed. I think Windblade calls him out later on when it comes to the "no lying" claim.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

Post by andersonh1 »

MTMTE #39 - "The Permanent Revolution" James Roberts, Hayato Sakamoto

It's hard to put into words just how tonally misjudged and incomprehensible this issue actually is. I've been much kinder to MTMTE on re-reading it than I was after the first year of the book the first time around, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit more on re-reading it, and in reading most of these latest issues for the first time. But I genuinely cannot fathom just exactly what Roberts is trying to say or do here. The torture of Blip that opens the issue is just grotesque, and Tarn's character as revealed by his inner monologue makes no sense, other than to reveal that he's just bored with this whole routine. And then there's Nickel, a little mini-con that bosses these Decepticon terrors around like they're petulant children. I suppose there's some satire of corporate life here, with the DJD treating the torture and murder they routinely engage in as just a 9 to 5 job. As someone who formerly worked in a corporate environment, I remember personal development plans and annual assessments with the boss, something we all hated. So do the DJD. Maybe it's meant to be funny, but it honestly falls flat for me. I realize all of these characters have always been grotesque, over the top parodies of ultra violent comics cliches, but the terror in which the other characters hold them has sustained them as something of a threat up until now. Suddenly they're jokes in the space of half an issue, afraid of being written up and dreading work evaluations? Seriously?

However there are some significant plot developments in this issue. We learn how and why the DJD slaughtered the quantum duplicate Lost Light crew, and the DJD learn that Megatron has defected, which leads the Megatron-worshiping Tarn to nearly commit suicide, before he changes his mind and decides that the Decepticon movement is bigger than Megatron, and so they need to go kill Megatron. After some difficulties in establishing a truce, given how much other Decepticons hate them all, the DJD form an alliance with Deathsaurus and his crew and declare war.

Maybe Roberts was trying to show the DJD as punch-clock villains, I don't know. Maybe they're meant to just be fairly ordinary people beneath the over the top personas, but I just found this issue to be in poor taste, tonally bizarre, and guilty of killing the effectiveness of the DJD as villains. I think trying to get inside the heads of the DJD was a mistake, and painting them the way this issue does was also a mistake. Huge misfire of an issue here.
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