TF Views

Doubledealer: IDW has stopped even pretending their character-focused one-shots were self-contained a while back. (This one is listed being part of the larger "Revelations" arc.) In this case, I am getting the sense this comic was either written, or re-written, at the 11th hour with the intention of accounting for as many dangling plot threads as possible. The "look at all that is happening" elements dominate the book, and it fails as a character study. The fact that stuff happening is not really that interesting only serves to thin the gruel further.
Grade: F If I did not know better, I would swear that Furman was trying to get everything into the book before it gets cancelled As far as I know, IDW is stable.


Dom
-got nuthin'

Dominic wrote:If I did not know better, I would swear that Furman was trying to get everything into the book before it gets cancelled

From what I've heard, IDW hasn't been happy with the sales numbers their TF books have been getting. So they decided to shake things up with the story and go in a new direction. As a result, Furman has had to squeeze a lot more into the recent Spotlight issues than he wanted in order to wrap things up.

I know IDW has shaken up things in terms of publishing frequency. I think there has been a new TF book every week for over a month now. Granted, part of that is reprint books. But, TF is theoretically enough for me to go to the store every week, without reading Diamond, and just assuming I will find something.

The mistake IDW made with Furman is that they functionally put the guy in charge of an entire line of books despite the fact he passed his prime about 5 years ago. Furman's last consistently good run was at Dreamwave, and his writing went south before DW did. (When DW first collapsed, I put Furman's decline down to the fact he was probably distracted by finances and such.) Furman has taken to ripping off other comics for ideas. Ripping off movies is shabby, though common, for the industry. But, Furman is ripping off other comics, including titles written by his old Marvel UK buddy Dan Abnett.

My question is more why Furman would be forcing things into "Revelations". Did IDW give him a definite time-limit or quota of some kind? There is a certain desperation to the Furman-written TF books that was not there even a few months ago.

dom
-hears Chuck Dixon is looking for work.

His old buddy nuthin', Furman's ripping himself off in places! The Ascending=Omega Point. You know it.

Yeah, but outside of extreme academic circles, that sort of thing is okay. (And, at least "Omega Point" had a point, unlike Ass-ending. I guess is is possible to crib from yourself and still miss the point.) Ripping off Dan Abnett, a guy who has written far more, and of higher quality, than Furman despite being about the same age and having a similar background, is just plain rude. (Abnett may write a good deal of filler, but he ads to the books he is truly associated with.)

Dom
-thinks Rob Tokar deserves more credit for the late-run US books.

Dominic wrote:The mistake IDW made with Furman is that they functionally put the guy in charge of an entire line of books despite the fact he passed his prime about 5 years ago.

I'd have to disagree. I've enjoyed Furman's run on IDW's TF continuity. Granted I think there is room for improvement, but it isn't that bad either.

Spotlight: Doubledealer was ridiculous. It's Doubledealer's only decent piece of spotlight action 'ever' (Short of Spotlight Hot Rod), he gets minimal time, spends it angsting over his totally amazing deception, and then.. It doesn't help that I love Doubledealer as a character, but what a whopping waste of potential, he wasn't portrayed as a mercenary at all. Hooray, this is apparently progress. The parts of the issue that did not feature Doubledealer were more interesting.

Doubledealer made a good showing in the UK comics. (Yes, I know that was 20 years ago. I am just trying to make O86 feel better. I probably just made him feel worse. Great. Just great. One more thing I screwed up. I probably made him cry.)

As for Furman, even if you like the IDW run, it is not as good as much of his previous work. The few bright spots in the run, mostly in some of the "Spotlight" specials, read like old Furman, while much of the rest of the IDW run seems to be ambling along, counting time to something that Furman and co were not quite sure about. Most writers need editors, even the big names. (Granted, guys like Johns or Nicezia are often led wrong by editors, but that is another set of problems.) On TF, Furman is like Morrison, Ennis or Bendis in that he probably enjoys very little editorial over-sight. I will give Furman credit for not being as bad as childish as Ennis, as crass as Bendis or as capricious as Morrison. But, he does share the short-sightedness and insularity of the latter two.


Dom
-really wants to see Morrison write TF, if it could be like "All Star Superman", not "Final Crisis".

My short, short summary of AHM 1, 2, and Doubledealer:

Issue 1: Lots of destruction. Minimal-to-nonexistent plot.
Issue 2: Lots more destruction. Minimal-to-nonexistent plot.
I enjoyed them both for being stupid fun, but there's really no meat on these bones.

Spotlight Doubledealer:
The bulb in the spotlight burnt out. The stage went dark. When the lights came back on, there was a different cast!

Gomess wrote:The UK's in a climate lately where as soon as you start talking about things that are out of 'our hands', we stop listening.

So, like America, then?