Just got back from the Comic book shop with issue #1 of the comic book adaptation of the 1986 Transformers movie, which is titled "The Gathering Storm"

I don't believe that spoiler tags needed, since there's nothing new in here story-wise. Still, if you do not wish to be spoiled, don't read what's next!

The Good:
Superb art by Don and stellar colors by Josh. Beautiful cover art with thick matte paper with glossy titles. Truly beautiful! Some new viewing angles on some classic scenes. It's nice to see how Don manged to tackle several scenes in one frame, making it look almost alive. I found mself hearing the voices in my head as I read through the book. It's almost a verbatim adaptation of the movie. Budiansky added a few words here and there, but nothing too dramatic. Some may actually see this as a negative point. We'll let the new movie cover new grounds   THis is a classics and to me, classics should remained untouched. The crew did a fine job in depicting this now 20-year old movie.

The Bad:
It read really really fast. The pacing was insanely fast! I found myself at the last page in a matter of minutes, wanting more. I noticed an error where Shrapnel and Kickback are munching away at the gates of Autobot City. The two text bubbles should be switched around.

What the hell is up with Arcee and Springer's eyes on page 10? At firt I thought that they had visors on, but on several occasions, many Autobots were drawn with really big eyes. This is my only gripe about this issue. It looks pretty odd... I find it strange that Don would do that, but oh well... Hopefully it'll only get better in issue #2.

The ugly:
That Nightbeat Profile preview at the end makes me want to stab my eyes with sharp objects. Did the artist use MS Paint? GAH!

Verdict:
I give this issue an 8.5/10. It's a great trip down memory lane with some nice added touches and a good way to set up the mood for the DVD release of the TFTM 20th anniversary edition!

 

there weer a crap load of mistakes in this issue. people speaking other peoples lines.

 

Hotrod: "I fear the wounds are fatal"

pfft!

 

I thought about buying it, but put it down and will wait for the inevitable TPB. Sort of had anticipated much of what Hook said (Don's art good, a fast read bad) based on the preview and just based on knowing the movie already. REALLY disappointed in the dialogue errors.

And yes, the art in the Nightbeat book is an abomination. It makes me sad that the guy responsible for possibly the most iconic image in our fandom (Shockwave's ...are all dead painting) pencilled that book.

 

Just picked it up today. Very true about the fast read. Shoulda just released it all together. When are the next 3 volumes suppose to be released? I can't wait.

 

Again the spped at which everything happens hurt it overall.

This seems to be a recurring problem for IDW in the Tranformers line.

Also changing around Ironhide's sendoff was a little disappointing.

 

The dialogue is terrible. I understand trying to replicate the film in comic form, but it just didn't work. It should've been almost completely rewritten for the medium. Shoving tons of scenes into so few panels also didn't help. They missed out on golden opportunities to add scenes and characters. The art is superb, so it's very pleasant to look at page by page. It's just not pleasant to read.

Buy it if you want an art book, nothing more.

 

My retailer let me have the incentive cover for normal cover price. Stellar!

 

It's ironic that a comic based on the G1 movie has errors that the G1 movie never had  

 

Best part about the book: no cheezy '80s soundtrack. Unless you add it yourself.

 

Hey! That was the best part about the movie! Anyone know when the release dates are for the later issues?

 

Issue 2 in Nov, 3 in Dec and 4 in Jan. No exact dates given yet.

Feel free to sing the songs yourself. "Nothing's gonna stand in my wayay! NOT TONIGHT!"  

 

"You better squeeze and the Sharmin you can, while Mr Whipple's not around...
Stick your head in the microwave and get yourself a tan..."

I'm sure there are kids on these boards who have no clue who the heck Mr. Whipple even is  

 

HUNGER, I want it so bad I can TASTE IT, it drives me mad to see it WASTED, that it's buuuuurrrrrniiiiiiin meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee oooooooooooowwowowowoooooooooooowwwwww burnin meeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeepijhfdioshfsiofhdsauioosdhuisdhfsiuhf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

nerds

 

Dude, can we pass the hat around and get your boss a copy of the new DVD, so he can edit the speech balloons properly? That's the ONLY downside I have with this issue.  

 

The artwork and coloring is fantastic. But all of the errors in the dialogue going to the wrong characters totally kills the book. Couldn't they have let a random transfan proof-read this before they published it? I recall Budiansky saying he only saw the movie one time before writing this adaptation, and all the mistakes really shows. Here's all the mistakes I found on the 1st read:
Page 6: When Laserbeak plays back Optimus' words, he adds the word "that" when Optimus didn't say it a page earlier.
Page 10: Blurr says Perceptor's line.
Page 10: Perceptor says Magnus' line.
Page 11: Kickback and Shrapnel's say eachother's lines.
Page 22: Hotrod say's Perceptor's "The wounds are fatal" line. This IMO is the biggest mistake that was really uncalled for.

What a dissapointment. At least the book is pretty to look at.

 

I enjoyed it, but besides the editing dialogue errors (and the lack of the movie soundtrack ), the only minor crit I had was Prime's weird expression when he was telling Hot Rod to get out of the way. In the original movie, his eyes seemed stern and focused, but in the comic, it seemed as if he had a surprised/dumbfounded look.

 

"WTF is that IDIOT doing?!"

DON: Props on that Prime/Meg battle panel where Megs has the energon sword. Worth the price of admission for that panel alone!

 

I was really disappointed to see most of the pages consisted of very small panel breakdowns. I understand they probably had to do it to fit in all the story, but it killed a lot of the scope and detail. Other than that, though, it was a fun, albeit light, read.