3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1

Friday, January 22nd, 2021 12:21PM CST

Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: ZeroWolf Views: 30,019

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Greetings Seibertronians! Thanks to Josh Burcham (artist working on the forthcoming IDW Transformers Beast Wars comic) we've got our first preview of issue 1!

Check it out below!

IDW wrote:Celebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! In the future, the planet Cybertron belongs to the scientific-minded Maximals and the action-oriented Predacons! When a crew of Predacons, led by the successor to the Megatron name, steal a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, it’s up to Optimus Primal and his Maximal crew—Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and new character Nyx—to catch them! A brand-new Beast era begins in an oversized first issue by Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Transformers/Ghostbusters) and Josh Burcham (Transformers, Transformers Galaxies), yesssss!

This series is not a simple retelling of the Beast Wars story that we all know and love. Instead, they promise a few surprises in store, and have already bolstered the roster of not Maximals and Predacons with a new character each.

Will you be getting this series? Looking forward to what changes they may make? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Credit(s): Books.apple.com

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Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093385)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:28pm CST

Still sitting on the fence with this. If you wanted to make this "new" and "different", switch up the roster. There are plenty that went unsung.

If the one in red for example, is supposed to be Terrorsaur, that doesn't sound like him at all. Whereas this dialogue could easily apply to blank slates, such as Lazerbeak, Terranotron or Fractyl.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093388)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:40pm CST

I like what I see so far, looks and sounds good!

Burcham did confirm on Twitter that:

a) All the maximals guards are based on the Unit-3 toy from botcon 2016 and include Under-3 himself

b) he based Terrorsaur's color placement on his US OG toy, hence why it might look strange to some

c) Much like Beast Wars uprising, he designed a lot of the cybertronian modes to be easy customs of other toys (much like he already said with Nyx and Skold)

d) Scorponok also took design cues from his Club/Cotbon toy

e) they purposely left the "red vs red lighting" debate ambiguous again for the fun of it

f) yes, those are Wheeljack statues

Lots of good stuff here, I am excited!

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093390)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:51pm CST

So this isn't a book to celebrate the anniversary of the show after all? Just nods to irrelevant Convention stuff.
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093391)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:52pm CST

So, in this version, it seems that Megatron's Golden Disk theft was more of a coordinated effort supported by a complicit Tripredacus Council, rather than a completely rogue operation.

Also, the pics are kinda blurry. Here's some clearer ones:

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093393)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:00pm CST

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So this isn't a book to celebrate the anniversary of the show after all? Just nods to irrelevant Convention stuff.
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.

I don't think you could have misread my comments any more than you did.

It is incorporating things used for Botcon/the club, which made some very good BWU content, as someone who did read them. And by incorporating, it's using design cues for cybertronian forms. Literally nothing wrong with that nor is it copying any club story.

Tom Scioli did a great job yes, but he had his TF vs GI Joe stuff, I am excited to see what Burnham and Burcham have up their sleeves. New team, new ongoing. Same basic premise so far, but new takes, new designs, new content, new story

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093395)
Posted by Immortal Starscream on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:14pm CST

Interesting.

The art here imho screams of Transformers Animated. While I am a big fan of Animated, I am not sure how I feel about it in my Beast Wars. Neat to see them pay homage to the Botcon stuffs. Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it. More-over, I dig the name Galavar sounding a bit like Galvatron. Something poetic about a "Gal" getting an upgrade and changing his name to Megatron and not the reverse.

All that aside, not enough here to really make a judgement call imho. will have to wait and see.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093396)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:15pm CST

I didn't misread it, I just didn't see any of that celebrating the anniversary of the show. If they wanted to celebrate the Beast Era, there are plenty of context specific Tech Specs, Bios and Concept art to utilize. Not just fringe prose. Which there isn't anything wrong with using. It isn't their value that is the question. The merit to using them is.
The series proper largely left Maximal and Predacon Cybertronian forms ambiguous, much like Megatron's "original name". Why? Because they were details that don't really matter.

Scioli's TF vs. GI Joe is another great example of his work. Everyone was painted in a different light which made it interesting. King Rodimus, The Astrotrain etc, etc
That is how you homage the familiar, while making it new and your own.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093406)
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 22nd, 2021 @ 2:14pm CST

I kind of like the sound of "Galavar".

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093435)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 22nd, 2021 @ 5:31pm CST

Immortal Starscream wrote:Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it.

Once, yes, but it was in Uprising, so not exactly the Megatron who would take the name from the Covenant of Primus and start the Beast Wars.

In that version, he went by the name "Gnashteeth" (or just "Gnash", for short) before taking the name "Megatron". But when he first said that name, he subtly implied that it wasn't actually his real real name, merely just what he wanted people to call him, as though he wanted to maintain some degree of anonymity for some ulterior motive before he adopted the "Megatron" name and went public with it.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093470)
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 23rd, 2021 @ 11:47am CST

I reeeeeeeaaallllllly dislike the art style, and don’t really feel like it fits with Beast Wars. But whatever. I’ll get used to it.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093471)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 23rd, 2021 @ 11:48am CST

Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093475)
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 23rd, 2021 @ 1:18pm CST

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093477)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 23rd, 2021 @ 1:51pm CST

bluecatcinema wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.

No, none of them did. The more rounded design was the whole point of them being descendants.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093479)
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 23rd, 2021 @ 2:17pm CST

Ah, good ole ReBoot Megazord Megatron.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093480)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 23rd, 2021 @ 2:21pm CST

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:Ah, good ole ReBoot Megazord Megatron.

True!

One of the reasons I always thought Megatron didn't have a good design until his Season two Transmetal.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093538)
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 24th, 2021 @ 4:36pm CST

Greetings Seibertronians! Following the posting of April 2021 IDW comic solicitations here, freelance artist Josh Perez took to his Twitter Account to give fans an extra treat! The artist posted a clean look at his cover for issue #3 of IDW’S Transformers: Beast Wars ongoing! The cover is the Retailer Incentive, meaning that it is included for every ten copies a comic book store orders in.

The art work shows off all the major characters in the comic so far.

This is what Josh wrote in the tweet accompanying the image:

Josh Perez wrote:My cover for #IDW's #BeastWars issue 3 was shown off in solicitations: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/idw-transformers-comics-april-2021-solicitations/45615/
I figured I'd post the cover sans logos and stuff! Was a lot of fun and I really appreciate getting to do another cover for Transformers! (I wanted to wait a little but I got excited)

What do you think of the cover? Are you going to be trying out this series? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093539)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 24th, 2021 @ 4:38pm CST

What is it about the proportions of Primal that look so.. off, with this picture? :-?

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093543)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 24th, 2021 @ 4:58pm CST

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:What is it about the proportions of Primal that look so.. off, with this picture?

He's certainly a wide load.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093563)
Posted by TK415 on January 24th, 2021 @ 7:46pm CST

Anyone know or have a guess as to what kind of animal the new predacon is?

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093564)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 24th, 2021 @ 8:05pm CST

TK415 wrote:Anyone know or have a guess as to what kind of animal the new predacon is?

You mean Skold? She's a turtle. A virtual redeco of Snapper.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2093566)
Posted by TK415 on January 24th, 2021 @ 9:37pm CST

Awesome! Thanks Sabrblade! I had missed that.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094167)
Posted by william-james88 on February 1st, 2021 @ 11:29pm CST

A Review of Beast Wars #1

There may be spoilers to those who never watched the first episode of Beast Wars

I often see older fans ask for a straight up G1 reboot that is as close to possible to the original and I always think it would serve of no use. We already have lots of G1 reboots (like Cyberverse and Netflix's WFC) and if that's not G1 enough for you, then the original show is still there. With this first issue of Beast Wars, all that is reinforced for me. I am a huge Beast Wars fan and I never needed a remake of the first episode's opening segment. And yet, now we have one. So yeah, if you watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode of Beast Wars, very little in the comic will feel new. And the fact that it has random new characters makes that even more odd. So it's a faithful retelling, only not, which just makes it feel off. To all the Beast Wars fans out there, let me know if this scene rings a bell?

Most of the characterizations are as you'd imagine, with Optimus Primal being the one with the biggest change. He is far more of a hot head here, hoping for something exciting to happen and a shoot first kind of guy. That difference was interesting, as was seeing Megatron get the golden disk (though fans had already seen the Club's take on that in the past as well). There isn't much in terms of story beyond that since as soon as they get their beast modes, the issue just stops. What we get in terms of story is not bad at all, but it is a complete retread so that we can proceed to more stories within the exact same premise. I am pretty sure that the following issues will be different stories than what we saw (at least not as identical) but the fact that we had to go through all the motions again wasn't exciting. Especially not with this art accompanying it.

So let's get to the art. As with the story itself, it is not bad, at all. As a sequential artist, Josh Burcham is a beast (ha!), and I really liked seeing all the characters in their cybertronian bodies first. I's something I always wanted to see in the original show and it was fun guessing who is who.

All that good stuff aside, I just didn't feel this Scotty Young type art style was the right fit. It also feels very bare. The backgrounds themselves were rather bland in this comic. And the lack of detail simply does not work with the organic beast modes, some of which look terrible (especially the new Nyx character). There's a part dedicated to explaining the fur found on Primal's gorilla body and yet all we see is just black with some non contrasting flecks. It felt like the writing was at odds with the art or Burcham simply took too much on by providing every aspect of the art from "penciling" to colouring.

In the end, the issue was ok. Not great, but not bad either. Nothing new or exciting for me as a Beast Wars fan but I will definitely give it a chance since I can see how the repetition here could be a necessary evil to set up a similar premise to the show we all love. And the art is the same as the cover we have seen for months. If you were not on board then this issue won't change your mind.

I give this issue 3 gorilla hairs out of 5

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094168)
Posted by Sabrblade on February 1st, 2021 @ 11:44pm CST

In the spirit of fairness, the pilot episode of Beast Wars wasn't that spectacular either, with it mostly being about how Cheetor is an idjit, Rattrap is a jerk, and Optimus is a frustrated noob. And I say that as both a diehard BW fan and one whose favorite character as a child was Cheetor.

The show had to grow to get good, which I expect will be a similar case for this series.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094169)
Posted by william-james88 on February 1st, 2021 @ 11:59pm CST

Sabrblade wrote:In the spirit of fairness, the pilot episode of Beast Wars wasn't that spectacular either, with it mostly being about how Cheetor is an idjit, Rattrap is a jerk, and Optimus is a frustrated noob. And I say that as both a diehard BW fan and one whose favorite character as a child was Cheetor.

The show had to grow to get good, which I expect will be a similar case for this series.

Yes that's fair. And when this series gets good, I'll rate it as such.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094176)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on February 2nd, 2021 @ 3:22am CST

I gotta say, the art is a turn off. The angular style just doesn't work for organic characters. If they had stayed in their robot modes for the duration, it would be less distracting, but as it is, it just doesn't fit. Hopefully the quality of the story will overcome it in future issues. I really want to give this title a chance, but I'm cautious.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094177)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on February 2nd, 2021 @ 3:30am CST

It’s like, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

Beast Wars is already pretty frikkin perfect, I don’t understand why we need a reboot series. Why not a sequel series that isn’t Beast Machines? That’d be rad.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094197)
Posted by angtre on February 2nd, 2021 @ 7:39am CST

The art style is a turn off, however I'll give it a couple of issues. Still for the time being, I feel like a Quintesson Judge.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094207)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on February 2nd, 2021 @ 8:29am CST

Nemesis Maximo wrote:It’s like, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

Beast Wars is already pretty frikkin perfect, I don’t understand why we need a reboot series. Why not a sequel series that isn’t Beast Machines? That’d be rad.

^ 100% this.

I did speculate earlier that this all sounded ominously like reruns. The fact that a cover for one of the later solicitations looks like 'The Web', but with Bat-Girl in place of Cheetor. That doesn't bode well.

I'd already pre-ordered issue one. I think I'll go to issue two before deciding to drop it, or not.

As most here have been saying for a while, this artstyle really doesn't fit with Beast Wars. That Gorilla Mode image, really hammers that home.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094211)
Posted by Immortal Starscream on February 2nd, 2021 @ 8:43am CST

I think it is a neat reboot, all things considered. my only criticisms here were already covered in the review, but I will echo them anyway. Primal feels off. Kind of how Netflix's Prime feels off, but not near as bad. The art style really bugs me. its not bad, not by a long shot. (this can be seen as facetious, given how... not great the original beast wars animation has aged) The art here is clearly brining the A-game, but it feels like the wrong choice for our beastie-bots. I get very "Transformers Animated" vibes from it. (I loved animated btw, so it's not a dig on that style)

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094214)
Posted by TulioDude on February 2nd, 2021 @ 8:50am CST

Not feeling the art.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094215)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on February 2nd, 2021 @ 8:56am CST

Just coming in to say that, as a long time fan of Burcham's art, I really do like it. clearly I am in disagreement with most here, but I do like the art. And honestly, gorilla mode Primal to me looks good and I like it, especially the fur in the fingers when he's rubbing his arm.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094216)
Posted by ZeroWolf on February 2nd, 2021 @ 9:10am CST

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Just coming in to say that, as a long time fan of Burcham's art, I really do like it. clearly I am in disagreement with most here, but I do like the art. And honestly, gorilla mode Primal to me looks good and I like it, especially the fur in the fingers when he's rubbing his arm.

I agree with you D-Max, I was just coming to say the same thing. I enjoy this art, the resemblance to Animated, one of the best entries in the franchise, makes it all the better.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094218)
Posted by william-james88 on February 2nd, 2021 @ 9:25am CST

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:As most here have been saying for a while, this artstyle really doesn't fit with Beast Wars. That Gorilla Mode image, really hammers that home.

And you didn't see the worst one yet

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094219)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on February 2nd, 2021 @ 9:28am CST

william-james88 wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:As most here have been saying for a while, this artstyle really doesn't fit with Beast Wars. That Gorilla Mode image, really hammers that home.

And you didn't see the worst one yet

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094222)
Posted by ScottyP on February 2nd, 2021 @ 10:20am CST

I thought it was really darn good. Haven't had this much fun reading a Transformers comic in a long time now. The writing is expressive, the art elevates both the story and characters and the creative team's love really shines through. The beast forms are jarring at first, yeah. They're supposed to be. Cybertronians just got faux-realistic-animal alt modes, it's weird, yep, but also part of the charm.

Even if you're not crazy about the designs themselves, the art is more expressive and has better sequential work than anything in the Ruckley books. Not being tied down by toy designs really helps.

Just wanted to throw in my two cents as another staff member while leaving things a bit vague to avoid spoilers. I think anyone that enjoyed Beast Wars will really like this take on it, so far it's the same general story but with a lot more detail and some (so far) minor differences.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094223)
Posted by o.supreme on February 2nd, 2021 @ 10:38am CST

william-james88 wrote:I often see older fans ask for a straight up G1 reboot that is as close to possible to the original and I always think it would serve of no use. We already have lots of G1 reboots (like Cyberverse and Netflix's WFC) and if that's not G1 enough for you, then the original show is still there. With this first issue of Beast Wars, all that is reinforced for me.

There is a huge difference however in that The original Series was left unfinished. There are so many characters not introduced, and so many time periods to explore (War on Cybertron, 20 year gap between S2 and TFTM, post Rebirth etc...). Fans don't WANT a reboot, as that has been done, and each one is a splinter, still NOT the Original Series. What fans want is a continuation.

BW was a completed story. Beginning, Middle, End and was quite satisfactory , it even got a 2 year addendum in Beast Machines while not as well liked, still extended the lives of those characters longer. Yes we still have those original 98 episodes, and TFTM. Nothing will ever take that away. But in 37 years, no matter how many split universe "takes" have been made on The Original Transformers, we still have yet to return to that original universe, and we are still waiting.

For what it's worth I actually enjoyed The Gathering/Ascending series (IDW first attempt at BW), as it was different, and wasn't a retelling of the completed show. I can understand peoples resistance to this new series.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094225)
Posted by william-james88 on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:11am CST

o.supreme wrote:Fans don't WANT a reboot, as that has been done, and each one is a splinter, still NOT the Original Series. What fans want is a continuation.

I can definitely get behind that. What I wrote does reflect what I have been reading online for years now with some G1 fans really wanting a modern G1 reboot, telling the same stories again but with modern animation, pacing ect.

Don't the G1 comics offer some type of continuation? You get a lot more stories taking place within the G1 lore with characters the show never had.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094226)
Posted by Randomhero on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:15am CST

Scotty Young? Seriously. How is anyone comparing this to Scotty Young and not Geoff Senior? That’s exactly what Josh is doing. His art is very Geoff Senior.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094229)
Posted by o.supreme on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:27am CST

william-james88 wrote:Don't the G1 comics offer some type of continuation? You get a lot more stories taking place within the G1 lore with characters the show never had.

IDW does offer more stories yes, however the personalities of those characters diverge greatly from the original animated series. So much so that again I call it a splinter, I can't even call it the thing you are calling it. It's not always a bad thing, however most of the time, the changes, for me, were in the negative. I actually read/owned every issue of IDW from November of 2006, until it's conclusion in November of 2018. By the end, I was just so sick of it, I sold my entire collection on eBay just about this time last year, and haven't even bothered to look at the new IDW continuity. The highlight for me will always be All Hail Megatron. But 12 Great issues in 400+ of everything ranging from dull-as-dishwater boring (furmans early stuff) to things I found to be outright offensive in later years I just cannot support. For all it's flaws businesswise DW offered a much more palatable version of the original characters in terms of the printed page for me. I was actually looking forward to their take on BW as well (Anyone remember the online vote BW vs RiD, which would get a new series?), alas, it never happened.

As I've not read (and wont) read this new BW series, I can't objectively give an opinion. Also, even when I vehemently dislike something, I do have to concede that if someone else is gaining enjoyment form it, then it is probably worth it for them. If they spend the money, and support it, more power to them.

If Transformers is always to be the 3 pronged self-promoting machine of Toys, Animation, and Print Media, things seem to be going in cycles. Unfortunately for me, all 3 cylinders haven't been firing at once in a long time. It's usually just one, or two, but never three. But as long as one still fires, I can still show interest. If ever a time comes that the machine completely fails for me, that will be a sad day.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094230)
Posted by william-james88 on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:30am CST

o.supreme wrote:IDW does offer more stories yes, however the personalities of those characters diverge greatly from the original animated series. So much so that again I call it a splinter, I can't even call it the thing you are calling it.

I meant the actual g1 comics, from Marvel. They give you a lot more stories within the G1 lore.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094232)
Posted by o.supreme on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:35am CST

william-james88 wrote:
o.supreme wrote:IDW does offer more stories yes, however the personalities of those characters diverge greatly from the original animated series. So much so that again I call it a splinter, I can't even call it the thing you are calling it.

I meant the actual g1 comics, from Marvel. They give you a lot more stories within the G1 lore.

I do enjoy those to a degree yes. As mentioned previously, I did sell all my comics last year. IDW I was happy to get rid of but Marvel and DW I just sold to make extra money. I wouldn't mind reacquiring all the Marvel and DW issues in digital format if they were readily available. I know IDW offers most of their stuff digitally now, just not sure about Marvel & DW.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094233)
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:38am CST

The thing is G1 can be made into anything, as Sunbow was the most bare bones of all TF series. Plus when it comes to G1, most association is made with the cartoon, over the comics. So long as Prime is a truck, Starscream is a Jet etc the rest is extremely malleable.

Beast Wars was complete, it didn't need a "new take" of the exact same thing. A derivate rehash. It doesn't need to be turned into The Hobbit Trilogy or the Star Wars Special Editions. There is at least two thirds of the Beast Era cast that could be elevated and/or focused on. Beyond the show rosters. There is also the post-Beast Machines future I mentioned a few pages back.

For the record, Furman's run, upto and including The Last Stand of The Wreckers, was the only worthwhile bit of IDWverse. The rest, post-DoOP... You won't miss out on any great TF prose by skipping it.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094234)
Posted by ZeroWolf on February 2nd, 2021 @ 11:39am CST

Greetings Seibertronians! Following on from our review of Issue #1 of IDWs newest Transformers comic, Beast Wars, we now bring you the full preview!

Check it out below!

IDW wrote:Celebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! In the future, the planet Cybertron belongs to the scientific-minded Maximals and the action-oriented Predacons! When a crew of Predacons, led by the successor to the Megatron name, steal a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, it’s up to Optimus Primal and his Maximal crew—Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and new character Nyx—to catch them! A brand-new Beast era begins in an oversized first issue by Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Transformers/Ghostbusters) and Josh Burcham (Transformers, Transformers Galaxies), yesssss!

This issue is scheduled for release tomorrow.

Will you be picking up/ downloading this issue tomorrow? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094241)
Posted by Nexus Knight on February 2nd, 2021 @ 12:06pm CST

No matter how many times I see it, the "No Incidents" joke is still going to be funny for me.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094244)
Posted by Sabrblade on February 2nd, 2021 @ 12:11pm CST

I do like the look of the Cybertronian environments. Very Beast Machines.

Even got the scarred moon in there. Nice.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094249)
Posted by ScottyP on February 2nd, 2021 @ 12:37pm CST

Randomhero wrote:Scotty Young? Seriously. How is anyone comparing this to Scotty Young and not Geoff Senior? That’s exactly what Josh is doing. His art is very Geoff Senior.

QFT. Other than the faces and some of the ink work they're very similar styles, so it's weird how the reactions are so different.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094250)
Posted by Spider5800 on February 2nd, 2021 @ 12:44pm CST

Who's the seventh Predacon? The one with Waspinator and Tarantulus complaining about how loud it is? It's not Megatron, and Terrorsaur, Dinobot and Skorponok were getting the golden disk. New character, like Nyx?

I'm actually really digging the art, so kinda sad so many seem to dislike it. Will try to pick this up this weekend.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094251)
Posted by TheAmazingBrave on February 2nd, 2021 @ 12:55pm CST

I had to look up who Scottie Young was, and comparing him to Burcham is a disservice to that man. His art style is far more expressive, far more dynamic, and far more organic looking. I know Burcham has gotten a lot of flak and hate for his art style, but I can only be so delicate with my critique. It's stiff, flat, and I just can't empathize with a character when the only range of emotions they can express is sideways sonic the hedgehog mouth.
The only thing I can credit the guy with is his coloring. Holy cow, the coloring. When I think of MTMTE and Lost Light, I think of that muted, faded pastel palette he used during the first few issues of that series and the various Wreckers comics. It makes the colors pop without being too vibrant and cheerful, while also giving that worn and aged look without succumbing to the intoxicating levels of GRUNGE overlays that Livio Ramondelli likes to slap on their art. It kind of reminds me of sun damaged box art, and I suspect that was the inspiration behind those colors, which is honestly brilliant. He's probably on par with Sara Stone as my favorite colorist when it comes to comics.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094262)
Posted by Randomhero on February 2nd, 2021 @ 2:40pm CST

TheAmazingBrave wrote:I had to look up who Scottie Young was, and comparing him to Burcham is a disservice to that man. His art style is far more expressive, far more dynamic, and far more organic looking. I know Burcham has gotten a lot of flak and hate for his art style, but I can only be so delicate with my critique. It's stiff, flat, and I just can't empathize with a character when the only range of emotions they can express is sideways sonic the hedgehog mouth.
The only thing I can credit the guy with is his coloring. Holy cow, the coloring. When I think of MTMTE and Lost Light, I think of that muted, faded pastel palette he used during the first few issues of that series and the various Wreckers comics. It makes the colors pop without being too vibrant and cheerful, while also giving that worn and aged look without succumbing to the intoxicating levels of GRUNGE overlays that Livio Ramondelli likes to slap on their art. It kind of reminds me of sun damaged box art, and I suspect that was the inspiration behind those colors, which is honestly brilliant. He's probably on par with Sara Stone as my favorite colorist when it comes to comics.

That’s why I will disagree with anyone who compares Burcham and young. They’re apples and oranges. As I said if you want a solid comparison with Josh’s it’s Geoff Senior. They’re art styles are very similar and you can tell just by looking at Josh’s art he’s an avid fan of old school transformers comics by Senior and he’s an inspiration. Both are very flat(not a bad thing to me) and a sharp edges(also not a bad thing) and while being very VERY expressive but it also Josh’s art. You can tell it’s him. I’ll take that over several veteran artists. I’ll take this art over the terrible storytelling of Don Figueroa in the first couple beast wars comics of 13+ Years ago where Don couldn’t convey anything except standing around or posing in panels that just didn’t feel fluid.

If there’s any transformers artist to compare to Young it’s Roche. Especially his early work like Spotlight Kup.

Re: 3 Page Preview of IDW Transformers Beast Wars #1 (2094329)
Posted by Sabrblade on February 3rd, 2021 @ 10:25am CST

A brief fan review of the first issue:

First issue was a solid read. You get a real feel for many of the characters, and how they're going to differ from their original BW counterparts. This is a new take on Primal, which works very well. He's itching for adventure, and he's about to get it. The relationship between Rhinox and Primal gets more development in a couple panels than all the episodes of the first season combined. Rattrap is his old self.

Megatron is written flawlessly, and exactly as you remember him in his scene-chewing glory. The other Preds at least have some characterization in the brief panels they appear, but it's clear: Megatron is pushing this narrative forward. The seeds for Dinobots eventual face turn are in the preview pages, so I don't feel I'm spoiling anything there. And Waspinator is a pilot!

The Comixology version features sketches of the characters in their Cybertronian forms, both robot and vehicle. This was a neat feature that I assume the paper version will also have?

Similarities to the show: The planet the crew lands on has two moons, and floating mountains are implied in the background. There's a golden disc. They need to stay in beast mode largely for plot device reasons. And when the Axalon got pulled into the transwarp field, the '90s metal guitar riff from the show went through my mind.

If you liked the show, give this book a chance. If you like a fun narrative with well-defined characters, give this book a chance. The first issue shows promise.

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