Grumpy old G1 fan reads IDW - in order!

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by Ryan F, Jan 6, 2016.

  1. Omegashark18

    Omegashark18 Combaticon turned Autobot

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    Admittedly things do start off a little slow, but things do pick up.

    And in regards to Ramondelli, the fan base is rather divided when it comes to his art. Though it seems that opinion also depends on the story he's doing.
     
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  2. Mort

    Mort Apostate

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    Late to reply, but... welcome to James Roberts.
     
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  3. dj_convoy II

    dj_convoy II Remix!

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    Here's a couple choice quotes from Costa about "working" with James:


    “I thought people would like Chaos if only because James Roberts’ name was on it. I thought that would tip it over the top. There was more criticism of that than I expected.”

    “I thought for sure James would give me the cred. Most people on the boards like James, and having him attached to Chaos would at least cause enough “geek-panic” where if they didn’t like it, they’d have to pretend they did anyway. But there was still criticism.”

    He also described (as did Andy Schmidt... without the old IDW boards, it's hard to find this stuff and to find the actual quotes) leaving gaps in the script for James to come in and fill or writing dialogue with no character attached (!!!) and asking James who should be saying it. There's a big info dump in one of the issues of Chaos (don't remember which one) that pissed people off, and he was quick to throw James under the bus for it.
     
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  4. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    ... what in the actual fuck.
     
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  5. dj_convoy II

    dj_convoy II Remix!

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    Oh, there was an interview here at TFW:

    Mike Costa: James brought his incredible understanding of IDW-continuity history to the two issues he wrote solo, delving into the pasts of Prime and Megatron to define their relationship in the present in a way that only he could do. As for his co-plotting with me on the CHAOS storyline, I’d had the basic concept for this story since I wrote issue #1, but James was great at helping me shape it into something even more epic by suggesting certain characters and past-events that I had never even considered. Also, when I finish a script I often leave certain character-names blank and then E-mail it over to James for suggestions. That might not make a whole lot of sense the way I described it, but it all comes together in the finished product and greatly enriches it.
     
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  6. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    As said by Ryan. For Costa, plot drives the story, not the characters. They're literally interchangeable for him. Primus.
     
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  7. Ryan F

    Ryan F Transform and Roll Out!

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    Well, it was you and Stuart keeping on about how good his stuff was that prompted me to read all this in the first place. You're totally to blame for me slogging my way though 'International Incident' - it better be worth it!!!

    Wow!

    It's shocking how dismissive he was of his readers, to think they'd simply judge a book by its credits and not by its actual content. Such a weird attitude.
     
  8. Napalm

    Napalm Drinking About Robots TFW2005 Supporter

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    Good old Costa. Even though it's just this thread keeping his memory alive, the revelations shock like a defibrillator pulling you back from the light.
     
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  9. MatrixOfWumbo

    MatrixOfWumbo I see you

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    Definitely. I like Ramondelli on big epic setpieces like Chaos and the upcoming (similarly divisive) Autocracy, but he's been commissioned for less large scale projects that don't fit his style as much. Check out his cover for the recent anniversary release of the 85 Movie.
     
  10. dj_convoy II

    dj_convoy II Remix!

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    Yeah; it's really quite astonishing. He was obviously way more bothered by all of the negativity toward his run than he let on, but I guess you could say the same about Shane McCarthy before him.
     
  11. dj_convoy II

    dj_convoy II Remix!

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    Yeah; his style was out of place for that. I think I like Livio better than a lot of folks around here... but I still think his panel to panel storytelling is pretty poor. I do like the chunkiness (for lack of a better term) of his style, but it's often impossible to follow what's happening in any given page he draws. It's also jarring when they use him for a few pages in a book with other artists.
     
  12. Bumblemus Prime

    Bumblemus Prime Cracked in the head

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    Costa started to get really sour-grape-y at the end of his run. Remember that quote about how hard it was to write TFs because they didn't do enough human things?
     
  13. Seeaich

    Seeaich Inaction Master

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    At the end of his run? I'm almost certain I remember him stating it was difficult to write Transformers because they weren't human characters but alien robots from the start of his run in introductory interviews because I remember reading that and thinking, "Er, isn't humanising them what you do as a writer, like that is exactly the job. This does not bode well."
     
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  14. xtro guyver

    xtro guyver Member

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    Ah the Costa run I can still remember how shocked I was listening to his interview on the underbase podcast at the time the man really had a hard time grasping why Jame's 2 issues and wreckers were so popular and his stuff was not. As a writer though he was a poor choice for transformers and he did not see them as characters just plot devices which is why you got issues like Prowl in issue 1 having to have a whole spotlight issue made just to justfy Prowls actions as the fandom just went fuck is that how Prowl would act, if he had a decent editor it would not have taken much to change it to someone like ratchet or steetwise who would have been better fit for that scene. Never have I known a writer to unite so much of the fandom in hate and say get him off the book he is not the right fit. Saying that the editor at the time Andy Schmit was not the best when it came to looking after the books, he wrote that god awful contium book which was meant to recap everything before costa's ongoing and it did such an awful job I remember posting one giant post on the IDW boards pointing out all the mistakes there were a lot. Good job we now have the current crop of writers who are doing a fantastic job so far. As for Choas it seems the only bits James had any really control with was the scenes with the guys that escaped Kima as most of them would go on to be cast members for MTMTE

    But soon Ryan you shall be past the costa run and on to RID and MTMTE where the good times return and stay
     
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  15. RNSrobot

    RNSrobot Keeper of the Waspinator Swarm. Blam.

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    While it is old news, the more we recall Costas work and commentary, the more I feel he took the job because he thought it would be "easy money" or something. Some stupid licensed toy ad book that he could sluff off without too much effort, cash some cheques. No passion, no seeming interest in the material, an editor who so didn't seem too give a damn about the material as potentially meaningful or even "good." It's like idw is putting out these stupid robot books because they sell x numbers to the existing fanbase by default, so who cares. They're not *real* comics.

    Maybe tf is just that difficult, that unless you come onboard AS a fan, there's too much, it's too intimidating, or you simply can't care. I dunno. Roberts, Roche, barber, all fans.

    ...
     
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  16. Mort

    Mort Apostate

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    The bottom of the Costa well, for sure. So far we seem to have very similar tastes, so I'm confident. Can't wait to chat at TFNation, finally. You might even be able to attend the panels.
     
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  17. mcluskyism

    mcluskyism Well-Known Member

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    Costa was on a GI Joe book before TFs, the Cobra mini he co-wrote with Gage was very well received, I think it was from that he got the TF gig. I really enjoyed the Cobra run, how much of that was Gage's influence I couldn't say, but Costa did write the first Cobra Special solo and that was decent enough, with a very good use of the medium of comic books.
     
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  18. Bumblemus Prime

    Bumblemus Prime Cracked in the head

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    I can't check my sources without the IDW boards, but as I recall, Andy Schmidt would often go on the boards to explain how "wowed" they were by Costa's initial pitch.

    Aaaaand that's Hollywood thinking for you--it was probably the kind of series that pitched great and had bad execution. "The Transformers are low on power, low on morale, and stuck on Earth. They must make peace with the humans--or the humans, rapidly mastering Cybertronian technology, will destroy them." It's not a bad pitch and I'm sure he made it sound better than I did there.

    Problem is, pitches don't really tell you anything. Good ideas are free. John W. Campbell used to boast about giving the same story idea to Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov and having them all come back with radically different takes. In Hollywood people buy pitches basically as marketing tools and assign reliable writers to them; in book publishing the pitch matters very little as your agent and editor have to read the entire book for it to get bought. Comics seem to exist in a weird middle ground where editors take chances on new writers via pitch & a few samples. In Costa's case, it clearly backfired.
     
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  19. xtro guyver

    xtro guyver Member

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    The only ever good descion Schmidt ever did was hand the reins over to John Barber. Andy seemed very surprised by Wreckers success, I remember Nick had to fight to get impactor into the story and to keep his orginal colour scheme. After Wreckers the fandom was going give Nick and James more to do. Heck I can remember Andy on the IDW boards asking if Megatron Origins should be ejected from continuity or not, and the majority of fans were like wtf keep it is wasn't brilliant but as James proved with Chaos theory there was plenty in that era to mine for good stories. As for reactions to the ongoing the fandom started to really moan once international incedent hit, where Guido had started doing the artwork using don's designs in his style and was then told half way through to scrape it and redraw it all in g1 toon designs god knows why as after the inconsistent designs I and many others tried to explain to Andy we don't mind different art styles but tf body designs should be consistant between artists

    On the movie side of comics John Barber had managed in about 3 mini series to fix all the continuty issues between the comics and movies while giving us an enteraining story, thankfully given the writing mess the movies are IDW have stoped doing movie tie ins.
     
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  20. UltraMagnus3786

    UltraMagnus3786 That's what it is

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    Couldn't resist emphasizing to unlock a pun.
     
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