Ooh, is this the issue with Kup in it? >.>
It is. You can read about it below!
A hunter's dog is his ally that helps him on the hunt (such as tracking the prey's sent).
Actually, a hunter's dog is often seen as a tool, a far different thing. (Again, I am not defending the morality of this, but dogs (and other animals) used for hunting, law-enforcement, or miliary purposes are generally considered equipment, more than members of the team.
It might be a waste of a resource to shoot the dog, but that is different from assuming the dog is worthy of moral consideration.
As far as the Decepticons go, there is no reason they cannot be as fratricidal as say....people.
I'm sorry, but when writing a story that is supposed to be about certain characters in a certain setting, that should come first, not just an "idea" a writer has that can loosely be applied. Of course people/TF's need something to do. That sounds more like the premise for some sort of a self help book than it does a comic book story. You wouldn't have a story at all if there was nothing to do.
The characters and settings in "Transformers" lend themselves to ideas about leadership, (and not just the "rise of a great leader" type stories), and organizational behavior. In this case, the story is about what happens and how the characters react when they have nothing to do. Look at Reflector after he tears those people apart, (issue 6 I think). He look absolutely dejected. Had Furman written it, we would have had pages of "and he is sad, and he is bored, and look at them, they are unhappy.....). McCarthy just showed them being miserable at their jobs.
Could an entire TF series/comic be done where the characters are all properly motivated to "do stuff" without the use of a McGuffin?
How are we defining McGuffin? There have been non-stupid, non-cosmic McGuffins in "Transformers". But, in any story, any motivation the characters have could be a McGuffin, if only a conceptual one. ("Power", even in the abstract, could be a McGuffin by this logic.) Even a story that consists mostly of a conversation could be said to have a McGuffin in the subject matter of the conversation.
Shockwave
-Now betting on Sparky.
The best you can do now is break even, unless Sparky has much longer odds.
Isn't that arguably what AHM *is?* What MacGuffin is there? You can't possibly mean The Matrix--Megs has it for the entire duration of the story, and that's it
See above.
Isn't that arguably what AHM *is?* What MacGuffin is there? You can't possibly mean The Matrix--Megs has it for the entire duration of the story, and that's it.
In AHM, the Matrix is still arguably a McGuffin in that it is what motivates the Decepticons to rebel. At least, it gives them something to focus on. Purpose and hope could also be McGuffins in AHM, as the characters are looking for something.
Okay, issue 15:
With this issue, I am giving up any hope of getting all of Hutchinson's abstract covers. Besides the fact that all of the "Coda" covers are incentive covers, (and rare), the cover for issue 15 does not quite look like the other Hutchinson covers.
As of right now, I have the Nick Roche cover, (featuring Kup), and the Casey Coller variant, (featuring Perceptor). One is going to a friend of mine. I am tilting towards keepiong the Roche cover, as it focuses on the better story, but Coller's cover is the better piece of art.
Kup: Nick Roche is more or less the go-to guy for writing about Kup. Given how long "Transformers" has been around, it makes sense that there will now be more "legacy" writers beyond Budiansky and Furman. As was the case with the Kup "Spotlight" issue, Roche handles both the writing and art on this story. Some fans were concerned that Roche was a one hit wonder, and that his future work product would not meet his work on "Spotlight". This proves that not to be the case, and actually sets the bar higher for Roche's next outing. Roche delivers a story with a "shock" ending that is not only thematically consistent with "All Hail Megatron", (and its focus on leadership), and the "change" theme of this issue, but also has a degree of irony. Roche's explication at the end is a bit heavy, but given the characters involved, and the nature of their conversation, it fits well enough. Upon first reading, the art and writing seem a bit out of step. However, when I looked at the story again, (and it was a pleasure to do so), it is clear that much of the discord in intentional. There are a few panels that look a bit too cheerful given the tone of the story, but that may also be a function of the coloring.
Perceptor: This story is more or less what we expected, and holds no suprises. I think it was Onslaught 6 who put it best. "Perceptor got hurt, and it changed him one way or the other." No real suprises here. Denton Tipton handles the story well enough, but there is little be wowed by. There are few points where Tipton seems to be jabbing at the readers. I am not familiar enough with Tipton or IDW to be sure, and the jabs are not as nasty/obvious as some of Johns' recent efforts, or pretty much any of Grant Morrison's writing. Part of me is afraid that the changes to Perceptor shown in AHM will simply be undone or otherwise ignored. (Given that Perceptor was injured in AHM #8, this is a possibility. The fact that the first issue of the on-going series is going to have a "return to status quo", it is all too likely that IDW's "Transformers" comic will be adopting the standard pattern of the Big 2's superhero comics.
(I suppose this could be read at a meta level: "Transformers", it changes from well written, to bland hackery, and back again!)
Dom
-has given up on even pretending to care about his job anymore. Seriously, my boss was in the room when I typed some of this.
If you like throwing away money, that's your business...
