Just a heads up, inks for Megatron Origins #4 are now up. Alex again has done an amazing job! Looks killer!  


http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron-04pg01-66726440
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron-04pg02-66726642
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron-04pg03-66726812
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron-04pg04-66727068
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron-04pg05-66727368

 

Definately one of THE best TF comics in YEARS!!

 

Guess I can't really be shocked by Starscream's actions, but I do so love this series.

 

I have to disagree here. The story comes across like a bad fanfic, it seems like it wasn't changed at all since it was pitched to Dreamwave (noticeable in the cartoon-like speech patterns of Grimlock and Soundwave, which don't match their appearances in previous IDW-verse stories), the plot seems jumpy, character development is far to abrupt (Hey, I'm Megatron! I'm just some working class guy, today I killed someone, the horrors!" - "Hey, I'm Megatron! I'm a badass gladiator, I kill for fun! Awesome!" - "Hey, I'm Megatron! I got ambitions!"), and the art is far too crammed with details and the sequential storytelling isn't that breathtaking either. Even the coloring was all over the place in issue 3.

 

Really? The line art looks great, the story is good, but the coloring is completely turning me off. It's so... dark. If there are any G1 cameos hidden in the crowds, I sure couldn't find them (partially due to IDW's redesigns AND pre-Earth forms) I much prefer Josh's coloring, though.


Chris

 

Where did Soundwave and crew come from? They fly out of Starscream's arse?

 

Nice! I am looking forward to this one.

 

Not Bad.

 

Yeah I was wondering that too. Unless he sneaks up behind the guard that Starscream is looking at in page two, but give us a shadow or something to show soundwave is creeping. You'd think one of the commenters would ask that question instead of gushing over how great the lineart looks, which it does btw.

 

the one a ONLY thing, soundwave must bee explained, no mather the cost!

 

This miniseries really has been a disappointment... It started out with such promise, and Milne's artwork is nice. But it seems he's just been forced to squeeze what should be a 6-issue series into 4... and for that, it's suffered a lot. I know he's been ill too, and that's completely thrown it all off (Last issue really was the wors with the crap colouring jobs thrown in on random pages).

That said, it looks like this will be a great issue. All it has to do is make up for the errors in #3 and not leave us with a crappy ending.

Also, before I forget... Looks like he's got the coloured version of his pics up!

http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron04-sample-01-66729612
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron04-sample-02-66728353
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron04-sample-03-66728143
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron04-sample-04-66727910
http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/megatron04-sample-05-66727721

 

Ooo, Starscream's guard looks an awful lot like Straxus from the ol' Marvel comics.

 

I completely agree, the development of megatron was great, to see the very begining of his ambitions and why he became the ruthless tyrant we know. The art is simply awesome.

 

So far I am terribly disappointed in this series. Art wise, it's just confusing more often than it should be, like the first panel that shows Sentinel Prime. What the heck is he doing, just shooting a wall randomly with a big gun? And I still REALLY think his design is terrible and too Gundam like. Doesn't look like he can transform into anything. But that aside the story is just painful.

Before this it was established that Megatron started the rise of the Decepticons because he thought Cybertonians had become meak cattle. This was not something only told by Autobots and therefore could have been a twisted interpretation, this was his origin.

Instead we suddenly have a world of corrupt politics, police brutality, and corporate rule to different planets. Oh, and Megatron appears to have a scitzophrenic personality.

I'll be picking up the last issue just for the whole series, but I have no hopes of anything coming together and making sense.

 

I think Alex Milne is a great artist, but he's more suited for pinup work and posters than for sequential art. I honestly think taking a sequential art class or two would work wonders. Again, I'm not saying he sucks. I'm just saying he's a very capable artist who could benefit from a few lessons in how to make great art that isn't confusing.

On a different thought...I'm disappointed that we once again have Starscream looking like that. I was so pleased to see the 3 seekers have unique designs for a few pages in issue #3, but then so disappointed to see that they have the same design for the rest of the issue. I see that Starscream is still the "one fits all" design...

 

^___________________^

Well this is pretty much what I expected to happen story wise, but it never looked so pretty in my head.
OMG Starscream       This explains a lot about Megatron's tolerance of him, doesn't it?  

Edit: I wasn't going to say this, but Megatron's about to back-hand 'Screamer into a wall in the last panel isn't he? >.>

 

Although I've enjoyed the series as a whole, I gotta agree that the story would have fit better for a 6 issue series rather than the 4 were getting. As Nevermore mentioned before, we're getting glimpses of Meg's rise, but I really don't see any good transitions from his rise from a lowly laborer to gladiator to remorseless tyrant. IMO, the whole thing should just be called Rebellion: Rise of the Decepticons with Megs starring the supporting cast role. XD

Otherwise, I'm definitely looking forward to the last ish, but it seems the colors won't be as consistent again, if going by Alex's comment for colored page 5...hopefully everything will smooth out in the final tpb form.

 

this never happened

I agree completely. The story is far too cliche and simple, I was expecting a LOT more considering this is the story of one of the most recognized cartoon vilain of all time.

Steven Lisberger once told me this about the new Star Wars : By trying to explain the myth...they killed it. He was refering to the level of midichlorians in your bloodstream determining how good you'd be at using the force. Before that little scientific explanation the force was mystical, something spiritual, it made us wonder. Now a simple blood test will reveal if you'll ever master the force or not.

And now this Megatron origin. To me they killed the myth by trying to explain it. Not all things need to be discovered, especially not in this cliche and simple way. The best cartoon vilain of all time is now reduced to some gladiator-brute bent on revenge against robotic politicans. How daft is that.

And am I the only one to be bothered that past TFs are always bigger, more complex and have much more "parts" than their future (G1) forms ? And what is it with the "we need 100 robots in every panel" rule nowadays ? Would it be so wrong to have a small cast of TFs and develop their backgrounds ?

Ahhhh screw it...

I'll simply put this story into the "it never happened in my mind" drawer. I actually returned issue 1-2 and 3 to my comic book store (issue 4 will suffer the same fate), I'm using the credit to buy manga.

Godspeed
-Greenspan

 

add me to the naysayer list. its actually gotten better as it progressed, but even with the limited selection of recent tf comic story arc this series is hardly in contention for 'best tf story ever', heck even 'best recent story'. i would even claim that the hokey yet fun joe vs tf crossovers for readable.

i just have too many technical issues with it that i find hard to overlook. a lot of promise and buildup and it couldve been so much better.

 

The coloruing and black borders don't do this any favours. It's as if a purple filter has been applied to it. Odd. I love the art, but in this instance I'd like to pick up the manga version, sans colour.

I do think that there was a great tale here, but it was rushed - we're seeing a lot of what happened, but nothing of the personalities behind it. More of Grimlock or Sunstreaker's reaction to events (both have been featured) would have given this rebellion more depth. Did Sideswipe prevent his brother from being caught up in events? What one event made Grimlock think twice? It could have led to some great future set ups where Megatron has to deal with these "nearly" Decepticons.

I don't think it helps that Sentinel Prime is such an unsympathetic character. In the DW canon, Sentinel Prime was described as a religious pacifist, here he seems far more like Marvel's Impactor. Why, in a peaceful world, are the Autobots led by such a hardass?

Similarly, this is Megatron's story. We were told before launch that every villain is the hero of his own story, so why don't we see any of Megatron's thought processes? This was a massive failing of the first DW series- by foregoing any thought balloons, the series feels devoid of character, and character exploration is surely the point of this series. It's like the writers hit a block and just followed the basic plot without expanding on it.

There was also a real missed opportunity here. At the end of the first DW War Within, Prime throws out the disc with the knowledge of his predecessors on it. They could have neatly incorporated something similar into the IDW continuity - if Megatron's initial aim was to effect social change for the masses, he succeeded once Optimus Prime and his more compassionate agenda was in place, but by the time it happened he was so drunk with power, events and the machinations of his own faction that he missed it, and his greatest enemy should have been his greatest ally. If Megatron's own warped sense of purpose blinded him to a once noble purpose, it would make him the most tragic of heroes.

Overall it's an interesting distraction, but the character led one shots are everything this series should have been. Shame.