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Post by Andy Turnbull on Sept 14, 2009 18:50:02 GMT
Very good stuff from Nick.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 16, 2009 21:15:18 GMT
Not had a chance to read the story properly yet, but I see James Roberts gets a credit. Excellent.
-Ralph
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Post by dinogrrl on Sept 17, 2009 4:22:06 GMT
You guys will love the entire story. I am amazed at how much story is packed into those 11 pages. Scandalous plottage from Prowl, the cigar function revealed, man there's gonna be hell to pay if the secret ever got out. Wonder if any of this will be picked up in Last Stand of the Wreckers? I don't want to give a rundown and spoil it, as it's that good.
This is the first TF story since Max Dinos that I've been happy about with no reservations.
Perceptor story - not as terrible as I'd once bothered dreading, but utterly predictable and rather lacking in character depth or psychological insights. Very peremptory and overall meh. Art was nice though and I think Coller did a better job than in Spotlight Daft. Basically, Perceptor rebuilds himself into his AHM design, and joins a fight against Bludgeon and pals unexpectedly and with I guess what was meant to be a ZOMGHEHASAGUN moment, but shit, dude, we already seen that 6 months or more back. It adds nothing to what we already knew, much like the Sunstreaker story.
By God I want that Last Stand of the Wreckers now. How could I have been so very foolish as to doubt its inevitable awesomeness?
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Post by Kingoji on Sept 17, 2009 5:40:53 GMT
By God I want that Last Stand of the Wreckers now. How could I have been so very foolish as to doubt its inevitable awesomeness? Maybe becuase the Wreckers are over-rated and overused? I'm sure LSOTW will be very sweet, but I really do hope that it IS the last stand of the Wreckers. Maybe then we can get the Survivors, who I always found more interesting. |
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Post by Bogatan on Sept 17, 2009 6:31:58 GMT
The Wreckers in there original Marvel UK form were only used a handful of times, all over 20 years ago. This is the first time since then that I've seen a "wreckers" team as anything other than a name reuse. If the IDW Wreckers are as much fun as the Marvel ones then I hope for many more.
As for AHM I'm getting a strong desire to go read the full thing now. The titan reprints suddenly feel like they will take a long time to play out.
Andy
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Sept 17, 2009 6:48:48 GMT
Motion: Any team of Wreckers not led by Impactor is a Wreckers tribute band. Discuss.
Martin
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Post by grahamthomson on Sept 17, 2009 7:06:04 GMT
If that's the case, then the BotCon/3H Wreckers should be humiliated by Simon Cowell on the first round of the X-Factor.
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Sept 17, 2009 9:24:40 GMT
Their first two comics are probably humiliation enough.
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Post by Shockprowl on Sept 17, 2009 9:56:14 GMT
Man oh Man Rochey does such a fab Prowl! The condrontation between Prowl and Springer with Prowl's calculating thoughts is the best I've seen since, well, Spotlight Kup!
Gunna get this, and I swore not to get anything after AHM! The combination of Prowl and Roche cannot be missed. This is like Spotlight Kup, part 2!
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 17, 2009 21:18:02 GMT
Just read it. It's very very good. In many ways it's Spotlight: Prowl. The explanation for Kup is both ingenious and makes the character infinitely more interesting. Now that's how you do a continuity patch.
The Perceptor story has the same premise (explain why the main character is now radically different) but does it in a much more superficial way that didn't hold my interest and took far less time to read. Which is a shame, because the story looks gorgeous with stunning colour work.
-Ralph
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Post by dinogrrl on Sept 17, 2009 23:19:30 GMT
Just read it. It's very very good. In many ways it's Spotlight: Prowl. The explanation for Kup is both ingenious and makes the character infinitely more interesting. Now that's how you do a continuity patch. The Perceptor story has the same premise (explain why the main character is now radically different) but does it in a much more superficial way that didn't hold my interest and took far less time to read. Which is a shame, because the story looks gorgeous with stunning colour work. -Ralph Exactly. And what's more, Roches' story doesn't read like a patch, it's that good. You see inside Prowl's thought process, and even if you don't agree with what he's doing, you know exactly why. That's the failure with the Perceptor story - there's no actual reason given beyond 'I got shot', which is pretty weak. There's no sign of real emotion or insight. Heck, Perceptor in Nick's story has far more character and emotion, even though he only pops up in a few panels. You see/read his disgust and disdain for what Prowl intends to do. |
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 18, 2009 9:43:02 GMT
The Perceptor story reads like bad fan-fic. Bit of a shame it's written by the editor of the main AHM story. Which explains a lot, actually.
I do really really like the colouring though.
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Sept 18, 2009 10:54:29 GMT
I nipped out this morning to get this from my LCS but they'd sold out!
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Post by legios on Sept 18, 2009 11:42:36 GMT
The Perceptor story looks very nice. The art is good and the colouring is very nice. Unfortunately it fails to function as a story. It is simply a list of things that happen one after another - there don't seem to be any narrative links between the various events and the decisions that Perceptor makes. It fails to shed any light on Perceptor as a character or establish any real rationale for his change in outlook.
It also fails to match up to its solicitation in any way. The solict indicates it is a story where Perceptor reject science and becomes a sniper, but nowhere in the story does Perceptor reject science. He simply stops working in a laboratory, which is by no means the same thing. (He also technically does not become a sniper at any point in the story, taking up intead the trade of marksman.... but that is a technicality). But then, I'm getting used to the fact that IDW's solicits often are only shakily aligned with the actual content of the comic.
I'd like to find something nice to say about the story but I am reaching a little here.....Blaster gets a personal credibility point for recognising Perceptors new job description, cleary all those years in Armed Forces Radio have done him some good. But that and the fact that it is a very pretty looking story is about all I can say for it.
Fortunately, the Kup story (or arguably the Prowl story) was far, far better, and that alone was worth the money that I spent on this issue. It does a wonderful job of adding another layer to the developments regarding Kup - adding a new understand of what is going on, and an different interpretation on what/who Kup is - all without invalidating anything we have already seen. It is a task that the story pulls off very well indeed.
The characterisation is superb - Springer's direct, impulsive reactions contrast with Prowl's glacial calm to define both characters very sharply. Indeed, IDW Prowl benefits immensely from this issue. The character got off to an interesting start but has somewhat been lost along the way. Here, we see a Prowl thrown into very clear relief, and he shines through as a very interesting character. To judge by what we learn here IDW Prowl is very much like I have always envisaged the 1984 Prowl - cool, detached, rational to a fault and with a razor-sharp ability to analyse a situation and how best to deploy available assets to alter it. A skillset that makes him perhaps the ideal advisor, but in many ways a poor friend.
This story is also very attractive to look at - an impressive feat when you consider how much of it actually revolves around two people talking to each other. With dialogue heavy scenes it can be difficult to avoid them becoming rather flat on the page, but Nick has managed to avoid that unfortunate fate in fine style. The staging is great and gives a lot of life to the story.
An absorbing little character piece that was well worth the price of the comic.
Karl
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Sept 18, 2009 18:50:43 GMT
OK, bought. (Had to, really. If I'd buy a full-colour fanzine by Nick Roche with help from James Roberts for that price without thinking twice, what excuse have I got not to get it when it happens to be 'official'?) Like the four Spotlights and the Maximum Dinobots series, I managed to pick up the Nick cover. This is the best thing Nick has ever drawn, on account of... well, Prowl. Nothing more needs to be said. This is Prowl, as true to the character as he was originally conceived as he has ever been written. Whether he is right or wrong, it exemplifies why I like him so much - he wants the Autobots to achieve their goals, but he's after neither credit nor glory, he just wants the best advice as he sees it to be listened to. He doesn't care if a guy who represents all that frustrates him gets the credit, as long as things work out. I think that's a pretty admirable quality - whatever else you say about him. And I agree with him 100% about the stupid cult of the Autobot maverick in Transformers. There isn't a single maverick that I've admired, going back to the earliest Marvel comics. It's too much of an ego trip. Love what it says on those computer monitors about the mavericks, especially Grimlock. ("See files G001 through G113.") Any downers? Just the 'cy-gar' and 'wiseaft', terms which made me wince like 'Dynobot'. But anyway, it's brilliant. The second story's poor, though. Especially when alongside the first one. And it is truly ridiculous putting the first 5 pages of an 11-page story on the Internet in order to sell a comic. In the olden days a good cliffhanger and/or a "Next Issue" box did the trick. But I suppose that was back in the day when what happened mattered to us and wasn't just an optional continuity following from the Nth re-boot. These days they have to work harder to earn the super-inflated cover price.  PS "This is high-end stuff we're talking about: liquid shrapnel, fold-space, imported memory..." - that's a James Roberts line if ever I heard one. Martin |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2009 9:25:34 GMT
Nice to know that most enjoyed the comic as much as I did... quite possibly the best AHM Coda issue of the run, unless issue 16 can top it. If anyone needs a copy of AHM 15 they are in stock at OneShallStand. www.oneshallstand.com/shop/allhail/coda3.html |
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Sept 21, 2009 13:45:25 GMT
The Perceptor story is naff.
The Kup story is whooooaaaaaaaa. Now that puts a creepy spin on every single Kup scene in AHM...
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Post by grahamthomson on Sept 21, 2009 20:27:37 GMT
Thanks to Steve, I am now in receipt of AHM 15 in which Nick Roche pulls down the trousers and pants of AHM 1-12 and spanks it resoundingly!
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
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Post by kayevcee on Sept 21, 2009 20:38:59 GMT
I should probably pick this up at some point.
What is "liquid shrapnel" supposed to do, then? My first thought was 'water balloons' but that doesn't seem like a superweapon unless you're fighting scraplets.
-Nick
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Post by grahamthomson on Sept 22, 2009 7:06:00 GMT
Maybe it's Blot's slime gun or somesuch?
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 22, 2009 9:48:26 GMT
Hurray for Blot!
-Ralph
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Dave
Empty
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Post by Dave on Sept 22, 2009 10:54:41 GMT
Received my copy yesterday and...well nothing to add really so briefly, yep, another fan here. Lots happened in those 11 pages. Great story and it looked gorgeous too. Interested to see what happens with Prowl and Kup in the future. Is this the first time pretender-tech has been referred to as such in IDW? Just wondering. The other story...well just to add a fresh complaint - Bludgeon. Running about fine and well with no explanation. Yeah the story takes place some time after his last appearance so things could have happened, but I thought these coda issues were for clearing things up. |
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Sept 22, 2009 11:34:00 GMT
re spoiler: yeah, it's the first time. They used different terms before then.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2009 7:10:51 GMT
If All Hail Megatron was set as a stand alone series, or was in a parralel universe, and didn't try doing retcons (badly) do you guys think it would have been received better by fans of the IDW series?
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Post by blueshift on Sept 24, 2009 7:46:22 GMT
Absolutely. A lot of the problems revolve around the plot / characterisations being roughly shoehorned in to existing continuity.
Of course, it doesn't solve a lot of the crippling problems with pacing and plot holes, so take the 'it would have been recieved better' in context.
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 24, 2009 7:56:57 GMT
No.
Because it features generic stock character types doing stupid things and takes 5 minutes to read. I couldn't give a toss whether it 'fits' or not.
-Ralph
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chrisl
Empty
I still think its the 1990s - when I joined TMUK
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Post by chrisl on Sept 24, 2009 8:07:22 GMT
I've been thinking about this and if we got a James Roberts & Nick Roche series that had the job of patching the AHM holes up without it being an obvious patch job, then AHM could be re-read differently (if you re-read everything Kup says / does in AHM after you've read "Everything In Its Right Place" - it takes on a whole new sinister meaning).
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Post by grahamthomson on Sept 24, 2009 8:17:22 GMT
It might have been slightly better received by the more, uhm, extreme fans, but the story itself would remain just as bad.
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Post by blueshift on Sept 24, 2009 8:35:35 GMT
A better question is would it have been so well recieved by parts of the fandom if the art wasn't as amazing
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Sept 24, 2009 9:43:41 GMT
A few people might have thought better of it. It would have eliminated the complaints regarding the conflict with preceding material but there are still enough problems with pacing and the actual story itself that folks would still hate it. If the art wasn't as good the series would have been given one hell of a kicking, much worse than it already has received.
Andy
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