The quote is from my favorite issues of IDW1 hands down: Spotlight: Hoist.



I /loved/ this book because it was so self aware. Hoist was the ultimate straight man. He also lampshaded my exact issues with later MTMT/LL:



That's what I'd love to see more of though. It's funny. It's also sharp and poignant. It's Hoist defining himself apart from whatever silliness Swerve is spouting at that time. In other words, it's great, and showcases that Roberts CAN actually head in a direction that allows him to clearly define a character.

This book showcases the kind of humor I'd love to see in the current book, basically.

 

Without a doubt, worst TF comics ever.

 

That's the one ProtectronPrime. Love it! Thank you.

 

I don't know if it's ever been proven, but I've long suspected that humor is really what endears us to a person, place, or thing. I mean yes, life is full of awesome, breathtaking, or otherwise poignant moments. But really, think about this... your favorite books, movies, comics, what have you... Often some of the first things you recall when you think about them is what made you smile or laugh about it. Since this *IS* entertainment we're talking about.. one of the chief ways we understand ourselves as having a good time is smiling and laughing. You make it ten times harder on yourself to earn your audience's love when there's no emotional rollercoaster. As a writer, you have to make them FEEL something. Telling a story is simply not enough.

You can have an interesting plot, well-written characters, new ideas, inspired scenes of awesomeness... but it all falls flat if there's nothing to let them know that they're having a good time. It loosens them up, invites them to become invested. Mixing in some tragedy or gravitas as a counterbalance is usually a good idea...But heavy-handed storytelling doesn't usually do as good. Especially in a series that has shown it normally isn't shy about cracking jokes. Your suddenly serious epic masterpiece is dullsville, man. There's no feels. No matter what you throw at them, they won't respond. You'll be the bard up on a stage teling his lame ass story, watching his audience slowly walk away, and you'll be throwing increasing far fetched and ridiculous spins to try and make them stay and pay attention. But they won't. They'll walk away and you'll be forgotten.

 

I still haven’t laughed or even smiled at a new Transformers comic since Lost Light ended.

Ruckley appears to be under the impression that everything has to be super serious all the time, and nobody is allowed to have a sense of humour.

 

The better question is: does IDW belong in transformers?  

 

For sure. In fact, I tend to not enjoy Transformers when it lacks humor or takes itself to seriously. IMO you can't really make a story about giant robots that lacks levity, even if the story does lean towards being more serious.

 

As long as it is not overdone and cliched, why not?

 

War stories also tend to be benefit from some kind of levity. In real life, humor helps in the face of adversity and in stories, it helps keep the reader from disengaging. If everything is too dark, they can't find something to care about because they know there's no point in trying.

 

Unless you're Warhammer 40k, where the grimdark is so over the top ridiculous that it's borderline self parody.

 

Does that make it grimlight?

 

"Grimdork" has my vote.  

(I'm not a hardcore fan, but I enjoy reading about 40k, so don't hurt me 40k enthusiasts.)

 

"Bold words, Overlord. But you reckoned without one thing...

...Wreckers, COMBINE!"

*Silent panel*

"Well, I thought it was funny."

Just in case you weren't being sarcastic, there's more. That's just my favorite.

 

You know I wasn’t being sarcastic and I’ll admit that line was funny. But the humor was kinda ruined for me as soon as he got shot in the head.

 

The joke provided contrast so that moment was more shocking than it would have been otherwise. A lot of things that aren't thought of as funny still have humor to break tension or to put more serious things into sharper focus.

 

The emotional whiplash was the whole point of that scene. It’s what Roberts and Roche does best - going from jolly lightheartedness straight into cruel distressing darkness, and even vice versa. The humour is suppose to be ruined - in a “that was quite amusing/endearing... WTF they’re dead now!” or “don’t go making jokes after such a brutal murderous scene, I haven’t recovered yet!” way; that’s the tone they were going for. It’s what makes Roberts and Roche’s books stand out from all other Transformers.

 

Let's think about acclaimed serial stories in other media and ask if there's a place for humor in them.

Was Game of Thrones a serious story?

Okay, now... did it have funny moments?

Did those funny moments help make the show what it is?

How about The Wire?

I rest my case.

 

I think humour can have a place in almost any story as long as the style and tone of the humour is appropriate and it serves a purpose and is believeable in terms of the characters providing the humour.

The Rotorstorm example is excellent. Had that line come from Perceptor, Pyro, Ironfist or Top-Spin, it would have taken me out of the moment, but it seemed to fit Rotorstorm, who had previously shown his "show off/insecurities" while piloting the drop-pods.

I mentioned being fed-up with the current books earlier and it's primarily because absolutely nobody has a fun side to their personality (although Cyclonus was interesting and then forgotten about). They just explain a very slow-moving plot and introduce the latest toys to each other (i do have a certain degree of sympathy with the writer on that point, if he is being editorially mandated on which toys, sorry characters to use).

Whilst MTMTE/LL is my fave transformers fiction ever (Marvel UK second) I did think it suffered when too many "quippy" characters were on-panel.

I had no problem with Ratchet being funny in a sarcastic way, Magnus in a pompous way, Tailgate in a naive way and Brainstorm in a delightfully amoral way because the characters had other facets to them. In the LL series, especially when combinations of Anode, Swerve, Nickel and Misfire all had panel time together it felt like possibly too much straightforward "banter" (God I hate that term) on occasion.

Another fave story of mine was Shadowplay, where the A-plot was a serious heist, but the framework for recounting the heist allowed us to build the characters through use of humour (Drift and Ratchet bickering, Tailgate's naivete etc) and it felt like... well a group of friends telling a story.

TLDR - I miss humour in my stories. Id settle for Optimus saying boobies these days.

 

You know, it's interesting that we sit and consider whether humor is needed for a "serious" series. Especially after the success of modern action films, I think there's this need some shows have to mix in goofy moments in with the action/drama. However, there's generally no concern as to whether serious moments are needed for comedy serials. Comedy shows can be silly and nonsensical ad infinitum without question.

In my opinion, serial dramas can have lighthearted moments without having to be "funny" in order to break up what would otherwise be dreary, soul crushing drama. The caveat, however, is that there needs to be enough there in order to hold interest without needing the break that actual humor provides. While comics owe a lot to cinematography, they're also books and there are more than a few dramatic, serious books/novels that perpetuate without having to drop jokes. I think what it boils down to is that the more fantastic the thing we're being asked to deal with, the more likely it is we're going to see some funny moments to help resolve things. Funny makes things, even uncomfortable or alien situations, relateable. This is especially true when the stories are character driven as opposed to plot driven.

This is probably why most hardcore dramas focus entirely on the human element, and are set in times that are either unerringly contemporary, or in some other time period of human history that's even more repressed than it is now. We don't have to be convinced to relate - we already do because they're people that we know (or maybe happen to be). The second we move to address more and more elements that people don't deal with every day, the easiest way to ground an audience is through humor. That's why the Tudors is a terribly serious drama, versus GoT which features Tyrion the drunk-ass dwarf snarking his way through war, several murders, a crazed pubescent despot and so forth.

There is of course the potential for humor to be overused and thus turn into a crutch. For example, the first season of the Orville leaned hard into the funny. In my opinion, it actually got better the second it STOPPED trying to hard to make me laugh. In contrast, however, the new Star Trek tries to include funny and... well, it doesn't do as well delivering it in my opinion. This is also likely why the OG predecessor, the original Star Trek, gets away with very little humor at all - it focuses on thought experiments. In other words, ST:ToS had enough engaging material to entertain us without having to make us laugh.

I think there's a place for humor in Transformers because of how ridiculous the ask is of the reader - we're usually reading about quasi-mystical transforming space robots. It's a hard sell if nothing is done to take the edge off that with a few laughs. However, it can definitely be retold in a far more serious manner. Whether or not that would fly relies almost entirely on the skill of the author, however.

 

First thought coming to mind with that one is from Infiltration when Bumblebee is trying to help Rachet, who describes his condition laying in the mud with Blitzwing's track marks across his body as "A bit run down." That is the kind of humor I like. Or watching the Pretender fend off a predatory female while attempting to explain lack of gender. THAT was funny.