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Post by blueshift on Dec 29, 2011 15:49:01 GMT
I know we don't like drift# - but does mess up when you are doing up a list. The miniseries would have been far better if it were actually called Sausage Man though!
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primenova
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 6,001
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Post by primenova on Dec 29, 2011 18:25:18 GMT
Must agreed with that - I had more fun naming all the character than reading it.
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Post by KnightBeat on Dec 30, 2011 12:23:59 GMT
Just noticed that Moonbase2 have published a podcast on the DOOP comic.
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Post by Jaymz on Dec 30, 2011 13:00:31 GMT
New Avengers/TF isn't included, neither is Inflitration #0 [it starts the list as #0].
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Post by Kingoji on Dec 30, 2011 16:15:55 GMT
Drift.
Heh.
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Post by Kingoji on Dec 30, 2011 16:17:49 GMT
Just noticed that Moonbase2 have published a podcast on the DOOP comic. Heh. Beware Chris McSqueely.
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Post by legios on Jan 5, 2012 22:28:20 GMT
I am now on my third re-reading of Death of Optimus Prime and I am still getting something new from it. Whether that be little things hidden away in the backgrounds of panels, or implications of throwaway things in the dialogue. The very fact that I can read the issue twice, let alone three times, in quick succession without feeling like I am exhausting its possibility to hold my interest is a huge leap forward beyond most Transformers comics of recent years and evidence that John Barber and James Roberts are doing something definitely right.
There is a lot to like in the set-up that this issue is building. The sense of a definite end to the Autobot-Decepticon war is something that has only really been done tangentially as a background element in Beast Wars. Even the Marvel run tried to have its cake and eat a little bit of it too with the way it ended things. Combine that with the idea of returning refugee tribes with a very different perspective on Transformer history and the potential to play with a much more complicated political deck and tell some distinctly different stories emerges. I love the way that the idea of the Autobots as a splinter faction rather than the mainstream is dropped full-force in our laps. Hinted at a little in the Marvel UK run the idea was never really explored in any meaningful way (rightfully because that wasn't the story they were telling). It is used here to ask us to shift our perspective on what the war meant, and who the two sides really stood for.
The consequences of that, and of the idea that the returning Cybertronians may well be bringing with them ideas, trends and perspectives acquired from amongst other species over the period of their exile is an intriquing one and I look forward to seeing what Barber choses to do with those ingredients over on his new ongoing.
The idea of Hot Rod going of on some quixotic quest after the secrets of the past meanwhile almost sells itself to me. The idea of the brash, "young", hot-head whom we've always previously being sold as the "forward-driving" character having such a conservative, backward-looking streak is an interesting take on the character and, if "war without end" is no longer to be the motivating driver of the books, then a quest is a pretty good peg to hang stories around.
What is impressive is that amongst all this set-up for the two ongoings it never feels like Optimus Prime's story is coming off second-best or being neglected. Instead Barber and Roberts make the story of Optimus Prime stepping from the stage the vital pivot around which it all hangs. The story is telling us that the status-quo has been changed, and that things are going to be different, but it is through Prime that we come to feel it. Through his realisation that this is a brave new world, and that perhaps it is not the place to have such people as Optimus Prime in it the story gives us a viewpoint character with much the same viewpoint as us. Like us, Optimus is intimately familiar with these characters and setting aspects, but like us he can see that they are changing. It is a good way to construct a story and really feels like it does justice to both of its goals. (The art does a cracking job here as well - selling Optimus at the same time as a familiar figure in a crowded setting, but also as having a literal and figurative great stature to him)
Based on this I am curious to see where the new ongoings are headed - I have the first issues of both pre-ordered - and I am cautiously optimistic that they might well turn out to be interesting different to each other. It has been a while since I could honestly say that I encountered a Transformers story and thought "Oh, that's interesting. I wonder what you intend to make from that". It is nice to have that feeling back again.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 6, 2012 0:53:41 GMT
Well it did the job of making me want to read what happens next, after some time away from being interested in the comics. I'll give the new series a try via Comixology.
-Ralph
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Post by KnightBeat on Jan 6, 2012 19:47:41 GMT
The sense of a definite end to the Autobot-Decepticon war is something that has only really been done tangentially as a background element in Beast Wars. It's also worth noting that the first few episodes of the Energon cartoon addressed the war being over/on hold, following the death of Galvatron. The Decepticon's were portrayed as second class citizens, working for the Autobots in various menial roles (there seemed to be a lot of guard duty involved).
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Post by KnightBeat on Jan 10, 2012 21:26:39 GMT
Looking through the issue for the third time, I suddenly realised that the G1 toy cover shows Prime facing slightly to the left. Is this (a rotatable head) a feature of one of the re-releases or have IDW used artistic licence?
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 10, 2012 22:15:29 GMT
Artistic licence.
-Ralph
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