Preview of Transformers #1 (IDW Publishing)

Don't worry readers, I will be continuing my series on the Terrorcons soon. I have been viewing the recent preview spreads for the new Transformers ongoing series from IDW Publishing. After checking out probably more than half of the comic in preview images, I have a few thoughts on it and this different direction that IDW is taking with the series.

1. Story wise, the aftermath of the All Hail Megatron saga seems to have left a bad taste in the mouths of the humans. This story line seems to add a new flavor to the series as the Autobots and Decepticons are fugitives on an Earth that seeks the destruction of both sides. Although there have been a lot of complaints on the forums, I think this could be an interesting take on the franchise.

2. Art wise, I agree with most everyone on the forums that this is not the direction to take. I really think that Hasbro is starting to have too much of a hand in the design of the comic book's style. I never read All Hail Megatron, but I saw enough images of the Seekers, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker to realize that Hasbro had shifted the designs of the IDW-verse to match up with recent toy releases. The -tion series created modern updates to the original characters that were original, well thought out designs, but also kept the feel of the original characters. That was one of the awesome aspects of the -tion story lines in that it was a fresh new take on the classic Transformers Generation One universe, and it seemed like there was minimal Hasbro involvement. This new art style blends the G1 designs with new movie designs, and it look awful. I was thinking about getting into this series, but the art direction may be too much for me to overlook. Then again, I did say that about Transformers: Animated, and that was the BEST Transformers series in almost a decade.

3. If this series progresses, Simon Furman needs to write again. I was literally through the preview pages in two minutes, if that. Furman had this way of fleshing out the stories to novel-like proportions. He took the art, the story, and the characters and made them feel rich and detailed through his writing. This new guy did what he was supposed to, and he told the story. However, that was all he did. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am not sure if I am going to invest in this series or not. I may just wait for the prices on the rest of -tion series to come down and finish that instead. However, IDW is releasing a new 32-page comic called Continuum, which is like a highlight comic covering the entire IDW series to this point. That might be a great, quick read.