Hi guys not been on here in a while but here I am... lol. Anyways, recently I got into reading the IDW transformers books. I REALLY enjoyed infultration and storm bringer. Unfortunatly I am unable to locate the next part; Escalation. I looked in my local comic book stores (I live in the UK) forbidden planet (both online stores) play, amazon etc etc. So I have had a good look for it. Does anyone know where I can buy this NEW? Hope it's not put of print! Forbidden planet (the .com ove) says they can order it in 21 days but I want it sooner heh... Don't want to import it either so if anyone can help me that would be great. It is weird how easy it is to get the first 2 parts, and the last part....but the 3rd part is near on impossible to get a hold of. Quick question about the spotlight ones, are they stand alone or do they fit within this comic seriese, or another comic seriese? Also read war within re-issue omnibus edition, and found it lacking :-/ awsome art though, but not that good of a story. Got the eastwars omnibus though, and that ones great. Lastly, anyone got any recomendations on what to read next? Thanks!
I had the same problem. I eventually got it on Amazon through a third party. There are normally some mint individual editions on eBay. As for the Spotlights, they are in the same continuity as the rest of the IDW G1 stuff and add to the back story. Some characters see their introductions in the Spotlights.
Dude I live in the UK too and got mine from Amazon.co.uk, I just had to wait until its was available via the traders. It was a pain getting the -tion series for I and its damn near impossible for me to find Spotlight Volume 2 & 3. Hope you find it soon though Some of the spotlights feature standalone stories but mean more and are supposed to be read in conjuction with the main series.
I'm in the UK, and got mine from Amazon but that was a while ago. If you ever go to them, I always see copies of "Escalation" at Memorabilia, collectormania, London Film & Comic Con etc etc. Normally for around the £8-10 mark. As for what to read next - I am assuming you've read the original Marvel stuff, as most of it is superior to what's being produced now (esp. story-wise). The Spotlights do fit into the "-ation" story arc, so definitely get them. They're pretty good reads as well!
I might just order it from forbidden planet, will take 21 days though heh. So after these five g1 books in this seriese, does 'all hail megatron' follow on from the revelations one?
Most Spotlights (usually ones by Furman) are directly connected with the main storyline, but a handful were stand alone. Here's the timeline of IDW comic books (though you should probably read them in order published): Spotlight: Shockwave Spotlight: Soundwave Spotlight: Ultra Magnus Spotlight: Sixshot Spotlight: Hot Rod Infiltration 1-4 Stormbringer 1-4 Spotlight: Nightbeat Infiltration 5-6 Spotlight: Kup Escalation 1-6 Spotlight: Ramjet Spotlight: Optimus Prime Spotlight: Galvatron Spotlight: Blaster Spotlight: Arcee Devastation 1-6 Spotlight: Grimlock Revelations 1-4 (Spotlight: Cyclonus, Spotlight: Hardhead, Spotlight: Doubledealer, Spotlight: Sideswipe) Maximum Dinobots 1-5 Spotlight: Wheelie I would seriously suggest you STAY THE HELL AWAY from the Marvel/IDW Transformers New Avengers cross over comic. It's set in IDW's continuity during Escalation, but it's really, really awful. The Megatron: Origin series was also released by IDW and was supposedly set in the same continuity as Furman's stuff, but in reality, it was a *barely* reworked version of an unpublished storyline for Dreamwave's Generation 1 comics. As such, characters in this story behave like their cartoon versions rather than how they did in Infiltration (Megatron is a raving madman rather than a measured, intelligent commander). In my opinion, not really, no. Some background: IDW was unhappy with the sales of Furman's storyline (Infiltration > Stormbringer > Escalation > Devastation ect) and decided to rework an alternate-universe storyline Shane McCarthy was working on called All Hail Megatron and make it a part of the regular continuity. As such, they had Furman's Revelations storyline cut from a six-issue series into four Spotlights, and cancelled Expansion, which would have followed Revelations. Furman had to CRAM in what remained of his storyline into Revelations, and also had to drop a bunch of stuff. As I understand, Maximum Dinobots was also modified to lead into the events of All Hail Megatron.
That's what I meant by reworking. As I recall originally AHM would not have used any plot threads from Simon Furman's storyline, that's why AHM goes for 4 or 5 issues with only single-line dialogue references to past events before McCarthy suddenly starts putting in large "-tion"-era plots mentions in later issues. I'm still not happy with how the Sunstreaker/Hunter O'Nion plotline turned out in AHM. Sunstreaker is something of a sociopath, but he's an Autobot for a reason.
They have the Escalation TPB available at Amazon.com currently. I've ordered stuff from Amazon.uk before (I'm in Canada)... no fuss and the shipping was quick. You might be able to try ordering it from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca... not sure what the shipping expenses would be, but I found that they weren't prohibitive coming from the UK. I've recently been re-reading INFILTRATION and I'm being reminded how good it was. I will warn you however that DEVASTATION does NOT bring the many storylines... or even ANY of the storylines to a satisfactory close. Furman's ending feels very sloppy, and very truncated... kind of a shame. That said, I am really enjoying ALL HAIL MEGATRON... much more than MAXIMUM DINOBOTS certainly. zmog
Well, that's both his fault and not his fault. His fault: - Stories that are too big and too long Not his fault: - IDW giving him 4 issues to fit in at least 12 issues worth of story. Essentially, there was no possible way for the story not to end sloppily.
Re-reading all of my IDW collection, I am irked all the more at AHM. Reworked or not, it would have been much better if it had just picked up where Devastation left off, so the Decepticons actions could be explained as them attacking the Earth proper. And then maybe a few quick explanations about how the Autobots were suffering heavy defeats after the Decepticon acquisition of gestalt technology, after being in disarray on account of the recent 'expansion'. The shoehorning into continuity they attempted was just awful. It would still be a rubbish story, but at least it would be reconcilable with the main storyline.
The problem with Furman's stories is that he took too long to come to any kind of payoff for the reader. When I take a step back I can see where he was going with it all but he really should have tied up some of the loose ends. Various plot points got revealed in small stages but no true results ever manifested. Then we get McCarthy's story and it is just the opposite. BLAMMO! All this stuff happened but we don't really know why. In a sense it was like the opposite of Furman's method. We got the effects but then it was a long, painful, and sometimes obvious paths to the causes. I wasn't happy with that either. I finally get to see Hunter and Sunstreaker separated at the end of Maximum Dinobots and although he still has mechanical elements to him Hunter looked to be in good health. Then AHM kills Sunstreaker and we see one panel of Hunter being tortured and inexplicably back in the form of Sunstreaker's head. At this point I blame IDW management and editors more than Furman or McCarthy. I don't want to say they have mismanaged the property, but they have made some mistakes. When they first got the license they made a good showing that this was their version of Transformers now by having EJ Su redesign the bots. But their covers and promotional art rarely showcased those designs. The Transformers looked like they could be the toy, G1 cartoon, or even the Dreamwave versions. Then they chose to go with a number and title system that was confusing to both retailers and consumers. They chose to have different colorists work on the same issue and while any particular page looked great the style differences between pages made some books feel discontinuous. They also missed several instances of a dialog balloon's being attributed to the wrong character. I think there is nearly one instance of this each issue last year. I know I am being overly critical, but I think these problems put some consumers and retailers off. They forced Furman to truncate his story. Hell, I don't feel that Devastation ended so much as it just stopped. Now, due to fan reaction they're making an effort to put AHM in continuity with Furman's works. I think McCarthy must be feeling the same frustration Furman felt. I am sure this forced attempt to make the stories merge is not his original vision. AHM could have been a nice alternate universe. Spotlight: Mirage might have been the first step in setting up story elements where the two universes could cross over. Even characters like Drift are normally better received in a tale that is an alternate universe. But those three swords are just stupid in any continuity.
Escalation was the high point of the -ation series for me. It was downhill from there as Furman just kept pouring the subplots on with every new Spotlight created.
Honestly, I really liked the way that AHM has developed. I was extremely doubtful at first, and there have still been some questionable developments (the same and worse could be said for Furman), but I'm very happy with the way we were thrown into the story, and then bit by bit, the background details (and yes, some of the continuity details and linkages from Devastation) start to trickle in to fill the blanks in the form of flashbacks and character interactions. To me this is reminiscent of sci-fi anime-style storytelling, where you are thrown into a new world in the middle of events, and have to piece together the scenario in progress based on information provided along the way. It makes for a much more interesting and non-linear diegesis. AGREED. zmog
