All Hail Megatron #13 Coda- 5 Page Preview

First Gen wrote:I gotta ask, was AHM really that bad?

Darth Bombshell wrote:

First Gen wrote:I gotta ask, was AHM really that bad?

The fact that we're getting these four extra issues should really answer that question for you.

First Gen wrote:Extending a story arc isn't exactly a new thing

First Gen wrote:and the concept behind AHM is something thats been a very long time coming.

Darth Bombshell wrote:Except that's not what "Coda" is doing. Despite what IDW might want to push in its "AHM was popular so we're extending the series" angle, it's little more than a naked and blatant attempt to make Shane's fanfiction connect to the brillance of the past three years of Furman's work. To put it another way, it's akin to taking a piece of paper, shredding it, and then using duct tape and good wishes to try and put it back together.

Darth Bombshell wrote:So basically what you're saying is that IDW has been wanting to put out a tale that makes this look good by comparison for a while?

Dead Metal wrote:Um, Ireally dislike the way the art looks. And Prime's mouth.
I think this is the first time I actually dislike something done by Don.

And FG, people stated that Shane's work on the Spotlights are waaaaaaaaaay better than AHM.

MYoung23 wrote:Can anyone tell me who Boxcar and Undertow are?

Dead Metal wrote:And FG, people stated that Shane's work on the Spotlights are waaaaaaaaaay better than AHM.

First Gen wrote:Oh God........

Darth Bombshell wrote:

MYoung23 wrote:Can anyone tell me who Boxcar and Undertow are?

Original characters.

Dead Metal wrote:And FG, people stated that Shane's work on the Spotlights are waaaaaaaaaay better than AHM.

First Gen wrote:Oh God........

Hey, compared to AHM, they are good. Then again, compared to AHM, anything's good.

Seibertron wrote:Ugh. I still don't understand how the boring and disappointing AHM series warranted an extra four issues.

Darth Bombshell wrote:Despite what IDW might want to push in its "AHM was popular so we're extending the series" angle, it's little more than a naked and blatant attempt to make Shane's fanfiction connect to the brillance of the past three years of Furman's work. To put it another way, it's akin to taking a piece of paper, shredding it, and then using duct tape and good wishes to try and put it back together.

Seibertron wrote:Ugh. I still don't understand how the boring and disappointing AHM series warranted an extra four issues. I was really looking forward to this series ending so that we could move on to something else. Also not a fan of this "movie" style artwork creeping into regular Transformers comics. To be blunt ... the artwork above is not that great compared to what I'm used to seeing from IDW. Guido Guidi's detailed cartoon style and EJ Su's unique art style are the definitive TF artists in my book.

I miss the old days of comic books, to be honest. I miss the days when writers wrote individual issues or story arcs that were just long enough to tell a story ... not fill a certain number of issues or meet the quota necessary for a trade paperback. The new style of comic books makes me yearn for the comic books from the 80s and 90s when good story telling was still around. Now everything feels stretched out and boring to me. Panels of artwork that are too big. Stories that could have been told in 2 or 3 issues are dragged out for 6 issues, or 12+ issues in the case of AHM. I miss the days when a story arc was a really big deal (such as the Underbase Saga from the Marvel comics series). I miss the days of fast moving plots that tried to tell as much story as possible in 22 pages.

Sigh ... is it just the quality that's lacking these days or am I just out of touch with comic books?

First Gen wrote:Its really disappointing to see the story arcs go this way, and no you're not out of touch. It seems that when prices went up quality went way down. Why are we paying 3.99 USD for these anyway? Only Marvels top writers and artists pull that for an issue.

Seibertron wrote:I'd also like Transformers to have one series that's based off the toy lines, whether it's the Classics line or whatever. There's no correlation now between products available and the comic book stories. Yes, you read that correctly. I'd like Hasbro to have a way to whore out a new product via the comics once again. Hopefully with IDW's rumored ongoing Transformers series that is supposed to start in the fall, maybe we'll get some of that.

AutobotTrainer wrote:I'll put this in, feel at peace, and then be on my way.

Simon Furman's take on the TF comic universe has most recently been (and most likely still is) without a consistent focus. I find it interesting that the attacks on AHM all seem to come from some strange, adverse reaction to allowing variance in the "Transformers canon". However, if we heard the same story told over and over gain, there would be complaints about a lack of complexity to the TF Universe.

The personal issue I have with Furman's direction in the "-ation" series was that the storytelling seemed at many times childish and low-end. I appreciated some of the new concepts on how the Decepticons operated as a military unit, and the dynamics between the Autobots, but the human characters and the motivations behind why the characters took action was , in a word, shallow. Furman's stories seemed to speak to a strange demographic. Were these stories best for preteens? The 18 - 25 males? Old washed up 30 year old Transformers fanatics? I had a hard time finding the "voice" in the Furman/IDW arc. It always bothers me when writers would put more time into creating new and poorly developed plot devices (Ore-13, whiny Carly, for example) instead of using some real talent by leveraging underused and under examined character motivations and relationships (tell us more about the relationship between the Seekers. What does being a leader of the Autobots truly mean, etc.). That's what I appreciated about IDW's ballsy move to create AHM. It was a STRECH. It was a RISK. That's what even a mediocre publishing company does: it pushes the envelope once in a while. They dare to hit the reset button.

AutobotTrainer wrote:I'll put this in, feel at peace, and then be on my way. ...

Simon Furman's take on the TF comic universe has most recently been (and most likely still is) without a consistent focus. I find it interesting that the attacks on AHM all seem to come from some strange, adverse reaction to allowing variance in the "Transformers canon". However, if we heard the same story told over and over gain, there would be complaints about a lack of complexity to the TF Universe.

AutobotTrainer wrote:The personal issue I have with Furman's direction in the "-ation" series was that the storytelling seemed at many times childish and low-end. I appreciated some of the new concepts on how the Decepticons operated as a military unit, and the dynamics between the Autobots, but the human characters and the motivations behind why the characters took action was , in a word, shallow. Furman's stories seemed to speak to a strange demographic. Were these stories best for preteens? The 18 - 25 males? Old washed up 30 year old Transformers fanatics? I had a hard time finding the "voice" in the Furman/IDW arc. It always bothers me when writers would put more time into creating new and poorly developed plot devices (Ore-13, whiny Carly, for example) instead of using some real talent by leveraging underused and under examined character motivations and relationships (tell us more about the relationship between the Seekers. What does being a leader of the Autobots truly mean, etc.). That's what I appreciated about IDW's ballsy move to create AHM. It was a STRECH. It was a RISK. That's what even a mediocre publishing company does: it pushes the envelope once in a while. They dare to hit the reset button.

AutobotTrainer wrote:I appreciate McCarthy's attempt to tell a story using plot lines that still exist from 20+ years ago. The seekers still as F-15's? Awesome. Why do they have to be F-22's? They are advanced, sentient warrior-robots for frick's sake. They could transform to monkeys on stilts and still destroy humanity. I appreciate AHM for it's boldness, successes and short comings. The artwork was spectacular. The destruction and bloodshed refreshing. The slow pace was regrettable, but not deserving of this damnation. The stupid robot bugs on Cybertron were deserving of an eye-roll. But overall, AHM was new while being familiar, dark yet direct. I am appreciative of the fact that it was an independent story arc. I also hope that IDW makes an attempt at something similar again: new, risky and using different writers and artists.

AutobotTrainer wrote:I'll end by saying I'm thankful that IDW makes Transformer comic books exist, thankful for McCarthy & Guidi's work, and thankful for Furman's dedication to continuing the Transformers story.

First Gen wrote:I gotta ask, was AHM really that bad? I'm hearing some bad stuff about it and wanted to get the TPB of it as I didn't keep up with the series.

I just read Spotlight Cliffjumper and was less than enthused and it was authored by Shane also.

AutobotTrainer wrote:The seekers still as F-15's? Awesome. Why do they have to be F-22's?

Darth Bombshell wrote:

AutobotTrainer wrote:The seekers still as F-15's? Awesome. Why do they have to be F-22's?

Because they were F-22's in the previous three series, and as has already been pointed out, there's no reason for the switch other than for pure nostalgia, which was neither wanted nor needed.

But as we were quick to find out, AHM wasn't about what us fans wanted or needed.

MYoung23 wrote:Will Code answer the seeker question? We were promised an answer early in AHM but never got one.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

MYoung23 wrote:Will Code answer the seeker question? We were promised an answer early in AHM but never got one.

Most likely not.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

AutobotTrainer wrote:The seekers still as F-15's? Awesome. Why do they have to be F-22's?

Because they were F-22's in the previous three series, and as has already been pointed out, there's no reason for the switch other than for pure nostalgia, which was neither wanted nor needed.

But as we were quick to find out, AHM wasn't about what us fans wanted or needed.