Transformers Continuum 5 Page Preview

Here is a preview of Transformers: Continuum

Preview

The fact this book is needed is sad and pathetic

So this is a 'Previously on IDW TF...' book to try and make sense of everything they've done so far?

They should be giving this out free.

I'll give it a read. Maybe there is something I missed or never noticed before

I don't get how. If I decided to suddenly pick up the Batman book (or any other ongoing for that matter), I'd love a quick issue with all the key points from the years of stuff I've not read.

I can't wait to see the page that explains why they pissed away chunks of the existing continuity in favour of a bad fanfic.

Totally agree. I've just got into batman novels myself and have ahd to hit up wikipedia several times to get a bit of background info etc.

So i'm actually really looking forward to this ( being new to the comics) and the new ongoing and from the preview it seems like it'll be an interesting read.

I love the artwork, but as Draven said about "fan-fic", to me this little bit just seems to smell too much of it....

Interesting I will have to check it out.

Me too.

You know they'll just ignore any contradictions and just go with the most recent iteration of the story as truth (i.e., the Hunter/Sunstreaker debacle in AHM coda).

Looks awesome.

Well, considering AHM has ended and the new upcoming ongoing series is a considerable thematic shift in terms of story and style, this really might only be useful for those relatively few new readers who jumped onto IDW's TF comics during AHM (and judging by the poor Diamond shipping figures -IDW has never released their own figures to my knowledge- these new readers seem to have just replaced the old readers who started with Infiltration back in 2005-2006); and IDW probably wants to use this to hopefully quieten complaining existing readers such as myself who are totally unconvinced by IDW's claims that All Hail Megatron was apparently always written with Furman's continuity in mind by going "SEE! IT ALWAYS FITTED IN!"

Which is evidently why they needed 4 extra issues to explain things after the fact, including one story that changes a major scene from a Furman issue so it can fit into how a character was depicted in AHM. Hooray.

That still really pisses me off, especially considering how Hunter was supposed to the main human character in this series.

No one has mentioned the absolute worst cover art in the history of mainstream TransFormers comics yet? I'm surprised.

Judging from this post I'm not sure if you understand why Draven is making a fan-fic reference.

It's by Ken Christiansen, the artist who designed all of the live-action video game characters. I think it's alright, and if you think that's the worst cover "in the history of mainstream Transformers comics yet", then you must have limited experience with Transformers comics

That's probably because it's not even bloody close:

Yeah the continuity is choppy but it's no different than what goes down in Marvel and DC. I just hope they stay on top of things for now on.

They could send all their readers a christmas card with a hand written apology that their comics are so disjointed instead.

just read the tfwiki. much more informative and its free. everything is so vague and under-detailed in the preview.

I think the book is a sound idea. Furman's original story was spread out over five mini series and numerous spotlights, so there are lots of bits and pieces the casual or new reader might not have a clue about. And besides all of that, sometimes it's a good idea to summarize what came before in an ongoing storyline before moving ahead.

I'll be buying it.

I think a recap/timeline issue is a great idea. However, from this preview it would appear that this issue fails. It covers so much in these 5 pages very quickly and in a very vague fashion all while turning much of it into merely "legendary." And none of this was even the really controversial stuff! (Well... Megatron Origin is, a little...)

Yeah, the vague "and this may have happened" style of writing and 32 pages for 3 years worth of comics? This looks like that pre-AHM 'Focus on Decepticons' book - something done with very little money put into due to the reuse of existing art assets.

stupid...and that cover? is that supposed to be spike? it looks like some horrible Myspace profile foto of some dumb ugly kid trying to look like a bad ass. cripes

Interior art - nice. Exterior art - yeesh. It may not be the quintessentially atrocious TF cover, but it's up there.

Equally amused by the somewhat-pompous title of 'the definitive chronology'; replace the last word with 'kludge', and I think it's a little closer to the truth.

Might get this for the 'this shouldn't even need to exist, but the pictures are pretty' value.

If you've been following the IDW series already, all the pictures would be familar to you already

So they want me to pay for something that will explain the stuff I already own...? (even if some things could do with explaining.)

Yup, but these explanations will surely be different than the stuff you already own in may cases. Should be fun!

Yeah, you're paying for new, vague explanations with no new art! (well, aside from the cover)

The first page stinks already. What's the stupid mention that the three seekers were "noble"? There was nothing about that in Megatron Origins.

And anyway thes new writers should really forget to give too much importance to the likes of Skywarp or Thundercracker. They are thugs at worst, elite soldiers at best, but in the Decepticon hyerarchy, they are of little importance next to guys like Scorponok, Shockwave or Thunderwing.

Not trying to knock your post cause i do agree with what you say about Marvel and DC, but at least they have the excuse of having numerous writers and editors covering their characters for over 40+ years, continuity is bound to get a little messy.

IDW however have been releasing TF material for just under 5 years, with one writer covering about 3 & 1/2 years worth of stories (About 50 issues worth?). So anyone following that really has no excuse not to bother looking at what has happened before.

For Continuum, is this release less for the fans and more for any current/future IDW writers/editors to be looking at?

IDW are raping my 2001hood. transformerscomics are ruined forever. this is worse than AIDs. etc.

If you can't come up with an original responce or something that contributes to the discussion then why bother posting?

Well "Continuum" is not for us, it's for "The New Kids on The Block". I also think it's cool to have it in a summary style and with the whole "this may have happened" I'm sure it's like a POV gag, cause we know as the reader but take it as a Cybertronian they only know by word of mouth.

I get your point and like both Marvel and DC their trying to fix it. I remember talking with Chris Mowry a while back and how he was saying one of their "decision makers" I forget his position and he didn't give a name but the guy didn't care I'm not sure if they fix that problem but whateves LOL!

But yeah there is no excuse, I was just trying to make a point. When you ADD a trigger happy writer who's been out of work for a while with a boss that doesn't care about continuity you get = IDW. So basically it's up to the writers to keep the universe in check, cause Hasbro (maybe) IDW (no) just so long as they can keep making money to produce movie tie-in comics for whatever brand they get their hands on LOL!

I get so irritated with these people but I love TF and we don't have shit happening for a while so these books keep me happy :]

I like kup's design in this. Really hope we get a new version of him when universe starts up.

It may be crap but continum is perfect for some people like myself. AHM got such a slating that by the time the first trade was released I didn't bother picking it up so I'm about 18 months behind. If I can pick up one comic that covers whats going to be important in the new comic then great, it saves me reading AHM.

Yes I could look online, but if I want to avoid lots of fan bickering and bitching about inconsistancies (not that I blame anyone for it) or getting riled up myself by discovering what sounds to be fairly shoddy work, then the comic seems like a simple and easy alternative.

Bogatan, do yourself a favour and read AHM and form your own opinion.

As a wise man once said: 'opinions are like arseholes, everyone's got one'

And there are an awful lot of arseholes on the Internet.

(BTW nice to see someone else from The Hub/ TF@TM on here)

I look at that cover and I see Spike's disembodied head with an absolutely hideous expression -and then there are some robots.

I guess this a good starting point, but for me, I completely agree with you.
Seeing as most of what happened a couple of years ago was ignored\forgotten\contradicted why even bother to explain it?

Eh, I've read all of the Dreamwave Stuff, all the IDW stuff, and I'm slowly working my way through a lot of the older Marvel and Titan runs. I'm probably not the wealth of knowledge that some on the boards may claim to be, but I know what I like in TF comics.

And say what you will about Pat Lee, but at least his puffy, disproportionate bots looked like they were all drawn by the same guy. Here we've got half-cartoon, half-Michael Bay aberrations that look like they got mixed in a blender with a little bit of Draven's art influence and a whole lotta fugly. And seriously, that Spike looks like something from a kid's mySpace wall.

You find me five WORSE covers and we'll debate the relative merits. Go!

Well I'll work my way through the edited UK reprint, but so far I'm less than excited by it. The stuff I hear people complain about sounds bad to me and most of the positive comments people make also sound bad to me.

As someone who has read 100% of IWD's G1 line taking jasonw advice, the series is not that bad - SERIOUSLY.

IDW timeline - Transformers Wiki

I will, promise, but at the same time I wont rush out to spend £60 on 12 issues of a comic that even someone who likes it is only calling "not that bad". The UK reprint will catch me up with the majority eventually, in the mean time Continuim remains a valid alternative before reading the ongoing. Though I'll end up waiting for trades again so I've got a while to catch up yet.

if you are unable to track down the IDW comics you might get some milage out of komics-live (no linky for me-getting-banned reasons, google it!)

the IDW series was great, far better than anyhting that had come before, and AHM is genuinely entertaining stuff. to be brutally honest if i hear one more Comics Guy From The Simpsons bemoan the 'inconsistent tone' making them 'terrible' comics i will make it my mission in life to track them down and shiv them!*

you read through the crouching tiger squatting robot Transformers comics before pat lee was assasianted by ninjas, and then complain about IDW's stuff? are you sure about that?

*not really **






** probably.

Yeah IDW's Transformers stories are of a much greater quality then any other Transformers medium. In the end though judge for yourself, don’t let anyone feed you an opinion, it seems to happen far too often to people.

Wow! I thought I was the only person in tfw2005 board who liked the IDW comics, it is good to find someone who can appreciate good Transformers story telling. So that brings the total count of TF IDW comic fans, in this board, to 2!

Comic fans are worse than toy fans when it comes to their expectations vs. reality.

combine the two and you have some very militant customers. Of all the people on here who have said how bad the IDW line was, i'd bet a fair few of them picked up every single issue regardless and would have complained just as loudly if it'd been canned after 12 months!

the IDW is definately picking up - AHM i really enjoyed, and i absolutely loved the soviet propaganda style alternative covers.

The thing with IDW for me, prior to its creation there really was not a single Transformers continuity that was good enough to call definitive, IDW saw the potential and provided a solid back story, great art, and a continuity that is consistence within its self. There is NO Transformers continuity that accomplishes this so well as IDW has (accept for maybe Animated and Beast Wars, those were great and that’s coming from a G1 fan-boy/purist).

The overall writing has been high quality; Furman established a rich world, McCarthy provided some fantastic character development, and (hopefully) Costa can expand on these concepts even further and add something great of his own.

Finally, on the subject of the art, love it or hate it (I personally love it) IDW is pretty flexible with artistic licensing, so if you do not like Dons (awesome) new style, you will find solace in the new Wreckers comic or perhaps Bumblebees miniseries. The point is they always have something for everyone, which is how it should be.

Yep!

Such potential wasted. But I digress.

Okay. So you have to like every single tiny little thing a company puts out without question in order to be a genuine fan of something? Well then, I guess I'm not a genuine fan...

... of anything really. 'Cuz i don't find much of anything in life to be perfect.


See, I LOVE pretty much 2/3 of the stuff IDW published. All the way up to All Hail Megatron. And truth be told I kinda like some pieces of it, too. But I have complaints, and I voice them, so I'm not a fan.