TF Views

There are progressive elements in the Joe fandom that can accept things from as late as '93.

TM, this was always billed as an ongoing. The first post in the thread says "Ryall called it an ongoing".

He may have seen a mis-quote somewhere. (It is hard to believe that this is going to be an ongoing, even without considering the many problems it has.)

TF vs GI Joe #1's covers revealed.

Main:
http://tomscioli.tumblr.com/post/834293 ... tom-scioli
http://tomscioli.tumblr.com/post/834287 ... oe-1-cover

Subscriber variant:
http://tomscioli.tumblr.com/post/836306 ... t-cover-by

Rob Liefeld (above) and Ed Piskor (below) alternate covers:
http://tomscioli.tumblr.com/post/830801 ... piskor-for

Liefeld has been a comics industry professional for decades, and still the anatomy on Snake Eyes there is a completely screwup. It's shocking that he continues to get work.

Meanwhile, Scioli's art (the main artist and co-writer for this book) continues to look like something a 7th grader would have done, trying to emulate pack-in comics from the early '80s.

Of all of that, Snake Eyes is the one you think looks bad? How about Megatron's arms in the second Scioli cover? Fuck, I can draw Megatron better than that. I know this because I have just while doodling at work. Snake Eye's just looks like a Ninja Spiderman, but even Bazooka in the Piske cover is pretty terrible. His head is WAY too small for that body. I mean, seriously, did IDW just have an amateur night or something?

Wow... Yeah, those are some pretty bad covers. Liefeld, seriously, how does this guy keep getting work drawing? His work is some of the most ridiculed art in the business, of which this is another example of. The cover with Megatron was actually drawn by James Stokoe but yeah, it doesn't look like a professional artist drew it. Piskor's cover, the characters are also mis-proportioned. I'd say the best of them is Scioli's cover, not that's much competition here... I really have to question, why did they choose these artists for the covers? Why not some of the regular Transformers artists?

Shockwave wrote:Of all of that, Snake Eyes is the one you think looks bad? How about Megatron's arms in the second Scioli cover? Fuck, I can draw Megatron better than that. I know this because I have just while doodling at work. Snake Eye's just looks like a Ninja Spiderman, but even Bazooka in the Piske cover is pretty terrible. His head is WAY too small for that body. I mean, seriously, did IDW just have an amateur night or something?

The variant cover isn't Scioli, it's James Stokoe, and I think the intention is to make these more like underground comics, just doodle the night away and put in some weird stuff - I don't care for it either. But Liefeld's cover isn't trying to be any of that, that's just Liefeld being Liefeld - we're lucky anybody has any goddamned feet, such as they are. And his bot art is... I don't even know how to describe it, it's without thought, it's shapes without significant detail, Bumblebee is like armor and Optimus is like a Playskool toy.

Sparky Prime wrote:Wow... Yeah, those are some pretty bad covers. Liefeld, seriously, how does this guy keep getting work drawing? His work is some of the most ridiculed art in the business, of which this is another example of. The cover with Megatron was actually drawn by James Stokoe but yeah, it doesn't look like a professional artist drew it. Piskor's cover, the characters are also mis-proportioned. I'd say the best of them is Scioli's cover, not that's much competition here... I really have to question, why did they choose these artists for the covers? Why not some of the regular Transformers artists?

What shocks me is that Liefeld's work is some of the most ridiculed AND has commanded the most dollars for getting him to do it.

I think Piskor's characters are well-proportioned except obviously for Roadblock, and I think that's a style choice. Stokoe's Cobra Rattler's proportions actually were driving me more batty, but I know it's not reasonable to complain about those things, that's just a nitpick.

Scioli and Stokoe's covers I think tie in my eyes as "best", which isn't saying much. Scioli has 2 houses in the midground with so much business going on that it looks like Soundwave is walking through the middle, and judging by Gung Ho coming out of the window that appears to be at lowest a 3-story house that we're only seeing the top half of, yet the foreground elements are 2 characters standing waist high suggesting they're near the ground, so unless those houses are built right next to a very sharp hill (or Snake Eyes and ... uh, I have no idea, Flint? are standing on a house we can't see, like they just climbed up onto the wrong house). Then there's the background where apparently Starscream is stiff and 10 times bigger to the humans near him than Soundwave. Add it all up and that stuff is a subconscious distraction as it makes NO SENSE AT ALL.

I would guess the reason they didn't get some of the regular artists is that they're trying to grow the brand out of the regular readers and into hipster town where "old junk is now fun to laugh at".

uh, I have no idea, Flint?

The hat and sunglasses make me think it's supposed to be General Flagg:
http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/c ... flagg.html

The Liefeld cover is the best one. How the hell did things go so wrong?

My comic shop was out of these 45 minutes after opening, but put one aside for me anyway. It is worse than I expected, and the fact that every page is printed with fake pulp/weathering is quite telling to what they really have in mind here. This may as well be a Mad Magazine piece, there are a few funny ideas but as a page-turner from real licenses, it's unbearable. And the worst character, surprisingly? Snake Eyes.

It's like they're trying to be an "Anchorman" type of comic book, using a lot of shortcuts to get a gag across, but comic books are not such a forgiving medium for backwards-gazing.

Onslaught Six wrote:

uh, I have no idea, Flint?

The hat and sunglasses make me think it's supposed to be General Flagg:
http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/c ... flagg.html

Sure, looks right.

Dominic wrote:The Liefeld cover is the best one. How the hell did things go so wrong?

The devil.

My FCBD thoughts on this issue will be in the main comics thread. Here are my "review of the comic" thoughts:

Yeah, it sucks. We know.

It is bad in every respect. The writing, the pencils, the inks, the colours, the lettering (for fuck's sake, the lettering), even the page layouts.

Yes, all of that is a stylistic choice. But, "stylistic bad" is still bad. And, it is much easier to see past when the big creative kahuna behind the book (Tom Scioli) has some apparent talent to begin with. But, he does not. All his work is indie-grade crap. Guys like Mowry and the cover artists are just filling out work orders. (Barber should take some heat because he is the conductor of this trainwreck.)

As is often the case with bad comics, there are a few ideas and potentially good sequences that would add to a legitimate comic. But, in a book like this, they only accentuate a sense of waste and loss. (The "radio static" for Cybertronian language was a nice gimmick, even though the lettering ruined it in places. And, Starscream chasing BB at the beginning could be salvaged by a more talented writer and artist.)

There is one thing that could save this book, and only as a stylistic riff. If the book evolves over the course of 2 or 3 years from evoking bad pack-in books to mid-80s mediocrity, to competent 80s level, to 90s, to millenial. Then, it could work as a stylistic riff...maybe. ("Lord Havok and the Extremists" and "Dark X-Men" worked on that level, especially the latter. But, I am not sure that either would have worked as a regular series.)

If it's going to be an ongoing, and it lasts long enough, it'd be cool to see someone with actual talent give it a go.