IDW October solicications 2009, Do mind, possibly spoilerish Options

[lonegamer8]

Thanks to Jim over at IDW (no relation to Jim Sorenson):

TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON #16
Mike Costa, Zander Cannon (w) • Guido Guidi, Chee (a) • Guidi, Chee (cover)
FINAL ISSUE! Spike has survived the war, but can he handle RAVAGE? Bumblebee goes it alone to clean up the wreckage, but a new enemy awaits! This one sets the stage for the biggest TRANSFORMERS news since transforming cogs first came off the assembly line! What’s the news? Pick up the issue and find out! 2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN #3
Chris Mowry (w) • Carlos Magno (a) • Magno, Alex Milne (cover)
JETFIRE returns! What’s his connection to the villainous FALLEN? What is he running from? And can he find redemption? All good questions. And the answers aren’t going to turn out like you think! 2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON, VOL. 3
Shane McCarthy, Andy Schmidt, Josh van Reyk, Shawn Knowler (w) • Casey Coller, E.J. Su, Robby Musso, Marcelo Matere (a) • Trevor Hutchison (cover)
IDW’s one-shots focusing on the most celebrated TRANSFORMERS characters continue in this latest collection of Spotlights. This time around, see how and why BLURR, JAZZ, DRIFT, CLIFFJUMPER, and METROPLEX fit into the Transformers universe and the events of All Hail Megatron.
SC, 7x10, 132pgs, FC $19.99

TRANSFORMERS BEST OF THE UK: PREY #3
Simon Furman (w) • Will Simpson (a) • Andrew Griffith (cover)
OPTIMUS PRIME reveals what became of him, PROWL, and RATCHET after they were forced into a limbo dimension along with SHOCKWAVE, THUNDERCRACKER, and FRENZY. Continuing the fan-favorite collection of classic tales from across the pond, written by TRANSFORMERS mainstay Simon Furman with an all-new cover by Andrew Griffith!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

I was able to take a look at the inks for Spike's story of AHM #16 at Guido's booth, but I'm not saying anything.

On AHM Volume 3, there seems to be some naming stickies at some of the Amazons versus to it being a Spotlight TPB, so search me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-depth.gif) I'm just quoting what he posted there.

This post has been edited by lonegamer8: Jul 28 2009, 09:25 AM

[Bass X0]

I wonder who this new enemy that Bumblebee has to face is.

And the third All Hail Megatron trade paperback is actually a Spotlights book. Huh. Jazz and Drift's Spotlights are definitely connected to AHM and I can kinda see how Blurr and Cliffjumper's Spotlights are connected to AHM. But Metroplex's? Completely unrelated.

And Movie Jetfire comes back to life? I suppose the blurb does make the story sound interesting.

[Moroboshi Ataru]

Metroplex ties in, too. It explains how Megatron got the Space Bridge tech (What his reference to Sixshot was about in issue 10), and takes place during the massive Decepticon assault (Sixshot was able to attack the Autobot laboratory undetected because of the shutdown of the defense systems due to Hunter.). Plus, it ended with Goldbug getting reports in that the Autobots had lost the war.

Actually, it probably ties in more closely plot-wise with AHM than any other story besides Drift (Which was the setup for AHM issue 5/6's appearances of Kup's crew.)

This post has been edited by Ataru: Jul 28 2009, 11:13 AM

[Bass X0]

Oh okay. There was passing mention to AHM.

[Dinogrrl]

I want to know why Ravage is apparently still on Earth when he should have left along with Soundwave in #12.

"Daddy left me behind! I shall now eat a human."

[Esser-Z]

Well, here comes Unicron. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Bass X0]

Breakdown.

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[Stungun]

......................
RYAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR
RRR!

I really hate this new artstyle. it's making DON FIGUEROA draw dull surprise. DON. FIGUEROA. One of the best artists in the Transformers pantheon, is now forced to draw in a style that pretty much limits itself to dull surprise.

This post has been edited by Spin-Out: Aug 1 2009, 12:20 PM

[Zodberg]

Well, here comes Unicron. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

There goes the planet.

[Wildwade]

I wonder who this new enemy that Bumblebee has to face is.

It's mentioned somewhere, by someone, probably on the IDW board, that Skywarp was going to be Bumblebee's chief antagonist in that series.

Forgot where I read it though...

[Dys]

I really hate this new artstyle. it's making DON FIGUEROA draw dull surprise. DON. FIGUEROA. One of the best artists in the Transformers pantheon, is now forced to draw in a style that pretty much limits itself to dull surprise.

It's a horrible, offputting style which make the transformers look like animated corpses... Sadly, I think it's a style Don is using by choice. Over at the IDW forums, he posted,

There have been alot of worried comments about my "new" art style and I understand the concern.

as you know, I've been doing this for a long time now, over 5 years in fact. and I'm sure some of you are tired of seeing the same thing over and over from me. I know I am.

as an artist, I like to experiment. I gauge what people like and I try to bend where the wind blows. and recently, I see more and more from the fandom that "Geewun suxxors"

and the thing is, I don't consider IDW's take as "G1". the stories are not a continuation of the ones from the 80's cartoon or the Marvel stuff. they didn't crash on earth 4 millions years ago and get lodged in a volcano, it doesn't even fit into Beast wars.

sure it's got the same names and elements from G1, but that can also be said with every other series that came and went since G1.

Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, the Movie.. All have elements of G1 in them, all have an Optimus who's a red truck and there's a Yellow car that younger people can relate to. references to Matrixes, Unicrons..etc, but they're not G1.

so please, calm down everybody. I'm just complimenting the new stories with a new look.

-Don Fig

G1 or not, from the responses I've seen while lurking here and on other forums, he's really overestimated the number of people who've wanted to see Transformers with faces like this.

[Total Biscuit]

G1 or not, from the responses I've seen while lurking here and on other forums, he's really overestimated the number of people who've wanted to see Transformers with faces like this.

Personally I think it's a shame he didn't try to make his style more like Animated, which would have done the same thing for him, but allowed him to portray Transformers with more emotional range than just horrified grimacing.

[Bass X0]

I really hate this new artstyle. it's making DON FIGUEROA draw dull surprise. DON. FIGUEROA. One of the best artists in the Transformers pantheon, is now forced to draw in a style that pretty much limits itself to dull surprise.

It's a horrible, offputting style which make the transformers look like animated corpses... Sadly, I think it's a style Don is using by choice. Over at the IDW forums, he posted,

There have been alot of worried comments about my "new" art style and I understand the concern.

as you know, I've been doing this for a long time now, over 5 years in fact. and I'm sure some of you are tired of seeing the same thing over and over from me. I know I am.

as an artist, I like to experiment. I gauge what people like and I try to bend where the wind blows. and recently, I see more and more from the fandom that "Geewun suxxors"

and the thing is, I don't consider IDW's take as "G1". the stories are not a continuation of the ones from the 80's cartoon or the Marvel stuff. they didn't crash on earth 4 millions years ago and get lodged in a volcano, it doesn't even fit into Beast wars.

sure it's got the same names and elements from G1, but that can also be said with every other series that came and went since G1.

Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, the Movie.. All have elements of G1 in them, all have an Optimus who's a red truck and there's a Yellow car that younger people can relate to. references to Matrixes, Unicrons..etc, but they're not G1.

so please, calm down everybody. I'm just complimenting the new stories with a new look.

-Don Fig

G1 or not, from the responses I've seen while lurking here and on other forums, he's really overestimated the number of people who've wanted to see Transformers with faces like this.

So Don, why are you basing the character designs on 1984 (G1) toys? Why not base the characters you drew in AHM#13 on Energon Ironhide and Energon Optimus Prime for example if they're so interchangeable?

[Confuzor]

My biggest issue with this change is that its in the middle of continuity. We've had Transformers that look..."a certain way" for a good few years now. Now...this.

Had the IDW books started out looking like this, I'd be far less apprehensive here.

[missix]

G1 or not, from the responses I've seen while lurking here and on other forums, he's really overestimated the number of people who've wanted to see Transformers with faces like this.

The faces are really baffling; even if he's going for movie-level detail, I can't understand why he settled on a look that includes beady little eyes and skull-like shaping. It's completely off-putting, and diminishes their expressiveness considerably. I'm open about most art styles, but I really don't want to read a full comic where all the characters share a blank Terminator look.

[Dinogrrl]

Yes, this style is going to make for some hard work getting good facial expressions in there. At least with the actual movie bots they have motion and body language and vocal nuances that add that life-like expressiveness where their faces or physiques would not. In static 2-D form, it you lose a lot with the movie-esque style. It's one of the things that turned me off the movie comics themselves, whilst liking the actual movie bots in motion.

Some designs just do not work well as sequential art.

[Zodberg]

do we know it's not just the inker?
Don't been drawing awesome robots in the awesome style he's known for since... what, 2003? And that's counting War Within #1 as a different style. I don't blame him for wanting to mix it up, and I hope that he'll quickly refine the properties of this style.
I really don't mind that Transformer faces are suddenly made of parts rather than the flexible metal they've been made of - they certainly aren't less expressive, but you know, I'm not yet sure the 'bots are expressing the right expression.