Did you rush out to your local comic shop today to pick up the newest spotlight comic from IDW? Or, did you download it from Comixology? If so, the adventure doesn’t have to end after the last page. The Transformers Facebook page has uploaded their most recent commentary with writer John Barber. An interesting tidbit from this commentary; it’s mentioned that James Roberts (MTMTE) wrote at least three spotlights and John Barber (RID) wrote three as well. So, we have more incoming for the foreseeable future.
Check out the commentary at the link above and then head over to the 2005 Boards to discuss.
slugslinger2004
Other than the way Bumblebee's face looked in that frame in the preview (similar to issues that the artist in RID said he had to work through) my issue is everyone having FOC bodies on prewar/early war Cybertron when they should have the same ones shown in previous IDW works. I mean, why go through the trouble of explaining Pax's new body in Spotlight:Blurr and then royally screw up Thundercracker?
Chris McFeely
Sad simple truth? A LOT of Transformers fans are only willingly to tolerate a very narrow range of styles in their comics. Dreamwave's sea of puffy homogeneity and weakness-hiding style-over-substance computer colouring effects bludgeoned "one brand, one look" into the minds of a generation, but we've finally reached a point where artists and fans have shaken off all their worst lessons and we're getting variation in the look of our Transformers comics again, from Roche's expressive cartooning to Ramondelli's dark painterly vistas.
Avon
Hmm, yeah, I do see your point. Grant Morrison's run on x-men springs to mind; I did find the nearly issue-by-issue change in art direction unfavourably disrupted the continuity of the overall story. And in a more extreme case, the Marvel g2 issues where Senior would do a few pages spread out over an issue was… distracting.
I'd think that one-shots are a pretty good arena for more diversity though, perhaps? Though I guess that if used that way it means they'd inherently be more hit-and-miss with the audiences tastes. More experimentation but more chance of 'failure' is a trade-off I'd absolutely go for (especially in something relatively 'walled-off' like a one shot), but I certainly understand that's not everyone's preference.
UltraMagnus3786
I dunno. I mentioned it in the other thread, but I'll mention it here again. Nightbeat has been getting a lot of play for a guy that's supposed to be dead. Maybe he comes back to life?
Acteon
Meh, bought it, read it, forgot all about it. Thundercracker was my only Decepticon jet as a kid and I've always had a soft spot for him. He seems to have been sidelined by IDW recently because Cyclonus is effectively filling in his role. I had hoped this would be a revealing insight into a top-tier character, but was left wanting.
Ah well. At least he wasn't shot in the face mid-conversation by a fellow seeker this time. That seems to be his signature move with IDW :/
Bass X0
I'm thinking the character we will will see more of later is Waspinator. The commentary didn't talk about his inclusion at all.
GMANIFESS
As far as the art, it seems rushed, lacking in detail, bad proportions & slightly lazy looking attempts to reference the toy versions of many of the characters. And Every face is just ugly. It's looks like Chee didn't really want the job. But that's just my opinion.
I'm very happy with what Milne, Roche & the Josh's are doing with their respective issues. Compared to the other TF books, this one shot was visually jarring.
Avon
Just going to repost what I said in the thread about the preview, as I came in late to that one
Why all the hostility to the art? It's from a different lineage from most of the idw artists, sure, but I think that's a positive thing. And I can understand character design choices might annoy, but that doesn't really put me off. I actually like it a lot. And the colours are pretty desaturated, sure, but again, it's a choice I don't mind at all. To my eye there's good depth of field, framing…
I'm interested in this actually; what are the qualities that you are looking for in the art for idw's series? I see their approach as mainly falling into a tradition stemming from early 90's Jim lee/image (Don, say), or the tradition J Scott Campbell or Joe queseda worked in (Alex Milne I see as in this). That's no implied insult either; I enjoy Milne's work a lot for example, I'm just really interested in seeing approach from other influences as well.
I don't see any ongoing influence of Geoff Senior for example (who is personally my a big favourite tf artist), that 2000ad look. I'd LOVE to see people playing around with approaches; a 'clear line' transformers, something in the style of the 40s adventure strips, something along the lines of what Frazier Irving might do etc. yes? no?
GMANIFESS
As long we get a different artist on the next spotlight, Chee's work on Thundercracker is lacking horribly.
Sockie
Transformers Spotlight: Thundercracker Commentary | Facebook
I really hope that the character from this issue who will be playing a bigger role in the comics to come will be Waspinator. Also, it's mentioned that Roberts wrote at least three spotlights–if Barber wrote three as well, we'll get at least seven out of this batch in total.