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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2008 23:12:41 GMT
Just read some more posts on here that I skipped over earlier  At the risk of repeating myself I enjoyed AHM #1, yeah it was cheesy at times but had an epic feel of 'opening scenes of summer blockbuster' and I just think its way too early to write this story off after one issue. It's 1 of 12 and a lot can happen. My reservations about this reboot-that's-not-a-reboot is what it might mean for Simon's hitherto evolving and expanding IDW universe. Will Shane McCarthy retain any of it or throw out the baby with the bath water? In particular Simon's presentation of the TF war as an intergalactic affair with multiple worlds on the front line is a concept worth preserving. Hopefully Simon will get enough opportunity to catch all the balls he's thrown in the air (eg the Dead Universe, Machination, Jimmy and Verity etc), and ensure it all fits together with AHM. He proved successful at working around other creators at Marvel when his UK stories had to fit with Budiansky's work on Marvel US, so there's enough reason to be optimistic. Perhaps the last three years of stories will still surface from time to time in spotlights or another miniseries. |
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Post by grahamthomson on Jul 29, 2008 7:35:22 GMT
IDW inflict fan character on to world. Character expected to be 'wicked cool' and 'more powerful than Megatron'. Look, see here. Normally I'd be concerned, but since I dropped the title after issue 1 it's not going to affect me. |
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Post by mellowshade on Jul 29, 2008 8:28:55 GMT
I like the look of Drift. He reminds me of that MASK vehicle, Jacknife? Definate 80s vibe.
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Post by legios on Jul 29, 2008 9:31:40 GMT
I like the look of Drift. He reminds me of that MASK vehicle, Jacknife? Definate 80s vibe. I would have said that he has more of a last-year vibe to him. Street-racer looks and named "Drift", presumably because he is a drift racer...... Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 29, 2008 9:34:50 GMT
Where is my Impactor toy, damn it?!
-Ralph
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chrisl
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I still think its the 1990s - when I joined TMUK
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Post by chrisl on Jul 29, 2008 11:17:11 GMT
AHM could be quite good as long as they don't throw out all the things build up in the -ations saga. Hopefully #1 is intended as a jump on point for the casual fan and will develop more in line with the rest of the IDW stuff rather than going all "because you the fans demanded it!"
I love the colouring in the issue too. Much brighter than IDW's previous stuff.
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Jul 29, 2008 12:31:57 GMT
I'd be concerned about Drift being a plot-dominated uber-cool guy, except we've already seen Elita-1, Impactor, Xaaron, Jhiaxus, Straxus, Botanica, Nemesis Prime, Sentinel Prime...
Creating your own Transformers for key roles that could potentially be filled by a toy is hardly new.
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 29, 2008 19:06:23 GMT
Where is my Scrounge toy, damn it?!
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Jul 29, 2008 20:27:29 GMT
They're doing him for BotCon 2053.
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 29, 2008 21:36:38 GMT
I am so excited.
-Ralph
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2008 22:54:24 GMT
Normally I'd be concerned, but since I dropped the title after issue 1 it's not going to affect me. LOL how can you say you've 'dropped' something (ie broken the habit of collecting it) when there's only been one issue? Besides the story has barely got off the starting blocks and it's a bit early to decide it will fail isn't it? That is like walking out of a film after five minutes because you've decided you've seen enough to know the rest won't be any good. At least have a flick through issue 2 and see if it's more to your liking. Drift looks interesting, although I dunno why they needed to invent a new character when there are so many existing ones that haven't debued in IDW yet. |
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Post by legios on Jul 30, 2008 6:27:07 GMT
LOL how can you say you've 'dropped' something (ie broken the habit of collecting it) when there's only been one issue? I can't speak for Graham or anyone else, but with the price of comics these days I have a standing policy - any new title has one issue to catch my interest, if not then it gets dropped to free up the "slot" in the budget for something else. Given that comics are periodicals after all it seems appropriate to me - every issue should make the pitch for the readers attention and therefore it is apt to judge whether it has succeeded or not. Given the relative price of comics, and the number of good ones out there, there isn't room to be shilly-shallying around. It applies across the board, whether we are talking about "Identity Crisis" (dropped after one issue) or "Guardians of the Galaxy" (on-board after one). Since "Stormbringer" IDW's series had been lucky so far in mostly having good opening halves (it has been their endings that have been poor), "All Hail Megatron" is the one that bucks the trend. (I do the same with TV series - they get one episode to impress me and make me decide whether I want to see any more, whether they are "The Shield", "Homicide: Life on the Streets", "Gundam Seed" or "Genesis Climber Mospeada" - the first episode is the pitch, make it a good one and give me a reason to stay, otherwise I will move on). Karl |
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Post by grahamthomson on Jul 30, 2008 6:42:07 GMT
Normally I'd be concerned, but since I dropped the title after issue 1 it's not going to affect me. LOL how can you say you've 'dropped' something (ie broken the habit of collecting it) when there's only been one issue? Besides the story has barely got off the starting blocks and it's a bit early to decide it will fail isn't it? That is like walking out of a film after five minutes because you've decided you've seen enough to know the rest won't be any good. At least have a flick through issue 2 and see if it's more to your liking. If said film paused after the first five minutes and the cinema had to wait a month before it continued then, yes, I probably would walk out. I do not brook comparisons of comic series to feature films for that very reason. I simply wasn't engaged enough to carry on. That's just the way I feel. It's not a case of deciding that something will fail, it's just personal taste. |
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 30, 2008 6:55:58 GMT
I too give a comic an issue to try it out. If I don't like it, I don't buy another. I used to perservere but comics are too expensive now.
-Ralph
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2008 16:03:43 GMT
Interesting... Thanks for the insights gents.
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Aug 20, 2008 10:49:23 GMT
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Post by legios on Aug 20, 2008 11:50:51 GMT
Hmm, I will be curious to see what the #2 and #3 drop-off is on it. It may be however that IDW's transformers stuff has found its level. Karl |
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Aug 20, 2008 15:14:22 GMT
I'd personally be amused if #4 ends up selling less than Spotlight Sideswipe.
And extra amused if Maximum Dinobots #1 sells quite a bit more than AHM #1...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2008 13:33:36 GMT
I actually thought that AHM #1 wasn't too bad and was a better read than some of the more recent IDW TF issues. That said I don't think it will carry on selling well for its entire 12 issue run - people are likely to get bored and stop buying the comic. 12 issues is a long run for a single story comic.
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 22, 2008 15:06:51 GMT
TF found its sales level in the direct market at circa 10-15K for new material a while ago (lower for reprints and higher for movie tie-ins). AHM did not have a 'name' creative team that the direct market recognises as big sellers so retailers were unlikely to order it much above the orders they put in for any other new TF series. #1 has come in at what you would expect retailers to order for the first issue of a new Transformers series. I doubt the relative merits/lack of merits (delete according to taste) of AHM had anything to do with sales.
Where I do scratch my head is making it a 12-issue storyline. I expect sales to be around 8K by the end, whether it's any good or not.
If anything, if I was looking at the sales numbers of IDW TF's comics and thought a new direction was required to keep the licence viable, I'd go for rebooting the series along the lines of the movie-verse. They sell better and seem to have good bookstore penetration and even got some TRU action in the US.
RE: AHM #2. Had a flick through a copy. It would fit in very well with the Dreamwave TF universe: characters act and speak in a similar manner.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Aug 22, 2008 19:43:19 GMT
Like Ralph I flicked through AHM#2 in FPG.
The second issue does pretty much fuck all to advance the plot and could easily as Ralph said be a Dreamwave mini for all the ties it has to the previous IDW tales. Glad I did this as I won't be picking it up, which is a shame as both Guido and Josh have brought their A game to the title.
I'm fairly certain Simon Furman will get the main title back after this as I can't see this book keeping over 10k by issue 12. Two issues and nearly nothing of note for story purposes has happened. At $3.99 a pop that's bloody criminal.
Andy
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Post by legios on Aug 22, 2008 20:16:32 GMT
I must admit I didn't bother flicking through #2 - partly because I had to get back to the office as I had scads to do before I finished up. It was literally dash to shop, grab comics, give money to cashier, dash back to the office. But from what folk have said, both in this thread and elsewhere I think I am fairly glad I didn't. Anything that swings back in the direction of Dreamwave's stuff is a very good way to lose my interest rapidly.
Karl
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Post by Jaymz on Aug 22, 2008 21:01:11 GMT
If anything, if I was looking at the sales numbers of IDW TF's comics and thought a new direction was required to keep the licence viable, I'd go for rebooting the series along the lines of the movie-verse. They sell better and seem to have good bookstore penetration and even got some TRU action in the US. That suprises me, I've not looked at overall comic sales, but I sell about double the amount of AHM and Spotlights than I do the movie stuff. |
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 22, 2008 21:49:36 GMT
Well the sales data that turns does not include UK sales IIRC so it may be very different over here.
In FPG most off the IDW TF comics are sold by the weekend of the week they come out (whether it's movieverse, Furmanverse or AHM), with the reprint material shelfwarming.
-Ralph
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Aug 22, 2008 22:13:50 GMT
AHM did not have a 'name' creative team that the direct market recognises as big sellers so retailers were unlikely to order it much above the orders they put in for any other new TF series. Thinking about it, Furman's more of a name - he works more regularly, his name pops up in industry press every time Transformers does, he was in Marvel's Annihilation crossover, and Panini trades his cult-hit titles. He's probably semi-well known, at least as The Transformers Dude. Seems a bit odd to replace him with someone less well known. |
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Aug 22, 2008 22:15:49 GMT
Like Ralph I flicked through AHM#2 in FPG. The second issue does pretty much fuck all to advance the plot I'm still waiting for mine - that's not encouraging news. IDW had said #1 was meant to be deliberately decompressed for a certain affect (albeit a failed one), implying #2 was going to be more story-filled. Oh well. Spotlight Doubledealer should turn up at the same time, that'll be good. |
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Aug 22, 2008 22:21:36 GMT
It's a waste of 44 pages which could easily have been told in eleven.
Doubledealer is pretty darned good, although Khanna is not the artist needed for it in my opinion.
Andy
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2008 9:57:23 GMT
I have a funny feeling that the story will drag its heels for a few issues before any kind of a story will surface. At 12 issues its hard to believe that anything else will happen.
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Post by legios on Aug 23, 2008 10:51:48 GMT
At 12 issues its hard to believe that anything else will happen. At twelve issues you could cover a huge amount of story. The Marvel series had the Transformers come to Earth, battle the Decepticons to rescue Sparkplug Witwicky, fight a heroic last stand against the Decepticon hordes, win and then be taken out by a surprise appearence by Shockwave. Megatron fought Shockwave for leadership of the Decepticons and lost Ratchet, the last Autobot travelled to antarctica, recovered the Dinobots and liberated the Ark. Shockwave established a new base on Earth and created new Decepticons, Circuit Breaker debuted, the Autobots launched a desperate plan to rescue the captured Optimus Prime and Prime had a climactic confrontation with Shockwave. All in twelve issues. You can cover a lot of ground in a years worth of comics if you really want to. Heck, some writers can cover a lot of ground in a single issue of a comic. Karl |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2008 18:06:17 GMT
I didn't actually consider the Marvel run as just one story. Each issue was in some way or other a collection of stand-alone stories that contributed to a much larger story. All Hail Megatron is just one story spread out over 12 issues and as such it can really only cover topics within its own field it has created.
The first four issues of the Marvel US run was perceived as a four-issue series but after that there were very few 'to be continued' style stories where you had to read the following issue to understand the rest of the plot. Titan's current UK run is the same as the original Marvel run albeit with more 'to be continued' style stories in but any individual IDW run like All Hail Megatron, Megatron Origin, Evolutions etc. isn't. With these you get just one story and a selection of stories and this one story is spread out over the title's entire run - sometimes to mixed reactions.
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