Hmm. I'm not so sure. Personally, I will walk away from a comic if I have to read other comics I'm not interested in to get the "complete" story. For me, it's not an issue of being overly complicated, but it is an issue of a company trying to get more money out of it's customer base. Which is fine. It's just annoying.

I think that's why the other poster made that post about Marvel comics in particular. It was a huge pain in the ass following their story lines back then with all the crossover events that ran across multiple titles. I have a feeling it will turn some fans off if IDW heads down that direction. Self-contained stories are always the best way to go.

I think Image handles it best. A lot of the same characters exist in various books. Spawn exists in Savage Dragon, and sometimes those events line up, but at other times they don't. Which means you don't have to read spawn when spawn shows up in Savage Dragon. Spawn and Savage dragon crossed over in the past, but in Savage dragon, that reality was destroyed. More recently Spawn and Malcolm (Dragon's son) just teamed up. Is it the same spawn? Does it need to be? No! And that's why it works so well. It leaves all the continuity headaches at the door.

 

The Dead Universe wasn't "run" by anything, really. Shockwave reached back in time to siphon the universe's energies before they could develop or create any life, rendering it dead. D-Void was a manifestation of the universe, and was what corrupted Nova upon his arrival to the DU. After the D-Void's destruction, Nova remained trapped inside the Dead Universe, and began conspiring alongside Galvatron and Shockwave from there. Though I think he believed himself to be in charge of everything, despite Shockwave's true intentions. Which was to basically make Cybertron the eternal endpoint of the universe. As in, nothing else was to exist, or would exist, save for Cybertron. As for Megatron's plan, that one was left ambiguous for ages until it was clarified he was going to use the spacebridge built into his bod to unleash the whole of his army on Omega Supreme and the Autobots inside, as he does when the D-Void shows up. And he didn't exactly decimate the planet, as humanity was still moving on strong from the attacks following AHM, so a contingency plan was a given. There's a lot of garbage in IDW, but it has been carefully made to fit over the years with Retcons and the like. Look at Reflector, for example.

 

What was I thinking? That's not convoluted in the slightest.

 

Revolution doesn't force the reader to read anything they don't want to for a complete story.

The main-five issue series is entirely self-contained. Everything from the one-shots is either unimportant to the main series' plot or is re-stated in the main series when necessary.

 

Thats not what the wiki says:

"This issue occurs roughly concurrently with the G.I. Joe: Revolution one-shot"
"This issue begins some time prior to Revolution #1, explaining the reason for Windblade's presence on Earth. Windblade, Soundwave, and Pyra Magna's examination of Metrotitan mostly occurs prior to that issue as well, but Windblade refers to "interruptions"—which, along with Rom's presence on the final page, tells us that her merge with Metrotitan occurs between Revolution #2 and #3, after the Autobots had met, fought, and brought the Space Knight back to Autobot City."

 

I threw out the origins as an example, but I agree with what you wrote here. Stuff like the constant returning to the Dead Universe and Ore13 which seem to be plot devices we just can't get rid of. Every time I think they are resolved they get dragged up again. I agree with your conclusions though, I've always kind of felt that way with comics. Just enjoy the stories you enjoy. I create my own 'head canon'.

That said, James Roberts, Nick Roche and Barber have done amazing stuff.

 

Are we not reading the same comic? It's plainly obvious Revolution and Windblade are tied together.

 

Windblade may even be a little bit important to understand her conversations with Optimus in the saga, but you can read all editions of Revolution and understandpractically everything, it is not obligatory to read.

And the IDW Continuity is VERY simple to understand, just read the comics in the order of release, plus the fact that for most of your life it only had one or two comics released at the same time.

 

Hmm. I'm not sure I understand your logic. What we had up until revolution was 3 self contained stories that all ran parallel to each-other. No one had to read RID to understand MTMTE. It was simple. It was tidy. Now, with revolution, we're going to have to read a few comics to get one story. And, yeah, that part of dialogue with Windblade and Optimus was kind of important, and if I chose not to read one of those comics, there would be a gap in the story as I was following it. Not just that, but from a monetary stand-point, I shouldn't have to buy double the comics to get one cogent story. It's a bad move to justify all these new additions to the IDW universe. And yea, it's obvious we have no obligation to read any of this stuff.