The REAL Botcon Comic Preview is up!

Are people so dense that they can't see that the evil goatee is a nod to the classic Star Trek episode with Evil Spock? South Park did something similar with "Evil" Cartman as a parody. Yeesh.

Love the art. I have to see the whole comic, but I think this could turn out to be Don's best art ever. (IMO, of course)

(And as someone who also likes Yaniger's art and Sipher's and Troop's homage of it, you can certainly like both styles. Not one instead of the other )

Rodimus' goatee looks great. Hopefully the figure looks as well.

Still kind of sad that not a single character in this preview is saying "Tally-Ho" ... but I guess there's still chance that Grimlocks talks like in the AFD Preview.

It was expected, with that bit about Cliffjumper not making it to the Transtech-verse in the club comics.

Seconded!



-airfox

The "Goatee of Leadership"!

I love the artwork, hahaha for the prank...not really. But still nice artwork.

So now did the Mirror CJ "jump" into the normal Classicsverse like Kirk & Co did in Mirror, Mirror? I have to wonder if Cybertron / Primus is evil and Unicron is considered good in this universe (yes, I know they will probably not be seen)?

Call me a conspiracy theorist but why does Don offer his exceptional services here yet pull outta IDW? He must've really been disenfranchised.

Anyway, brilliant work. It makes me like these guys a lot more. Nice to see Cliffy get some love.

They don't suck. They're standard for late eighties basics.

Roddy is badass

From what "Goatee Rod" (as I call him ) said, Mirrorverse CJ is dead.

Hmm. Intriguing. I might be able to get behind this concept after all, if the accompanying fiction is well done.
One thing though, Pete; Since G1 Grimlock was a total badass who in many situations was damn near as nasty and mean as the Decepticons, does that mean that Shatnered (intentional misspelling - see goatee ) Glass Grimlock is a fairly nice guy?

Great now I want that evil Rodimus. Ugh someone buy it for me when you go to Botcon! I’d pay up front of course!

nah, he is a jerk universally...like, if wheelie shows up, everyone will still hate him lol

Yes indeed. Sad, isn't it?

haha mirror wheelie

Will Grimmy still say Wot? He better.

Maybe I just have an overly negative memory of them? I think of them as being on par in terms of crappiness with your average G1 combiner limbs (only with huge pop out weapons instead of the ability to combine).

Anyways, lets rephrase to say "...that wouldn't suck by today's standards".

This art style worked for 12 entire issues during the Generation 2 run. Widely accepted? Hell fire, man, have you actually read the fan response to this before it was outed as a joke? There are a great many fans that would've eaten this up.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the actual comic, but I would've enjoyed the other quite a bit more, and it would've been a nice nostalgic piece to recapture one of the reasons that I fell in love with Transformers in the first place.

That would actually be kind of cool. Make it similar to the justice League episode Legends.

Its not so much the art style as the writing style. If we kept the three pager going apace at its total level of cornballness... it would have lost its punch and have gotten tiresome. Plus, while the fandbase will appreciate the concept in many cases, this is aslo has to hit a wide audience through the Diamond edition. There's a balance to be had. And I think its a balance we can find.

That's not to say that the overall love of this is going unnoticed! Far from it! I think you'll find that the future holds plenty of joy for people who liked the preview.

The reaction has definately shown that the fanbase is open to a different style of writing, a different style of storytelling and a variance in artistic style. These comments are being acted upon /right now/. Stay tuned for more developments.

-Trent

That would have been awesome. I gotta say there's a bit of a missed oppurtunity, guys.

As for the preview and the "crontoversy" over the joke (if that's the right term), I'm torn. It's one of those times where I can see both sides of the argument. Altough...

You simply cannot argue with that.

So how about Starscream? I´m guessing very similar to his Armada incarnation and such.

I thought don was retired?

Kinda disappointing. It would be great to see Yaniger drawing a TF comic again, or whoever managed to copy his style in the April Fool's fake comic.

Here's a crazy idea....why don't we accept the April's fool comic for what it was, a great fan parody (that I would like to see more of someday), and enjoy the Botcon comic on it's own merits.

A great fan parody approved by the HASBRO, if I'm not mistaken.

-airfox

If the now-standard serious, epic tone of Transformers comics since DW started hasn't run thin and become stale by now (and after a taste of an alternate take, for some it apparently has), I don't see how a direction that's entirely new and unexplored could apparently become tiresome when expanded past a couple of pages. Since nobody's actually putting out a full-length comic of that sort (yet), it seems a bit presumptuous to assume that it will. As I recall, the assumption was also that we would all hate "mirrorverse G2"... and look how that turned out.

That said, I don't have a problem with multiple takes on the franchise co-existing. I'm satisfied with much of what IDW is doing, I've liked some of the Club comic stuff, and surprisingly like what I'm seeing in this year's comic. Might have to bug xZAOx about getting a copy with my Goldbug and Razorclaw. Don's art has a lot to do with that, but in its own way I think the real Botcon comic is going to have fun with the concept too.

Many thanks on your efforts to keep the Fools' joke going, Trent! I'm VERY much looking forward to it!

That said, after seeing this Botcon preview, I think having BOTH "Shattered Universes" available eventually is a great idea. The cornballish one for those who liked the April Fools' joke like myself, and for those who want incredibly awesome DON art and a bit more serious of a plot (like myself also... oddly enough), you've got this one (which will honestly probably appeal more to a wider audience anyways-- really, how many people will catch the whole "Pretenders" thing on the first page of the April Fools' comic?)

Looking forward to reading both now. Oh, and Cliffjumper being the "crossover" between this comic and the club comic? INGENIOUS. It honestly never occurred to me he'd end up here. (And if you think about it, this years' Botcon comic and last years' comic are happening at about the same "time", just in different universes. Heh.)

Also, Rodimus looks incredibly awesome. I'm one who's never gotten bored of the black/purple/gray color scheme, and it'll be nice to have a "proper" Evil Rodimus w/ goatee instead of "Menasor".

I'm still going to miss "April Fools" Grimlock and Jazz, though. I think in my own toy fiction world, those two will keep their "April Fools" personalities.

This make me sad I won't be going to Botcon.... Being poor really sucks...

Crisp looking! Though, Evil Rodimus reminds me of Burt Reynolds with that mustache lol.

Can't wait for this to hit the stands in the summer.

Wot? Naw, yew shuddup.

He really needs to pair up with Animated Bulkhead for the Dom DeLuise factor.

Anyway, the comic is very pretty, as to be expected, and I'll probably enjoy it for what it is. It's just way too unfortunate FP had to play a prank on themselves (with hindsight, that's pretty much the only way to look at it) by showing off a thoroughly enjoyable alternative to the same type of stuff we've been getting in steady doses since 2002. While I don't doubt Trent & Sipher saying they probably couldn't push their concept to a full comic, I can't help but think they're selling themselves short, whether they realize it or not. I do look forward to whatever comes from the positive reaction to Evil G2 campyverse.

i kinda like the joke one better, i might have bought that one hahaha

I liked the april Fools one better, wot!

Naw, DON is still working. In fact he has a new series coming this summer called Zombies. I honestly can't wait to see it cause the covers rock.

By Russ`s blessed right buttock this is sooooo sweet. And it`s good to be back kickin it around with the bots.

lookin good.

cant wait for the TPB.

Cool

All Rodimus says is that Cliffjumper went missing on the way to this "Darkmount Massacre" and was presumed killed. To me, that isn't exactly explaining anything in great detail given Rodimus himself isn't sure what exactly happened to Cliffjumper.

At any rate, I'm loving how this comic looks so far. Don's art, as always, is amazing. Also, I've always liked the "mirrorverse" stories from Star Trek, so I'm intrigued to see Transformers take on the "mirrorverse" idea.

Since people are making a lot of dialog about beard-related dialog, maybe it should've gone like this:

Cliff: "What's up with your face?"

Rod: "Me? Where the hell did YOUR mutton-chops go?"

*swoons like a schoolgirl*
Oh, Espen and his eye for color... the man makes GRADIENTS look sexy! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Oh right. TALENT XD.

The April Fool's joke was okay, but HONESTLY, I like this official one better. Yes, the gag pages had some wackiness that we all enjoyed, but I like my alternate universes dark and broody. This works for me...
I wouldn't mind seeing the wacky stuff as a weekly comic thing XD. Or something. Expand the universe and stuff...

Oh, Espen... you're a Photoshop Hunk. XD!

B:

This one looks nice, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed after that RIGHTEOUS ball of cheese.

Reading a comic should be like riding a roller-coaster. You should get yanked right into the action, and when you're not, you should feel like something is going to happen, soon. Too often it's like waiting in the line, and that goes for a lot of comics, unfortunately.

(Of course, here I am saying this, and my own comic isn't exactly snappy...I will have to work on that.)

Edit: I have to admit, using Cliffjumper as a main character could be a stroke of genius that redeems everything. We will see!

looks really good, i can't wait to read it.

goatee FTW

Now THAT is win, and you could make it a running joke to 'splain the Nightbeat screwup.

I don't think it would have lost its punch.... I think it could have just been pushed to new heights of parody and lunacy, which would have been great!

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the real version as well. Dystopian could-have-been stories are fun... and usually the darker the better, in those cases.

I'm glad to hear there may be more of the lighter-toned campy stuff in the future, as well. If L'il Formers and all the TF-based webcomics and Youtube re-dubs have proven anything, it is that the Transformers universe is ripe for parody.

Thanks for posting in direct response to folks!

DON's art is looking great! Beardimus's smirk is awesome. (I dig his dialogue, too.)

However:
We got no time fo' that jibba-jabba, sucka!

Exactly! Ramp up the camp with each successive page -- each one more absurd than the last. Have Mirror-Wheelie show up and kill lots of characters in ridiculous ways.

Then draw the final page in SRS-business DW style with Arcee waking up from a "horrible dream" to find suddenly-alive-again Springer getting out of the shower....

Good to hear! I'll be looking forward to more, wot?

WIN!

That would've been priceless!

-airfox

Considering that Cliffjumper hates traitors the irony of him becoming a traitor to these mirrorverse Autobots would be interesting.

Wonder how he'll interact with Sideswipe.

Lovin the art! I wanna see the real comic now~