MTMTE 28 Kinda-Review and Speculations.

There's going to be spoilers; probably none that you aren't familiar with with the preview that's online. But after the jump, I will go into some detail, and I will ALSO be speculating very, very, very wildly.

The great thing about MTMTE, or at least my opinion if you've read my rants about it here, is that there are casual parts of the conversations between robots that in fact are huge plot points. THAT'S the kind of writing I love. Hence why I love the movie Midnight Run so much.

"Season 2" of MTMTE starts this week with issue 28 and it's a nerve-wracking introduction to the new crew. I didn't feel a sense of dread or tension with issue 1 of the series, and that's with everyone on Cybertron thinking the Lost Light was dead, finishing with a bizarre warning from the future. Here, it's tense because Megatron is on the Lost Light. The story flips back and forth between a six month span of the crew on the Lost Light adjusting to whatever it was that was decided on Cybertron to do with Megatron.

It's a good issue, much in the way that issue 1 was good. I thought I'd hate the series when it first came out and though I liked the first issue, I thought it was trying to hard to set stuff up and introduce characters. Yet of course now I love it. This issue is of course similar, but with Milne's art instead of Roche's for the beginning of the series, which I think means we'll get more consistent clues from the setup issue this time. This is CRAZY talk from a CRAZY person who, after the first "season," now reads into EVERYTHING. But it's a good read and a good reintroduction to the cast.

And it's tense, and that's even before it gets foreboding. SO, the JUMP, a list of things I noticed (that are obvious and maybe not obvious?) and questions, and with a WARNING from the FUTURE: there's SPOILERS for the issue. And even WORSE, there's SPECULATION. Wild, wild, terrible speculations.

MTMTE #28 due out! Woo! Also, C2E2 recap.

HEY!

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE comes out Wednesday, April 30th! Make sure you pick that up!

I'm pretty excited. I mean, more Nautica! And the epic journey begins! Drama! Action! Jokes! Can't wait.

C2E2 was fun. This strip I picked up from Brian Shearer should give a slight recap. (Eric from Til All Are Mine took the Bumblebee pic.):

RiD #28, & a new silly page!

Haven't check in lately, but hey hopefully that gave you more time to look up Windblade #1. Good stuff!

The next step of Dawn of The Autobots starts with Robots In Disguise #28. Prime & some of the gang head back to Earth to see if they can find Alpha Trion. And Thundercracker is still there. And is doing the best thing that a Transformer has ever done in this series: he's a dog owner and a hopeful (hopeless) screenwriter.

I am not to be listened to, but: IDW, stop with the good vs. evil, Autobot vs. Decepticon. A comic about Thundercracker trying to become a writer is what I will read. And promote every day.

ANYWAY, it was probably one of the better issues. More Than Meets The Eye has attracted readers with robots chock full of personality unseen beyond Prime vs. Megatron vs. Starscream. It's a high bar and a few people, albeit with an otherwise positive response to RiD 28, wonder if John Barber is trying to amp up the 'side' characters' personalities in this comic to match MTMTE's "success" (both comics seem to have similar print sales numbers) (maybe "popularity?" "fan cred?").

It's not perfect, but it's an improvement. RiD may have meant to be the main title, and it's not bad (and better than the initial IDW TF comics), but it's definitely overshadowed by the tight plotting and character drama in MTMTE. I hope some focus remains on Thundercracker. His G1 tech specs had hinted that he questioned the Decepticon cause, but this was a potentially awesome plot that never came up in the original cartoon or comic book.

OKAY, I bought another page from Brian Shearer, from Robots In Disguise #16. More Sideswipe and Arcee, with Skywarp and Rumble in the fray. Neat, right?

Windblade #1 - Hooray!

Well, I read Windblade #1 and I really dug it. It's the first of four issues. I'm sure the creative team would like to see it become an ongoing, and there's several reasons why that should be, beyond that it's a really good comic and a fresh, exciting look for the Transformers.

-Mairghread Scott wrote a great introductory comic, not just to a miniseries, but for people who don't read the IDW Transformers comics (even if they are fans of the toys or cartoons or movies).
-Sarah Stone's art is awesome the whole way through. It will appeal to new comic readers. Maybe younger comic readers.
-It's easy to be cynical about the fan-made character gimmick and the Poochie vibe about the whole thing. The Windblade character in this book is done so well that we can now stop talking about how the fans made up the character; the character now exists in this book through the comic team.
-The supporting cast and Cybertron setting? If Optimus Prime & friends are heading back to earth in Robots In Disguise for their ongoing monthly adventures, then Windblade (the title) should be ongoing just so we can have more stories about Cybertron life.
-I don't know what sales are like digitally for the TF comics. Beating out Batman on iTunes for a day, is this impressive? After Heart Of Darkness, IDW was a little twitchy on more miniseries (hence why Chaos was integrated into the regular TF series, alternating with the Police Action story). It's hard enough to convince retailers to NOT cut indies, especially IP titles, in the middle of New52 and Marvel NOW deluges (seriously, that's how my store picked up customers; other stores wouldn't order indies for PULL LISTS for their customers after New52). If sales for a TF mini from distributor to comic store aren't strong, then there won't be an ongoing.
-But if Autocracy and Monstrocity can survive digitally (with collected reprints), why can't Windblade? DC's Batman '66 is doing this too and it seems pretty successful. Windblade beat out BATMAN (albeit on ONE digital distro channel, I don't know how popular iTunes is for comics no how Windblade did on Comixology). If that's the platform, keep hammering at it and hopefully stores will follow.
-And why not a series of miniseries? That might even be a draw for new readers: these stories have an end. It's not always "to be continued."

I didn't have much to say as far as a review. I dug it, and I dug it A LOT. I don't feel like rambling. The reviews I'm reading praise it. The skeptical knowitalls who were cynical about Windblade being a marketing gimmick that ruined their hobby? They love it and/or were pleasantly surprised and will read the whole series. And whatever minor problems I had (not saying, because I don't want to mention any spoilers even if they're minor) I realize later are because this comic was written as an introduction, not just to Windblade, but to the IDW TF comic franchise. I could ramble on a lot about my experience as a comic retailer, trying to push comics on people, trying to push TF comics even to TF fans, every little detail of what I like and didn't like, but I've rambled enough. I've already handed my copy to someone else interested in the comics but hasn't read them. Windblade is really good if you've been reading so far with amazing art and surprising depth for the fan made gimmick, it's truly a great first TF comic to pick up and start reading.

So dig in. And let them know what you think. #windblade on twitter if you can.

Fracture enjoys the comic, even if it's about an Autobot.

Robots With Coffee q&a: Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots)

The author of Darth Vader & Son, Jedi Academy, Vader's Little Princess...and INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS did a q&a for Robots With Coffee. Click on the pic below to read it (on Facebook...you should be able to read it without logging in).

These comics are awesome. The coffee is good too.