Nick Roche has done some great TF art and I'm going to disagree that Spotlight: Kup is any different. I'll admit I thought it looked weird and off-putting when I saw it as I flipped through the trade, but once I read it I absolutely loved it in retrospect. The whole look is completely justified by the story, and it switches to a more conventional style when the scenes are situated on the rescue ship.

I believe there is another panel taking place later today with more of the IDW team including Barber & Griffith (RID) and Scott & Stone (Windblade).

 

I'm waiting patiently for them to swing around to the DJD since hearing Megatron switched sides. That'll be juicy.

That's like having the Emperor decide to drop this conquering the galaxy stuff to spend his days petting kittens.

 

Do they ever discuss how they get on with Hasbro or is it Hasbro that does that ?

 

I'm pretty sure they have discussed it in the past. Hasbro does interfere sometimes, but not always.

At least Roberts said Hasbro was alright with them doing the Rewind/Chromedome story. In the Last Stand of the Wreckers hardback, there are some commentary pages that mention that Hasbro nixed them killing off one of the "big three" (They planned to kill all three (Springer, Perceptor, Kup). One was saved by editorial, one by Hasbro, and the writers chickened out on the third.) I don't remember who said it but they also revealed that Hasbro was OK with them killing off Bumblebee and making Megatron an Autobot.

 

Thanks that was very interesting.

I was actually thinking about things like comic covers and art and such - but yes that sort of general interaction stuff is very interesting too... I'd also be curious how things like Rhinox, Rattrap,Tankor come about does Hasbro say we are going to make X - please write them into the comic - or does someone at IDW think - We need Rattrap or whomsoever - and then Hasbro thinks.. oh that is an excuse to make Rattrap... or is it unrelated to that and it's Takara who wanted some of them ?

That sort of thing fascinates me.

 

No Unicron planned? Good thing I got Andrew Griffith to draw this for me last time he was in New York.

 

I imagine that anything regarding the working relationship with Hasbro will always be coloured by the rather one-sided power dynamic... you don't bite the hand that feeds you. There is something always ingratiatingly cheerful about the tone of IDW staff when this question comes up (or so it seems). The comics people will always say "oh, Hasbro has been an absolute delight to work with, and have never really stifled our creative impulses one bit!" ... at least until those people leave the fold, and feel more free to be candid.  

First off... that's not what humanism means.  

Secondly, I think I know what you mean by excessive "human" qualities in the writing... it's a tricky balance, and it doesn't always feel right. However, I think some of that is just using the concept of "translation" freely enough to write unfettered dialogue. When a Roberts TF says "what the hell?", my first response is that it sounds too much like an English exclamation... but then I remind myself that everything we're reading is being experienced through the lens of translation from an alien machine language, one that would have its own expressions and idioms... so what we're getting is just a rough approximation, conveniently converted into our own vernacular.

That said, a writer still has to be wary of distracting his audience from the content and the desired effects.. I think Roberts could stand to be cautious just the same, because sometimes there is something TOO casual and familiar about the use of vernacular in his dialogue. Still, this is a minor, minor issue.

Speaking of Furman, I would say that while both Furman and Roberts are extremely wordy, there is a definite difference in tone between their writing styles. Furman tends to use turgid, heavy prose that is almost identical between characters. Most characters in Furman's stuff simply become mouthpieces for the plot. Roberts, by contrast, has a much snappier, quirkier delivery and focus. The characters are verbose, sure... but they seem less like bored lecture professors or stiff, hammy stage actors than Furman does.

I think this is because Furman is the product of a different generation (perhaps a more literary generation) of comics. You don't have to look far into 70s comics to see the sources for his melodramatic, overwrought prose. Stagey, adjective-laden, narrational, impossibly formal and sensational... I think that's the classic Mighty Marvel writing style right there. For his part, Roberts is more banter-driven, more "televisual"... someone who grew up on Star Trek TNG, Doctor Who, Giffen & DeMatteis JLI, Joss Whedon, etc...

It's not truly naturalistic dialogue... but then, naturalistic dialogue isn't much fun to read. That's why we demand a bit of zip... because the characters we follow every month SHOULD express themselves in more entertaining ways than two random people on the street, dig? This is something that has been understood in theater, in literature, in Hollywood... for a looooooong time.

Bendis on the other hand, is another kind of problem. His stuff has a "naturalistic" quality... with all the pauses, half-sentences, hesitations, repetitions that natural conversation can have... but it's become too stylized and uniform across all of his writing, and become tedious as a result.

I disagree. Comics are visual and text-based. It is a marriage of these aspects, not hierarchical (Larry Hama would wince at this). Good writing supports the art. Good art supports the writing. Bad work detracts either way. I will say this... maybe when I was a teenager, I would buy comics JUST for the art. I don't do that anymore, because what anchors them emotionally, psychologically, experiencially... is the writing. Without Roberts doing his thing, Milne would just be pretty pictures. I think those guys have a fantastic synergy going, but if they went their own ways, I'd follow Roberts.

Stop demonstrating your lack of artistic evaluation credibility... it doesn't help your case much. It irks me when people identify art they "don't like" as "really bad" because it comes off as very ignorant. There are many artists I dislike, but I can usually articulate what I dislike about them, and balance that with an objective assessment of the work.

Nick Roche has his foibles to be sure, but the guy can draw... I actually like the art in Spotlight Kup better than much of Roche's subsequent work, and certainly more than Don Figueroa's rigid, monumental, awkward pin-up art. Don can draw detailed TFs till the cows come home, but the guy was never able to create any kind of panel-to-panel flow, and his compositions were always incredibly static.

MTMTE you mean?

Then you're not paying attention. MTMTE is a steady drive of darkness, ambiguity and harshness, with a veneer of humour spread on top. It is not a "humour" book (in the sense you imply) in any way. Some people seem to have difficulty in understanding these tonal shifts, but you should have noticed by now that most commentators address the way that Roberts can deliver a seemingly light, fun atmosphere, just before plunging characters (and readers) into trauma and tragedy. Whenever things are happy, any regular reader carries with them the dread that something horrible must be right around the corner.

The fact is that humour is a device that makes the characters approachable and likeable... three-dimensional even... which makes their torment all the more hard-hitting when things turn bad. What nails all this down is an undercurrent of strong characterization and genuine emotion. Sometimes the preoccupation with banter can go a bit too far... I agree there... but by and large, Roberts maintains a good balance. As always, I'll drop the usual references to 1980s Justice League International and Joss Whedon right here... along with a nod to the sardonic tendencies of British sci-fi.

That's a laugh. I think you'll find that the Transformers comic-buying public is much smaller than you think. These comics have never been better written. If you want to creep back to the mediocrity of a Saturday morning action toy-commercial cartoon aesthetic... or the brash, exultantly idiotic feeling of a Bayformers movie on the page, I'm sure you'll find that you'll be keeping much poorer company in the comics forums.  

Without more specific examples, I think it's hard to pick out why you're complaining about things that many (most?) of us actually think are exceptionally well-done. If you're mostly referring to MTMTE, I think you're way off base, and are looking for excuses to supplement your extremely personal, subjective distaste for the tone of the series.

As for the "colour balance", you may find that has changed since Josh Burcham has left the book. His hazy, golden sense of lighting was incredibly distinct... I never realized how much I had come to love it until MTMTE got a new colourist... who is entirely competent but far more conventional in approach.

Hahaha! You hipster! Oh, it's popular and generally agreed upon to be good, but my tastes are far more refined than that, so I shall swear never to partake! Instead I shall only look contemptuously on at things that I am sure (without actually experiencing) are beneath me!  

Hilarious. We're going through a veritable renaissance of good television at the moment, with stronger ongoing narratives, higher budgets, shorter arcs, less episodic filler, and critical acclaim across the board... which is why you will relegate it to "trendy box-sets" and never look at it? Wow. You need to get out more, metaphorically and culturally speaking.  

For your sake, I hope you step off your mountaintop long enough to actually experience some of the good stuff going on. There are far more rewarding things to be doing with your time than prowling toy robot fan forums.  

(*says this guy who spends too much of his time prowling toy robot fan forums   )

zmog

 

Bra-VO *slow clap*

 

I wish I could be at BotCon just so I could tell James Roberts what a GREAT book he's making. There are classics where you just KNOW you'll be revisiting time and time again for the rest of your life. Watchmen. Batman: Year One. Batman: The Long Halloween. X-Men: Days of Future Past. All-Star Superman. And now, Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye.

 

Awwww shit that ended up as the thumbnail!

 

*Applause*

Thank you.

 

Thanks I know what Humanism means I just choose to invent another meaning for it in this case as it's a useful short cut that I hope is understood in this context.

If someone can suggest a better word to use to describe the process of sounding, acting or speaking like a Human (when in relation to Aliens acting in said way) I'm all for an offered alternative.

All I am refering to is if a Transformer used a term like "That's a case of the bot calling the kettle black" or "That's like taking coals to newcastle" those would be terms they'd not be exposed to and wouldn't be culturally appropriate.

Some terms they can likely get away with like "Revenge is a dish best served cold". I'm not against a Character acting like a human as they make a concious choice to soak up the culture - one of the reasons Mudflap and Skids never offended me (as that might explain their behaviour). Likewise Jazz totally makes sense of even Trailbreaker or Hound liking earth or even Beachcombers environmentalism - heck it's even compatible with many principles of Science Fiction.

But as I said before I have issues with Furman's dialogue not scanning sometimes, and not making sense comming out of the characters who say it - it's not that one can't impersonate the voice saying those things - it's if those things make sense coming out of the mouth of an Alien robot in the 1st place. It does not just have to be what they say though it can be what they do too - can be to human specific (Like if a Transformer suddenly was seen on a skateboard playing with Yo Yo while wearing a baseball cap - I would raise a large and busy eyebrow at that too.

I just feel it's something to bare in mind - just as using a excess of Computer terms is.

 

I'll admit, Swerve's use use of "pot, kettle" in his recap page caught me off guard for a second, but – at least as far as speech patterns go, it's worth remembering the dialogue is for all intents and purposes translated from Cybertronian to English or whichever language it's being published in.

Pot, kettle, black is an idiom that probably has equivalents in every language, so we're just getting the translation from Cybertronian.

But like you say using too many computer or robotic-based terms can be just as distracting as making things too overtly human, as opposed to just humanising them so they're a bit more relatable as characters.
Same with stuff like units of time or units of length, there's a fine balance between alien-but-relatable and taking you out of the story because what the fuck is 7 Breems and 13 Kliks and why am I having to stop reading to figure it out?

 

James Roberts is a great guy. I got to chat with him at the Sheraton hotel after I nerfed Lady Wreck