I was a kid when TFs came along (still have my G1 Megatron sitting on my shelf!) and grew up with them being a huge part of my childhood. I loved the toys, loved the cartoon, but most of all I loved the Marvel comics (especially Marvel UK, since I'm an Aussie we got them here, mostly). I drifted away from TFs and certainly haven't collected toys since I was a kid. The Bayverse movies didn't appeal to me at *all*, though I did force myself to try Animated and ended up absolutely loving it! I was overjoyed to see Dreamwave's first issues many years ago, but found them nothing like the comics I remembered, so I stopped buying them after a few issues. I was always tempted to buy a few modern TF figures, but it wasn't until Siege that I was convinced. I *love* those (and Earthrise) and have been buying TF toys for the first time since I was a kid thanks to them! I've heard great things about the IDW comics, at least the "v1" run (that ended a year or so ago). I've heard it's uneven, but that the highs are really high. As a test, I tried reading Last Stand of the Wreckers and was *blown away* by it. This was the TF stories I remembered from the Marvel UK days! I immediately grabbed the first IDW issues figuring I'd start from the start... and... they're kind of "meh", IMO. Furman, *my main main Simon "Give 'em a case of indigestion" Furman!* is writing but it doesn't feel like him. I "know" that it takes awhile for the IDW run to find its footing, and that what the "best" runs are are contested, and I'd honestly rather wade through the whole thing than pick and choose... I guess what I want to know is, IS IT WORTH IT? Should I try again? I'll stress again that I *loved* Last Stand. Loved it. I was one of the people who signed the petition for Regeneration One and I *hated* that. Felt betrayed, to be honest, that it ignored the UK stuff. Will I enjoy IDW on the whole if I wade back in? And is anyone here interested in a "virgin" giving feedback on the various issues or stories as I read them if I do dive back in?
Some of the early IDW stuff is rough but interesting in how it handles a lot of characters and things, and then it kinda gets undone by All Hail Megatron which is pretty trash for how simplistic and edgy it is. Some people do like it though. All three Wreckers series are pretty universally loved so if you liked Last Stand you'll probably like the other two. MTMTE is pretty polarizing, IMO the first 20 or so issues are good and then things fall off rapidly as the stories get more ridiculous and the characters get too "funny" and start sounding the same all the time. RID is a pretty good series as is the Optimus Prime follow up. But then you get a lot of trash mixed in towards the end of the continuity. IMO, simply put IDW is like this: before All Hail Megatron, you will either love or hate it, after AHM will be a mixed bag no matter what.
As pointed out, you basically have four major era's: 1) The Furman run, also known as the -ations. This is a new approach to how TF's came on Earth and to their war as a whole. It is, however, mostly a slow paced story. It takes some time before things really happen and explode, but its strength lies in world building. The end, sadly, is rushed because IDW basically cancelled his run in order to get more new readers. 2) All Hail Megatron by McCarty. There are defenders, but if you like the -ations era, you'll dislike this part. Most of what Furman was building is either torn down or outright ignored -- until they rewrote the second half to get some nods to Furman's run. It's very much a Cartoon based story with those characters and some the writer likely had as a kid. It's a much simpler story and you can see it was intended as a six parter alternate universe story, since it drags on throughout most of the story (and speeds up incredibly at the end). On the plus side, the coda gives us a very good Prowl and during the run we see the first inkling of a different reason why Megatron started the Decepticons (the Communism based covers are a hint). 3) Ongoing by Mike Costa. I blame the editor, Andy Schmidt, who was self admitted bad at continuity and who hired a writer who didn't know anything about TF's. And thus you have some decent to good story ideas that don't fit with the established characters and a continuity that's shaky at best. (You also get a complete reversal of the AHM scenario and it again doesn't fit with what was established.) The series also really needed a good edit, because some stories drag on, while about halfway (# 13 I think) we get an info dump about things that also happened during the previous arc and really should've been told alongside it. The two highlights were written by Roberts. 4) MTMTE and RiD. Two completely different beasts. One story, RiD, is very political based with the rebuilding of Cybertron and Autobots and Decepticons having to learn to live together in peace time. IO thought this started out great, but ran out of steam pretty quick. MTMTE is basically wacky adventures by a group of Autobots (that have little in common) travelling through space. The strength of the latter is mostly in the characterisations and the dialogue. Storywise, it seems to go wherever it wants. Only in the end does everything (sort of) tie together. With these I loved RiD in the start and was so-so about MTMTE, but in the end MTMTE was a blast to read. As a fellow Marvel fan (who saw the cartoon but kept coming to Marvel), I'd definitely say give it a try. I really had to get into the ation series when it was released, but that was mostly because it was so different and I had to wait a month between issues. As a one-go reading, I found it much better. That's also true of AHM, but in general I would say: skip AHM since you're not really missing out. Of the Ongoing/Transformers I would also skip most. Maybe the opening five issues or just starting from issue 13. And then definitely read MTMTE written by Roberts (a fan of the UK comics and the writer of Eugenesis, a novel that takes place after the UK run) and possibly the start of RID. But definitely read MTMTE.
If you don’t read transformers more than meets the eye-lost light you are missing one of the greatest comic of all time.
Have to add, since making my post I went back and read up until AHM and everything was stellar. -ations is awesome.
The Furman stuff is very good apart from the soulless, empty Stormbringer which spat in the face of Marvel Thunderwing, turning him from a likeable, interesting villain into a soulless monster. They also tarnish Scorponok. Not the conflicted anti hero of Marvel just a one dimensional villain. Anything written by James Roberts or Nick Roche is great. Anything written by John Barber will just disappoint you. He's as fond of humans as Bay was. Mike Costa did a great job in his portrayal of Thundercracker, Swindle, Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus. John Barber undid his good work with Thundercracker.
