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Definitely sticking with IDW's Transformers.

Not a movieverse fan myself either.

But for the past two years, IDW has given us some decent reads, with occasional great ones. We've got Maximum Dinobots coming up as well as The Thirteen.

And yes, I'm still holding out hope that AHM will evolve into something worthwhile, as I do see potential there. I see what Shane is going for, I've enjoyed some of the character portrayals and the dialogue. There's still a chance to save face.

So yes, I'm still in.

I've been reading AHM in the shop since the second issue, but with the Animated comic (Man, 'Animated,' as a subtitle, really hasn't grown on me) being pretty enjoyable, Maximum Dinobots looking to be interesting and the Spotlights going back to their regular format, I'll be sinking my patronage into the company itself for a while longer. Though I'm not holding out much hope for The Thirteen being anything other than the usual multiverse balls.

I'm enjoying it so far, I still need to get to the comic store to pick up Sideswipe.

While the Movieverse is a little uninteresting I don't mind reading it.

Now those Animated books....

Personally, can't wait for the movieverse comics, want to see how AHM goes on and am curious about Max dinobots. So no break for me, at all.

zigzagger wrote:Well, you won't be taking backseat for too long really - it arrives early December.

Just realised I'd read the information there wrong. Thought it wasn't out till next year..... same with spotlight Blur

Terome wrote:(Man, 'Animated,' as a subtitle, really hasn't grown on me)

I read it as TFA and think about it being a comic based on these forums......

Basicly, if AHM starts picking up, I'll get all excited and start getting back issues, but the feeling of the slap in the face that AHM is really annoys me.. after all, the Tion saga (for saga it is) was Target 2006 good. It was better than both TWW and the fantastic Worlds Collide storyline, both of which I perversely class as comics greatness. Then we ignore the rest of DW.

I don't see, with Tion ending so abruptly, how either Maxy Dinos or 13 can resolve any of the threads, but thats just be being pessimistic.

Anybody else done with IDW?

No, just with AHM from what I've seen of it. IMO it's extremely poor entertainment value for money as singles, and there isn't any reason to pick it up in trade either unless the writing improves.

Not a fan of the movieverse, but sticking with AHM. Looking forward to MD and The 13.

Well, I've expressed some of my increasing apathy elsewhere at length. I am continuing to enjoy the Titan comic for what it is though, good knock around harmless fun. The the quality from issue to issue can be all over the place for some reason it comes out on top enough to make it a enjoyable read. If only they weren't reprinting Origin...

But no, I'm keeping with them due to me firmly expecting them not to be around much longer (though the fact they're guarenteed a sales bump for the film stuff every couple of years may keep 'em churning the stuff out). Still, at least we got a few years and some decent comics out of them. If I were a GI Joe fan I'd be very concerned at getting even that much by their Kamikarzi plan to lauch the range with 50 titles.

You know, considering I'm enough of a Doctor Who comics completeist to be buying Battles In Time every fortnight but have never had any interest in any of IDW's stuff whatsoever says a lot about how little I care for anything they do at this stage.

Yeah. And to continue on from my earlier list, the only title that even has me remotely interested at the moment is Maximum Dinobots. I'll wait and see how that all wraps up before I throw my hands up in defeat. Quite honestly, the whole Thirteen palaver has me wanting to run for cover. It scares me. It scares me a lot.

inflatable dalek wrote:You know, considering I'm enough of a Doctor Who comics completeist to be buying Battles In Time every fortnight but have never had any interest in any of IDW's stuff whatsoever says a lot about how little I care for anything they do at this stage.

The Forgotten seems fun from the bits I've skimmed. Will probably check it out in trade. Know anything about Morrison's run on the old Who comics?

I have a really hard time letting go of books that I've been subscribed to for a long period of time. After a fashion I just buy the book out of loyalty/collector's syndrome, regardless of quality. It took all my might to drop Army of Darkness and Cable & Deadpool, books that had just gotten so terrible I hadn't enjoyed nearly a year's worth of stories.

With IDW, I've gradually started weening myself off their secondary Transformers titles. I dropped all the Movieverse books (when they had two movieverse titles out at a once, I figured it was time to put my foot down). I own scans of most of their Best of UK reprints and the actual issues for most of their Classics stuff, so I've no interest in them.

I'll keep reading their Animated title, but only because that one has been really good.

As for the main Transformers continuity? I dunno. Even with all the behind the scenes malarky that went on, I still feel like Revelations was a downright terrible read. All Hail Megatron has been underwhelming, too. I don't even know what to think of Maximum Dinobots.

I may drop the books, but it won't be easy. If IDW would just consolidate their main continuity to a single title, I would be so much happier. Alas, that sort of thing has never been in their business plan.

Denyer wrote:The Forgotten seems fun from the bits I've skimmed. Will probably check it out in trade.

The problem I had with the first series they did is it was written by Gary Russell. Splendid chap, excellent editor, script editor producer and child actor but everything he's directly written I've found to be complete and utter crap. The framing sequence of The Forgotten put me off, partially because it reaked of a cop out lack of confidence in just doing a Doctor Spotlight comic without having to shove Tennant in every issue, but mainly because its the same "amnisiac Doctor relives past adventures to regain memory" idea as The Eight Doctors. Never a good idea, especially as the memory loss Doctor has been done to death in the last ten years across the various spin offs as different writers tried desperately to take something from the TV movie they could use as a starting point.

Know anything about Morrison's run on the old Who comics?

Two stories, one of which is a enjoyable but throwaway jaunt through the Tardis and the other is completely and utterly insane fanwankfest to the point you suspect its a giant piss take (and some of the plastering over continuity issues makes no sense, the Cybermen in The Invasion don't recognise the Doctor and Jamie from their auras, they recognise them from photographs). If they're colouring Ridgeways art (which is intended to be read in B&W and won't look as good in colour) your best off spending a bit more on the trade which also gives you several other strips, inclduing a couple of Furman ones.

I'd actually forgotten about The 13, and like Ziggy I share that sinking feeling about it. If nothing else, the implication across several of the issues so far that Cybertron had a similar origin to Gorlam Prime is a lot more interesting and subtle than any rehash would have been.

I tend not to buy the movie titles because I havent really gotten into the universe it represents. Animated looks lovely but I havent gotten any appeall for reading a comic based on it (the show itself is childishly fun enough ) As for the main book..

I think I like it because its Transformers. The quality is a bit all over the place in terms of scriping and I agree with the above points about revelations that despite all the background going-ons, they could have done a better job. A lot of the problems with pacing came about because of plot points within the four issues themselves.

If I was to judge the IDW comics on being Transformer comics, their fun and I dont mind the faults as I'm only getting a new issue every month or so. But compared to other comics, the series is lacking in character development, plot and dialogue.

Memorable characters from the furman run that arent influenced by what you read/ saw in other series? I'd be pushed to think of many. Arcee was interesting, Cyclonus was good, the initial megatron & soundwave charcters was good and then I struggle. The plots have been good but in trying to have so much going on I felt that plots became more simplistic and therefore less interesting. When you think of how infiltration started (all serious) and then by the end the ultra-covert decepticons base is shown to be A HUGE METAL FORTRESS BULIT INTO A M'F**KING WALL WITH A GIANT PURPLE F**KING LOGO ON IT... . I've also felt that furman writes almost as if its a hollywood script and he's worried about the FX budget. Its a comic book format man, use it!

As for all AHM? I see it as being no more or less then furmans work. It keeps me reading and I want to see what happens. But I couldnt recommend it to non-tf comic fans. Much like the rest of IDWs output.

inflatable dalek wrote:The framing sequence of The Forgotten put me off, partially because it reaked of a cop out lack of confidence in just doing a Doctor Spotlight comic without having to shove Tennant in every issue, but mainly because its the same "amnisiac Doctor relives past adventures to regain memory" idea as The Eight Doctors. Never a good idea, especially as the memory loss Doctor has been done to death in the last ten years across the various spin offs as different writers tried desperately to take something from the TV movie they could use as a starting point.

Hmm. Not having delved that far into the TV series, I rather like the idea of having comic book visuals to go with the story... kinda like with New Frontier.

'A HUGE METAL FORTRESS BULIT INTO A M'F**KING WALL WITH A GIANT PURPLE F**KING LOGO ON IT.'

Yeah, for God's sake Furman, what were you thinking? Put the damned thing deep underground! The Autobots put their ship in a big lake, which was considerably better than in plain sight!

Bond villains were quite often much better at hiding their bases.

Red Dave Prime wrote:When you think of how infiltration started (all serious) and then by the end the ultra-covert decepticons base is shown to be A HUGE METAL FORTRESS BULIT INTO A M'F**KING WALL WITH A GIANT PURPLE F**KING LOGO ON IT...

Starscream discovered the energon ore and moved from the previous more concealed base -- seeing little reason to hide activities. Megs felt similarly once juiced up on the end product.

They've also got sensor jammers, holographic tech, etc.

True, they have that power and technology. Perhaps the cloaking should have been reflected in the artistic depiction of the base: a hazy look or dotted lines are the usual methods. I was confused and so were other readers, probably. I was worried that a hiker or someone in a small plane would find the base, alert the military and thus start an attack.

Me? I'm definitely looking forward to The Thirteen. The complete origin story has never been fully told yet, only bits and pieces, and I, for one, really want the whole story told.

OK so I've never really been a comic book reader and I've only read two or three TF comics (Spotlight: Ramjet #1 & 2 of the 2007 movie), so...

If I wanted to start with a series that is G1 style, what would you guys suggest?

Preferably one that is finished(i.e. all issuse have been printed.)

There's enough of the IDW run to keep you occupied for an afternoon or two ...

Here's the roadmap to the individual issues. Basically, start with 'Infiltration,' then move onto 'Spotlight: Volume One,' then 'Stormbringer' and get back to us with your progress.

As for why you should be reading these: It is (or was - it's currently going through a bit of a rough patch) probably the most coherent and interesting series of Transformers comics that are close to hand. And they boast a lot of strong art from E.J Su, Nick Roche and M.D Bright. The Ramjet Spotlight you read was set in this same continuity, but it was just a fun standalone story and not really representative of the bulk of the continuum.