problem with the comics

[Dominic]

One of the posters over at IDW's boards noted that there were some oddities to the art in the current TF arc. Characters appear and disappear, not unlike they did in the original cartoon. (The discrepencies are visual, but not reflected in dialogue, which leads me to thin, the problem is with the artist more than the writer.)

This is, unfortunately, not uncommon. "All Hail Megatron" has the infamous second bridge that shows up on the same page as the Autobots saying that there is only one way across the gorge.

Mistakes like this are just plain sloppy. There is no reason for them. if the artist drops the ball, an editor should notice and correct it. (They are worse than the sorts of things that used to creep into the cartoon, if only because comics are more simple and easy to fix.)

These sorts of mistakes are also the sort of thing that can hold a title back. When I noticed the problems in the current issue of ongoing, I had to mentally revise my grade down a bit. Costa's writing is excellent. But, sloppy mistakes in the art make it hard to regard this title as truly great. And, they kind of play into the stereotype that "Transformers" is a a half-assed series.


Dom
-notes that comics as a whole are spending less time on editors.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, this is what editors are for. I suspect Costa does one of two things with his descriptions: He simply writes "The Autobots with Prime from last issue" or he writes a few specific characters in, hoping someone will fill them out later. (And then nobody ever does.)

Part of me wants to say that it is not necessarily the writer or artist's job to remember which characters were in a certain scene an issue before, and it's the editor's job to reflect that, but another part of me is all, No, writers and artists are held accountable too, and shouldn't be so lazy and forgetful.

If I were Costa, I would seriously be angry that characters I'd written into the background were being left out. But that's because, whenever I wrote TF, I made special consideration as to who my background characters were. (Once, I spent a good week debating which Autobots should be in the background of a certain scene I was writing. I settled on Smokescreen and Inferno because they're known to hang out together and were both '85 characters, fitting with what I was going with in the story.)

[Shockwave]

I would say it's the responsibility of all three. The writer comes up with the story and communicates it to the artist. "There's a gorge and there's only one bridge across. Got it? ONE! " *smacksmacksmack* Then the editor should catch what ever mistakes arise. I think the problem would be where in the art process the mistakes are noticed and the severity. Another bridge in the background isn't as big an error as say drawing Shockwave when it's clearly supposed to be Grimlock.

[Dominic]

The second bridge in AHM is a *huge* error.

"Do not worry. This bridge is the only way across the gorge."

"Uh, are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely. We made sure of it."

"Um....okay...."

"What? What are you complaining about?"

"Well, Sunstreaker just blew himself up to save us and...

"And?" ]

"There is another bridge about 100 yards down that way."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Dammit. Guess I shoulda checked before making such a bold statement about the bridge that Sunstreaker just killed himself to take out."


I would imagine that Costa wrote something geneic like "The Autobots show up and do stuff.", and that the artist blew it. But, Costa could just as easily have written the wrong names in. Either way, it is sloppy.


Dom
-wonders why this seems to happen more with TF that with other franchises.

[Shockwave]

Well yeah, that's what we assume, but it's far enough in the background that you could just say that the remaining bridge doesn't go the the part of the city that the Autobots were. I mean, sure the Insecticons could have crossed the other bridge, but if they had to spend an hour running through other parts of the city to get to the Autobots, it still buys the Autobots the time they needed.

Come to think of it that might be what they meant when they said it was the only bridge across. It was the only bridge across to their part of the city.

I really need to re read AHM.

Shockwave
-Is not necessarily defending the error, just saying it could be explained. It still shouldn't have happened.

[BWprowl]

Just in this issue (#17), I know Broadside and Hoist popped up in groups that I don't remember seeing them in before. What other sort of errors have occurred? Were they really that problematic?

I'm not the most observant comic-reader when it comes to stuff like this, so it doesn't affect me too badly.

[Dominic]

Broadside was with Prime's group from the start of volume 2. I do not recall him jumping around. Not sure about Hoist.

Red Alert should have been with Magnus' contingent. But, he was with Prime's at the beginning of issue 17. Tracks, Blurr and Windcharger, who were also with Magnus, just sort of vanish. Maybe the the Decepticons killed them between issue 16 and 17. But, there is no mention of that.

Is not necessarily defending the error, just saying it could be explained. It still shouldn't have happened.

IDW ain't payin' us to come up with that explanation. (And, they ain't payin' nobody to edit neither.)

Dom
-it is just like the old cartoon!

[Gomess]

-it is just like the old cartoon!

Maybe it's an homage. =p

[Onslaught Six]

Just in this issue (#17), I know Broadside and Hoist popped up in groups that I don't remember seeing them in before. What other sort of errors have occurred? Were they really that problematic?

I'm not the most observant comic-reader when it comes to stuff like this, so it doesn't affect me too badly.

It doesn't bother me too much on a base level either, because they're all just guys in the background. It's just more like...this kind of stuff should be consistant, you know? I know when I was writing I made sure all of the characters who were in a scene were mentioned...and then actually did something.

[Dominic]

The character models are distinctive enough, and the characters often have specialized abilities, (Jetfire's flght).

The other thing is that keeping characters and settings consistent is just a matter of craft. It really is not that hard. There is no "higher" reason for the mistake. And, inconsistencies in one arc are much different than inconsistencies across several, (especially when thost latter inconsistencies are possibly the result of editorial mandates).

Guys just "being in the background" works for large crowd scenes, though only to a point. In a small to mid-sized group, in a series with an ensemble cast, having guys show up in too many places at the same time is the mark of sloppiness.


Dom
-seriously, who is making this comic, SunBow?