Marvel Comics (1984-1994) |
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Dreamwave (2002-2004) |
Devil's Due (2003-2007) |
IDW Publishing (2005-now) |
Generation 1 - "Welcome to the Jungle" Notes: This story takes place after "Runnin' with the Devil" in G1 Vol 3 #4, which is also where he was repaired by Wreck-Gar, and also acquired his Air Warrior clones. The Predacons fled the Decepticons at some point, and appear to have gone native on Beest. Megatron has been absent from the main action since being jettisoned into space by Starscream in G1 Vol 2 #1. Beest is clearly meant to be the titular from the Japanese Headmasters episode "Rebellion on Planet Beast", complete with Battle Beasts. Transformers Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Megatron, Razorclaw, Predaking. Plus three of Megatron's Air Warrior clones. Notable Others: Several Battle Beasts. Review: A break from Transformers hasn't improved Pat Lee's art, which seems more bloated than ever - maybe pairing him with his number one fan in Joe Ng wasn't such a great idea - Lee needs someone to tether his style, not run with it. When you run the company, though... Remarkably, the story isn't enough for even 9 pages, and Megatron's monologue doesn't work as well as the fantastic "Runnin' with the Devil". A weak entry in DW's generally-improving G1 canon. Energon - "Perspective" Notes: This story takes place outside regular Energon continuity. Aaron Archer is part of Hasbro's design team for the Energon toyline. Transformers Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Megatron, Snow Cat [first appearance], Slugslinger [first appearance], Sharkticon [first appearance], Jetstorm, Runway, Sonar. Notable Others: Kicker. Review: Inconsequential and slight. It's a pretty silly idea, and feels very kiddy. Setting it in an alternate reality doesn't help either... Robots in Disguise - "Ultra Magnus... to the Rescue?" Notes: The basic set-up for RiD appears to be the same as the cartoon, with the Autobots as a gloal police force, and the joint Predacons/Decepticons trying to pilfer the planet's energy resources. Transformers Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Megatron, Sky-Byte, Scourge, Gas Skunk, Slapper, Darkscream, Armorhide, Rollbar, X-Brawn, Side Burn, Rail Racer, Prowl, Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus. Review: Not a great pilot. Like "Perspective", it lacks imagination, and feels very immature. It's much too like an episode of the TV show in comic form - while RiD was an enjoyable series, this seems like a very pointless development. Magnus' angsty-child characterisation hardly helps, but the biggest problem is Ruffolo's hideous, deformed art [Scourge's sword looks like it's made out of thick wood, for one example], which doesn't bode well for the forthcoming Micromasters mini. Beast Wars - "Ain't No Rat" Notes: This story takes place between the Beast Wars and Beast Machines animated series. Transformers Featured [in rough order of appearance]: Megatron, Rhinox, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Rattrap. Dinobot [the clone version], Optimus Minor, Bonecrusher and Wolfang all appear in Rattrap's dream. Review: An interesting story which shows DW can write for Beast Wars, and there are some nice ideas which means a follow-up wouldn't be unpleasant. Easily superior in both potential and execution to the RiD story, this has some smart character writing, promising avenues and tight art. |
Date: August 2004 Price: $4.95 A collection of cover and promotional art by Dreamwave for various TF franchises. Each poster is double-sided, and covers two pages. The art is based on internal art from Generation 1 Vol. 2 #6, by Pat Lee. |
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Review: A decent enough collection. If there's one thing DW do generally do well, it's poster images, and there are some great works here. Pat Lee's input is better than his strip fare, but again variable - the Dinobot/Triplechanger image is superb, while the New Generation one from the following G1 issue is dire. It's a shame the book ignores his best Transformers work - namely most of the covers for the first DW G1 mini. Don Figueroa's work is more uniformly excellent, with his G1 work a stand-out, though the choice of two rather forgettable TF:WW covers is a little puzzling. After the company's two big guns take up most of the space, the rest of their artists are represented more sparingly - Joe Ng has two competent but forgettable Energon covers [why not the decent cover to #25?], while newcomer Alex Milne contributes a pair of gems. Jae Lee's crossover cover isn't one of the best of the mini, but is still impressive if you like his art, while Guido Guidi, very much out of favour at DW it would seem, gets one bland Energon cover... The big question, though, is why no James Raiz? One other quibble is, while I'm not a fan of the image, it's a bit cheap having the Magnus image on the cover, but not on any of the posters. Still, this is probably worth investing in if you've got the wallspace for a dozen more TF posters...