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Post by blueshift on Mar 24, 2011 19:17:33 GMT
Out today, apparently it has the worst art ever seen in a TF book, which is why people are theorising that it didn't get any previews. Has anyone got it yet, I'm genuinely intrigued. Apparently the cover to issue 4 is by the interior artist:  I'm all for seeing different styles, but yikes! |
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 24, 2011 19:41:42 GMT
Looks fine to me.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Mar 24, 2011 19:43:47 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 24, 2011 19:56:14 GMT
I've seen far far worse from 'fan favourites'.
But that's a cover. We'll see what the interiors are like.
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Mar 24, 2011 20:30:24 GMT
This one completely slipped under my notice.
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Post by KnightBeat on Mar 24, 2011 23:31:31 GMT
The artwork is... serviceable, but not great. It's comparable to the UK TF comic or Fun Publications title - detailed, but inconsistent. The level of detail and use of colouring fluctuates throughout the issue, with the better panels being coloured using a darker palette. Ulises Farinas is clearly not in the same league as Guido Guidi or E.J. Su, but his artwork shows greater promise than Alex Milne's Megatron Origins art. If he can work on the perspective problems and learn to draw Arcee properly (highlight to show name) , he will become a good artist.
Story wise, it manages to take the resurrection of Galvatron, one of the more interesting characters in the TF universe and make it uttery dull. Anyone expecting to see the cold killer of Revelation or the dry, manipulative character of Infestation will be disappointed. The majority of the story is told by Galvatron through an internal monologue, removing any sense of mystery about the character. It turns out that Galavatron is a complete bore with a previously unknown interest in Earth sea vessels that have disapeared in mysterious circumstances. As it is, I can only suggest that we intervene to ensure Simon Furman remains unaware of how his plotlines and characters have been dumbed down.
I should also mention that Cyclonus has developed facial hair on his lower lip. It's distracting, but helps to distinguish him from Galvatron in the close-ups.
Edit: Just read the IDW thread and noticed that serviceable and passable crop up a lot as well. It looks like most people are making an effort to like it in the hope that elements of Furman's run will be developed, rather than a genuine enjoyment of the issue.
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Post by blueshift on Mar 25, 2011 8:52:23 GMT
I think it reflects the main problem with modern TF fiction in that it all owes SO much to G1, it keeps snapping back there like an elastic band. It's a real shame that the 'ation setup wasn't kept, it had so much potential for telling a wide range of stories than the setup we have now, which is muddled and confused at best.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2011 9:39:18 GMT
I'm planning to buy this, but as always when the *POW* Trade is available, I can't store loads of individual issues with *KABLAM* ease
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Mar 27, 2011 17:22:53 GMT
Anyone expecting to see the cold killer of Revelation or the dry, manipulative character of Infestation will be disappointed. Really? That's an odd thing when DnA wrote that latter Galvatron! Sad to hear stuff like this when they've done such fun work for Marvel's cosmic stuff. Or is this what IDW has asked them to do? |
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 28, 2011 19:17:11 GMT
I now have now read it. There's nothing wrong with the art.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 29, 2011 19:47:02 GMT
I was, however, bored to tears by the story. The intriguing opening gave way to one long summary of previous comics. Not sure if I'll bother with #2.
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Mar 31, 2011 14:12:16 GMT
I am pretty sure that the story of the first twenty pages of this issue had already been told in that AHM Coda issue from 2009.
And the art was a little bit too childish for my tastes, especially on some of the facial expressions.
The script for Infestation was so punchy yet this was more like a weak back-hand.
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Post by legios on Mar 31, 2011 20:12:29 GMT
The art for the first issue was not entirely too my taste, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with it perse - a bit loose and sloppy I felt but there was certainly nothing wrong with the storytelling.
The problem really was the actual absence of story to tell. I can appreciate the old-school assumption that as this is an issue one folk might not have read the material it is building on and some effort should be made to impart some basic background. I just think there were probably more elegant methods to do it than turning the entire first issue into an info-dump that apparently takes place when Galvatron is taking a nice evening stroll...
The first glimpse of the actual plot - when it starts on the last page hints at some traces of potential, but my patience had been worn dreadfully thin by that point.
Karl
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Post by KnightBeat on Apr 21, 2011 22:24:02 GMT
Issue 2 is out now. Galvatron realises he must unite the Autobots and Decepticons against the Swarm D-Void in order to save Cybertron. Arcee gains a pink light cycle alt-mode. Visit Seibertron for a full review. |
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Post by grahamthomson on Apr 27, 2011 20:54:09 GMT
Relax everyone! According to the editor of this title, Heart of Darkness is aimed at younger children and not the general Transformers comic buying audience (as the Bumblebee mini-series) was, thus explaining the artwork, the dialogue and other problems that the "older" readers may be experiencing. forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=9630&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=81Of course, waiting until issue 2 is released before mentioning that may lead to people wonder that they might have been mis-sold the product. |
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 27, 2011 20:56:21 GMT
Indeed.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Apr 28, 2011 6:30:55 GMT
Hmm. That is slightly odd, given that Hearts of Darkness apparently leads into Chaos, the big "event" that IDW are touting for their non-movie TF comics...... They would presumably be expecting those who read Hearts of Darkness to be interested in following what happens next, so are they wanting the audience for Hearts of Darkness to wait until they are older to read the continuation or are they going to be temporarily re-aiming the ongoing title (presuming it is aimed and not pointed in a general direction at present) at a younger audience for the duration?
Karl
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Post by jameso on Apr 28, 2011 6:42:28 GMT
Andy Schmidt says later on on that page that he can't go into details about their thought processes behind who the book is aimed at. He tries to act as if it's some kind of behind the scenes secret he's not allowed to discuss, but clearly he means they make it up as they go along and they use some kind of 'oh, it's not supposed to be marketed to your demographic' defence whenever they get too many complaints.
Really, Schmidt is one of the least competent professionals either associated with Transformers.
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Apr 28, 2011 17:39:21 GMT
According to the editor of this title, Heart of Darkness is aimed at younger children and not the general Transformers comic buying audience (as the Bumblebee mini-series) was, thus explaining the artwork, the dialogue and other problems that the "older" readers may be experiencing. "It's for kids" is an odd response to "it's rubbish!"... |
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Post by KnightBeat on May 16, 2011 12:24:30 GMT
The second issue should win an award for most pointless meta-reference in a TF comic.
The appearance of Megatron in Galvatron's vision struck me as a little odd, given that Galvy is a separate character in the IDW universe. However, I've just discovered (thanks to TFWiki) that the human faces are supposed to be Frank Welker and Leonard Nimoy, and that the rectangular object I had originally overlooked is Galvatron's TF box packaging.
What. Is. The. Point?
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Post by legios on Jun 9, 2011 20:15:48 GMT
I am kind of wondering that myself to be honest, about the whole series. I suspect I am the only person here who has actually made it to issue three perhaps? Having already torn up Simon Furmans original eventual outcome for Gorlam Prime (which I quite liked) we've now had Space Cthullu and then whimsy on a flying Pirate ship and a cliffhanger that comes so far out of left-field I think it is in someone else's stadium. The problem is that the execution is so very lacklustre. A flying pirate ship should be a fun, daft tosh idea but here it just seems to be uncommited to, kicked around and bit and then abandoned. Likewise the actual plot so far is somewhat disjointed. I'm surprised and disappointed by this series to be honest. Abnett and Lanning are a good writing team, they have turned out a lot of sterling work together on things like Legion of Superheroes, Guardians of the Galaxy (using some vaguely similar plot elements to this story). Not sure whether it is a result of editorial mandate, or just not really getting engaged with the material but they don't seem to be firing on all cylinders with Transformers. Karl (and for those keeping track of new alt-modes, Cyclonus now appears to be an F-92 Stingray aerospace fighter from Battletech as far as I can tell) |
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Post by KnightBeat on Jun 29, 2011 21:27:27 GMT
Issue 4 is now available. There's a crossover with the ongoing. Things blow up.
Marvel UK Galvatron would not be amused.
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Post by KnightBeat on Jun 30, 2011 22:44:24 GMT
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Post by blueshift on Jun 30, 2011 23:37:40 GMT
As much as I like to encourage artistic diversity, the depiction of Galvatron on the last page there sure is... something, isn't it? |
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Post by Jaymz on Jun 30, 2011 23:38:13 GMT
Terrible series, avoid.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2011 6:50:49 GMT
I'll get it when it's in TPB form for myself (along with a few other recent ones)
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primenova
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
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Post by primenova on Dec 3, 2011 22:24:06 GMT
I got #1D signed,2a,4C for 50p each at Leeds comic mart today.
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