The Energon Pub

[Quint]

Another anti-Lawrence rant:

The art is a significant backward step for the title.

Just as TF comics were emerging from the stigma of cutesy toy adverts for kids, we get this pseudo-super deformed regression.

Is there beef between Roberts and Milne? There seemed to be some undercurrent of perceived attrition in the last Milne interview I read (possibly on this site). Then there's his demotion to co-lead artist and the way they (didn't) tell him.

Swallow your pride IDW / Roberts and get Milne back in as the lead.

At the very least, get Lawrence to buck his ideas up; remind him that the mean age in this title's demographic is 20 years older than his style suggests!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Another anti-Lawrence rant:

The art is a significant backward step for the title.

Just as TF comics were emerging from the stigma of cutesy toy adverts for kids, we get this pseudo-super deformed regression.

Is there beef between Roberts and Milne? There seemed to be some undercurrent of perceived attrition in the last Milne interview I read (possibly on this site). Then there's his demotion to co-lead artist and the way they (didn't) tell him.

Swallow your pride IDW / Roberts and get Milne back in as the lead.

At the very least, get Lawrence to buck his ideas up; remind him that the mean age in this title's demographic is 20 years older than his style suggests!

I'm not sure about beef between Milne and Roberts, but Milne found out he was not primary artist via Twitter and IDW didn't tell him he was being demoted. Twitter suggests IDW was supposed to tell Milne and didn't, and Roberts assumed he knew as he announced Lawrence coming on and drawing the first story arc.

[Kurona]

Am I really the only one who has no problem with Lawrence...? His art looks fantastic and I really don't see a problem with it. In fact it was a pretty seamless continuation and transition from MTMTE for me - it just looks right, fits the series and honestly looks a lot like it used to while bringing it's own unique flair into the mix. I can see why it'd be distracting to get used to a new artist but I'm certainly not understanding the outright hatred for it.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

It looks too cartoony. Milne has a very straight-edged and highly detailed look to his work, with a flair that stuck out and made me love the series. Lawrence feels like he is exaggerating several key features, such as chins and faces in general, and makes it distractedly cartoony compared to the Milne we are used to, similar to the later Windblade issues, just not that extreme.

He mimmicks Milnes style, but he takes his own flair, and it doesn't work for me. Roche can take Milne art and still make it gritty and works it, but Lawrence feels too cartoony for me to appreciate

[partholon]

I'm not sure about beef between Milne and Roberts, but Milne found out he was not primary artist via Twitter and IDW didn't tell him he was being demoted. Twitter suggests IDW was supposed to tell Milne and didn't, and Roberts assumed he knew as he announced Lawrence coming on and drawing the first story arc.

see this is where this site is great.



i had no idea about any of that. i just thought he'd burnt out as mines styles is deceptively complicated and he's been on the book longer than some golden age runs.

IMO that was an incredibly shoddy way to treat the guy on IDWs behalf.

its incredibly frustrating from my POV now that the books that used to have some of the best art at IDW now all seem to have guys the would be more suited to the throwaway comics they stick in the Japanese toys.

i was willing to put up with crap art when no one wanted to draw the book and i was still guaranteed a furman story in the 90s , but these days i expect faaaar more.

[ScottyP]

i was willing to put up with crap art when no one wanted to draw the book and i was still guaranteed a furman story in the 90s , but these days i expect faaaar more.

Ignoring for the moment that we generally disagree on the art, there's a saying in business that I think is prudent given the sorry state of the print comics industry right now (as I understand it to be, which is probably an incomplete understanding):

"You can have it fast, good, or cheap. Pick Two."

We've got three dedicated TF monthly books at $3.99 each. $12 for 60 pages every month, often much less for subscribers. This is ignoring the other 7 (yep.) Hasbro Universe books, of which two (maybe three, we'll see where Micronauts goes) are more or less directly related to the TF storyline.

Right now there's a lot of content coming at us very quickly. I can see the appeal in going with pencils/inks/whatnot that are a little simpler overall.

[william-james88]

I didnt know where else to ask but, do we know what Ravage's alt mode is in IDW before he died? I know he was a casette early on but did he become a memory stick like Rewind later?

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I didnt know where else to ask but, do we know what Ravage's alt mode is in IDW before he died? I know he was a casette early on but did he become a memory stick like Rewind later?

We never saw any indication he was anything but a cassette-former

[Va'al]

After the April 2017 solicits for the IDW Publishing Transformers comics came out earlier this week, we also have some additional variant covers to show for Lost Light #3 and Lost Light #5, courtesy of their artist teams (Alex Milne, Nick Roche, Josh Burcham, Josh Perez). Check them out below, featuring both old and new friends!

(W) James Roberts (A) Jack Lawrence (CA) Nelson Daniel, Alex Milne
Orders, kind gestures and pleas for mercy-all things that WHIRL finds it very easy to ignore. Right now, he wishes he could turn a blind eye to the freshly resuscitated monster who-somewhat inconveniently-is determined to beat him to death. Meanwhile-a long way away-one of the Transformers Universe's longest-running mysteries is about to be solved...

[Big Grim]

Man, I love the Special Snowflake cover!

[galvatron00]

Figured I'd throw it out there, was anyone else able to pick up Lost Light #2 on the IDW app the other day? I did, and it downloaded to my iPhone, but when I tried to access it on the iPad it said "Release on 2/1"

Whoops.

Pretty good stuff though. I'm digging this storyline.

[Randomhero]

Figured I'd throw it out there, was anyone else able to pick up Lost Light #2 on the IDW app the other day? I did, and it downloaded to my iPhone, but when I tried to access it on the iPad it said "Release on 2/1"

Whoops.

Pretty good stuff though. I'm digging this storyline.

I did. I stated it a couple days ago it showed up for a probably 15-30 minutes Tuesday night.

[galvatron00]

Figured I'd throw it out there, was anyone else able to pick up Lost Light #2 on the IDW app the other day? I did, and it downloaded to my iPhone, but when I tried to access it on the iPad it said "Release on 2/1"

Whoops.

Pretty good stuff though. I'm digging this storyline.

I did. I stated it a couple days ago it showed up for a probably 15-30 minutes Tuesday night.

I picked it up around noonish EST on Wednesday (hooray new comic book day!!). That's crazy if it showed up on Tuesday too!!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Screenrant has published a Transformers-related list in the form of a Top 15 reasons why Lost Light is the greatest story in the franchise! As many of us remember, More Than Meets The Eye was a very good book that was highly praised and awarded during its run, and the story continues on as Lost Light with issue 2 coming out next week.

You can read the whole list by going to the above link, and we have quoted part of the list below for you to read. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Transformers sometimes get a bad rap, but historically, the breeding ground for great storytelling in the world of Autobots and Decepticons has been in comic books. Bob Budiansky and Simon Furman conceived the lion’s share of what have become the basic cornerstones of the Transformers universe through Marvel’s Transformers comic in the ’80s and ’90s.

The current Transformers comics are produced by IDW, and while every series they’re currently producing is at the very least good, there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest: James Roberts’ Transformers: Lost Light.

Originally titled More Than Meets The Eye, the recently rebranded series tells the story of a ragtag group of post-war Cybertronians ostensibly on a mission to find the mythic Knights of Cybertron. That’s not what the book is really about though; it’s a story of freedom, redemption, romance, and family. It is equal parts hilarious and terrifying. It’s the best fiction ever associated with the franchise, and it’s not even a close race.

.....

13. DEVELOPMENT OF D-LIST CHARACTERS INTO FAN FAVORITES

Remember when you were a kid, desperately scouring Toys ‘R’ Us for the newest Grimlock or Starscream figures only to find shelves overflowing with the mediocre toy of some character you’d never heard of? The affectionate term coined for such toys is “pegwarmers.” The Lost Light is practically overflowing with pegwarmers.

Part of Roberts’ genius early on was making a conscious decision not to lean too heavily on the established icons of the Transformers mythos. A lot of those characters are compelling, but they have decades worth of storytelling baggage and expectations. Taking obscure, little-loved characters that had largely been ignored by the pre-existing fiction and grafting complex, surprising personalities onto them provided the crew of the Lost Light with a genuine breath of fresh air.

There’s Tailgate, a diminutive, endlessly enthusiastic Autobot who accidentally slept through the entire war; Brainstorm, an absolute genius inventor who is just a bit too amoral to be wearing that Autobot insignia; and Skids, a highly skilled theoretician with some alarming holes in his memory. It’s a sprawling, eclectic cast, though a few characters definitely stand out from the rest…

.....

7. THE SCAVENGERS

Imagine you’re a soldier in a universe spanning war that’s been going on for millions of years. You’re not a good soldier; there’s a decent chance you’re among the very worst. You’re in such a remote part of the universe that when the war ends, nobody bothers to tell you. You eventually figure out you’re on your own, and you were on the losing side of the war. What do you do?

That’s the scenario that faces the Scavengers, a group of absolutely anonymous Decepticon grunts. They have exactly one thing in common with the nightmarish Overlord: they have no real loyalty to Megatron or the Decepticon cause. They’re just trying to survive by whatever means necessary, dodging the gaze of more serious Decepticon outfits, and taking on surprising allies, like the brain-damaged Autobot warrior Grimlock. The book only periodically visits these Decepticon counterparts to the main cast, but the characters are just as fully realized and compelling as the crew of the Lost Light.

.....

5. THE REVOLUTIONARY ARTWORK

While James Roberts rightly fields the majority of the praise for the book’s success, Lost Light wouldn’t be what it is without its stable of artists. The book was launched with the sublime Nick Roche on pencils, and Jack Lawrence has recently taken the reins to great effect, but Roberts’ true partner in this endeavor has been Alex Milne.

Milne got his start working on Transformers during the infamous period when Dreamwave held the license, ghosting for that company’s owner and self-proclaimed “superstar” artist, Pat Lee. If anything positive came out of the embarrassing, litigious Dreamwave debacle, it was Milne. His work brims with painstaking detail, and no one has ever had the ability to infuse life into robots the way he can. He has the uncanny ability to let his characters emote without ever veering into cartoonish excess. The book is as defined by his visual flair as it is Roberts’ meticulous plotting. His future on the title is, at the moment, a bit unclear, but it’s difficult to imagine reading these characters for an extended period of time without his influence.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Gotta agree with this list, makes a compelling case.

Gotta love that they took a shot at the art and how Milne really is the star of the series. He is. His art is the legitimate best of the Transformers world

[Carnivius_Prime]

Sorry, I've tried multiple times to get into IDW stories but they just don't do it for me. Glad they're doing ok for most folk though.

[Deadput]

Really?

MtMTE is enjoyable to read it really is but the greatest?

I don't really think it's the god tier Shakespeare story telling of the franchise especially since season 2 was overall disappointing for most of it.


Part of why it was great was because of Alex Milne's amazing art but with him mostly gone besides filling in for an issue for another series it becomes less enjoyable when they get sub par in comparisons artists that have a different tone.

[lowman_x]

Part of why it was great was because of Alex Milne's amazing art but with him mostly gone besides filling in for an issue for another series it becomes less enjoyable when they get sub par in comparisons artists that have a different tone.

I have to agree with you there. I enjoy Lawrence's work, but the style is a real step-in-a-too-cartoony-direction for my tastes, especially after Milne's detailed stuff. I could see Lawrence teaming with Sara on Til All Are One and really gelling with that book's vibe and look and really doing well there, but it's throwing me off a bit in Lost Light.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Part of why it was great was because of Alex Milne's amazing art but with him mostly gone besides filling in for an issue for another series it becomes less enjoyable when they get sub par in comparisons artists that have a different tone.

I have to agree with you there. I enjoy Lawrence's work, but the style is a real step-in-a-too-cartoony-direction for my tastes, especially after Milne's detailed stuff. I could see Lawrence teaming with Sara on Til All Are One and really gelling with that book's vibe and look and really doing well there, but it's throwing me off a bit in Lost Light.

It's an issue with me too. The art is what is throwing me off the book and making it not as enjoyable.

[ricemazter]

Part of why it was great was because of Alex Milne's amazing art but with him mostly gone besides filling in for an issue for another series it becomes less enjoyable when they get sub par in comparisons artists that have a different tone.

I have to agree with you there. I enjoy Lawrence's work, but the style is a real step-in-a-too-cartoony-direction for my tastes, especially after Milne's detailed stuff. I could see Lawrence teaming with Sara on Til All Are One and really gelling with that book's vibe and look and really doing well there, but it's throwing me off a bit in Lost Light.

It's an issue with me too. The art is what is throwing me off the book and making it not as enjoyable.

Honestly, I think Alex Milne spoiled us rotten in terms of art, which makes it really hard to accept any substitutes. One thing I do appreciate is that LL isn't trying to emulate Milne the way some other artists tended to, but he was almost too good.

This might be a good opportunity to see if Robert's story telling can do most of the legwork, without relying on something beautiful to look at constantly.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Part of why it was great was because of Alex Milne's amazing art but with him mostly gone besides filling in for an issue for another series it becomes less enjoyable when they get sub par in comparisons artists that have a different tone.

I have to agree with you there. I enjoy Lawrence's work, but the style is a real step-in-a-too-cartoony-direction for my tastes, especially after Milne's detailed stuff. I could see Lawrence teaming with Sara on Til All Are One and really gelling with that book's vibe and look and really doing well there, but it's throwing me off a bit in Lost Light.

It's an issue with me too. The art is what is throwing me off the book and making it not as enjoyable.

Honestly, I think Alex Milne spoiled us rotten in terms of art, which makes it really hard to accept any substitutes. One thing I do appreciate is that LL isn't trying to emulate Milne the way some other artists tended to, but he was almost too good.

This might be a good opportunity to see if Robert's story telling can do most of the legwork, without relying on something beautiful to look at constantly.

I agree with you. I agree with the screenrant thing that Milne made the book memorable. His art was perfect and so detailed and well done. Roche did good for issue 1, and I think the best issue without Milne was #47 with Brendan Cahill.

But Milne will be coming back. He and Lawrence are going every other story arc, so we'll get him back again in a few months

[lowman_x]

But Milne will be coming back. He and Lawrence are going every other story arc, so we'll get him back again in a few months

Is that confirmed?

[WreckerJack]

I hope Milne is in good health. I remember a while back he was pushing himself too hard for a while. I really do enjoy his artwork.

[Va'al]

But Milne will be coming back. He and Lawrence are going every other story arc, so we'll get him back again in a few months

Is that confirmed?

Yes and no, differing sources, no hard confirmation. It just gets cloudier the further we go along.

[lowman_x]

I hope Milne is in good health. I remember a while back he was pushing himself too hard for a while. I really do enjoy his artwork.

My biggest worry is his diabetes and I really hope he's keeping that in check. I've had a friend lose a foot and another friend died because they weren't taking care of themselves and monitoring their diabetes.