IGN's top 5 Transformer comics

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:04 pm

Nick Roche posted about this on Facebook and I thought I'd post about it here. IGN did a run down of the top 5 Transformer comics. Here's the link:

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/06/25/t ... omic-books

Both AHM and Regenerations One made the list. Hilarious.

Post by **Blackjack** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:14 pm

The fact that Regeneration One made it over generally the entire freaking Marvel and IDW output hurts me.

In my soul.

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:15 pm

Blackjack wrote:The fact that Regeneration One made it over generally the entire freaking Marvel and IDW output hurts me.

In my soul.

Yup. Usually these lists are the best comics ever made not just the ones you happen to have read recently. The lack of MTMTE is also very painful.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:53 pm

Obviously these things are subjective, but that does seem an odd list. I think even their biggest fans would acknowledge AHM and Reg were series of peaks and troughs. The inclusion of the later as "One" story is especially odd when it was, what, four/five arcs?

Matrix Quest is all over the place quality wise as well, there's two issues that an argument could be made for inclusion on the list and one fun if a bit silly conclusion, but surely no one thinks Cowboy Vampires and Moby Longtooth are where it's at?

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 5:32 pm

It seems less a list of the best Transformer comics and more a list of the series the reviewer happens to have read. It's a shame as previous lists on the site seemed very comprehensive. The run down of the best Spidey and X-Men comics came from a guy who had actually sat down and read every Spidey comic of the past 75 (or however many it was) years. At least that's what he said on the podcast

. This doesn't seem anywhere near as well researched.

Red Dave Prime · Post by **Red Dave Prime** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 5:48 pm

At least wreckers is number one. Fair enough says I.

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 6:44 pm

Red Dave Prime wrote:At least wreckers is number one. Fair enough says I.

But no MTMTE and the list includes AHM and Regeneration One. Throw in Megatron Origin and Costa's run and you've almost got a worst 5 TF comics list!

Wreckers at the top of the list is good though!

Cyberstrike nTo · Post by **Cyberstrike nTo** » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:46 pm

Neuronutter wrote:Wreckers at the top of the list is good though!

Last Stand of the Wreckers is a good series but it is nowhere as great as Chaos Theory is.

Red Dave Prime · Post by **Red Dave Prime** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 6:49 am

Cyberstrike nTo wrote:Last Stand of the Wreckers is a good series but it is nowhere as great as Chaos Theory is.

Depends on your point of view but while i have huge love for both, lsotw is the one i would re-read and would show to non tf fans as just being a good read. Ct is also a little un even for me. Great first issue, slightly disappointing second as it shifts to an action story. Nothing wrong there but the issues don't feel like a two parter beyond the framing device.

Horses for courses and both should have been on there but for me wreckers is the one all others should aim for.

And shadowplay could easily have been on this list.

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 11:39 am

Cyberstrike nTo wrote:Last Stand of the Wreckers is a good series but it is nowhere as great as Chaos Theory is.

Last Stand is probably my favourite stand alone TF story from the last ten years, maybe longer. IMO Chaos Theory is nothing special, like the entire Costa run. I could happily forget that run happened and be happy with RID and MTMTE.

Cyberstrike nTo · Post by **Cyberstrike nTo** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 6:53 pm

Neuronutter wrote:Last Stand is probably my favourite stand alone TF story from the last ten years, maybe longer. IMO Chaos Theory is nothing special, like the entire Costa run. I could happily forget that run happened and be happy with RID and MTMTE.

Chaos Theory is as far as I am concerned James Roberts' first masterpiece, nothing he has wrote before or since has IMHO quite lived up to it...yet, he did in 2 issues that no one could have done 30 years in any media he rewrote how I looked Optimus Prime and Megatron and made me re-examine my own outlook on top of that. He also made them both complex three dimensional and interesting characters again after a very long time of both of them being turned into 2 dimensional bland good guy and bad guy with no real depth and complexity. And he did all that in 2 issues while many other writers might have been able to pull all that off in 25 issues, if at all.

Too me The Last Stand of The Wreckers is trying to hard to be smart and meaningful and to me comes off as extremely pretentious at best or a just glorified fanwank at worst. It's a book that I really want to love but I can't for some weird reason. I liked it but I didn't love it.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:03 pm

What? No Generation 2 either?!

What a big load of balls this list is. No 'Legacy Of Unicron' or all that awesome UK stuff. Bah! Rubbish.

Pleased that Wreckers gets its kudos. I like it also, and it is great, but its quite brutal and grim and I found the forced humor with Rotorstorm in the first issue a bit painful. It still represents the first time since the Transformers returned to comics that there was something worthwhile in their four colour adventures, after a near decade of dross and disappointment. Its a shame that Wreckers doesn't seemed to have opened the door for regular comics readers, and that stuff like MTMTE is pretty much selling only to the faithful.

I think Wreckers may have been eclipsed for me by Shadowplay. Whilst War is horrible and leads to some real nastiness, there's something far more sinister to me about a governing structure that can strip away your sense of self and who you are . I still get chills from that last page in part 3. Brr. I think I liked this so much because of reading 1984 and seeing Brazil, and seeing how the way you think can be controlled seems more concerning to me.

I didn't catch the follow up stuff in RID (and Dark Cybertron kind of answered this for me. and, sigh, I wish it hadn't) , but I am fascinated by what became of Senator Shockwave when he woke after that experience. How did he feel? Could he feel? (well no, obviously, but what was it like for him?) What was he thinking of himself? Could he remember who he was and where he fitted into the world?

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:01 am

I'm just pointing this out, I would take anything a website that keeps giving CoD games consistently high scores says with a massive grain of salt.

Just sayin'.

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:46 am

LOL it's an obvious attention grab. Movies come out based on comic/toy franchises, they put up some useless top 5 list of things they just googled.

F*ck, at first it is some series, then a 4 issue mini from Marvel, then series again.

I can see their reasoning behind the choices;

#5--Let's pick up the one we just wikkied about picking up after the original series--geeks love that. Oh, I just read it has pacing issues. Just pick a random point and say it gets better after it [the series actually got WORSE from issues 85-90odd]

#4--Then let's pick up a fan favourite from THAT point. Actually this was the best Dreamwave ever put out, so fair points for that.

#3--Hmmm...let's see the title---it sounds definitive. Oh it has twelve issues as well, it's a large number. Yeah let's go with it.

#2--Yeah, it has "matrix" on the title, matrix is something Optimus is said to have, yeah, let's put this in.

#1--Let's pick the favourite from our google search, write a very generic prose on why fans like it, gathered from segments of wiki entries and generalized to death, and call it a day.

List made!!

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:18 pm

I do seem to recall that Matrix Quest was fondly regarded up until the point people actually got to read it again, probably helped by it feeling more epic in the UK as it was split of over upteen issues. I found all the film and literary pastiches annoying and the very worst kind of 'post- modern' take on these things. The Alien one is probably the best of the bunch.

The best of Furman's stuff on the original US book for me is his opening 'Return Of Megatron' story, which despite all the coincidence in it, is very tightly plotted and structured and the stuff from #69 - 75, which is full of great character stuff and manouvrerings building up to big old punch up with Unicron.

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:39 pm

Cyberstrike nTo wrote:Chaos Theory is as far as I am concerned James Roberts' first masterpiece, nothing he has wrote before or since has IMHO quite lived up to it...yet, he did in 2 issues that no one could have done 30 years in any media he rewrote how I looked Optimus Prime and Megatron and made me re-examine my own outlook on top of that. He also made them both complex three dimensional and interesting characters again after a very long time of both of them being turned into 2 dimensional bland good guy and bad guy with no real depth and complexity. And he did all that in 2 issues while many other writers might have been able to pull all that off in 25 issues, if at all.

Oh, right. Chaos Theory contains those two issues. They are excellent issues and I agree that they redefine Prime and Megatron. I forget those issues are in that trade as most of the issues are Costas.

Cyberstrike nTo wrote:To me The Last Stand of The Wreckers is trying to hard to be smart and meaningful and to me comes off as extremely pretentious at best or a just glorified fanwank at worst. It's a book that I really want to love but I can't for some weird reason. I liked it but I didn't love it.

I still love LSoTW. It's one of those stories, like MTMTE, that I read with a big grin on my face and, as Red Dave Prime said, it's a story I would give to non-TF fans to enjoy and I think they would. Actually I have bought that trade for people like that and they have enjoyed it.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 11:40 pm

Tetsuro wrote: I have no ****ing idea what's going on here, so here's a shitty meme as I'm compelled to ****ing post anyway. I wonder why everyone thinks I'm a massive twat?

Red Dave Prime wrote:Depends on your point of view

Let's say some people's point of view is thoughtless contrariness masquerading as idiosyncratic tastes, eh?

1/ G2
2/ Target 2006
3/ Last Stand
4/ Legacy of Unicron
5/ Prey

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:08 pm

I think G2 has a few too many wobbles early on for the whole thing to count myself. My list would be (in mainly random order):

Legacy of Unicron;
Edge of Extinction;
A Rage in Heaven [Furman may be weak at climaxes generally, but when he gets them right, he gets them right];
Chaos Theory;
The Big Shutdown [Probably the perfect example of a "Small" Transformers story].

Target: 2006 probably has all the best iconic moments but things like a lot of the Cybertron stuff being completely irrelevant (the Wreckers change their minds about going on the mission, then they change them back meaning you can not read that whole issue and miss nothing; the Tripple Changers getting a massive intro before becoming non-speaking extras) lets it down a bit.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:42 am

Is irrelevance really a problem? Nightbeat is irrelevant in Edge of Extinction.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 7:09 am

Cliffjumper wrote:I have no ****ing idea what's going on here, so here's a shitty meme as I'm compelled to ****ing post anyway. I wonder why Cliffjumper thinks I'm a massive twat?

And that just burns you up, don't it.

I mean really, for a guy who supposedly had me on his ignore list, you sure can't resist complaining about me anyway.