TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Holy hell.

This is the best comic in the world.

I didn't think anything could stand up against this month's more-stellar-than-usual MTMTE but this book just keeps finding its own ways to be impressive. The speed! The acrobatics! We have a barrage of missiles carrying food, pets and death and also a barrage of utter madness. Fortress Maximus shows up to eat all the freshly-introduced characters. Grimlock gives us a cave painting of the Sherma Dam sequence and the best visual shorthand for Omega Supreme possible. And Doctor Venom - god damn!

We get a whole new take on Hot Rod before Return To Cybertron Blaster shows up to shoot him in the face. Bazooka climbs out of a toilet to have a psychedelic experience during which he sees the face of Primus.

And that map, by god how I love the map.

I almost can't take it. I need to lie down.

... it's just me, isn't it?

Nope. I'm on board this hyper train started out intrigued and am now very into it. I thought issue three was verging on the over egging of the ridiculous pudding and haven't got to issue four yet but only mtmte is read with greater interest ( rid is not clicking since the first arc of series 2 ended and primacy is, well... Hmm)

Yes! We're best friends now, David. It's a blood oath that can only be severed by death.

Issue four blows through those egg barriers of ridiculousness with style. I was mulling over Dalek's words about the joke wearing thin when I saw the previews for this issue but boy does it just keep upping the ante.

This comic is amazing. I love every new reinvention and reference, and the experimental layouts are incredible.

Been loving this book since the start. Loved Scioli's work on Godland, and his own series American Barbarian and Satan's Soldier. The last two can be read online for free.

It's so bonkers and I eagerly await each new issue.

Andy

Quite the crowd we got going here Terome. Thought issue 4 was cracker and back to goodness. Don't know why exactly but I found issue three a bit too out there in parts (although that buzzsaw bit - wow)

Yes! We are the popular ones!

I agree that the last issue had a few cracks in it but with this one you can see the heavy lifting it was doing.

Haven't cracked Satan's Soldier yet but American Barbarian is one of my favourite things ever.

Something I was thinking about last night was how much of the appeal of this book would be lost if it were animated. All the incredible layout gymnastics would be hamstrung and the strange Kirbyisms would look kind of queasy. And I'm pretty sure most of the dialogue isn't designed to be spoken aloud.

Also curious how it would look if drawn by a more conventional artist. Same panel layouts, but more traditional pencils and colours. Not sure if it would work. A big part of the charm for me with the art is that many of the big battle scenes almost resemble the old gi Joe toy guides.

Anyone know how long this is expected to run for?

Yeah, it's like some sort of irreducible complexity argument - it wouldn't work unless all the pieces are in place as they are.

The run is currently indefinite. Sales are healthy and the Joe fanbase has embraced it, I hear, so the outlook is good for at least twelve issues.

I am sure that Scioli said he had a definite ending planned for it when he started so it will have a proper end point. That being said I do hope that is several years away.

I don't think it would work with a more conventional artist, but I can imagine if you handed it to say a Ted McKeever or Bill Sienciwicz that it would be a much more nightmarish book.

Those would make amazing guest issues.

I am still disappointed we never got the Ted McKeever issues of Hearts of Steel.

Oh jeez, that's an old old memory. Was he supposed to do one or did he just do some covers?

He was going to be doing the whole thing by the sounds of it, and then he left and Chuck Dixon and Guido picked up the book. Supposed to be the first of many TF Elseworlds style books.

Strange times. I wonder what went down and how much of it he got done.

I think only a few preview images.

Shame really.

Andy

Loose the art and I would more likely to buy it.

IMHO the Kirbyesque art style doesn't fit with the Transformers and from I seen of the art doesn't make do the Joes and Cobra characters any good either.

The story sounds like something I would enjoy quite a lot, but I can't stand the artwork.

Read issue 4 in the trade, but unfortunately I don't think reading it all in one go really benefits the book, it just shows up how many ideas are being introduced for just a page only to then be completely forgotten about almost instantly. Which would be fine for a limited series that has to ram everything in, but as supposedly an ongoing it can spare the time to actually properly explore the concepts being introduced. The Insecticons as bounty hunters? Neat idea! Oh wait, there it goes. And so on.

Also, the "Gobots" joke was really wearing a bit thin by the fourth issue. If I had a pound for every time a Joe randomly made it I'd have... Three pounds I think. Which is still more than it should be for the page count.

Reading the RID trade about the same time made me realise Barber basically recycled the "Peace/surrender" gag from Galvatron's conversation with Alpha Trion as well.