|
|
Post by Fortmax2020 on Jul 11, 2008 17:00:52 GMT
I had a click flick through this in FPE this afternoon (under the careful watch of the staff there), but that was all it took to read it. I'll possibly pick up the trade as that's what the story felt more suited to, but for the first time I'm considering not even buying it but waiting for the local library to get it in to try it out first.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2008 17:19:08 GMT
The other thing that irks me somewhat is the so called Megatron/Starscream "dynamic" that most of the American cartoon fans rave about. Am I the only one who is a bit sick of the two of them bickering or one-upping each other all the time? It was done to death in the original cartoon, comics and most recently in Devastation. Change the record already and focus on something new! Sorry if I'm sounding a bit negative, I'm just not a fan of Starscream and, in my opinion, he only serves to drag the character of Megatron down. I agree with you there but as long as there are raving mad fanboys who crave a Starscream vs. Megatron Showdown then there will always be stories to please them - even if some people are getting quite tired of it now. |
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 11, 2008 18:41:20 GMT
The thing is, the only time the Megatron/Starscream dynamic worked for me was in the first few issues of the US comic, where they both knew the game they were playing, with Starscream being quite subtle in his attempts to undermine Megatron, rather than attempting to call Megatron out publicly he just offered some suggestions and made sure he was seen doing the "right" things. Now if that dynamic had continued on I would see the point in raving about it but in the cartoon it was betrayal of the week as far as Starscream was concerned. "He's blown his vocal components I guess that makes me the new leader."?! I mean seriously WTF?!
Simon did it justice in The Enemy Within but after that I'm struggling to find stories where it worked. Though the riffing on it in G2 was well done.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by karla on Jul 11, 2008 19:21:06 GMT
is all hail megatron suppossed to be a follow up from megatron origin?
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 11, 2008 20:01:14 GMT
Not as such. It's meant to be a year after the Furman Revelation Spotlights, which follow on from Devastation.
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 11:49:45 GMT
As mentioned, it works really well as a jump-on point - all you need to know is that these guys are the villains and the other guys are the goodies. Then you get a straightforward "the baddies are causing mass carnage on Earth and we can't stop them, and the goodies are near-defected". Fine.
And the Constructicons message to Earth is bloody funny.
Problem is, it doesn't feel like these are the same 'Cons and the same world as in the -ations. The new designs and Soundwave walking around, well this is a year later. But Starscream and Megatron don't quite feel like the same people we just saw in Devastation (Megatron's telling Starscream to hold back? That was what Starscream got revived to say to Megs!), and their attack doesn't appear to fit the Phases.
And suddenly humans don't know about the Transformers? A fuck-off great big one rampaged around destroying ambulances, a spaceship flew over a town, a whole bunch of them fought another one in broad daylight on live TV, a big robot dinosaur stomped around in full view of everyone...
"We thought they were just a hoax!" That's bloody retarded, sorry. It's more so when it's the Air Force saying that. I could just about buy that the government ran a disinformation campaign on the civvies, but surely they'd tell the army what's going on?
The biggest sin is that this is twenty two pages and the first twenty are an extended fight scene that goes into next issue that, as of yet, has no knowable motive or point and isn't giving us many character bits. There's just not enough happening. In contrast, Shane only needs two pages (and quite well done ones) to show the Autobot side of things.
While I think of it - the Autobots are on Cybertron. I'm not sure if Shane's unaware that IDW Cybertron is an uninhabitable toxic mess (it certainly looks calm and peaceful) or if he's saying "they're so desperate they're forced to be on Cybertron".
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 14, 2008 15:25:49 GMT
I can't help but but feel a 'ONE YEAR LATER' approach would work best if the actual stories it was apparently set a year after, you know, actually concluded so that we knew when it was a year after. Going by reactions on-line it seems to be confusing folk as to whether some of the questions thrown up are in AHM or Revelation, which is still running.
Is AHM a year after Revelation part 1 or a year after Revelation concludes in full? The publication schedule would appear to indicate the former, but I doubt that is the intention.
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 14, 2008 16:26:13 GMT
I don't think I can form an opinion on AHM until at least issue 3.
But if I was to go on the first issue alone then I would say, no, don't get it.
The storyline has defaulted to nonsense (I'd clearly been spoiled as a 'Transformers' reader with the intelligence, mystery and characterisations of the Spotlights and Ations) with shallow destruction and characterisation. Megatron and Starscream play off unfunny innuendo with each other and that's about it.
Oh. Also, as if right out of the film "Top Gun" one particular human kisses a photo of his girlfriend (which covers essential cockpit instrumentation) before allowing his plane to be bitch-slapped by Megatron.
As Charles said, the last two pages are the most interesting. But 2/22 are terrible odds for a new beginning.
Pictures are pretty, though.
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 16:48:35 GMT
Well, I'd say 3/22 - the Constructicons appearance is fun. But come on, we didn't need two pages of them arriving. Cut one from there and shorten the jets arrival, you could save two pages from that sequence without really dampening the impact.
Then cut the "Decepticons shrug off jets" by a page; lose the splash page of the 5-page battle. That gives four pages in which to explain what's going on and build things up more on the Decepticon side. And I'm sure someone else could cut things more!
Re One Year Later: I presume from Escalation, based on the "a new battleground" and Optimus fighting Megatron.
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 17:13:01 GMT
Shane has said this series will not be touching on Decepticon facsimilies (a key tool of Decepticon invasions) or Ultra-Energon (the reason for the Decepticon invasion). Ehwha?
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 14, 2008 17:13:21 GMT
Hmm.
As Charles says, the "in-story" explanation is it seems one year after Escalation as there's a flashback panel that looks like a fight scene from Escalation. I wondered if it was one year after Revelation or Maximum Dinobots or maybe AHM is set soon after the end of Maximum Dinobots to (presumably) get Sunstreaker reunited with the other Autobots.
Actually, AHM issue 1 does throw up a lot of questions. I suppose it's very much a wait-till-we-see sort of thing. But 12 monthly issues might be too long a wait for some readers.
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 17:42:45 GMT
I suppose a first issue of a new direction is meant to throw up questions.
"This bears no resemblance to their previous tactics and seems pointless, why are they doing it?" was probably not meant to be one of them though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 14, 2008 19:45:02 GMT
Shane McCarthy gets a touch defensive at times in that thread and more than a little pissy I felt. He really should take a leaf out of Simon Furman's book when it comes to the online thing.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 20:13:05 GMT
Simon got a bit pissy over Ascending #4.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 14, 2008 20:23:19 GMT
Did he really? Never saw but then I bailed on the Ascending with issue 1 so didn't really check on comments regarding it, save for those made here.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 14, 2008 20:41:58 GMT
Shane McCarthy gets a touch defensive at times in that thread and more than a little pissy I felt. He really should take a leaf out of Simon Furman's book when it comes to the online thing. Andy It is a bit of a train-wreck that thread, isn't it? -Ralph |
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 20:51:14 GMT
Well, I only saw the one post by him being pissy but he was pretty annoyed. It is a bit of a train-wreck that thread, isn't it? -Ralph I better start reading it then! |
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 14, 2008 21:55:40 GMT
If I had to pay £2.60 for every three minutes and I could only see them on a monthly basis, YES.
This is more like Genesis Of The Daleks Part 1, if we weren't shown that the Doctor's here on behalf of the Time Lords to stop the Daleks and it was airing before Robot.
EDIT: For prosterity, some more off-the-top-of-head ways of pulling it off better:
a) Do the whole thing from the POV of the humans in NYC and not the Decepticons, who are briefly glimpsed and overheard (Clovercon!). Suddenly this issue is a done-in-one story and raises questions since, well, there's a narrative reason why we're not hearing it.
b) Have the Decepticons talk some more during the attack, in ways that establish what's going on.
c) Have a series of captions that have Decepticon strategic reports/a character's private journal thoughts/what Megatron told the troops before they were off/a history book from the future that's about the Decepticon Occupation, so we can get information at the same time as explodo. This is a really old comic technique, for Primus' sake.
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 15, 2008 9:00:08 GMT
Maybe sometimes creators shouldn't be so close to their readerbase if they can't handle any negative reactions.
Since every opinion is entirely subjective, one writer may think a certain event/dialogue exchange/idea is amazing where the reader might think not. Sometimes a creative team are right on target, sometimes they're slightly off, and sometimes they're way off the mark. No matter what, though, the (paying) reader is entitled to share their opinion.
Still, I don't think the transition from Old IDW to New IDW Transformers is as jarring as, say, from Dreamwave's Prime Directive to War and Peace. At least deaths haven't been undone and major plot points haven't been retrospectively turns on their heads.
|
|
|
|
Post by andrewbcalculating on Jul 15, 2008 10:00:12 GMT
I wonder if the appearance of the Constructicons means that the Decepticons have perfected the combiner technology from the Pretender Monsters and that we will see an apperance of Devastator later on.
|<o>|
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 15, 2008 11:44:34 GMT
Dunno!
But I think we're being told to wait for (and buy at $48) all 12 issues to have all our questions answered.
Actually; $48? Ouch!
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 16, 2008 13:29:22 GMT
Going by comments here, this looks like the perfect jumping-off point. I'll tune back in later if things pick up. In the meantime, other Transformers comics are available. I'll stick with the UK stuff and what's left of the IDW Furmanverse.
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 16, 2008 14:45:54 GMT
I think I am going to wait now until the first TPB which (presumably) will print the first six issues.
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 16, 2008 18:55:19 GMT
what's left of the IDW Furmanverse. Based on the UK strips he did around Budiansky's stories, AHM might actually work out well by inspiring a load of Furman stories based around it. |
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 16, 2008 19:23:02 GMT
Yeah, that thought had occured to me as well. Sometimes creators do their best stuff when they have constraints to work against.
And anyway, we have regular TF comics coming out from 3 different companies, plus reprints of older material are still published. So there are always Transformers comcis available to suit particular tastes.
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 16, 2008 19:24:52 GMT
It's a Golden Age! (Is Penelope Wilton working for Hasbro?)
|
|
|
|
Post by grahamthomson on Jul 16, 2008 21:00:30 GMT
Yeah, that thought had occured to me as well. Sometimes creators do their best stuff when they have constraints to work against. I would certainly agree with that. Stops 'em getting complacent and resting on their laurels. |
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 19, 2008 16:53:43 GMT
Re-read Infiltration today - it's amazing that even with six less pages and a slow build-up to the TF action that doesn't even include transforming, Infiltration #0 has more happening in it than All Hail Megatron does. A much better ish.
|
|
|
|
Post by legios on Jul 19, 2008 17:02:51 GMT
Re-read Infiltration today - it's amazing that even with six less pages and a slow build-up to the TF action that doesn't even include transforming, Infiltration #0 has more happening in it than All Hail Megatron does. A much better ish. Well, I think that has sealed things. Given how little enjoyment I got from "Infiltration"#0, if there is less story content than that in "All Hail Megatron"#1 it is probably for the best that I don't buy it. I think you have saved me some pennies there. Karl |
|
|
|
Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 19, 2008 17:20:45 GMT
Not quite what I meant, but you're probably better off saving the pennies at the moment anyway. (I pre-ordered the whole run! Whoops!)
It might get better after this issue, of course - Shane McCarthy allegedly did #1 like this deliberately to create a certain mood, and won't be doing the whole series like this. (Unfortunately, that mood didn't work)
|
|
