I'm seriously thinking about reading some of the G1 Themed Transformers Comics. I prefer Graphic Novels because the compilation is more convenient than trying to hunt down each individual back issue. So where should I begin? Give this novice some advice on which must-read books I should get into.
Well, if you're looking to follow the IDW continuity, you can either start at Phase 1 with the Infiltration miniseries written by Simon Furman, or Phase 2, in which case start off with the first trades of More Than Meets The Eye and Robots In Disguise.
Depends if you want modern takes on G1 or the actual G1 graphic novels as in the ones that accompanied the 80's toy line and if it is the case the best stuff is probably when simon Furman took over the UK run fully with the target 2006 volume and all the other volumes up to time wars and also Furman later wrote the the US comic too starting with the volume primal scream up till its end and into the G2 comics. There is nothing massively wrong with either of the UK or US comics prior to Furmans takeover as writer as they where hardly the worst comics ever its just he took the franchise a little more seriously and did bigger stories. Sadly in my opinion none of the 80's stuff has really aged that well and is good enough for those who love their transformers but hardly classic must read comics I would recommend to someone. Most of the G1 themed stuff published since has been released since then has been put out by the companies dreamwave and IDW. Dreamwave made comics that stayed very closely in terms of tone, quality and limitations to the G1 sunbow cartoon but as a company sadly they perished before it could complete all its transformers comics so reading them now feels a little unfulfilling and like 80's comics that came before it no real must read volume to recommend to outsiders. After dreamwaves demise the transformers licence fell into the hands of idw who have since been releasing its own G1-ish comics for over a decade now. I would say idws take on G1 is less rigid and limited to G1 lore but also more free to make comics that are actually worth reading. Over its years idw has had loads of different creative teams all working within a single near G1 continuity so the quality varies hugely with some barely competent or consistent but at its best idw has given us some of the very first must read transformer comics. Telling you the cherry picked good volumes of idw is tricky as they are amongst a load of other weaker stuff helpful for you understanding the stories in good volumes. If you are already familiar with the main G1 characters like Optimus prime, Megatron, prowl, ratchet, soundwave, shockwave etc and know that in idw the ark crash on earth never happened but instead earth is just one battleground as the autobot/Decepticon war is accross the whole galaxy where deceptions infiltrate populated planets to destabilize and destroy them to strip them of recourses whilst the autobots try to stop I don't see any harm in you jumping straight to a volume many would consider idw's first must read and that is called last stand of the wreckers. After reading that all the individual volumes to the ongoing comic called more than meats the eye (and recently renamed lost light) are probably idws most recommended comics. There are other ones helpful for you understanding lsotw and mtmte like individual spotlight issues and other non ongoing stories and idw g1 reading order thread can give you more detail and reading the wiki summary of the comics by different creative teams can save you lots of time and money.
Personally, my answer would change depending on whether you favor story over art, light-hearted over serious, current over all-time, A-list characters over D-list characters...
Story is my number one priority. As for the rest, I'd like to see some must read titles from all of the above if possible.
Thanks for this detailed response. It helps alot. So I want to start at IDW's Last Stand of the Wteckers and More Than Meets the Eye.
Well, you'll get a lot of recommendations for Last Stand of the Wreckers, which would be, among other things: in the current IDW continuity one of James Roberts' first published works a serious, "adult-oriented," "R-rated" story featuring mostly C- and D-list characters with whom more casual fans may be unfamiliar Assuming you like that one, you would want to move on to the first trade of More Than Meets the Eye, and I see you just came to that conclusion while I was typing.
Last Stand of the Wreckers is certainly a good starting point. I wouldn't rule out the first IDW books, like Infiltration and Stormbringer (A personal favourite). The spotlight collections are also good - mostly self-contained stories. If you want to go proper old-school Marvel stuff, I'd recommend City of Fear. Tis a fun story.
Last Stand of the Wreckers is definitely a must read. To properly understand MTMTE tho(and other ongoings), it is best to read #22 #23 #24 #26 #28 #30 of the series preceding it. It's simply called Transformers Ongoing. These issues contains an arc called "Chaos Theory" you don't want to miss. Then the rest tied into DoOP that is the start point of phase 2 and included in MTMTE trade. The rest of the book is not really relevant. (But I liked the story after Megatron was shot in the head and put into stasis, and Megatron Spotlight is not bad, imo) Another must read is Punishment/Redemption mini-series. They are very dark in themes but in my opinion as brilliant as LSotW. A new one, Salvation, is also coming this June. There are basically 3 current major transformers books: Lost light (MTMTE) dealt Rodimus and crew on a grand space quest. Megatron's here on an Autobots ship. Till All Are One(Windblade) Cybertron transforming into peace. Starscream is the leader. Optimus Prime(Ex-RiD) Optimus leads a team on earth to protect it and making everyone angry. There are ups and downs in these series but I think they are all fun and worth reading.
