Comics are awesome.

[Gomess]

I didn't say it was "totally forgotten about", I said it was hardly even mentioned after that.

...So does the Matrix remain a focal point of the plot, or not? Because, to be honest, it sounds like it goes from a mildly interesting plot device (a trophy of power) to a slightly less interesting plot device (a trophy of power). And that, to me, is no great loss.

[Sparky Prime]

...So does the Matrix remain a focal point of the plot, or not? Because, to be honest, it sounds like it goes from a mildly interesting plot device (a trophy of power) to a slightly less interesting plot device (a trophy of power). And that, to me, is no great loss.

It doesn't remain a focal point. And again, it isn't presented as a trophy at all. Nor is it just the Matrix they do this with. The whole story is like that, where they start finally going somewhere with something, only for the story to suddenly fall flat with it. Like O6 mentioned with Prime (and is one of the other examples I alluded to before but didn't mention to avoid spoilers). The majority of the series he's near death. Ratchet even says the procedure to save him could kill him but a couple pages after that, Prime is back to as good as new, like nothing ever happened. All that drama and build up over his condition was totally wasted.

[Gomess]

To be honest, it just sounds like early X-Men, which was the only other comic I read growing up, and I never had a problem with that building things up only to let them fade, or the opposite; bringing super-important plot points out of nowhere. Maybe my standards aren't as high for this medium as you guys', but it just sounds like a good concept marred by poor long-term planning, as *many* stories are.

But hey, I prefer Harry Potter to Lost, so go figure. Guess I'll just have to wait until I get AHM and make my own mind up, but it amazes me how divisive it is.

[Dominic]

Gonna move all this up to the AHM thread.

Well, most of it....

To be honest, it just sounds like early X-Men, which was the only other comic I read growing up,

How were you gettting early "X-Men"? You are a good 5 years younger than I am, and missed that boat by about 20 years, assuming I would have started reading comics at 5 or 6.


Dom
-still remembers those first TF compilations.....

[Dominic]

There is no basis for that assumption. In fact, comments from the comics creators would dispute that.

AI normally do not say this sort of thing, as it is kind of rude. But, it is warranted in this case.

The writers are lying to you Sparky. They are lying all of us. There. I. Said. It.

Joking aside, IDW pulled the rug out from Furman. That is not something that is done if a publisher is happy with a title's sales or direction. They brought in McCarthy to write AHM. Given how inconsistent IDW was in how they planned it, (was it supposed to be in context or not?), it is a safe bet that holding to Furman's status quo was not a priority.

I will agree that apparent editorial indecision likely hurt the book. But, that is not McCarthy's fault. And, he still managed to write a solid idea based story.

You'd be amazed how ignorant of current events some people are.

DooooOOOOoooood. Nah, I would not be suprised at all.

Joking aside, Sparky, look at any high profile news story, especially "bad" news. Ask yourself how much information is available....and how many fairy tales people still believe. (The Martians killed JFK!)

I live in Boston, arguably the largest college town in the world. We often, (arrogantly, but not without some justification), bill ourselves as "the Athens of America" because we have so much information on hand. I am not going to tell you how many conspiracy nuts I meet here.....because I cannot handle thinking about it.

[Gomess]

How were you gettting early "X-Men"?

Slightly misspoke, there. "It sounds like early X-Men, *and I grew up on X-Men*". Better? =3 If you'd like a little more detail, I actually grew up on late 80s / early 90s X-Men, which was an interesting watershed between the craaaazy Forge-loves-Storm-they-live-in-Australia-wtf-Rogue's-spikey-hair era and the pre-XTREEEEEME Jim Lee era. As a result, I'm one of those born-and-bred Gambit and Psylocke fans. I gots pedigree, yo.

That said, I do own the first eight volumes of X-Men in TPB form, so I know all I need to about the *real* early days. Heck, it's the only comic book I'd spend that much money on, mostly because my brother already owns every issue of 2000 AD, and Claire buys everything else that's good. My tastes in modern comics are dictated entirely by her's, and that's alright with meeee~ *musical note*

[Sparky Prime]

Joking aside, IDW pulled the rug out from Furman. That is not something that is done if a publisher is happy with a title's sales or direction. They brought in McCarthy to write AHM. Given how inconsistent IDW was in how they planned it, (was it supposed to be in context or not?), it is a safe bet that holding to Furman's status quo was not a priority.

Yes, IDW wanted to change the direction, but this does not mean they pulled the rug out from Furman or distance the series from his work. Remember, they gave him a mini-series to tie-up many of the loose threads from his stories. When it came to AHM, IDW was just sloppy.

But, that is not McCarthy's fault. And, he still managed to write a solid idea based story.

McCarthy claimed he read all of Furman's work. Said he wouldn't "split" on any of it. So no, it was his fault for not being consistent when he said he knew what had happened previously. And in my view, his "idea based story" was only halfway formed ideas, as everything pretty much fell flat (Prime's condition, the plot behind the Matrix, Megatron's plans and so on).

Joking aside, Sparky, look at any high profile news story, especially "bad" news. Ask yourself how much information is available....and how many fairy tales people still believe.

Giant robots having a brawl caught on video using technology clearly beyond our level that our military launched an attack on... It may not be a lot of information, but it's enough to come to a few pretty safe conclusions.

[andersonh1]

Yes, IDW wanted to change the direction, but this does not mean they pulled the rug out from Furman or distance the series from his work. Remember, they gave him a mini-series to tie-up many of the loose threads from his stories. When it came to AHM, IDW was just sloppy.

And if you need further proof that they can certainly be sloppy, look at Continuum.

If I were an editor (and I'm not, and probably don't have a clue of all the minutae their jobs entail), I'd sit down with everything that IDW has published so far, read it, take notes, and check any incoming scripts against what's come before to make sure they're in-line. Now I'm a fan, so consistency between writers and stories means something to me. Maybe it just wasn't seen as important to whoever was editing at the time. I don't know. I'm still a bit incredulous that Andy Schmidt, who seems like a nice, concientious guy, thought letting each artist draw whichever character model they liked and not bother to be consistent with the character models of other artists was a good idea. But he apparently wanted to go the maximum route with artistic license. Maybe there was a similar lack of concern over "small details" in storylines.

Joking aside, Sparky, look at any high profile news story, especially "bad" news. Ask yourself how much information is available....and how many fairy tales people still believe.

Giant robots having a brawl caught on video using technology clearly beyond our level that our military launched an attack on... It may not be a lot of information, but it's enough to come to a few pretty safe conclusions.

Not really. "Giant robots having a brawl" I agree with you on, but "technology clearly beyond our level"... the Machination know that, but they've had firsthand experience thanks to Scorponok. The military have some video to analyze. They really don't know very much at all, and "alien robots" is not going to be their first assumption. It just isn't.

[Gomess]

I was there with the rest of you when Dreamwave's TF series began, let alone ended, and I don't *ever* remember their books generating as much discourse.

[Shockwave]

I think the Matrix is a bit like the Locnar from Heavy Metal. Nobody knows what it is or what it does and it's changed hands quite a few times. I think there definately is a plan for it, but I think there's been so much other stuff going on that it just hasn't seen fruition yet.