Post by skillex on Apr 3, 2010 9:22:08 GMT
Picked this up the other day ... meh.
Beware of SPOILERS which follow...
Perhaps I'm viewing this particularly unfairly at the moment, having just read #3 of LSotW last week and embarking upon a re-read of all IDW's stuff so far at the moment (which has me deep within Furman's brilliant -tion series and associated Stormbringer and Spotlights at the moment). Nonetheless, it just seems so... pedestrian.
Without even wanting to get hung up on the continuity (I still don't understand what's meant to have happened to the Autobot hierarchy and the galactic nature of the war) it is still tying itself up as some kind of Dreamwave-style storyline as far as I can see. So
There is a very interesting storyline here in the ongoing, about both sides falling apart in the aftermath of the Great War's end (except as far as I can see it doesn't seem to have ended at all) and about facing a new threat on Earth - humanity. It just still doesn't seem to be gelling together in terms of new developments or original reinterpretations (like Furman's -tion series), excellent characterisation and excitement (like LSotW) or even making a huge amount of sense within the wider parameters of the "Transformers universe" which IDW have been selling us since around 2005 (much of this can be laid at AHM's door but editorial could still have cleaned it up much more simply).
Ah well, I'll stick with the title. Like I say, there are some intriguing ideas in there somewhere, hopefully the title will improve. And the art is, as ever from Don, fantastic. Like many, I may not be a fan of the movie-style designs (those faces, especially the eyes and chin...eww) but I can see that it's a logical and very creative design and an attempt to do something different.
Beware of SPOILERS which follow...
Perhaps I'm viewing this particularly unfairly at the moment, having just read #3 of LSotW last week and embarking upon a re-read of all IDW's stuff so far at the moment (which has me deep within Furman's brilliant -tion series and associated Stormbringer and Spotlights at the moment). Nonetheless, it just seems so... pedestrian.
Without even wanting to get hung up on the continuity (I still don't understand what's meant to have happened to the Autobot hierarchy and the galactic nature of the war) it is still tying itself up as some kind of Dreamwave-style storyline as far as I can see. So
Swindle engineers the Stunticons into Menasor, which is clearly the "big bad" Optimus will have to return to defeat in #6. Yes that ties in with the IDW idea of the gestalts being unbelievably awesome WMD-level technology after Monstructor but what does it do with it? Does it give it an interesting twist or development like Furman did with the Pretenders and Micromasters? Or approach it from a different angle like the Headmasters and the Machination? Err, no, it doesn't.
There is a very interesting storyline here in the ongoing, about both sides falling apart in the aftermath of the Great War's end (except as far as I can see it doesn't seem to have ended at all) and about facing a new threat on Earth - humanity. It just still doesn't seem to be gelling together in terms of new developments or original reinterpretations (like Furman's -tion series), excellent characterisation and excitement (like LSotW) or even making a huge amount of sense within the wider parameters of the "Transformers universe" which IDW have been selling us since around 2005 (much of this can be laid at AHM's door but editorial could still have cleaned it up much more simply).
Ah well, I'll stick with the title. Like I say, there are some intriguing ideas in there somewhere, hopefully the title will improve. And the art is, as ever from Don, fantastic. Like many, I may not be a fan of the movie-style designs (those faces, especially the eyes and chin...eww) but I can see that it's a logical and very creative design and an attempt to do something different.
