Transformers - ongoing series

[Sparky Prime]

The fact that you two are going back and forth on this really just kinda proves my point. DC: What a mess!

Yeah, given the contradictory things some of the people at DC have been saying about the post-Flashpoint DC universe, it doesn't seem like they planned it out as well as they should have. Which is odd, because I recall seeing an interview when they were working on Infinite Crisis, saying they learned from the mistakes with CoIE and mapped everything out so they wouldn't have the same problems. Then they go and make a mess of things again with Flashpoint...

[Shockwave]

The fact that you two are going back and forth on this really just kinda proves my point. DC: What a mess!

Yeah, given the contradictory things some of the people at DC have been saying about the post-Flashpoint DC universe, it doesn't seem like they planned it out as well as they should have. Which is odd, because I recall seeing an interview when they were working on Infinite Crisis, saying they learned from the mistakes with CoIE and mapped everything out so they wouldn't have the same problems. Then they go and make a mess of things again with Flashpoint...

Which I think is why Dom and some of the rest of us are getting tired of it. It just keeps going back and forth, with what counts and what doesn't count gets retconned every other year with "Epic Earth shattering event that will change everything forever!" They've just done it so many times that it's almost cliche at this point. I mean how many times can they retcon everything before longtime readers just begin to lose interest?

Anyway, back on topic, I actually have read the recent issues of ongoing. So far, I have to agree with Dom. Last Story on Earth is definitely the winner here with better writing and way better art. I do like the fact that IDW didn't just drop the "on Earth" story without wrapping up the loose ends. The Chaos story... What I don't understand about this is that every time Galvatron and Prime meet up Galvy tries to get Prime to help him save the universe and Prime's always like "Fuck you. Just because... fuck you". It just seems a little out of character for Prime for my liking. I'd always liked to think that Prime would team up if it was in the greater interest but here he just seems to be telling Galvatron to fuck off just because he's a Decepticon. And that doesn't even hold water in this case because in IDW he's not even a Decepticon. Also, the art on Chaos sucks. It was good enough that most of the time I could tell what was going on, but it looks all smeared and hazy. And a lot of the art looks like something I scribbled when I was ten. Last Story on Earth makes me want to finish out the year while Chaos makes me glad I won't be buying comics anymore. It's like night and day. Also, I hate Megatron's design, but I did like how his escape was engineered by the small Megatron pistols turning into drones rather than just saying he's deus ex machina "Uber powerful and can't be held captive by anything anywhere!"

[Onslaught Six]

Atomic Robo 6.3 solicit:
Why aren’t you reading this book? Is THE RESET ADVENTURES OF CAPEMAN really all that compelling? Then why do they have to keep resetting it?

[Dominic]

They've just done it so many times that it's almost cliche at this point. I mean how many times can they retcon everything before longtime readers just begin to lose interest?

The alternative is to keep most everything, the way Marvel does, which implies an incredibly hectic setting. Of course, that makes one wonder how civilization is even recognizable. Seriously, 616 Marvel has an in-context life of ~15 years.

What I don't understand about this is that every time Galvatron and Prime meet up Galvy tries to get Prime to help him save the universe and Prime's always like "Fuck you. Just because... fuck you".

I think that the implication is that Prime does not trust Galvatron. And, really, who can blame him? Of course, Galvatron did make a pretty good showing in "Infestation", so Prime should at least give Galvatron a hearing.

Last Story on Earth makes me want to finish out the year while Chaos makes me glad I won't be buying comics anymore.

You may as well finish out the year and reward IDW for doing something good. I might just drop TF next year, especially given that I know Costa is staying with IDW on 1 title, with a second in the pipeline. (Costa is on "Cobra" and another upcoming title.)

Why aren’t you reading this book? Is THE RESET ADVENTURES OF CAPEMAN really all that compelling? Then why do they have to keep resetting it?

I would want a complete run, especially on a creator owned title.

I will probably drop "New Avengers" some time next year.


Dom
-next week, "Chaos" continues.....joy.

[Onslaught Six]

I would want a complete run, especially on a creator owned title.

Then...go buy the trades. You can always catch up. Hell, I don't have volumes four or five and there has been nothing stopping me from this current adventure. Hell, the rest of the solicit says that 'volume six issue three' is quite a fine point to jump on at.

[Sparky Prime]

Which I think is why Dom and some of the rest of us are getting tired of it. It just keeps going back and forth, with what counts and what doesn't count gets retconned every other year with "Epic Earth shattering event that will change everything forever!" They've just done it so many times that it's almost cliche at this point. I mean how many times can they retcon everything before longtime readers just begin to lose interest?

You're over-exaggerating things. It's hardly every other year that they do these retcon events. Most of them are actually about 10 years apart from each other, with the exception of Flashpoint and Infinite Crisis only having about 5 years between them. And they don't retcon absolutely everything. I would agree it's become a bit of a cliche, but that's more because retcons is something comics in general tend to overuse, not just DC.

[Dominic]

And, here is the preview for this week's issue:


http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia ... +comics%29


Oh man, I am going to miss Costa something awful. If I were not an omniscient reader with "inside" knowledge of Spike, I would actually be agreeing with much of what he was saying on those pages, legal niceties be damned. The ending will likely be a perfunctory return to the post-AHM status quo, but Costa is getting the book their credibly. No McGuffins, no convenient intellectual/moral lapses. Hell, Costa is selling this like the plan from issue one was for any attempt by the TFs to learn and change to fail. (Not sure that is what Costa was actually thinking, but he is selling that nicely here.)


Dom
-might just drop the book now....

[Dominic]

Issue 29:

And, Costa has left the building.

Damn.

This was a good run of comics.

It all comes together, even wrapping up threads from pre-AHM. The conspiracy wraps up in a way that is not really a conspiracy. Megatron's plan created opportunity, and rational action took over. And, it all flows together logically with what Costa set up in issue one. And, damn, Jazz is out of order in this issue. I have mixed feelings about the danglers that Costa left. On the one hand, I want to see them handled right over time. On the other hand, I would not want to see an Abnett or a Furman pick it up.

Grade: A
Thanks Mike.

Dom
-next issue, "Transformers: Defecation".

[Mako Crab]

Dom
-next issue, "Transformers: Defecation".

Hehehe. Regardless of how the next big arc goes or who's handling it, this made me laugh.

[Mako Crab]

So I was reading some reviews and synopsi and read about the big plot twist regarding Spike and his shady dealings.

*spoiler*

Spoiler

He's working with Swindle? Really? So okay, he's so afraid of the destructive power that giant combiner robots are capable of, so he teams up with a guy that makes combiners? REALLY??? The 7 page preview looked interesting for having two guys that, while not completely right, weren't completely wrong either. Spike and Prowl seemed to have a serious moral issue going on there. But apparently Spike being only sort of a villain wasn't good enough, so they toss in the Swindle team-up to make him a full-on villain?