TF Views

Maximum Dinobots #2: I do not know what they put into, or maybe took out of, Furman's diet, but it is working. Furman's recent work on the property has been....lackluster to say the least. It is good to see him hitting stride. I do not know for certain if this is the influence of an editor or simply Furman having re-centered himself after a recent drubbing. Either way, this issue has some nice moments, both in terms of plot and subtle Easter-Eggs.
Grade: B Furman is such a nice guy that slamming his work is no fun, which only makes this series more of a pleasure to read.

Maximum Dinobots #3:

Despite having one of the worst names I have seen on a comic this decade, this series continues to be a pleasure to read. There is a bit of "moving the guys around to fit with the next story", but it is presented smoothly enough.
Grade: B It is good to see Furman getting back into form.

BWprowl on Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:21 am

Maximum Dinobots has me on edge though. The pessimist in me is like "There's no WAY Furman can keep this up!", but then I think I really don't want to second-guess this. For now, I'll just be glad it didn't turn out as bad as it could have. I mean, I was literally dreading this series: A "Fill in the gap" series between Revelation and AHM? And it's a DINOBOTS story written by FURMAN?! If he can finish out of this one as strong as he's started, I just may forgive Furman for the Beast Wars comics and Spotlight: Galvatron.

I'll agree. The pacing slowed down a bit too much in this one, but it wasn't anywhere near the agonizing levels of 'Devastation'. I liked Swoop a lot in this one, mainly because he made some really good points. Ye gods, I love non-stupid Dinobots.

TF Maximum Dinobots #4: For a book with a stupid name, this is a pleasure to read. Heck, it is good when compared to books with better names. If the franchise has more books like this, it would be healthier. And, if Furman produced work of this caliber more regularly, readers would be happier.
Grade: A

I think I'll pick up the trade for this. I like what I've seen in the preview pages and such, and the story seems good enough. And if Dom likes it, well.

I never thought my happy reaction could be a selling point.

"This work was not panned by Dominic Guglieme, and he hates everything."

Dom
-actually gives more positive reviews than negative. But, the negatives are easier, and more fun, to recall.

Yes, precisely! Actually, some of the things you hate tend to be things I coincidentally like, but a lot of the stuff we like also coincides, hence--if you like it, I probably will too.

I still love Max-Dino (A hilariously bad abbreviation that I just made up) with issue #4, and I gotta say that it's helping Swoop into overtaking Sludge as my favorite Dinobot. I'm a bit on edge with the ending though, as it looks like Furman's setting himself up for a big ol' clusterf*** that may get more out of hand than he realizes. But because I really like this series, I'll withold judgement until issue five. As it stands, we're still firmly entrenched in flavor country here. I ESPECIALLY dug the bit with Hunter pulling the plug on Sunstreaker, as it adds TONS to 'Streaker's character in terms of his feelings towards humans and the decisions he made in AHM. Great going there on Furman's part (ye gods, when was the last time I said THAT?!). Actually, am I the only one getting a decidedly Classic Furman vibe from this book? Honestly that's only one more compliment towards it, but does it remind anyone else of Furman's earlier work?

I'm definitely getting Classic Furman, here. This is Furman's best use of Grimlock since G2, where we're getting something new from the character instead of Angsty Generic Anti-Hero (War Within Grimlock gave the likes of Lobo a run for their money). It has a very UK vibe thanks to the SWAT team Dinobots more than anything else, and it's well appreciated. For all the things we've said against Furman's post-G2 work in general, this just goes to show he can still churn out a very good story.

Why's he been holding out on us?

It's because Furman's been on this Goddamn kick of having to tell his Epic Universe Ending Story. Think about it--he tried to do that with both Armada/Energon, which bombed, and also with DW's G1, which also bombed, and with Universe, which also bombed. AND Unicron randomly turned up in those UK Movie comics, for Primus' sake. And then along comes the IDWverse with all that crazy Dead Universe stuff. And that's not even going into the clusterfuck of the BW comics.

I'm thinking maybe Furman has finally gotten as sick of his cosmic gibberwank as we have. He got all of that out of his system now, or at least he's realized that his best stuff happened long before all those Unicronian bits. With the exception of G2.

I dunno, Furman has produced my favourite renditions of Unicron, which is certainly to his credit. Problem is, he's done it, and done it again, and rinsed and repeated. Anything good becomes bad with enough repetition. Except repaints of Bruticus, which will never ever get old.