February 25, 2023

Reviewing Transformers Comic Runs> IDW part 2

Any joke I can make about a “badass female” is ruined by IDW’s origin.

Here we are at the final installment until the next comic license comes out. Yes, I’m pre-empting Saturday Night Showcase to get this done because it’s the last one. I’ve already looked at Marvel US’s run, the Dreamwave run, and after a brief overview of IDW’s run via Transformers: The Basics I looked at everything I thought IDW got right that came to mind. Now though it’s time for the ill deeds. There’s a lot more of these.

I grant you that any review is balanced with the reviewer’s opinion. Things I hate may be things you like. That’s fine. We all have our own tastes, though there will be things on this list that are actually bad from a technical perspective. Much of it however is my personal bias and what I want to see out of a Transformers universe. Where do we start? How about the one longtime BW readers knows is coming.

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Posted by on February 25, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , , .

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February 24, 2023

Reviewing Transformers Comic Runs> IDW part 1

Cybertron’s most friendly Transformer.

As noted in yesterday’s video set IDW is the longest running licensee of Transformers comics. That means doing the review the same way I did the others would be a tad more difficult to pull off. There’s more to discuss for one thing, which means more to do right and more to screw up. It also means more to catch non-readers up on, which is why I did the video set yesterday–and now that I think about it I should have done the same for Dreamwave, which Chris McFeely also went over for The Basics. Even for an overview those videos help out.

Because of all that I’m doing a two-part finale to this set of articles. We’ve already looked at Marvel and Dreamwave, but for this last one I’m going to stop in various periods or titles. Part 1 will focus on all the stuff I liked about IDW’s run while part 2, and our final part of this series, will focus on everything I don’t like. Let’s see which list is longer.

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Posted by on February 24, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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February 24, 2023

BW’s Daily Video: Breaking The Toys

Catch more from Comics By Perch on YouTube

This works for more than just comics or even just comic adaptations. It seems like the current crowd wants to break all the “old toys” to replace them with their own shiny new toys with less nostalgia but more what they want.

Posted by on February 24, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , .

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February 23, 2023

A “Basic” Summary Of IDW’s Transformers Comic Run

As the longest run of Transformers comics, featuring multiple “phases” of they main story, and even a “2.0” reboot, the IDW Transformers comics run is going to be too hard for me to summarize, and that’s not even getting into the tie-ins and Hearts Of Steel. I’m doing this series as an “easy post” as I go through a major decluttering project that keeps kicking my skid plate as I go through it, so my easy post needs an easy post. So I want us all up to speed before I go over what I like and don’t like about their run. SPOILER: mostly the latter, and I’ll get into that over the next post or two.

In order to get us all on the same page when it comes to my reviews, because as it is I’ve unintentionally written the reviews in a way that reading the comics or seeing my reviewers are almost a requirement–and I apologize for that–I’m tapping into a series of videos from Chris McFeely’s Transformers: The Basics YouTube series to summarize the important details that will be brought up in my discussion. Some of them predate the reboot while others are only focused on what happened in the main books at the time. This is a basics of Basics on IDW’s Transformers run.

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Posted by on February 23, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , , .

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February 23, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> The Lion King And VeggieTales Share An Animator

Catch more from The Corridor Crew on YouTube

Also check out Tom Bancroft’s YouTube channel Pencilish Studios and his podcast

 

Posted by on February 23, 2023 in Animation Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , .

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February 22, 2023

Reviewing Transformers Comic Runs> Dreamwave

After the license with Marvel Comics ended, odd given how Marvel was responsible for the entire story of the Transformers in the first place, there were no new comics. Well, no official comics as some pretty good fan comics hit the internet and I think Japan put a few things out, but while the toylines and cartoons continued with Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Machine Wars, and the Car Robot release that was the first Robots In Disguise line nothing licenced in the US was put out. It was an empty time for comic-reading Transformers fans.

Then Wizard did an article where writers were brought in to draw classic franchises in modern art styles, back when nostalgia was considered a positive thing instead of something to be attacked and embarrassed into hiding so the “better new stuff” could take over on the reasoning that it’s new. The big standout was a piece by artist Pat Lee featuring the Autobots and Decepticons, a modern art piece that captured the spirit of the art pieces of the toy packaging but in a more comic style. This led to Lee eventually getting the license thanks to fan support, and thus Transformers returned through Dreamwave

ave Productions, Lee’s new comic studio and publishing company.

Ask me what comic incarnation makes me the most nostalgic and I’ll say the Marvel run, at least during the Budiansky period. Ask me what my favorite is and I’ll tell you Dreamwave. Something about the creators and editors assembled for this project just really worked. Even Furman’s stories I didn’t just not hate but actually enjoyed. That’s a miracle if you saw part one of this series. Even things that annoy me in other runs were just more enjoyable in this one. So why did Dreamwave fail? It wasn’t the work.

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Posted by on February 22, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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February 22, 2023

BW’s Daily Article Link> YouNeek Studios

Critics of race swaps, especially in mythology based on European folklore, wonder why nobody has considered tapping into African folklore to make something unique in fantasies and superheroes. It is relatively untapped as previous stories come from British, French, Japanese, Incan or Native American influences…to varying degrees of fidelity mind you. During a Free Comic Book Day preview a few years ago we were introduced to someone doing just that with YouNeek Studios, creating a universe centered around African mythology and thus not using white people in a story that makes sense not to have white people, while tapping a new source of mythology besides European or Japanese folklore. ICv2 looks into this studio’s new projects through Dark Horse. Frankly it sounds interesting. Now I just need someone to tell me if I’m allowed to read it. Also check out their own website with more offerings and their own app service.

Can’t we just enjoy good comic and comic ideas anymore and build up the format with unique story and genre exploration?

Posted by on February 22, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged , .

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