Good news for you then: the artist of the retailer incentive cover is EJ Su, who you might remember from a whole bunch of TF books, including IDW's original "Infiltration" mini-series way back in the day. If his work looks different here, it might be because he did his own colors on this.

 

I have that one! I forget what it's called.

 

I saw what looked like WFC Shockwave and that peaked my interest... then I read the name Ruckley, and completely lost all interest.

LOL how tiny is Kup there? And I guess nobody told Skywarp he was supposed to dress as Scourge (or Cyclonus' Armada) that day.  
Are these books available scanned someplace, btw? I have a few like Wheelie's story and the hilarious one with Megatron shooting at Bumblebee while driving a big black limo, but not this one.

Yeah, I was like "War's End"? But it took Ruckley like 2 years to even start the war!
I'd like to see some statistics of how many issues his ongoing comic sells for, digital and physical. Having gotten some Hatchette's The Definitive G1 Collection comics, I have been re-reading those, and there are some interesting statistics in there that even at the end of the Marvel run, they sold like 100.000 copies of an issue. I bet that's not the case with IDW's anymore... or even most DC or Marvel comics. They should really check the numbers and make decisions based on that, not which boss' favourite or best friend some writers or artists are (I am convinced this must be the only reason why Livio Ramondelli is getting work anywhere in the comics industry).

 

“Wars End”

*Starts at the beginning of a war.

???

 

E.J. Su? Yesss!!!

 

Car Show Blow Up - Transformers Wiki

 

I may be the only one interested in this. Could be very interesting. I love all the negativity about a title that hasn't come out yet. Typical. Ruckley is capable of writing a good story, see the recent annual with milne as proof he can write an engaging story.

Let's give it a chance. It could be good

 

I bailed on IDW2 after the first 12 issues. I have, however, been thoroughly enjoying the new Wreckers book. Fortunately I don’t need to know what’s going on in the main book to understand. The main book was just too slow for me and didn’t grab my attention. I wish the Wreckers book was an ongoing (with same writer and artist).

 

Wars End could refer to the resolution of the Exarchon problem, the true fall of Cybertron/Exodus, or both.

 

I own this book, read it to my son every few months. If I remember right, the written words in the book actually have Starscream instead of Skywarp, so its even more out of line, haha. And it has Ultra Magnus as the Autobot leader, but Galvatron as Decepticon leader. This is definitely a different continuity.

The artwork in all these books is great! A lot of it shows alternate early ideas. They still have black helmet Megatron and Optimus Prime with lips. The characterizations hold mostly consistent, though.

I think this Threefold Spark/Exarchon problem that's building to will supersede the war. Like the Autobots and Decepticons will have a cease-fire to team up to fight this larger threat, temporarily 'ending' the war. Or something like that.

I, for one, have really liked IDW's new continuity. Not even half as much as MTMTE/Lost Light, but more than the early IDW1 continuity. It did start really slow, and still is a bit sometimes. It's gotten way better about this since issue 25, but it's still juggling too many plotlines. It does feel like you don't get far enough into the story in each issue, because of how many different plot threads are being managed at the same time. But overall, I do like it. The Exarchon stuff is entirely new, and it seems they're going to explore it now. They've hinted at some multiverse/time travel stuff coming. And personally, I'm really interested to see where the Sunstorm subplot is going; it seems to be inspired by the Dreamwave arc, which is one of my favorites in all TF media.

Shattered Glass is just plain good. I expected to think it was ok (I never particularly liked the Shattered Glass idea), and was really buying it because I thought the G1 Marvel homage covers were awesome. But, its been absolutely fantastic. The tight narrative really helps. Conversely, I highly anticipated Tread and Circuits, and issue 1 wasn't as great as I'd been hoping. I'm hopeful that the next few issues will bring this back around.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. The solicits even specifically mention that this is more about restarting/finishing the Threefold Spark war than a wholly-new war.

I fully expect the arc after this to basically be something like "one war ends and another begins". Although it would be pretty amazing in a way if the book decided to actually end the war after this arc (either have it be a short war, or do a timeskip) and then move straight on to post-war.

 

My guess is this will be the true end of the War of the Threefold Spark, and that the Bots and Cons will team up to end Exarchon. After all, many of them were fighting together against Exarchon in the first place. My guess is that Skywarp will play a pivotal role. Not sure what's up with Shockwave's new look though. (It DOES bring it in line with the bad future we saw from Jumpstream, but I'm just wondering why he's in a new body? Does he get jacked up somewhere along the way? If so, it must be pretty soon)

 

I agree that some people may not like the IDW2 comics but you may not have read the IDW2 comics, as the actual IDW2 origin of Decepticons is not equal to that origin and the origin of IDW1 at all, and too is not equal the origin of Autobots in IDW1 and IDW2. The origins is completely different from the IDW1 comics that Prime and Cyberverse were based on. It's the first time in over 10 years that we've had a completely different origin for Decepticons and the war.

 

I’m a diehard fan and can find something to enjoy in even the weakest Transformers fiction, but even I gave up on Ruckley. His writing is boring, his characters and dialogue are weak, and the story has meandered for two years.

IDW’s other Transformers books are honestly great right now. But Ruckley’s stuff is… not.

 

It didn't begin amazingly Eva and fact I would say the series finally got its legs when the characters return to Cybertron.

 

I feel that Ruckley is getting a bum deal.

Yes he started slow, killed

Spoiler

Brainstorm

in the first issue threw in two annoying new characters.... Buuuuuuutttt.... He's structured a good story built a new world and continuity and has shown that he's a bit of a fan by including a whole swath of under used characters, even if its only with a line here or there.

It was especially noticeable upon reading the spin-off series he wrote and how the tales intertwine.

If the artwork was passable at the beginning I feel that a lot of the angst would have been mitigated and more people would be on board.

Seriously though guys, Give me more Flywheels (skytread), Sureshot, Backstreet and Micromasters as regular sized transformers like the Battle Patrol Team, Mudslinger, Roughstuff... it's awesome.

 

Anybody else hoping the resurrect IDW \'05?
At least give us a 10 issue mini series madeto tie up loose ends. I want my Grimlock & Swoopreunion, damnit! 

 

My LCS went from ordering 20 copies per book during the MTMTE/LL and RID/OP era (15 for reservists and 5 shelf copies) to 3 copies (3 for reservists and 0 shelf copies) for this new continuity

 

Hmm. I don't have firm numbers on what the 3 local comic shops I frequent in Dayton are doing, but I know that there were about 5 shelf copies in each store, and if I couldn't get there within the first week of release, it was usually sold out and I'd have to go to eBay to find them. Until I got busy at work and couldn't always make it to the store on time, I'd assumed this was a lower selling title, and figured it'd be no problem to pick it up later, and I was quite wrong. I've since gone with a subscription through Atomic Age so I never have to worry about either.

I'm sure they've dropped off since the MTMTE era, for sure though. How could they not? That is the golden age of TF comics (or TF media in general), and will likely remain so. It was just a perfect storm of artists, writing, and era that added up to such a great comic. Especially the writing, it was wildly original with plots and more importantly characterizations.

I am still enjoying this new continuity, though, and am hoping it will get better at the same time. They're clearly doing all kinds of world-building, which is kind of necessary in a new continuity and a property with a cast as large as TFs. Now, they just need to make a few tighter narratives and focus on some characters we can follow for awhile. I'm a big fan of the MTMTE style, take what is essentially the 'B' team characters and split them off so you can do more original stories.

 

Wait, they made all the Micromasters full size Transformers? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of them? Unless they plan on downsizing them at some point…