First off, I don't really have experience with Marvel G1 or RG1, so this is all about my views on the IDW main story. The short answer is yes - I'm always up for more. Longer answer is more complicated. Since Dark Cybertron ended, almost all of Furman's story points in the main IDW continuity have been concluded, more or less. There isn't that lingering thread left for him to come back and complete (there were legit things left in Marvel for him to come back to, whether or not you think he did it justice in RG1 is another issue altogether). And unlike RG1, I feel the IDW plot has moved so far on from Furman's run that a "what if AHM never happened and Furman picked up right after Maximum Dinobots" isn't really needed. Maybe if this were 2011 or something, but in the "Phase 2" era, we don't really need to go back. The other issue is that we have 2 (soon to be 3) ongoings. It must be hard enough for the writers to co-ordinate that as-is, bringing in a fourth is only going to make it more complicated, unless it's set far away from the rest, much like MTMTE is. So, in summary, sure, I'd love a miniseries or something. I never turn down a chance. But I don't really see a place for him to write an ongoing now, nor to make a "RG1-like", nor do I want him to replace Barber, Roberts or Scott.
Yeah I'd buy a series written by furman and would be excited if were announced. Have enjoyed most of what he's written in the past and loved bits of it. It annoys me Scott gets an ongoing when (IMO) everything she's written was so terrible, and McCarthy gets to spew out more tripe empire of stone, whilst there's nothing form furman. I won't give a penny of my money for anything from the other two (unless they make a miraculous change), but will pay for anything with furman's name on it. Guess idw don't think enough people agree with me though ��
Furman doesn't really work with the way the series had headed and will be. He worked well in the beginning but now there's no way he'd be able to make it work. Dude still can't accept the concept of fembots. Maybe if they do a re-launch in the future, maybe?
I've not read any of the old Marvel stuff, so I'm mostly basing my feelings about Furman on his IDW run. I like the "-ations" and Maximum Dinobots, but felt he was inclined towards more purple prose than is to my liking, and focusing more on the "big picture" than character interaction. He laid the groundwork for the overall IDW continuity, and for that, he has my respect. His views on gender in Transformers, on the other hand? Oh boy.
Not really, no. I don't think he'd work very well with the current status quo of the IDWverse (especially given the newfound abundance of female TFs, something he actively tried to prevent) and RG1 was just... kind of aimless. He's capable of crafting stories of epic scope and stature, don't get me wrong, but for the most part that's not what IDW is going for right now (the closest things I can think of are the Hasbro-mandated Titans Return, which is probably gonna suck, and All Hail Optimus, which actually shows a lot of promise.) The way I see it they're more focused on the complexities of the postwar life, up to and including Megatron not only renouncing the Decepticons but straight up becoming an Autobot, something no other continuity has ever done. And honestly, I'd prefer more of this untapped novelty than another huge, bombastic, universe-shaking event the likes of which Furman is known for. That had a place in the earlier days of IDW, but not in this environment. (Also he's probably having an aneurysm over the fact that Grimlock is running around with a bunch of Decepticon losers somewhere on the fringes of space.)
Now that Hasbro has tried their attempt at the mythos of the Thirteen original Transformers (and didn't do a very good job, IMO), I'd like to see Furman actually write his version of the story. Doesn't need to fit into any particular continuity really.
I'd be very thankful to get rid of the grey and boring ones whose names begin with A, Alchemist and Amalgamous. I also don't think Alpha Trion would have been part of Furman's original vision of the Thirteen, I also think that if we ever saw Furman's version of the Thirteen there would need to be more to be none with Micronus and Onyx instead of just saying, oh that's the first Mini-Con, and that's the first Beast Transformer. And while I really would love to see Furman expand upon what Liege Maximo was originally supposed to be, I'm curious as to whether or not he would have two evil Primes in the pantheon, although I did appreciate his creation of Nova Prime, best evil Prime out there for me. It would be nice to see Furman do the odd one shot comic, but if he ever did an ongoing arc again he would need more creative freedom to fully tell the story he wants (I.E. Revelations only being 4 issues long) Although I've always wanted to see him do standalone spotlight issues for the Thirteen. But at the rate the current comics are going with the Thirteen, we've already seen two spotlights for Optimus.
I quite like IDW's take on the Thirteen. Making them the leaders of thirteen clans from Cybertron's ancient past(diefied rather than actual deities) fits in nicely with the universe IDW is trying to build.
I would like to see him back to do more stories in the Marvel G1 continuity. There is nothing to stop him writing more stories set in that past, or written contemporaneously alongside the 80s UK and US comics. Plus there are still a few alternate future stories he alluded to that could be fleshed out. They dont even need written to modern 20 page standards, there is nothing to stop him using the UK shorter page count format. I am sure the old artists could do smaller stories, and the new artitsts would love to have a go at emulating that style. And also, taking our cues from Holywood, what about simply re-doing classic stories?IDW put out a movie adaptation a few years ago. So what is stopping us doing the same for Target 2006, or the Space Pirates/Time Wars saga, or those US issues running up to 75?
Marvel retells their characters origin stories all the time. Although a kid filming Spiderman's first fight with Crusher Hogan on his mobile phone and uploading it to youtube went too far. I forget what issue it was but it will always be in my mind as something that just should never have happened.
Short answer: No. Long answer: Worst character treatment I've ever seen. Arcee spotlight and ReGen1 is enough to explain why.
Furman seem to do a lot better with a more limited scope so having him do a mini or temp take over writing duties on a book could actually be quite good.
Spotlight Arcee was eight years ago. Bad comic issues can happen to every good writer during their long career. Their reputation shouldn't be held to that one bad issue they wrote several years ago.
On top of which, no one raged about when it came out. There's threads from the time on this very forum about it, and the overwhelming consensus was "it's a solid meh." It seems only time has sharpened our pitchforks.
That's not true. When it came out, it was criticized for many of the same reasons it's criticized now. There was plenty of discussion about it. I know. I was there, and I was one of the people making those complaints. But yes, now it has gathered a reputation for being a huge misstep, and I agree... people make too much of a big deal about it. I don't think it's a fair reason to revile Furman forever. It was just badly done, and poorly considered, on several levels. zmog
