People hated it mostly for being a failed reboot, halfway through its run, it abandoned course and painfully tried to fit it back into the Furman established TF universe, that and a lot of people hated the way the ending seemed rushed, especially Prime's sudden recovery.
Honestly, you really can't compare books that are over 20 years apart. A better comparison would be IDW and Dreamwave, but that one happens all the time.
Wow.. after reading through all these testaments of the IDW comics, I really have to get back into them.. I got last around the time BB got turned into the Challenger-esque car,
Marvel rocked during it's run. IDW started pretty weak but since they left Earth things have been a blast. Right now I'm gonna say I like both equally.
I like Budiansky... ...you know, the guy that made all the TFs great, gave them all defining traits and made them great characters, and set up everything important in TFs that everything else always uses? Remember that guy? That's the stuff I like.
He laid the ground work, yes. But the stories he told were mostly poor. Furman has told poor stories too but overall has a better ratio of good work and his stories hold together better too. Budiansky I feel was limited by Hasbro - he was writing to sell whatever new toys were on sale at the time and with the number of new toys being produced and no returning characters with new toys (in his time), characters and storylines had to be swept away in favor of new characters. Furman rarely had such limitations. Only one time do I remember Hasbro pushing product into the comic and that was the Special Teams (combiners) where they were not due to be introduced in the U.S. comic until much later. Overall, Furman was free to be creative. Even though I don't blame Budiansky (although you do have to admire how often he had to jump through hoops and juggle the number of characters he had), I still prefer Furman's stories. As far as Marvel vs. IDW goes, I chose IDW. I prefer the Marvel comics but IDW has better comics. Both have their terrible issues though.
Uncle Bob is the man, as far as I am concerned. I disagree that "the stories he told were mostly poor" - the whole #5-12 saga was wonderful, Return to Cybertron two-parter (#17-18), the Headmasters stuff etc all good. I loved the way he shifted the focus to Blaster and Goldbug, and I rather enjoyed the sub-plot of their "defection". I'm disappointed, but perhaps not shocked, that IDW is winning the poll. For me, it's Marvel all the way. The "re-readability" factor alone heavily weighs on Marvel's side. I can read those classic stories again and again.
If the current IDW writers were hampered with 80s writing styles and creative methods, and forced to shoehorn in new characters ever single issue, they would undoubtedly struggle also. There's no doubt that the IDW comics are 'better', but then again most professional comics writers and artists could come up with a similarly decent read, given the same level of creative freedom. The fact that a lot of the old G1 stuff still holds up extremely well today - despite the many restrictions Budiansky was working under - is in itself a far more impressive feat than anything the IDW material has thus far achieved.
I voted IDW, but I have some nostalgia for Marvel. I agree that Marvel was working under many constraints that were not conducive to good story telling. I also think that period of comics was a low point creatively across the board, with some exceptions of course. Since 'Death of Optimus Prime' I feel IDW is making really good comics, not just good transformers comics. Roberts is awesome! I feel dialogue is a weak point for Furman, anybody else feel this way?
Yes and no. He can be stiff and use odd rhythms in his speech, but it does appear to be deliberate. His other stuff like DH has real flow and wit. I consider it a style if anything, I like it as its a bit nostalgic.
I definitely have a lot of nostalgia for the Marvel comics. The original four issue miniseries was my first exposure to Transformers, and the cartoon was always secondary to the comics for me. But from what little I've read of the IDW books so far, they are a more mature and interesting take on the Transformers universe than the Marvel books ever were, while still being fun and not taking themselves too seriously. My one complaint about the IDW series is that they tend to go a little overboard with the redesigns of classic characters. I have no problem with them coming up with new designs, and I quite like the ongoing book's take on Optimus Prime, but some of their designs are a little too busy and mecha-like for my tastes.
Definitely. And one of his big problems, besides being stiff, is he tries to make everyone sound 'Upper Crust Brit' in their pattern, when they're not completely out of character and just shouting "Die!" or something. Everyone speaks the same. Furman's Mirage is interchangable by his Red Alert, or Groove, or Shockwave or...so on so forth. One of the reasons I love Bob Budiansky is, beyond setting everything up that's important, is his Mirage IS Mirage. His Blaster IS Blaster. His Shockwave IS Shockwave. And so on and so forth. And He doesn't write what Shockwave would say and shove it into Soundwave's mouth, for example.
Well, while that is true, it's a bit of an unfair comparison given how he more or less gave practically EVERY American G1 TF their original "voice". That said, though, it is true that it is jarring to see Soundwave talk so much more under Furman's run, and not under his cartoon speech patterns, but that did give him more character in the eyes of many fans, despite straying away from his cartoon incarnation, so while yes, Furman might have given them different voices, he was trying to tell stories for a more mature market.
Being a Brit myself, I'm of the complete opposite viewpoint - Furman's trying so hard to sound American that it comes across as forced and unrealistic. Just off hand, I can remember his cringeworthy catchphrase "...but good!" from the 80s, as in: "We defeated the Decepticons... but good!" Just reading through issue 83 now, here's a selection of choice faux-Americanisms that you wouldn't catch anyone British saying... "...hauled fender back to shiny, happy Cybertron!" "He's dead, already." "He woke up big time cranky." Yes, Furman does occasionaly lapse into a more formal style ususally associated with 'upper class Brits', but then again that's a literary tradition. Optimus Prime is like a King Arthur, an Aragorn, an Obi-Wan... it's par for the course that serious, learned, powerful characters speak with that kind of diction. How is it any different from the stuff Unicron was spouting in the movie ("your bargaining position is dubious, but very well...")?
Fair point. I guess we can agree that Furman writes in a style that neither the British NOR American forms of English would typically use. It's more of a Furmanglish and not a proper English. Because I don't see any American saying any of those lines either! And Furman's Prime is more than 'just' King Arthur. As is his Unicron and Primus. They really go into the topic of a religious discussion, which is banned on here, but I think I gave enough hints on what to look for in this paragraph to see it. And "Your bargaining position is dubious" is actually fairly colloquial in American. Especially in written/literary American English.
Marvel... Even the terrible written Marvel TF stories & plots are far better than the best of that IDW TF stories & plots
