Re-Generation One (IDW retro G1)

[Gomess]

I'd still buy it if it had Dan Reed art.

Oh no, no, some of those SHEEEAAAAKKKKK faces still haunt my nightmares. Dan Reed could convince you a robot was in serious pain. And did you see his self-portrait in my Folder of Mystical Wonders thread? Scary stuff.

...Wildman's definitely still got it though, he did artwork for the UK DVD releases of the G1 cartoon.

Senior's on top in my book. With a good colourist (i.e. not a computer), he could draw an IDW comic that I'd spend money on.

[Onslaught Six]

PS Dom, I wouldn't sweat 80.5 if you somehow miss it, since I will bet actual money that it's just going to be a recap issue.

Solicits are out, and that's exactly what it is.

[Dominic]

I got my copy of the FCBD book. Review coming in the next week or so. (Sorry. Things are hectic for the next few days.)


Dom

[andersonh1]

I'm hoping there are some copies left over on Wednesday. Went by the comic shop today and there was a line out the door and down the sidewalk. There was no way I was standing in that, so no free comic for me.

[Sparky Prime]

That's the reason I don't go to free comic book day anymore. It's always overcrowded and it seems liked they're always out of the free comic I want by the time I get there anyway.

[Dominic]

Sorry guys. I was not able to get extras this year. Truth be told, I would not have been able to get a full set of FCBD books this year even had I set out to.

From what I saw at the few places I did visit, stores had stricter limits on what people could take. And, they were ordering less. My regular shop had a "2 comics per customer" limit. And, there was a TF and an Avengers book, so that was it for me. I managed to bulk up a bit later at a couple of other places. (I might have an extra 80.5. But, I need to let somebody get back to me.)

Hub Comics had extras on their kiddy table pretty late yesterday.

http://www.hubcomics.com/

Maybe you could order from them?



issue 80.5:

Because this is the first time in several years that there has been a new-content FCBD book of a title that I would normally read and review, I am going to split this review in to two parts, and give two separate grades. The first will reflect FCBD. The second will be a "regular" review.

FCBD:
One of my pet peeves on FCBD is publishers releasing new content for a title that has a built in (and often rabid) fan base. This is a fundamentally bad idea because it creates a situation where established fans are competing with portential fans. Extablished fans have every incentive to pick up the new content for the series that they read to begin with. And, if potential fans do not come back after FCBD, then the comic is effectively wasted. "Transformers Re-Generation 1" makes this mistake on an epic scale. Not only does TF as a franchise have a built in fan base, but "Re-Generation 1" is a book that only exists because a hard core fanbase called for it. They (well, we) essentially got a free comic book, and likely crowded out potential fans.

What I think is interesting is that a comic shop at a local mall had run through on "Re-Generation 1" by noon or so. But, a dedicated comic shop nearby had piles of them. (I snagged two extras for people. One of which is already spoken for, and the other might be.) I have to wonder how many of the mall foot-traffic people will come back to the comic shop next week, next month or next year. And, I have to wonder how many annoyed fans were crowded out.

To add insult to unjury, it would have been easier for IDW to reprint issue 80 from the origional run as a FCBD issue, and to save 80.5 for the proper launch of the book.


Regular:
The issue is framed with some sort of "seeing through time" gimmick. I am not sure if that is going to play a role in the upcoming book, or if it was just intended as a way to splice flash-backs in with "present" tense panels.

Furman is definitely writing this like it is the original series. But, he seems a bit more disciplined than he has been at other points in the past. The flash back scenes have a faux-epic tone to them that the present tense scenes (thankfully) lack. (Over-use of exclammation points is a problem. But, it is not as severe as it has been in other things that Furman has written over the years.) Stylistic questions aside, Furman paces this issue perfectly. His jumps between past and prestent are actually pretty smooth. And, he does a remarkable job of concisely summarizing 6+ years of comics from 20+ years ago.

Wildman and Baskerville are in top form. I confess to being worried that age would have had its way with them, or that they would just be riding a gravy train. But, their art is up to par. Wildman even manages to maintain panel to panel continuity...over two decades. (As an aside: Jhiaxus shows up in a montage, which I suppose implies that G2 happened in this timeline.)

There is also a short preview for "Autocracy", which is being complied in a month or two. From what I have seen and heard, "Autocracy" contradicts both IDW's main book and all variants of Hasbro's "Alinged" setting. But, the high concept has potential.

If Furman can avoid his worst habits on "re-Generation 1", and it avoids becoming the "Robot Archies" to "A Real American Hero's" "Archies with Guns", I am sold.


Free Comic Book Day Grade: C/D
late edit: revised grade upward. (Honestly, the original grade was not entirely fair. Normally, my FCBD haul would include garbage like Aspen's preview books, which would be far worse than this. This year, I pulled fewer books, and thus I have been a bit less forgiving in grading what I did get.)

Regular Grade: A/ B



Dom
-and, after 21 years, this book arguably still has better publishing frequency than some early Image titles.

[Onslaught Six]

That's the reason I don't go to free comic book day anymore. It's always overcrowded and it seems liked they're always out of the free comic I want by the time I get there anyway.

I didn't have any problem getting what I wanted nor a problem with overcrowding--there were some people in the shop but no more or less than usual.

Sorry guys. I was not able to get extras this year. Truth be told, I would not have been able to get a full set of FCBD books this year even had I set out to.

From what I saw at the few places I did visit, stores had stricter limits on what people could take. And, they were ordering less. My regular shop had a "2 comics per customer" limit. And, there was a TF and an Avengers book, so that was it for me. I managed to bulk up a bit later at a couple of other places. (I might have an extra 80.5. But, I need to let somebody get back to me.)

That is bullshit. What's the point of the event if not to try out new books that you might not have heard of? How is Atomic Robo supposed to gain any new readers from its FCBD issue if someone goes into the store and can only get two books? Of course they'll grab mainstream offerings or offerings from franchises they already know about. FCBD is supposed to bring new people into the hobby. (And I always make sure I buy 'something' when I go in. In my case, it was a pair of old Now! Terminator comics from 1990 with painted art, and an old Archie Turtles comic.)

The issue is framed with some sort of "seeing through time" gimmick. I am not sure if that is going to play a role in the upcoming book, or if it was just intended as a way to splice flash-backs in with "present" tense panels.

WITNESS!

Furman is definitely writing this like it is the original series. But, he seems a bit more disciplined than he has been at other points in the past. The flash back scenes have a faux-epic tone to them that the present tense scenes (thankfully) lack. (Over-use of exclammation points is a problem. But, it is not as severe as it has been in other things that Furman has written over the years.) Stylistic questions aside, Furman paces this issue perfectly. His jumps between past and prestent are actually pretty smooth. And, he does a remarkable job of concisely summarizing 6+ years of comics from 20+ years ago.

The summaries are less summaries as they are pictures of events that happened with vague descriptions. I know that one of the panels depicts Starscream killing dudes in the Underbase saga, but how many others are going to know that? The word "Underbase" is never even mentioned. (It's possible that it's not going to come up during the new issues, but even so.)

(As an aside, Starscream is coloured properly in those panels, which makes me wonder if he was in the actual Underbase saga. Starscream's colours were pretty famous for being entirely wrong in the comics.)

Wildman and Baskerville are in top form. I confess to being worried that age would have had its way with them, or that they would just be riding a gravy train. But, their art is up to par. Wildman even manages to maintain panel to panel continuity...over two decades. (As an aside: Jhiaxus shows up in a montage, which I suppose implies that G2 happened in this timeline.)

Furman has said that G2 proper hasn't happened, but "events similar to it" have occured and "some elements were kept." In other words, I'm guessing not a strict reading of the text (i.e. character deaths can be ignored) but the vague events (Jhiaxus and the G2 Decepticons invade) still happened. In the present-day scenes, Megatron appears to be gone (and has been for a while), so take that for what it's worth.

There is also a short preview for "Autocracy", which is being complied in a month or two. From what I have seen and heard, "Autocracy" contradicts both IDW's main book and all variants of Hasbro's "Alinged" setting. But, the high concept has potential.

I've read some summaries, and yeah, continuity-wise it's a 'mess.'

[Dominic]

I didn't have any problem getting what I wanted nor a problem with overcrowding--there were some people in the shop but no more or less than usual.

I saw accounts of some stores being very crowded. 2 of the 3 stores I visited (two in the morning, and one in the evening) were pretty crowded. The one that was not crowded has run out of TF comics by noon or so.

In other years, I have seen crowds, particularly at stores that market FCBD aggressively.

For the record, Ryall did not take kindly to my "new content is a bad idea" criticism. He thinks that I undervalued the effort put in to producing new content.

And, in response, I would say that I appreciate the effort. But, it is arguably wasted because it sets up "competition" between established and potential fans.

That is bullshit. What's the point of the event if not to try out new books that you might not have heard of? How is Atomic Robo supposed to gain any new readers from its FCBD issue if someone goes into the store and can only get two books? Of course they'll grab mainstream offerings or offerings from franchises they already know about. FCBD is supposed to bring new people into the hobby. (And I always make sure I buy 'something' when I go in. In my case, it was a pair of old Now! Terminator comics from 1990 with painted art, and an old Archie Turtles comic.)

Bullshit how?

Stores loose money on FCBD. They pay for the FCBD books. And, whle participation is not compulsory, I am given to understand that Diamond "strongly encourages" participation. And, while you or I buy stuff when we go in to a comic store (which is something we would normally do to begin with) other people do not buy anything. They take their free stuff and go home. Stores need enough people like us to buy enough to make up for money lost on the FCBD offerings.

And, while the added sales are helpful, FCBD effectively adds an operating cost for the day. I would honestly be curious to see not only how much comic stores made compared to most other Saturdays, but how much they made per customer/group who came through the door on FCBD.

Stores are going to limit quantities in order to stretch their FCBD inventory, and to keep people from just taking one of everything. (I used to make "one of everything", but I also passed along most of my haul (aside from the glorified ad copy). But, how many of those books would normally just get thrown out?


And, while I agree that FCBD should be a chance to try something new (both for new and old fans), if somebody is reading comics to begin with, they likely already have books that they are reading. If there is a FCBD editionwith new content for a book that they normally read, it stands to reason that they will gravitate towards that.

I may be curious about some other book, (FCBD is why I occassionally pick up Bongo product). But, I am not going to skip an issue of a book that I am reading to begin with in order to grab a random issue of something else. Similarly, I was not able to get a copy of "Yo Gabba Gabba" for Honey Bear's kid until the 3rd store. At my first stop, I had to grab TF and Avengers. My second stop did not have "Yo Gabba Gabba". I just happened to luck out on the way home.

The summaries are less summaries as they are pictures of events that happened with vague descriptions. I know that one of the panels depicts Starscream killing dudes in the Underbase saga, but how many others are going to know that? The word "Underbase" is never even mentioned. (It's possible that it's not going to come up during the new issues, but even so.)

The text for the Underbase scene mentions high casualties. That more or less fits the most infamous purge storyline in the comics, if not the franchise.

All of the art in the montage is accompanied by text saying roughly what happened.

I am not sure about Starscream's colouring. I always put down his colouring in the comic as just another variation between the toys, cartoons and comics.

I've read some summaries, and yeah, continuity-wise it's a 'mess.'

Maybe they will reconcile it later. Or, maybe it is meant to be its own thing. (This would make sense if they try to keep the digital comics accessible to new readers.)


Dom
-plans to read and review "Yo Gabba Gabba" soon.

[Onslaught Six]

I didn't have any problem getting what I wanted nor a problem with overcrowding--there were some people in the shop but no more or less than usual.

I saw accounts of some stores being very crowded. 2 of the 3 stores I visited (two in the morning, and one in the evening) were pretty crowded. The one that was not crowded has run out of TF comics by noon or so.

In other years, I have seen crowds, particularly at stores that market FCBD aggressively.

For the record, Ryall did not take kindly to my "new content is a bad idea" criticism. He thinks that I undervalued the effort put in to producing new content.

And, in response, I would say that I appreciate the effort. But, it is arguably wasted because it sets up "competition" between established and potential fans.

I don't see the competition you're claiming, really don't. For one thing, as in anything where shit is being given out for free, it's a first-come first-served thing, and supplies are, naturally, limited. Get there early if you want the best shot at grabbing Literally Everything. In a case like this, 80.5 is as much for new readers as it is fans of the old series.

Bullshit how?

Stores loose money on FCBD. They pay for the FCBD books. And, whle participation is not compulsory, I am given to understand that Diamond "strongly encourages" participation. And, while you or I buy stuff when we go in to a comic store (which is something we would normally do to begin with) other people do not buy anything. They take their free stuff and go home. Stores need enough people like us to buy enough to make up for money lost on the FCBD offerings.

And, while the added sales are helpful, FCBD effectively adds an operating cost for the day. I would honestly be curious to see not only how much comic stores made compared to most other Saturdays, but how much they made per customer/group who came through the door on FCBD.

Stores are going to limit quantities in order to stretch their FCBD inventory, and to keep people from just taking one of everything. (I used to make "one of everything", but I also passed along most of my haul (aside from the glorified ad copy). But, how many of those books would normally just get thrown out?

The idea is that people might enter the store, have a good experience, and come back. Sure, there'll be a degree of people who don't ever return (until the next year's FCBD) but that's true of literally anything. Some people are only interested in free comics. Some of them might read some of those free issues, and decide to buy a trade on Amazon rather than return to the store. In cases like that, the shops might just have to eat it.

Incidentally, if they really wanted to do it right, they could encourage people to buy things by giving away comics with purchases. Limit someone to three entirely free, and then add a free one for every single issue they buy. (Buying a trade grants you as many free ones as you want.)

And, while I agree that FCBD should be a chance to try something new (both for new and old fans), if somebody is reading comics to begin with, they likely already have books that they are reading. If there is a FCBD editionwith new content for a book that they normally read, it stands to reason that they will gravitate towards that.

Yeah, but it also stands that if you're reading comics, you might want to take this chance to try out something for free. For example, this is a good chance for someone to grab Mega Man and see if they'd like it.

I may be curious about some other book, (FCBD is why I occassionally pick up Bongo product). But, I am not going to skip an issue of a book that I am reading to begin with in order to grab a random issue of something else. Similarly, I was not able to get a copy of "Yo Gabba Gabba" for Honey Bear's kid until the 3rd store. At my first stop, I had to grab TF and Avengers. My second stop did not have "Yo Gabba Gabba". I just happened to luck out on the way home.

If the first store had allowed any amount, then you could've gotten what you wanted in one fell swoop.

Also, I envy you and your having multiple shops. You actually have a choice! My two comic shops are like three hours apart. (This made hitting my regular shop in State College, and the one in Indiana where my friends live, problematic. I opted to skip on the regular shop, and stop in this week sometime.)

[Shockwave]

Last time I was there for FCBD, my comic shop actually encouraged me to pick up one of everything.