IDW - from the beginning...

[Red Dave Prime]

Hello folks!

Was idling about today and noticed how large my IDW collection is - basically have bought everything from Infiltration #0 onwards. So I thought it would be interesting to read through the collection... using the chronology featured in continum. May be interesting, may not but if anyone fancys adding in thoughts along the way, that would be cool.

First up will be section 1 - The Megatron: Origin Series issues 1 to 4

[Red Dave Prime]

1. Megatron Origin #1-4

What a way to start off a series. By my recollection, this was the first big mis-step of IDW and started a pattern of bad continuity. Coming around the time of escalation if I remember right, it apparently was meant to be a six part dreamwave series. It shows.

The art is by Alex Milne and he produces an overly dark and generally confusing style. Had to re-read several panels to get a clue of whats going on. The end battle between Sentinal Prime and Megatron is particularly tricky. If anyone knows what happens when Prime blasts megatron while in front of him only to have a destroyed Hound thrown at him by Megatron from up above please fill it in here.

The story itself isnt totally without merit. The basic idea of the story is of the decepticon rising (really, altough he is the main con, megatron gets little insight. what turns hims from miner to psycho killer-ruler is never addressed). The 2 main problems I had was :
1.) its overly muddled and doesnt know whether to focus on the gladitorial problem or the political play of Ratbat and the result is niether gets a proper pay-off
2.) they are desperate to shoe-horn in anyone and everyone into cameos. Ok, no problem with Clench or Cy-kill, and Bumper is fine but it seems everyone was already an autobot trooper before a single decepticon appeared which doesnt make sense with the current IDW feel of the autobots forming after the cons appear and indeed, even the first issue of Origin gives an impression of the autobots being an elite, military dictatorship - which makes it odd that we see Hound, Prowl, Bumblebee etc involved from the start.
It suffers with the decepticons cameos as well as we get so many so early that none make an impact - the seekers just appear as if from nowhere.

So we start with a muddled series that sets the scene in a way which will be slightly contradicted later on. Not a favourite mini of mine by any strecth and really, could/ should have been ret-conned out of exsistence by Continuim.

edit: I should point out, I have kinda speed reviewd this one. Any other minis will get a proper issue by issue look. As shockwave attests, this one just isnt really worth the effort of checking over anything in major detail.

Next up folks, is Blurr...

[Commander Shockwav]

M:O was awful. Artwise and storywise both. I don't think I've ever anticipated a miniseries so much and then been so disappointed in it.

It makes AHM and the ongoing look good.

[Red Dave Prime]

Spotlight Blur
Story: Shane McCarthy
Art: Casey Coller / Joana Laufuente

Right, after the quick and ever so slight look at Megatron:Origins, we come to our first proper written-for-IDW issue. The plots quite simple as Spoilt, rich racer Blur gets brought down to earth (as it were) when the starting civil war on cybertron impacts on his hedonistic lifestyle.

Coming from the style of Cybertron that Origins portrayed, Blurs story is set in a more pristine world. This is in part thanks to the art from Coller which features lovely character designs but backgrounds that are very light and a bit bland. Its something which runs through his style I think as the Ironhide mini features a similar problem. Altough saying that, its not much of a problem and I would take this style over Alex Milne or Chee.

Back to the Issue and this is what I would have classed as one of McCarthys “slight” issues in that the story makes no major impact on the major but is supposed to add a bit of colour to characters involved. Cliffjumper is the other and while Drift does add backstory to both preceptor and Drift it still has a slight feel to it.

Its not a particularly amazing issue but does have 2 nice scenes. Starscream trying to recruit Blur is really nice, well drawn and fits Screamer well. The other scene that made me laugh was when Blur and his crew hit the flash nightclub after the race. Despite the stringent door policy, one table is taken up by 2 Simultronic junkies out of their minds. That’s fantastic work Mr. Doorman. Ok, that scene probably wasn’t meant to be funny but it made me chuckle.

Outside of that, this issue doesn’t really have much. The art carries a lot of it as nothing is badly written but nothing is written in a way that really grabs. Primes pep talk with Blur feels by the numbers and even the ending where Blur intercepts the decepticon party is silly – why the cons didn’t fly to their target is never explained. They just seem to be trudging along a street. Even worse, why blur felt he couldn’t take an alternate route to get ahead of them. He heads right into a group of assassins for Christ sake, just to run past them. Pure Silly.

So, as I said earlier, a slight issue. Nothing terrible but nothing that needed to be addressed as a stand alone issue.

Funny, if someone has bought IDWs compendium of TF stories they would have gotten through 100 pages of "meh" before they got to our first decent issue - next review is spotlight:Shockwave!

[inflatable dalek]

Useless Fact: There was some art at AA and the title on it was Megatron: Precursor.

[Red Dave Prime]

Megatron - the mining years?

[Neuronutter]

Funny, if someone has bought IDWs compendium of TF stories they would have gotten through 100 pages of "meh" before they got to our first decent issue - next review is spotlight:Shockwave!

Spotlight Shockwave review: awesome. Probably the best single issue IDW has produced to date.

[Red Dave Prime]

Spotlight Shockwave
Story: Simon Furman
Art: Nick Roche / Josh Burcham

The very first spotlight that IDW and one of the best, Spotlight Shockwave was exciting, vibrant and fresh at the time of its release. How does it stack up now? Still a quality issue.

Furman hits 2 goals with this issue. First off, it’s a nice play on the original Marvel origin story of the Dinobots and Shockwave but with its own twist. Secondly it sets up a clever reason for Earth to be so central to the cybertronian war – Ore 13. Sadly, now ignored/ forgotten / never-read-about-in-the-first-place (delete as suits the writer)

As all good spotlights, this one is told from the view of the named character, Shockwave and his efforts to create s new form of energy supply for the species thousands of years ago. He seeds various planets (take note IDW writers, you could use this!) but unknown to him, he is being tracked by the Autobot Dynobots squad – a somewhat anarchic military squad hellbent on revenge. As he seeds the planet Earth, the Dynobots attack, equipped in Living Dinosaur forms which allow them to function in Earths unstable atmosphere. Battle ensures and its an excellent one. Roches art is excellent here and captures the action brilliantly – especially Shockwaves comeback.

In the end, shockwave is victorious but dynobot grimlock had a back up plan which involves all the combatants getting blasted from a remote ship in orbit. This causes a volcano to erupt burying Shockwave and the Dynobots in molten lava. As the issue ends, we see Bludgeon in the present day being assigned to look into shockwaves activities which will lead nicely into Stormbringer (if I remember right, Stormbringer issue 1 was already out)

This is a great issue in my view. The art is lovely, the plot is fast but intriguing at the same time and while it’s a complete story in itself, it sets up other plot points in the overall arc. An early high point for IDW.

Spotlight Jazz is next on the review block.

[horizon]

Yes, Spotlight: Shockwave is really very good all around.

[Commander Shockwav]

Spotlight:Shockwave still holds up as IDW's best single issue yet, IMO.

[Skyquake87]

Whilst it is a good issue, the Dynobot's reason for attacking Shockwave didn't have enough 'meat' to it for me. It seemed a very flimsy reason for Grimlock to get angered about (an attack at a depot?!). Otherwise, it is a great little issue.

[Terome]

It seemed a very flimsy reason for Grimlock to get angered about

That's the point, surely? The Dynobots are little better than gangsters. I like the implication that no one missed them at all except for Ultra Magnus, who is a bit of a pedant.

[Terome]

Red Dave Prime: 1.) its overly muddled and doesnt know whether to focus on the gladitorial problem or the political play of Ratbat and the result is niether gets a proper pay-off

That really hits the nail on the head. Despite the rest of its flaws, if Megatron had just had a damn focus, it could have put some of its fairly decent ideas to good use. It's a problem across almost all of the IDW minis, really. Which might be why the Spotlights stand out... until they get sucked into the Dark Universe guff.

[Red Dave Prime]

Spotlight Jazz
Story: Josh Van Reyk / Shaun Knowler
Art: EJ Su / Priscilla Taramonta


This is IDWs next issue in terms of continuity but it sure don’t feel like it. Its main story is set in the past alright but really it should fit in at around the end of the first part of All Hail Megatron. If you (like me) are reading these issues in the order that IDW recommend, you’d be hard pressed to know why Bumblebee and Cliffjumper are arguing at the start and why the autobots are in need of a pep talk.

This issue also fails in what I think they were trying to achieve. One (of several) character problems AHM threw up was how Jazz went from being a background soldier in the furman run to the elite, black-ops type leader in AHM. (Its not that Jazz isn’t a fit for the role but more that he has already been established. McCarthy could have used another bot for the role. )

We don’t really get the AHM character here either. Essentially, this is a (possibly made up) story from Tracks about how Jazz saved him and made him realise autobots should never keep up and fight to the end. And that’s fine. But it suits Furmans Jazz more than McCarthys. So Fail.

The story itself isn’t too bad. Art is ok, but its not one of EJs finest. The story itself feels like something you would get in an old marvel annual. If it wasn’t for the bookends you could slot it in to any part of the timeline. Jazz is seen as a resourceful fighter although I wasn’t quite convinced that he should have been able to take down the Predacons so simply. They are supposed to be Megatrons elite hunter squad but they drop quite easily. Well, except for Razorclaw but still. Maybe the combaticons would have been a better fit.

Its throwaway but not in a bad way. There’s a decent enough flow to the story and it doesn’t thread over previous plots too much. Altough I had to wonder why Ironhide is so wrapped up in listening to the story seeing as how he is part of the rescue party. But that’s nit-picking.

Spotlight Cliffjumper is next. As a sneak preview can I just say: “sigh…”

[Red Dave Prime]

Spotlight Cliffjumper

Story: Shane McCarthy
Art: Robby Musso

Ah, now this is a bit silly...

I think this issue was to set up cliffjumper as a bit of a bad ass. Not sure why they felt the autobots needed another bad-ass what with Jazz, Grimlock, Drift, Springer... But anyway, if Spotlight Jazz felt like a Marvel Annual Story, Spotlight Cliffjumper is like a ladybird book - but without the depth.

Ok, thats a bit harsh. But this issue doesnt hang together at all - regardless of the transformer aspect. The basic premise is that Cliffjumper is stranded on an alien planet and intergrates with a pair of orphans (no, I'm not kidding). After settling into a somewhat peaceful life for a bit, Cliffy has to defend himself from a pack of hunting Decepticons while the aliens get caught up in the crossfire. Not too bad a premise (orphans aside) but it just gets everything wrong.

Apart from the art. He may have drawn the aliens far too cartoony but I really like RRs colourful and vibrant art.

But the rest is a little bit of a mess.

The problem is that while McCarthy wants to explore the effects of the transformers war on other species (a theme which pops up again in Spotlight Drift and AHM) but he doesnt have the chops to give it any depth. Instead it feels throwaway and you can tell Cliffy feels the same because the whole traumatic event is never brought up again. Why spotlight it? I dont know fellow readers.

The other problem is the revelation that cliffjumper is actually a rock hard assassin who can take on 2 (count 'em!) squads of Decepticons - with primitive weapons no less! It just seems silly and it doesnt make cliffjumper look like a kick-ass warrior, more that the decepticons are much weaker than single autobots. I got a kick out of seeing Cliffjumper ridiculously tooled up in AHMs flashback when he had 4 or 5 guns attached but the idea that he is not just a gun nut but actually one of the autobots most feared and effective assassins... eh, no.

Nothing really gels here and its forgotten by the IDW verse as quickly as I forgot it. it passes a few minutes for the read but thats it.

On a funny note, the Don Fig cover is the first sign (I think) of his new direction I think - only just noticed it has the Don "universal face" that has blighted the ongoing.

Ok, past this something good must be up next... Its Wheelie!

Woot!

[Cliffjumper]

That really hits the nail on the head. Despite the rest of its flaws, if Megatron had just had a damn focus, it could have put some of its fairly decent ideas to good use. It's a problem across almost all of the IDW minis, really. Which might be why the Spotlights stand out... until they get sucked into the Dark Universe guff.

Yup - a big problem with much of IDW's stuff is that you'd struggle to relay to someone succinctly what it's actually about. I'm not sure if it's just down to Furman writing a rolling monthly/bi-monthly Claremont plot regardless of the format or what, but most of the non-Spotlight stuff (and some actual Spotlight stuff, from about Monstructor on) lacks any real focus.

The same way you couldn't just pick up a 1989 issue of Uncanny X-Men and really pick up what was going on, you couldn't nip into Waterstones, buy "Escalation" and have much chance of it making sense, as there's no spine to the plot. Whereas "Last Stand of the Wreckers" or an Authority trade might be peppered with continuity references that'll go over the heads of casual readers, but at least have a strong self-contained narrative in their own right.

Whereas the Dead Furmanverse is too much of an all-or-nothing thing, and considering the nebulous plotlines don't really go anywhere, most people are going to chose the "nothing" route. And all because a failed comic writer (seriously, he's now made himself near-unemployable for the one line where he was previously guaranteed work - this time there was no "but that's Bob/Hasbro/Pat Lee's fault!", despite claims that it was McCarthy/IDW's fault he managed to write 40-odd issues that acheived nothing) wanted to play plot master.

[inflatable dalek]

Blimey, do IDW really officially recommend (as in that's the place they put it in in the soon to be out of date thanks to Drift chronological order book) reading Jazz at the point the flashback's set? Even though it's really a present day story tied into what was going on at the time that just happens to be flashback heavy?

That'd be like watching the In The Beginning Babylon 5 film before any of the series just because that's where most of the flashbacks in it take place.

[Red Dave Prime]

Yeah, the placement of Jazz in the run of things is very odd. But hey, machination and skywatch are seen as the same thing by the person who came up with the order.

[Raze]

Not sure Spotlight Soundwave is in the right place either may need to be after Stormbringer. I'm not sure though.

Takes place in 1984 with Bludgeon and the others trying to resurrect Thunderwing which Soundwave interrupts. Soundwave then mentions Thunderwing as the being that came closest to destroying them all, there's then an editors note telling you to see Stormbringer.

I don't know, I've just been reading through them again in the suggested order and that stood out.

[inflatable dalek]

It is before the main action of Stormbringer, Thunderwing's initial wave of destruction is seen in flashback in that story. Bludgeon himself is put out of action until after Soundwave gets rescued in the main Stormbringer plot so it has to be before.