IDW has released a preview of the conclusion of the Drift: Empire of Stone miniseries. In this concluding part of the story arc that brings Shane McCarthy back to the character he created, we have Drift, Ratchet and Gigatron on one side – and the soldiers of the titular Empire of Stone on the other! It’s the final battle – be sure to pick up the concluding part of the miniseries to see how it ends!
optimusmegas
it's not the narration….it's the "my name is drift. i used to be a deception then i was an autobot." introductions in EVERY. SINGLE. ISSUE. that is what we're all annoyed at and mocking. narration has it's moments but unless it's told int he form of a starlog or journal that shit gets old fast…..hell i groaned at the start of empire of stone since i was already sick of it with windblade…..
Plainsjumper
How would we know what his name was if he didn't think it at the start of every issue?
SPLIT LIP
You know we're just talking about the "My name is *name*" trope and not internal narration itself, right?
Internal narration is quite common and accepted, it's the repetative, overly redundant "my name is Drift" that we're criticising.
GWolfv2
Every issue. Rage was entirely from Grimlock's POV and it wouldn't have worked as well if it wasn't. Beast Hunters alternated between Sludge, Snarl and Grimlock with varying levels of POV.
Look at Spider-man. Find me a Spider-man book where he doesn't voice every. single. thought. or a Cap. Or…any major comic book series really. Super common narration trope.
optimusmegas
but did she use it every issue?? i mean if it's a mini series and you're telling a story through narration once at the start. maybe once at the end just to wrap things up but every issue?? that's just eye rolling.
GWolfv2
I'd be surprised. It's a very popular narration format, and a lot of writers use it. Personally, I enjoyed it in Windblade as since it's a POV comic internal monologue=expected. then again, I think Windblade is an excellent little series. It doesn't work here because Drift's monologue tells you nothing that's not in the action. It's not the format, it's the words.
Plus, if it was John's call, James would be roped in as well. He IS his editor and I know he can make some heavy changes to how things have been done.
And Mairghread also used the format in the Dinobot comics, where it was peeeeerfect. Such underrated books.
TFW in general mayy not be RID-friendly, but I think we can safely say John's not trying to standardise the book formats.
Autovolt 127
Damn Right.
In a cosmic sort of way, yes.
You know that actually does sense. I don't think McCarthy and Scott would both follow this same tired formula.
optimusmegas
.[/QUOTE]
all that.
i like hellbat and gigatron and more of the micro masters that showed up here. the story wasn't bad, though stretched out horribly to make 4 issues.
it's just the narration. jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus the narration.
it was awful in windblade and it's awful here. i dont understand why they needed to say in EVERY ISSUE who he is. you can do that in issue one and never do it again. and it happens twice this issue! we didn't forget between the first page and last page. this was just horrible writing. i hope he rejoins the lost light this was just awful.
Nocturne
No worries. You wouldn't be the first person. And looking back at my own post I can see why you'd think I was offended or something. But nope, it's all good.
SPLIT LIP
Solid first post from a fellow cat. I shall mark it as my territory because I like it so much.
User_93049
"My name is Drift. Tokyo Drift, and no one likes me except for the youth. The older audience awaits for my next installment because I go back to a good crew."
Faizan
Haha my bad. I feel so embarrassed. Really hard for me to detect sarcasm or the lack thereof on the internet
Beemer
My name is Ben, and I used to read TF comics the day they came out. Now I just buy trade paperbacks, but none of that matters.
What DOES matter is the very entertaining and educational discussion in this thread! You guys really do care about writing, and you've got high standards. I like it.
AmazingMrCat
My name is Drift. I'm a Capricorn who enjoys long walks on the beach, candle-lit dinners for two, and haiku. Ladies, call me!
Nocturne
Wait, what? Oh no!
Oh crap, sorry! No I wasn't trying to be sarcastic at all! I was actually being straight up geniune. I loved the points you brought up and what you typed actually sounds like it would be a far more interesting story than what Shane wrote. It addressed many of the issues I thought Shane had ignored in favour of telling an action piece.
I'm really sorry if I came across as offended because I really wasn't! I was actually trying to pay you a compliment.
Faizan
No i wasn't going for that at all. I'm sorry if i offended you but i was just adding my two cents on this matter. I don't claim that i could write a better story but I still firmly believe that the "Author" could have written a much better one. As i pointed out there were various avenues open to Shane after the way he was being written by Roberts (for better or for worse is up for debate) and maybe dedicating a few pages of the issue to his transition from the Roberts character to the Shane one might have helped this mini so people might have felt comfortable with his new persona per say.
GWolfv2
As someone who felt the first Drift mini was an entertaining if underwhelming bit of fluff…this book went REALLY badly. The first two issues are enjoyable enough but the last two are just…awful. In a "I'm genuinely let down" way. We have exposition over character, one dimensional villains who had enormous potential…the only good development is Grit and he's essentially dropped in the first half. I can't add anything to the many points made here. Just…damn.
I've hated books, I've read bad books, I'm very rarely disappointed in books…I'm disappointed now. So much could have been done with this…uuughhh
I've got James, John and soon Mairghread and between them we're in the best era of TF fiction ever. But this is like the ghost of the ongoing's random Megatron plot (What the hell was his master plan???!!!) just grabbed my sould and said "Never. Forget".
tbx76
I miss complex Drift. The guy who is doing his best to find a path and suppresses what he knows deep down he's capable of. The bot was a stone cold killer for millions of years; that doesn't just "go away" because you want to be a hero. In the mtmte annual, he was ready to slice his friends heads off out of frustration. The guy tries to match his eye color to the mood of the room….that's just cool. And extremely interesting.
The Drift in this series seems to "talk" like he's complex, but lacks the subtlety to actually BE complex.
Nocturne
*passes you a pen and paper* You! You get it! I humbly request that you write a new Drift Mini, because it's obvious you understand Drift and could write the character better than his supposed creator.
Megastar
I actually liked this miniseries more than I thought I would.