Hubris #10

[Andy Turnbull]

It has arrived!

The Stephen Baskerville cover is glorious!

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I took today off work specifically to continue reading 'The Brothers Karamazov', but when lying in bed reading I heard a thump on my hall mat, I hoped it would either be Hubris #10 or the 'Daffy Duck's Quackbusters' R1 DVD I ordered from Amazon Marketplace. I did Dostoevsky the justice of finishing the chapter I was on before going down to investigate, but did not pick the book up again until Hubris #10 had been read from cover to cover.

Quite probably my favourite issue to date, in part because it has such a Marvel comics universe bias - no toy reviews, no cartoon reviews, in fact I think the Titan comics review was the only item not tied to the Marvel comics.

In order:

Cover - magnificent. The background is very Time Wars. Strangely though, the style reminds me of Andrew Wildman's US work, what with the robot saliva and damage details. The only slight letdown is that it doesn't seem to have been quite composed as a wraparound cover, since the front on its own looks a bit silly, the way Magnus's legs are positioned. My memory of the UK landmark wraparounds is hazy, but I don't remember them having such a character half-on, half-off. But opened out, it's fantastic.

'Tyrannical Difficulties' is a nice little sequel to the end of the US TF comic, with a fine twist. (I recall Wheeljack almost handing Jetfire back to the Decepticons in 'Perchance to Dream' - was that in your mind when you wrote it?) Grimlock, of course, has Decepticon-like qualities and shouldn't have been surprised by what Wheeljack told him. And then there's the 'criminal gene' debate of today. I suppose if Grimlock were a human and Prime Minister he would pre-emptively lock up all children of criminals... if he wasn't one himself. If I'd been Wheeljack, I'd have done exactly the same as what he did here to Big Grim, simply for justified self-preservation.

'A-Z Commentary' - still going strong. It's hard to find interesting things to say about characters like Blitzwing, but that contrasts nicely with the point being made in the issue's final feature. Slightly surprised at your (albeit fair) comment about the Combaticons' lamentable military prowess, given your love for the characters and the way you have built up Onslaught's tactical reputation. But credit to you for judging them here purely on the canon here.

'Time Warns' - a good tie-in story, flawless in its faithfulness to Simon Furman's Ultra Magnus character. Quite right that Galvatron should win the physical showdown - Magnus's small victory in 'Salvage' never sat well with me. The only victory Magnus could have over Galvatron is an intellectual one - which you have succeeded in delivering. On the one hand, it's perhaps not the ending childhood fans of Magnus were clamouring for, but on the other, it's the only one that works. And in its greater faithfulness to established characters, I'm very happy to see it take over from 'The Guard' for this one issue.

'Hublog' - due to my biases, no interest here - can't give it a fair review.

'Murder on the Dashboard' - as before, this is my Hubris highlight, just as faithful to the characters as 'Time Warns', and a treat for Prowl fans. I was silently cheering as he effortlessly made a fool of Motormaster, and can't wait to see what happens next.

A-Z Doublecross - good, good... am I right in thinking he was the only Monsterbot not to get a TF Universe entry in the later Marvel comics, or am I imagining things? Nice to see him depicted in both modes.

'Die-cast Small Cast' - I agree with everything said in this article... except perhaps on 'Shooting Star', which I thought was OK. Interesting to note though that you have gone out of your way to gather stories that focussed on a single _Transformer_, regardless of whether or not they were solo _character_ pieces. I mean, 'Showdown' wasn't a solo character story, it was a story about the relationship between two characters - only one was a human, the other a robot. 'Warrior School', on the other hand, was very much the story of Ratchet without any other single character accompanying him except briefly throughout his journey. So 'Showdown' has more in common with 'Mechanical Difficulties' (Goldbug/Blaster) and 'Guess Who the Mecannibals...?'/'Recipe for Disaster' (Cloudburst/Landmine) from a storytelling standpoint. Which then makes me wonder about the merits of doing a complementary 'Great TF pairings' article in a future issue? I for one would relish reading your thoughts...

But for now, roll on T-25.

Thanks, Graham!

Martin

[Hero]

Got my copy today. Great read! Thanks again.

Are the two page strips going to have a regular run? I like these.

===KEN

[grahamthomson]

Thanks for your comments, guys.

Martin you've read my mind as I was planning a "Great TF Pairings" feature for a future issue. I am pleased you enjoyed the more-biased-than-usual slant to towards the Marvel stuff. But I do warn you, the next couple of Hublog compilations will be focusing on toys and non-Marvel comics. Still, the middle-spread format is handy to skip past! Thanks, as always, for your thorough comments! PS, I did have Wheeljack's machinations in Perchance to Dream in mind when I came up with Tyrannical Difficulties. I wanted to sway from the obvious Mirage-might-be-the-bad-one that's been done to death by recent official comics.

Ken, the 2-page strips are to continue on a semi-regular basis (every other issue) and there are plenty in the pipeline. Some may even stretch to 3- or 5-pages as well!

[The Doctor]

No joy here yet. Damn you, Royal Mail!

-Ralph

[Deleted]

I'll have to purchase this issue at some point but it will have to be after I've counted my pennies post AA.

[Mark_Stevenson]

The magazine is excellent. It's an honour to finally be a contributor!

Mx

[grahamthomson]

No, no, it was an honour to have you illustrate one of my scripts!

[The Doctor]

Damn you, Royal Mail! Still you make me wait.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Got mine today. The 'Please do not bend' envelope was in vain, as the postman decided that today he would post some things through the letterbox, but try to push Hubris underneath the door. There is no clearance under the door. There was a lot of ripping.

Thankfully only the envelope was horrifically damaged. Dear god, Hubris is super high quality. Not read it yet, but I am already stunned. How do you do it!

[legios]

My copy has duly arrived this afternoon at some point and was waiting for me when I came in. I have put it aside to be taken with me on the journey to Auto Assembly to serve as the first installment of fanziney goodness for the weekend.

The cover does look very nice indeed.

Karl

[The Doctor]

GAH! ROYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL MAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

I hope your copy has arrived by now. Mind you, Royal Mail are striking all over the place at the moment.

[The Doctor]

My copy has now turned up today. Hurray!

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

Yay!

[The Doctor]

The Baskerville cover looks most glorious in print.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

I can't beleive Hubris has passed me by--- UNTIL NOW!!!!!!

If issue 10 blew me away, 6 thorugh 9 that I received last week have, well, blown me away further! Such high quality! Amazing! And the writing, partic the characterisation, is as good as anything out there, past or present! (Naturally I love the Prowl characterisation!!!!).

Just a mention on Timecode. Brilliant stuff. Inc the Interlude. MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!

[legios]

well, once again it has taken me far too long to get around to commenting on the latest issue, so once again my apologies are tendered. Mind you, I've only just got around to actually finishing the issue - but it was well worth the wait.

Production values are once again abolutely top-notch. The Bakerville cover image is absolutely wonderful. I'm not entirely sure that it is ideally suited as a cover though, the composition doesn't really work quite so well unless you fold the 'zine out flat.
It is still a wonderful image though with a definite impact (especially if you happen to be Ultra Magnus I guess).

Articlewise, the A to Z Commentary keeps up the good work- you actually reminded me of a couple of comic appearances by Blot that I had completely forgotten about. The Titan Comic reviews made for interesting reading. It is about the right time to be looking back with retrospect on Vol1 so these are quite well timed.

The AtoZ entry for Doublecross follows in the footsteps of some of the other entries in that it has created a sense of Doublecross as an actual character for me, rather than the Genricbot he seemed to me before. I can't help read it and think that there is story potential in that character that I hadn't perceived previously.

"Die-cast Small Cast" is a good overview of the single character-focused stories that are scattered through the Marvel run. Some of these are amongst my favourite Transformers stories so it is very nice to see them get the critical eye cast over them.

As to the fiction:-

'Tyrannical Difficulties' is an interesting little strip. I'll admit that the premise of it is one that doesn't entirely convince me. (The whole idea of "evil" and "good" genes is one that I've never felt to hold much water in reality or fiction). The way it is handled in-story works very well though. The reaction of Grimlock and Wheeljack to what they know feels very much in character. Grimlock is exactly the kind of Autobot that I can imagine killing Autobot's on a "better safe than sorry" basis, so it rings true in that regard. Although the premise doesn't entirely convince me you make interesting use of it. I like Mark Stevenson' artwork too - Mark takes the fact that this is mostly a talking heads story and makes a virtue rather than a weakness out of it.

'Time Warns' is very much the highlight of this issue for me though. I have a great attachment to the Ultra Magnus/ Galvatron feud (almost as much as I do for the Ratchet vs Megatron duality) and this story really gets to the nub of what that story arc is really about. The whole feud is really a character story about Ultra Magnus at its heart and 'Time Warns' acts as a wonderful coda to it for just that reason. Galvatron may get the physical victory but that is irrelevant - Magnus isn't really fighting Galvatron, his real battle is with his own fears and doubts, and by the time he and Galvatron come face-to-face Magnus has already won the real battle. The characterisation here is absolutely spot-on, you have really nailed Magnus' "voice" here. A fantastic story in its own right and a fitting and appropriate extrapolation of the end to the story-arc that we might have had. Fantastic stuff.

'Murder on the Dashboard': I have commented on elsewhere and all I can really do is echo those comments - superbly characterised, with both Prowl and Motormaster shining through as distinct individuals. An intriquing story where I cannot wait to find out what happens in the next part. Would have been my favourite part of the 'zine if 'Time Warns' hadn't have been there.

Karl

[grahamthomson]

Karl, thanks as always for your detailed feedback!

With the AtoZs covering characters who never got one "back in the day", I've been trying to inject a little bit of backstory and hopefully generate some story potential. You never know!

I am glad you enjoyed "Time Warns". I have been enjoying taking a little step away from the multi-part stuff for a few one shots. Plus, scheduling multi-parters is quite problematic for the regular Hubris issues and the one-shots make my life as editor so much easier!

Look out for the next one-shot, "Mind-R/W" which centres on Hound, in issue 12.

Thanks again for your comments, and I imagine issue 11 is just around the corner!

[grahamthomson]

Aug 27, 2009 18:59:50 GMT Shockprowl said:

I can't beleive Hubris has passed me by--- UNTIL NOW!!!!!!

If issue 10 blew me away, 6 thorugh 9 that I received last week have, well, blown me away further! Such high quality! Amazing! And the writing, partic the characterisation, is as good as anything out there, past or present! (Naturally I love the Prowl characterisation!!!!).

Just a mention on Timecode. Brilliant stuff. Inc the Interlude. MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!

Glad to hear you've been enjoying sifting through the back issues!

There'll be a lot more Prowl in the concluding parts of "Murder..." and "The Guard" next issue. Plus he features in "A Higher Place" as commander of The Deck in the next chapter of "Hold Tight, Iacon!"