CBR Interview with Mike Costa and the ongoing Transformers G1 Comic series
Saturday, September 19th, 2009 1:08PM CDT
Category: Comic Book NewsPosted by: Mkall Views: 12,235
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Costa indicated that while there will be a core group as the title's focus, additional Autobots and Decepticons will enter the fray as the “Transformers” ongoing unfolds. “One of the great things about the Transformers universe is the huge cast that creators can play with,” the writer said. “For simplicity's sake, we're definitely focusing on some core members, but we are also expanding that core to include some great characters who have never really had the chance to come forward, and we're using them in some hopefully unexpected ways. As for specific teams, check out Nick Roche's 'Wreckers' book.”
Check out the whole interview, as well as some preview artwork, here
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Posted by Seibertron on September 19th, 2009 @ 1:34pm CDT
Posted by Dinobot Prime on September 19th, 2009 @ 2:04pm CDT
Seibertron wrote:The faces look horrible and I've had enough of the robots being redesigned. Still don't understand why they're letting Don bring the movie style into G1.
Umm, because it looks cool?
Posted by Mkall on September 19th, 2009 @ 2:05pm CDT
Seibertron wrote:The faces look horrible and I've had enough of the robots being redesigned. Still don't understand why they're letting Don bring the movie style into G1.
I don't like them either, but I'm going to give the story a chance at least. Maybe they'll revert back for some reason or another.
Posted by MYoung23 on September 19th, 2009 @ 2:35pm CDT
Posted by Convotron on September 19th, 2009 @ 2:53pm CDT
I really like Don's movie influenced style for the bodies of the characters. The increase of mechanical details and more streamlined look doesn't overpower the overall visual impact for me. I still see the substantial chunky/blocky silhouettes of the G1 designs of the early 80s big anime robots. While the basic stout body proportions are kept, the mechanical detailing adds a sense of depth to the character designs and makes them more convincing as mechanical structures that can reconfigure their forms. I love G1 and its aesthetics but the sometimes overly simple designs make the characters transmorphers more than transformers.
One could argue that the amount of mechanical details are a bit too visually busy but I think it's not as severe as what we see in the live action movie designs, which I love but think are hard to appreciate when a lot of the robots are involved in action scenes. I particularly enjoy poring through Transformers art, comics, cartoon screen caps, and live action movie concept art so I am biased towards more details.
I mainly have two issues with the face style. First, the concept of making the face be composed of multiple plate is great for implying believable movement, simulating human facial muscle structure. However, the way that Don draws the faces make the characters look cadaverous. I've read the reasoning for this was partly to allow more expression but it actually seems to counter that intent. The range of expressions are limited to frowns and toothy, gumless rictus grimaces.
In the linked image below, looking at Bumblebee's face, I don't know what to make of his expression. Is he in mid sentence? Is he supposed to be showing a deadpan expression? Is he grimacing? I mean look at those hideous teeth of his. Now that's a candidate for braces if I ever saw one. Looking at Hot Rod, I assume he's giving a neutral/deadpan expression but he looks a little dopey.
Secondly, the proportions seem to be consistently off. Small faces framed by large helmets make the characters look somewhat comical from some angles. In the battle scene below, Ironhide and Bumblebee are wearing helmets that look like they make the heads twice as large as they should be. At least for Bumblebee where you can see a significant portion of his torso and shoulders, his helmet doesn't look too big, it's his face that looks too small for the helmet.
If the way that faces were drawn was refined, not necessarily "changed", I would have no complaints about the style. Don is a great artist so I'm wondering why these details aren't being noticed by him or perhaps if he is aware of how they look to others why he doesn't see them as being something that doesn't require improvement.
Posted by Tigertrack on September 19th, 2009 @ 4:35pm CDT
In the battle picture, it seems to work better in most cases, but the rest that I have seen, not good. And the Devastator face...pointed teeth? No thanks.
Posted by MYoung23 on September 20th, 2009 @ 8:32am CDT
Posted by Convotron on September 20th, 2009 @ 11:39am CDT