Transformers Comic Book News on Seibertron.com

Escalation: Tom Scioli And John Barber On ‘Transformers vs. G.I. Joe’ Volume 1

Date: Tuesday, December 23rd 2014 8:27am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People News, Interviews
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): ComicsAlliance

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There is no preview as such for this week's IDW Publishing release - the first collected trade volume of Transformers vs G.I. Joe - but you can still get to find out more about it by reading an interview with creators John Barber and Tom Scioli, courtesy of ComicsAlliance. Find some snippets below, and click on the link to read the full story - and maybe come back to Seibertron.com, so we may finish reviewing the two issues we've left behind!

ComicsAlliance: The amazing thing about Transformers vs. G.I. Joe for me as a reader is that it doesn’t feel like it should exist, and I mean that in the best way possible. It has this feeling that there’s no way this book should’ve been approved, because it’s so wild, raw and energetic. How did you get that feeling to come across in this comic?

Tom Scioli: I don’t know how you would get to that point with any kind of comic. Just from my perspective, I’ve been doing comics for such a long time and in such a way that’s very different from the normal career path for comics, so I don’t know how you replicate that. I don’t know how many other people are out there that would be able to have that mix of discipline and self-destructive chaotic impulse to get that. I don’t know, John? Do you have any perspective?

John Barber: To one degree or another, when you’re working on something that’s company-owned, you have to forget about that when you’re working on it, and I think that degree varies. The whole idea was to make something kind of weird, that went out the window at some point. There was probably a minute early on where Michael Kelly, the guy we work with at Hasbro as their Director of Global Publishing, called and he was like, “This isn’t exactly what we talked about.” He loves the book, but at some point, the idea was going to be safer. It’s not like there’s anything unsafe about this, either, but you want to be able to point at it and say “here are these two things that we put together to make one thing,” and I don’t think you can do that with our book. I think that’s what makes it interesting.

TS: I didn’t really know how it was going to turn out either. It’s a project where it’s like “yeah, what would this thing be?” I know that when we first talked about in the beginning, we had that very basic idea of a Jack Kirby take on this sort of thing, but when you sit down to actually make it, all these other opportunities open up. All these other creative things take over, and it outgrows that initial idea. But then it sort of comes back to it. Early on, I thought I wanted to do something more serious than just a straight Jack Kirby rip-roaring adventure, but then it turned into that kind of rip-roaring adventure.

[...]

CA: Along those same lines, I’m a much bigger fan of Joe than Transformers, so most of the Transformers comics that I’ve read have been crossovers with G.I. Joe, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that was structured like this, with the Joes going to Cybertron. Was that just an obvious thing that you’d never seen?

JB: That was there from the beginning. 100% of this comic is Tom at this point, and I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I expect that one day, Tom will just stop emailing me.

TS: [Laughs] I’ll just send you the finish comic.

JB: Right. But every other Transformers/G.I. Joe comic, at least every one that I read, tried to drag Transformers to a realistic level and throw that into the G.I. Joe world. I thought the idea of blowing up G.I. Joe and making them science-fiction, having them live in the Transformers’ world, was there. If anything, Cybertron was the one thing I really wanted to do. But it obviously came out much cooler in the comic than I would’ve thought of.

Transformers: Angry Birds and More Than Meets the Eye, Transformers volume 7 TPBs Amazon Listings

Date: Thursday, December 18th 2014 2:26am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Amazon.com

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Courtesy of a couple of listings on Amazon.com, we can give you a date for the release of the collected trade paperback editions of the IDW Publishing Transformers Angry Birds mini-series - titled Age of Eggstinction, out on May 19th, and currently priced at $10.71.

Additionally, volume 7 of More Than Meets the Eye ($16.14) and The Transformers ($15.47) will be out on 26th May and 21st April 2015 respectively. No covers are shown yet, and the listing for Transformers also get very confused with volume 7 of the previous ongoing, Chaos - but there you have them!

IDW Transformers Drift: Empire of Stone #2 Review

Date: Wednesday, December 17th 2014 6:04pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW, Va'al

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Views: 91,999

Synopsis
ONCE A DECEPTICON! DRIFT’s past comes back to haunt him, as RATCHET tries to drag him back to the Lost Light. But alone on a far-off world, DRIFT’s honor demands he stand his ground!



Story

You now, Drift - was Deadlock, but would rather not be reminded; was a Decepticon, see above; part of the Lost Light, then self-exiled; feels guilty about everything since pretty much forever, so heads off to be the Batman/Robin Hood of the galaxy. Why am I repeating this? We are not being allowed to forget what Drift's past is, nor his own guilt.



In this second issue, though, what I am left wondering is - will the retreading of Shane McCarthy's initial pitch, with the layers of characterisation given to Drift since All Hail Megatron, actually lead to something other than unspoken guilt, unreasonable bravado and a penchant for lost causes?



Don't get me wrong, there are some very good interactions in the issue, and some of characters have a fair deal of personal creation and minor development - but there is a constant feeling of something still missing in a series that is promising so much to start with, and already in the middle of its run.



I don't mind the dialogue, though I'd like to see more of it, and I like most of the characters that McCarthy is setting up in the miniseries, from the Stone whatevers to the Micromasters (mentioned in Windblade, too), the brief return of Turmoil and the magnificence of Gigatron. But it needs more to keep us in.


Art

Now, the art is great. It was good, if not entirely apt, when the team of Guido Guidi and Steve Baskerville were working together on ReGeneration One, but it's really good in this contemporary setting - there's a sense of grit, chunky big hulks of rock in the designs of the blockier types of characters we've encountered, and that's before we even see a Stone Army.



Of course, the feeling of dust, dirt and stone would not be complete without the magnificently painted work of JP Bove. If the bulk of the rocky art comes from the pencils and inks, the layer of grit and sand is definitely in the colours. And it's tasty grit with crunchy bits thrown in for good measure, and great lighting as the icing on top.



And Tom B. Long gives us a double-whammy this week, by showing his fingers in the fonting, lettering and sounding of the pages of McCarthy's script, and giving some gravitas to the dialogue where needed. The two covers are also quite a thing to look at, dealing with the duality of Drift's character in the main Guidi/Josh Burcham one, and his conscience in the Alex Milne/Josh Perez variant (thumbnail).


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Much like its preceding issue, Empire of Stone is taking its time to really kickstart its proper plot, and might get on the bad side of some readers used to the tighter stories of the two current ongoings. The stories that are there don't have more than some references, but the characters' different voices ad their interactions can, for some, make up for it.



On the visual side, we have a similar concentration of silent action sequences (and pretty good ones too) to the first issue in the miniseries, and probably something we should expect for the following two issues. Fortunately, the artistic team is magnificent at conveying the ruggedness of this side of the galaxy, and we can revel in the eye candy.

IDW Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #36 Review

Date: Wednesday, December 17th 2014 7:39am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW, Va'al

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Views: 85,421

Synopsis
OUTLAWS! Before the war, Orion Pax was part of the Establishment—until a friend opened his eyes to the truth behind the lies and he vowed to overthrow the system. Now, it seems as if his newfound enemies are willing to go to any lengths to see him dead—even if it means waiting four million years...



Story

You will probably remember what happened all the way back during the 2009-11 ongoing series, in particular the Chaos Theory arc that James Roberts co-wrote. You might also have in mind the continuation of that story in Shadowplay, the Shockwave/Orion Pax arc during the first season of MTMTE. If you do not, you probably want to brush up for issue 36, as Elegant Chaos continues the pre-war story.



Though not exactly as we might all remember it so far (strange choice of words, I know, but you've seen what's been happening in MTMTE so fa r, right? The trousers of time have many legs, and several are unravelling at the same time). Time travel only muddles plotlines, by its own nature, and this issue is not exception.



Which, unfortunately, finds itself to come to standstill in the overall trajectory of the series post-Dark Cybertron. Don't get me wrong, the issue is a great read, fantastic interactions, good dialogue, characters and Whirl. Especially Whirl, in both his present and present-in-the-past situations, along with some amusing time-paradox musings.



But it doesn't really do much else, sadly. It reinforces old situations and concepts; it has a smirk-inducing conversation between two key players which is really a one-sided admission and reflection; it sets the stage, but only that smidge more than the last two-three issues, for Elegant Chaos. And I wanted it to do more.


Art

As far as unintentional bottle episodes happen, however, the art brought to the issue by Alex Milne is a joy to behold - especially in its cranked up expressivity in both facial and body language, including some of the least likely to be able to do so (looking at you Whirl). On top of that, action sequences are magnificently laid out, with a proliferation of double-spreads and panels spanning multiple pages.



Which are obviously but enhanced by Joana Lafuente's gorgeous colour approach, already from the very first panel of the very first page. And it just gets better from there, really, adding action to action, emotion to emotion, decoration to interiors, atmosphere to planets and making everything look just so good.



Tom B. Long and his lettering are not to be underestimated, either - and the title of the issue, and the arc, are an example of the font magic that man can do. The subtle sounds around the scene are also cleverly worked in, and never intrusive, but definitely still there. In terms of covers, we've seen the Alex Milne/Josh Perez Anniversary piece already, and the main one with juiced up Roller - check out the thumbnail for the moody Nick Roche/Burcham Orion Pax variant.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

As I said above, the issue is not a bad read, a bad comic or a bad piece of writing. It just did not do what other issues playing around with time, or indeed, arcs in the Functionist plotlines have done previously, such as the wonderful Shadowplay. That is not to say that we may very well see this all play out fantastically as of next month or the forthcoming issues in general.



From an artistic perspective, though, the book dazzles and deals a dizzying delight - not only because of some wonderfully executed double-spread pages, colours and composition, but as a general aid to extricate the intricacies of the potentially convoluted plot. Here's to you, visual storytelling. Make sure you track down a paper copy of this one.

IDW Publishing Transformers March 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Wars, Windblade, DJD, SPOILERS, More

Date: Wednesday, December 17th 2014 3:58am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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As the last month of 2014 comes ever to its end, IDW Publishing have released their solicitations for the Transformers comics released in March 2015. Combiner Wars truly begins then, it appears, between Transformers and Windblade, and we get to see some old friends show up - as well as potential spoilers for the current ongoings - so be warned, and check them out below if you will!

Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus, Vol. 1
Simon Furman, Nick Roche, Stuart Moore (w) • Nick Roche, MD Bright, Rob Ruffalo, Robby Musso, Marcelo Matere, Gudio Guidi, Don Figueroa, Emiliano Santalucia, Alex Milne (a) • Nick Roche (c)
Individual Transformers stories focusing on a vast array of characters such as Shockwave, Nightbeat, Kup, Arcee, Grimlock, Optimus Prime, and more! Volume 1 collects the first 13 issues of the Spotlight series.
TPB • FC • $24.99 • 316 pages • 6” x 9” • ISBN: 978-1-63140-246-3

Transformers vs G.I. JOE #7
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a & c)
THE WORLD AS THEY MAKE IT! Alliance are forged! Enemies are enraged! The war burns on Earth and Cybertron! And now… now the real battle begins.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers vs G.I. Joe #7—Subscription Variant
Tom Scioli & John Barber (w) • Scioli (a) • Joe Quinones (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
If you’ve ever liked anything, you’ll love this!
If you’ve never liked anything—this will be the first thing you love!
Variant Cover by Kody Chamerlain!

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #39—Return of the Decepticon Justice Division
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
RETURN OF THE D.J.D.! A punishment squad created by MEGATRON to hunt down dissidents, turncoats and cowards—no one believes more passionately in the DECEPTICON cause than the D.J.D. So what happens when they discover their founder has joined the Autobots? (Clue: it’s not pretty.)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #39—Return of the Decepticon Justice Division—Subscription Variant
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a) • Nick Roche (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The long-awaited return of the most dangerous villains in comics history!
If you don’t already know the names Tarn, Kaon, Tesarus, Helex, and Vos—you better learn ’em before they get you!
Vairant Cover by Transformers game and toy artist Sara Pitre-Durocher!

Transformers #39—Combiner Wars Opening Salvo—SPOTLIGHT
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
OPENING SALVO! The Autobots and Decepticons’ uneasy peace is threatened by the flames of war! STARSCREAM—ruler of CYBERTRON—makes contact with WINDBLADE’S homeworld—and the only defense against a new CYBERTRONIAN EMPIRE are COMBINERS—multiple CYBERTRONIANS forming together into huge, dangerous forms!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers #39—Combiner Wars: Opening Salvo—Subscription Variant
John Barber (w) • Livio Ramondelli (a & c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Tying in with Hasbro’s 2015 Transformers: Generations toy line, this 6-part epic will be supported across multiple media platforms!
STARSCREAM’s scheming collides with WINDBLADE’s past!
OPTIMUS PRIME takes control!
Who will be the first Combiner to strike?
Continues in this month’s TRANSFORMERS: WINDBLADE—COMBINER WARS #1
Vairant Cover by Transformers game and toy artist Sara Pitre-Durocher!

Transformers: Windblade #1 (of 3)—Combiner Wars Part One—SPOTLIGHT
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sarah Stone (a) • Casey W. Coller (c)
THE WAR BEGINS! The first strike in COMBINER WARS is against WINDBLADE’S homeworld—and she’s not happy about it! Her long- lost CYBERTRONIAN colony is found… and the only thing that can protect it is SUPERION.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: Windblade—Combiner Wars Part One—Subscription Variant
Mairghread Scott (w) • Sarah Stone (a) • Livio Ramondelli (c)
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The creative team from the first smash-hit WINDBLADE series returns!
WINDBLADE is the biggest new TRANSFORMERS character in years—don’t miss out!
All the drama and pathos of the original WINDBLADE series—plus more COMBINERS!
Vairant Cover by Transformers game and toy artist Sara Pitre-Durocher!

IDW Transformers and More Than Meets the Eye #36 Interlocking Alex Milne Covers

Date: Tuesday, December 16th 2014 9:59am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): Alex Milne

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In case you missed it with Transformers #36 last week, and are not able to get it with MTMTE #36 this week, IDW artist Alex Milne has shared his double-cover for the 30th Anniversary of the Transformers - and explained just how much time and effort went into it. Check it out below!

Here is my 30th Anniversary cover which was broken up between both issue 36 of MTMTE and (formally RID)

Originally when I created this image, it was for a totally different project that had something to do with the 30th anniversary, but wasn’t part of the homage covers that others had done. This is why the original date of the penciled image is 2013. I had planned to finish it on my own if it wasn’t going to get used and make a print out of it, but the time i needed wasn’t available, so it just sat in one of my portfolio’s. That was until I was asking if there were any 30th covers I could do and John Barber asked about using this image. This was perfect since I didn’t have to draw a new image up and I could finish this one I had already penciled.
looking back on it I might have changed a few characters for different ones, but this was before Windblade had come out.

There are 30 characters on this image. 30 for 30. I thought that would be nice. All of these characters are from the comics and are from comics IDW has printed. I guess I could have added in some Unicron Trilogy characters, but alas it did not happen.

The colours were done by the very talented Mr. Josh Perez who I enjoy working with and miss doing so on a more regular basis. Maybe one day we will work on a whole book together again

Enjoy

IDW Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #36 Full Preview

Date: Tuesday, December 16th 2014 2:44am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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In further comics news this week from IDW Publishing, Elegant Chaos, the new More Than Meets the Eye event, begins here, with issue #36. Check out a full preview below, and head back to Seibertron.com later in the week for our review.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #36—Days of Deception
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
OUTLAWS! Before the war, Orion Pax was part of the Establishment—until a friend opened his eyes to the truth behind the lies and he vowed to overthrow the system. Now, it seems as if his newfound enemies are willing to go to any lengths to see him dead—even if it means waiting four million years...
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Days of Deception continues!
The conclusion of James Roberts’ pre-war trilogy!
HOW FAR IS TOO FAR?
30th Anniversary Variant Cover by Alex Milne!

IDW Transformers Drift: Empire of Stone #2 Full Preview

Date: Tuesday, December 16th 2014 2:35am CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW

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Views: 46,491

The mystery of the Empire of Stone continues, as Drift and Ratchet face an old but new threat in this week's second issue of the IDW Publishing Transformers mini-series - check out a full preview below, and come back later this week for the Seibertron.com review!

Transformers: Drift—Empire of Stone #2 (of 4)
Shane McCarthy (w) • Guido Guidi (a & c)
ONCE A DECEPTICON! DRIFT’s past comes back to haunt him, as RATCHET tries to drag him back to the Lost Light. But alone on a far-off world, DRIFT’s honor demands he stand his ground!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The fan-favorite Transformers character returns!
Ties in directly with MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

IDW Transformers #36 Review

Date: Friday, December 12th 2014 7:05am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, Reviews, Site Articles
Posted by: Va'al | Credit(s): IDW, Va'al

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Views: 86,208

Synopsis
DAYS OF DECEPTION! All-out war erupts on the streets of Tokyo when PROWL finally gets his hand on the one human he wants to get revenge on… and when PROWL gets revenge, it’s never pretty.



Story

We left the Earth crew of Cybertronians, both sides, to deal with Blackrock and the, so far not entirely understood, Onyx Interface ramifications - while on the other side, Decepticons under Galvatron and Soundwave may or may not be involved with humans too, and Thundercracker is still mulling over what he saw a while back.



Linearity? Not really. But John Barber's writing, and pacing of the different sides of the storylines running through, are clear to follow, and the framing of the story in Thundercracker's dealings with Soundwave, and Prowl's official motives, are a very good introduction to everything going on, without anyone really telling us as readers what that actually is.



The rest of the issue works through bike chases, Bourne or Bond style dealings, some Terminator type of sequences and sees the return of the relationship between Prowl and Arcee, now that the latter is aware of something being very wrong with the bulked-up cop and his intentions towards Spike. Or whatever is wrong with Prowl in general.



Barber is continuing to seed both Combiner Wars and a longer game from what I can tell, tinkering with characterisation for the key players, reintroducing the human factor without dwelling too long on it, showing actual interplay between the different sides and characters. And it works, it really does work throughout the whole issue, and undoubtedly will continue.


Art

With multiple storylines, the art was bound to playing around too, but the solution of having two distinct artist/colourist teams turned out to work even better than expected. Regulars Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez take the more-or-less main plot forward, with some fantastically executed action sequences, and great backgrounds - probably also thanks to Griffith's latest travels to Japan.



The Brendan Cahill and Joana Lafuente cooperation, however, is the big surprise in this issue. Looking after prologue, epilogue and flashbacks, the two conjure up a gorgeous sequence of panels, from storytelling, to linework, to colours to facial expressions - ranging from Buster to humans to Cybertronians alike, and it looks amazing.



The lettering, once more in the hands of Tom B. Long, adds to the already fantastic deployment of backgrounds and personal voices, with some simple and simply effective touches scattered throughout the story. To top it all off, there is an amazing collection of variant covers, from the Griffith/Perez Faireborn main one, Casey Coller and Lafuente taking over Spike and Prowl's connection (thumbnail), and a truly wonderful Alex Milne/Perez 30th Anniversary variant!


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

This was a very well-paced, nicely-framed action-packed espionage-cum-thriller science-fiction-y issue of a franchise known for its reluctance to fit into any genre box. John Barber continues to impress with his writing skills, and seems to have really found his writing stride after the Dark Cybertron event, keeping the mastery of sequential storytelling already there.



Visually, issue #36 is stunning. The scenes are well laid-out, Cahill and Griffith mesh exceedingly well together, and the presence of two colourists like Perez and Lafuente, who also combine so majestically just increases the enjoyment factor of the printed book. Days of Deception is not an arc to be missed.

Robots in Disguise #0 FCBD 2015 Edition Announced

Date: Thursday, December 11th 2014 12:15pm CST
Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: william-james88 | Credit(s): Diamond Distribution

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Views: 41,450

Diamond has just announced the 12 Gold Sponsor Comics for the upcoming Free Comic Book Day taking place May 2, 2015 at participating comic book shops worldwide.

One of those will be Transformers: Robots in Disguise #0, with the following solicit:

Transformers: Robots in Disguise #0—FCBD 2015 EDITION
IDW Publishing
(W) John Barber, Tom Scioli (A) Priscilla Tramontano, Scioli
(CA) Priscilla Tramontano
Optimus Prime is gone — and Decepticons are on the loose! It’s up to Bumblebee and an elite crew of Autobots to track them down before their rampage spreads across Earth! Transformers comics have never been hotter, and the excitement spreads to this all-original comic inspired by the all-new animated series! Plus: previews of IDW and Hasbro unbelievable publishing slate for 2015, including an exclusive Transformers vs. G.I. Joe strip!
32pgs, FC | FREE

It being part of the 12 Gold comics means that any comic book store hosting Free Comic Book day will have some to offer for free (Gold are usually ordered in greater quantities than silver). There will be a total of 50 free comics offered this year at Free Comic Book day.