Originally posted by Denyer
I don't particularly credit Hasbro with the backstory, since they appear to have largely left Marvel to their own devices there.
Ah, I was more thinking it was Hasbro who actually got up off their arses and said "hey, these robots aren't bad... let's give them a bit more than a Macross rip-off as a back-story", rather than crediting them with, say, Soundwave. Though they probably made the move for sentient robots...
As for Furman, his conclusions have often been a bit rubbish... at the very least, a mild let down. I think that's more of a me thing, though, as I'm starting to read more TPBs than individual comics - you tend to feel it's more of a story, rather than five good issues then a bad one. Like I say, a 'me' thing.
Sadly, I get the impression he's on autopilot because DW are afraid of backlash if they kick Mr Furman Transformers Genius Guy up the arse and tell him to come up with a new plot. About the only things of his from DW that have really had be jumping for joy have been "Worlds Collide" [which, technically, he ****ed up with #18 anyway] and WW:DA, which I'm not holding my breath with... to be honest, I'm of the outlook that there's good, and often strikingly similar, characterisation and dialogue in his Marvel stuff [it's amazing that DW can't use, say, Xaaron, but
can let Simon lift whole paragraphs, eh?
], so it's more the plots and ideas that hook me... There have been some great ones for me, but the thing with a mini-series is that it needs a decent ending... WW V1 #6 undermined so much of the good work done in the first three issues, and my copy still has ash pressed between the pages from when I threw it in the bin after I first read it... that's how bad I thought that comic was.
Oh, and scary borderline psycho rant on Furman, written about three months ago after too much Pro-Plus: -
As some of you may know if you've seen my comments on his work since he began working for Dreamwave, I think Simon Furman's writing has taken something of a dive. I'm going to try to explain why the guy I regularly laud as not only the very best Transformers writer of all time (Antoni Zalowski does better on percentages, but it's hardly fair to compare a rough guess of 150+ stories to two), but also rank in my top 10 comic writers, alongside the likes of Peter David, Kurt Busiek, Warren Ellis and Mark Waid, is getting such a hard time from me.
But it hasn't all just gone wrong overnight, as it were. Casting an eye back over Furman's Marvel work, the real cracks start to show around 1988, around "Time Wars". "Time Wars", the all-conquering classic with plot holes you could fit Pat Lee's ego through that somehow gets by as around half-a-dozen extras [extras they are, whatever complex personalities tech specs, profiles, fanfics and general 'I always thought Twin Twist was kinda hardcore' conjecture has extrapolated onto the Wreckers and Mayhems] die in a violent manner. The thing's so rushed it gets worse on each reading... By the last issue Springer and Carnivac, who carry most of the story for three quarters of the way, aren't even in it. They just disappear. What the Hell is Magnus' condition? Where on Earth are most of Prime's troops? Leaving aside the ones that disappear at random intervals [Scattershot, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Goldbug, Hoist], you think he'd ring the Ark, what with universal armageddon bearing down and all...
But I'm getting off-point. I'm not saying everything before "Time Wars" by Furman was superb - "Christmas Breaker", "The Enemy Within" and "Worlds Apart" [the kind of story Budiansky's crucified for] all make Baby Jesus cry. On the flip-side, after "Time Wars", there are still some classic UK stories, such as "The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire", "The Big Shutdown" and "Deathbringer". But after "Time Wars" it just gets lazy. More often than not, the black & white stories are lazy, and speed-written. Earthforce, for example, is a promising premise, lost in lazy continuity, and a seeming need to have any decent story arcs (e.g. the trio of Survivors cycles) counterweighted by variable 'comedy' efforts. And then the thing just ends. And there's Thunderwing's mini-arc on his rise to leadership, which can only really be favoured by anyone because it has Thunderwing in it. The thing can be summed up as Thunderwing scares some kids, beats up some eighth-rate Decepticons, attacks the Ark, runs away from the Ark and is then given Decepticon leadership. Think about that. Silly, isn't it?
Of course, Furman's commitment to the UK book was clearly waning for another reason - the higher exposure of the US comic. Now, Furman's Marvel US run is nowhere near as good as people will have you believe. While US #69-78 are pretty well handled, and stand up well to repeat reading, the rest is much more mixed. The initial arc, from US #56-60, is bloody terrible, and doesn't compare well to most of Furman's previous work, or much of Budiansky's up to the mid-20s before he stopped caring. Heck, it doesn't compare well to the Underbase Saga, one of the worst story arcs in the Marvel TF output. And Bob's blatantly mucking around by there. But what's that you say? Jose Delbo? Nice try, but explain why "Enemy Within" was so damn good with that crazy John Ridgway art. Good enough scripting can shine through bad art. It might not make a great, or even good comic, but you can look at the writing and say "that'd be a great story if someone with hand-to-eye coordination wrote it". Not so with that first arc. A Doctor Doom-esque escape and resurrection for Megatron, the Noble Sacrifice™, some massive leaps of logic... It gets a little better for #61, "Primal Scream". "Primal Scream" is behind only #75 as my all time favourite Transformers comic book. To explain what I mean by that, I mean as a package. It's an issue to leave on the coffee table when friends come round. Thanks to Geoff Senior, it looks bloody glorious. It's Transformers as eye candy, with clarity and expressionism all the boffo-socko computer colouring and digital composition in the world couldn't equal. It even looks good after Nel Yomtov, who coloured seven years' worth of TF comics because no other bugger wanted him ruining their hard work, can't ruin it. But the story? One part super-exposition, one-part heroic inspiration cliché.
Then starts the Matrix Quest. The first part, "Bird of Prey" [US #62], is a good laugh. Nothing more, nothing less. A fun pastiche with a dynamic leading character, well drawn and snappily written. Then we have probably the two weakest TF stories Furman ever did for Marvel. "Kings of the Wild Frontier", a screamingly obvious Twilight Zone rip-off with the cardboard cut-out Triggerbots ['They're a bit mad, but stick together', kinda like Force Works. Remember them? No.]. And then we get Longtooth in yet another silly, predictable pastiche. I make that three pastiches from three. We then get a fourth, as "Dark Creation" openly cribs from the already derivative Alien saga. Even without the in-jokes, it's about as subtle as a Budiansky story title. That said, the thing has a certain amount of atmosphere, and is fairly tense and well-written. The conclusion of the Matrix Quest comes in #66, and to be honest it's one big fight with the old "Target 2006"/"Time Wars" motif of 'everyone pile on the invincible baddie until something like allies from the future or a timestorm turns up'. Now, I like Nightbeat. I love the way he gets to save the day. I love the way he acts while doing it. I love it when someone who doesn't have the biggest, flashest toy in the range does something cool. But does it not bother anyone that the nigh-omnipotent Creation Matrix is taken down by a bloody harpoon? Even Devastator never got taken down by a harpoon.
Moving on then, we have "Rhythyms of Darkness". An alternate universe story which for the first dozen pages is atmospheric, foreboding and generally doom-laden. Until the Autobots make their Last Stand™. And we get exactly the same problem as in all those Marvel "What If?" comics where half-a-dozen or so heroes survive some huge war. How on Earth did this lot survive this long?
I've actually cut sooo much of that to stop people thinking I'm insane.
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