Heads up everyone, there is a new Humble Bundle for idw TF comics.

Humble Comics Bundle: Transformers The Final Phase by IDW (pay what you want and help charity)


You can pay $1 and get these 4 volumes


There is also a 25 item bundle and a 53 item bundle for $20.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm knee-deep in this saga of the comics, but I'm missing some gaps. Read Unicron, but missed the lead-up to it—that I think is Dark Cybertron.

 

I need to know what issues are in this offer that weren't in previous Humble Bundles. I've already gotten the previous ones, so have little incentive to get this one unless there's something new I'm just not seeing (the switch from "some individual issues" to "pretty much entirely collections" makes it harder to tell at a glance).

 

Woah this is crazy! I had no idea stuff like this even existed. There's a lot of stuff here I already known or have read. But there's also a bunch of stuff I just never got around to reading as well. I may pull the trigger on this.

 

This may end up being the 3rd time I've bought this on Humble Bundle and I'm okay with that. I do wish they would include the newer stuff though.

 

Beast Wars v1, the Halloween special and the first three volumes of IDW 2019 is the newer stuff.

 

So if I’m understanding this, it includes all of MTMTE/LL, all of RID/OP, and all of Windblade/TAAO plus annuals and specials, but NOT anything from “Phase One” (-ations through the end of the Mike Costa run) or the various crossover books (Ghostbusters/BTTF/vs Joe).

I can’t tell if it includes Unicron or not.

It also includes the first couple TPBs of the current iteration?

 

I didn't see the 2019 stuff. Thanks for the heads up. I'm sold...again.

 

So I'm reading these comics for the first time but have no idea where to start, does anyone have a reading order of these divided into the Trades rather than single issues?

 

It does include Unicron and some of the "omnibus" volumes like the Dinobots one features stuff from Phase 1 / 2 / 3 I believe.

 

The Transformers (IDW Publishing) - Wikipedia

Might help you somewhat.
I've been reading it in the Phase (collected issues) which intermingles issues of various series for a chronological read I believe.

 

I’m the end, it’s going to come down to personal preference l, but I can tell you how it pretty much worked for me.

This is also assuming that you are starting with this bundle, which I would argue is a totally fine point to jump in. If you are familiar with the original TV show, you could more or less pretend this happens after the events of The Transformers: The Movie (Up until a point where you get IDW Unicron, but if you enjoy these books enough to get that far then you will probably decide to go back and read the earlier IDW comics and understand the continuity better).

Anyway, it’s actually not that difficult. Just start with the Robots in Disguise (RID) and More than Meets the Eye (MTMTE) TPBs and see where they take you. If I recall, it’s pretty clear when an event takes place that is a crossover or requires reading another trade. That said, you can pretty much read all of the separate runs up to their conclusion without needing to read the other.

I personally read RID and MTMTE together following the continuity up to the major crossover event (pretty sure this is Dark Cybertron). Regardless of what people like, MTMTE is easily the most well-written fiction the franchise has ever produced (I’m not going to argue that it’s the most well-written “Transformers” fiction because that’s a bit more subjective). At some point you’ll notice that the story weakens (I can’t remember if this starts in MTMTE or Lost Light) which is quite clearly due to editorial and brand pressure. That said, I was able to shrug off the “bad” and transition to Lost Light, which I read straight through.

The RID story is less noteworthy. While the topic is interesting, the political political drama is not compelling. In addition, the same mandates that hamper the MTMTE/Lost Light seemed far more egregious to me in RID (and whatever it became after Dark Cybertron) and it became nearly unreadable to me.

 

I've put together a reading guide for specifically this Humble Bundle, hopefully it's helpful!

Jalaguy's May 2022 Humble Bundle reading guide

 

IDW has to pay *me* to read anything current.

 

Very cool, surprised this isn’t on front page

 

Here, this reader's guide includes both issue and volume titles:
IDW 2005 Transformers Reader's Guide - Google Drive

 

EPUB on macOS and iOS doesn't automatically generate covers, so I've been manually making them. Hope this helps someone.