On Oct 25, 1:47 pm, 'ShadowWing' wrote: > wrote > > > Now, I haven't read the entire series, but I've gotten up to Issue 12, > > so I think I've gotten to where the story's concluded. I think the > > next issues are supposed to be a Coda or something to bridge the gap > > between the previous series' and this one, but I must say, it'll have > > to be a hell of a jump. > > Personally, I think only one issue, the second to last one, ever really > addressed any loose plot threads, and it was only Kup's sanity and Perceptor > going all bad&$$ all of a sudden. Neither of those bothered me. Kup was obviously fixed off panel, and Perceptor was clearly pushed into a new, unfamiliar role by the war and it turned out that it suited him. > The first issued kind of undoes some of > the good stuff we see out of Starscream's characterisation in the main > story, and returns him to a variant of the status quo. That was disappointing. > I wasn't a fan of the Coda arc at all. I haven't read Coda at all -- I switched to TPBs when I bought my house. They're cheaper and more convenient, plus my local comic shop was often missing one issue or two from each arc. > > Had this been a completely separate series, I'd be okay with it. If > > this were, say, an extension of 'Evolutions' or something, I'd love > > it. But I can't, especially when I compare it with what came before. > > It actually was planned to be, but someone at IDW saw it as a good > direction for the series, and overall I have to agree. Furman's 'soap opera' > style was one I never really got behind. Too many stories all at once. I was > kind of hoping McCarthy would stay around for the ongoing, but I'm curious > to see what the new writer does with the franchise. I think AHM is a bit of a letdown after the earlier IDW stuff. Weaselation was very different for a Transformers story -- actual strategy behind the Decepticons, and multiple plots happening at once. AHM is just yet another story about Optimus Prime recognizing that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and I feel like we've seen that before -- the War Within leaps to mind. > > The series up to this point had been vast and subtle. It was a galaxy- > > spanning adventure, that just happened to be momentarily focused on > > Earth because of Ore-13 (along with its side-effects). Mass-shifting > > was a big deal. The Transformers had a viable reason for their > > disguises. The presence of Megatron and Optimus Prime was a big deal. > > There were other forces out there other than those on Earth. In the > > far reaches of space, there were Autobots and Decepticons that were > > seemingly acting independently of their overall factions (Ultra > > Magnus, Scorponok, Swindle, Fortress Maximus, etc). Cybertron was > > dead, a reminder of what the Transformers had lost. > > Without having to resort to gods. > > Line another poster said, the concepts were good, but the execution left > a lot to be desired. Personally I could have done without the whole 'Dead > Universe' stuff, and the Headmaster usage comes off as a 're-imagining', > something I'm pretty much tired of out of the entertainment industry as a > whole. (Although I do enjoy the 'Buck Rogers' comic. Go figure.) I am glad > he found a way to take the focus off Optimus and Megatron without taking > them out of the action the way Dreamwave did in their stories. (Such as > Furman did with War Within 2 + 3, actually.) I think the execution of AHM left a lot to be desired too, honestly. I give you Thundercracker and Drift as two examples. > > And there are so many unresolved issues in 'All Hail Megatron'. Why > > the body changes? Why the sudden shift in tactics? Why attack one city > > (and gee, we all know what a rich source of resources a metropolis is, > > don't we) and then camp out in it? > > I do hope that Ore-23 becomes a plot point again, but the whole > 'Infiltration' operation went off the rails a long time ago, partly because > of the Ore-23 discovery. > > > 'All Hail Megatron' is very much like fast food to me; looks good, and > > it'll hold off the munchies, but it has very little (if any) > > nutritional value. > > I blame much of that based on it starting out as a 'what if' style story > with the Decepticons winning. The point was to show just what the Autobots > have been fighting to prevent all this time. Plans just happened to change, Well, that's what editors are for. Demanding rewrites to tie things together as things change. > and they still did a better job than DC when they did the same thing to > Final Crisis (that's the event that became bigger than planned, right?). Well, I will grant that IDW did not have a yearlong weekly series of crap entitled 'Countdown to All Hail Megatron' that utterly failed to tie into All Hail Megatron and be contradicted in real time by 'Death of the Autobots'. 'Final Crisis' itself, aside from artist issues, worked well enough, and the side stories were just that -- side stories, some only using the branding and having little or nothing to do with FC. (I do wish that the FC hardcover included the two issues of Batman) Gustavo! Let two things be clear before going into this: First, you might want to have a basic understanding of the setting before trying to read this. Nothing of the background or war is really explained and likely assumes anyone reading will at least be aware of the basics. Second, despite keeping most of the transformers’ original looks, this comic is bloody. It is extremely dark with a lot of people dying. While no direct blood or guts are usually shown, it often presents events in such a way to be chilling. Usually either via description or just outright suggestion leaving the readers to imagine the rest. That being said the robots themselves are often beaten to a pulp, with some surprisingly graphic wounds. Even moments of torture or subjects such as suicide brought up. The surprising thing here is that it actually works though. Unlike the Michael Bay films, the humans don’t stand a hope in hell of victory and the fights are completely one sided. This combined with the state the heroes are in during the opening makes the villains seem genuinely threatening, and a force more than capable of bringing down worlds en mass. Yet somehow it manages to avoid the Marvel curse of being relentlessness bleak to the point of only inspiring apathy within readers. Most likely because in the action driven series, the heroes start at their darkest point and rise back up to fight back as events progress. Perhaps the most surprising point amidst this is that writer McCarthy managed to weave enough of a plot amongst the action. DeviantArt is the world's largest online social community for artists and art enthusiasts, allowing people to connect through the creation and sharing of art. All Hail Megatron Coda is set to come to stores next Wednesday, July 22nd (according to IDW's July Newsletter). So this week we have a 5 page preview of this piece of. Jul 05, 2011 This really is a mighty tome, collecting the whole all hail megatron series plus the coda series that 'clears up continuity' and a set of one shots that. Tropes used in Transformers: All Hail Megatron include. In the coda, we find out his head is still somewhat active and his life flashing before his optics. Not a story for the action to follow but multiple character subplots ranging from an apparent traitor amongst the Autobots to doubts in the Deception cause. While none are especially complex they are enough to keep things interesting and feel like the characters are genuinely involved. Something which is quite an accomplishment when there are a good thirty named individuals on either side. It can almost take you out of the moment when you realise the well-crafted, ideology driven reasoning for someone opting to defect is by someone called Thundercracker. Much of the action is reasonably spaced out between events. While the series is very clearly action heavy it’s not utterly reliant upon it, or focuses upon it to the detriment of everything else. It’s frequent enough to keep you interested but rarely becomes overbearing save for a few moments. What helps keep things interesting is a mixture of Guido Guidi’s art style and the pacing between scenes. Guidi’s art style deserves special mention. While it would have been easy to make this a very brown, very grey environment to emphasise upon the bleakness (insert your own modern FPS joke here) it’s very colourful. Both with the transformers themselves and the environment, creating an oddly disjointed feel amidst the conflict. Albeit one which works here, breaking up the environments into visibly different locations and keeping the reader visually invested. For all this praise however, there is a lot to criticise. Even before getting to the comic’s individual problems it suffered from multiple canon discrepancies with what came before. Objects like the Matrix are suddenly introduced with no prior mention to this series and more than a few personalities don’t quite match up correctly. Often drifting to what readers might feel more familiar with than how they had been done by Furman. Story-wise McCarthy does rely upon deus ex machinas more than once throughout the series. Sometimes excused by the more awesome results of their inclusion, sometimes feeling utterly jarring with the narrative and leaving you scratching your head. The continuity itself has more than a few problems within the series as well. With issues ranging from minor visual alterations between issues to stating actions occurred when we saw otherwise. A notable case being when it’s claimed Devastator crushed the bridges of Manhattan, while it’s clearly shown they were left intact in his assault. All of the story problems are also without getting into some of the basic logical errors. Many transformers show up in the classic looks from the cartoon despite the vehicles being too heavily outdated for camouflage. An often repeated case of this being Starscream who switches from an F-22 to outdated F-15s. Other problems also arising from just why the Decepticons are even bothering having human alternate modes as well. Several Autobots are also seen playing Go, despite having little logical reason to even know about the Chinese game. Also if you’re not a fan of Michael Brian Bendis’ ultra-decompressed method of storytelling you’re going to absolutely hate this comic. Though at least unlike with his stuff McCarthy actually allows his heroes to end arcs on a high note. Not be relentlessly crushed down by misery, death, infighting and utter failure even in a bleak event such as this. So, with all this considered how does All Hail Megatron stack up? It’s reasonably good. While nothing outstanding or even being a shining example amongst Transformers comics, it does more than enough to keep a reader entertained. The action is solid, the new direction is fairly well, and while the writing has more than a few problems there is enough to like here. While it’s not a series which is a must buy, it’s definitely recommended despite its problems. If you’re someone looking to get into IDW’s series to see what the writing is capable of, you could definitely do much worse. I was a massive Transformers fan as a kid and they're always the first place I go in any toy store. Not to buy, just to have a look and resist buying. A few years ago I stumbled over Last Stand of the Wreckers, an excellent series of comics that I thoroughly enjoyed. For some reason I never bought any more, something I regret. Two years ago I decided to hell with it and started collecting IDW's current titles More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise. I love comics and have been collecting mo I was a massive Transformers fan as a kid and they're always the first place I go in any toy store. Not to buy, just to have a look and resist buying. A few years ago I stumbled over Last Stand of the Wreckers, an excellent series of comics that I thoroughly enjoyed. For some reason I never bought any more, something I regret. Two years ago I decided to hell with it and started collecting IDW's current titles More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise. I love comics and have been collecting most of the Batman and Justice League titles for years. Now though, after I've done my monthly pick up from the comic shop, the Transformer comics are always top of the pile for reading. They are light hearted and fun with serious storylines running throughout. Having missed everything that happened before these two titles I wanted to catch up and I started with All Hail Megatron. I was not disappointed. For starters this hard back edition looks fantastic and though I have seen some people bemoaning the lack of movement for the double pagers, I didn't really find it interrupted my enjoyment. The story itself kicks off quickly and doesn't let off the whole way through, with some truly awesome scenes and artwork. I don’t like going into storylines in my reviews, that’s what the publishers pay people a lot of money for. All I will say is that Megatron is let off his leash and you get an idea of just what he can do. For me he stands up there in the list of all time villains with Darth Vader and the Joker. If you know your Soundwave from your Shockwave, who Devastator and Omega Supreme are, your Kup from your Springer and lets face it, you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t, get this book. You won’t be disappointed and you’ll be able to pick up the story easily enough even without reading IDW’s back catalogue. After reading All Hail Megatron, that back catalogue is now on my wish list on Amazon. This really is a mighty tome, collecting the whole all hail megatron series plus the coda series that 'clears up continuity' and a set of one shots that seems to be set before the main series. The story is great, and sometimes rather horrific. Especially Sunstreaker's being tortured in the past. The artwork is immaculate all the way through. Guido Guidi really was born to pencil transformers comics. The only thing not getting this book 5 stars is the binding. The book has glued binding and won't This really is a mighty tome, collecting the whole all hail megatron series plus the coda series that 'clears up continuity' and a set of one shots that seems to be set before the main series. The story is great, and sometimes rather horrific. Especially Sunstreaker's being tortured in the past. The artwork is immaculate all the way through. Guido Guidi really was born to pencil transformers comics. The only thing not getting this book 5 stars is the binding. The book has glued binding and won't lay flat. The book has some beautiful 2 page splash pages, but because of the 'gutter loss' it is really hard to appreciate it fully.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2018
Categories |