The Energon Pub

Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Posted today to IDW's Brian Ruckley's Twitter is the alternate 'B' cover for IDW's Transformers by artist Umi Miyao (Coralus_SF on Twitter)featuring fan favorite Springer who's got better things to do tonight than fry...fly...try...oh it's something that rhymes with try, does anyone know the rest of that famous Springer catch phrase? Be sure to let us know in the forums and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!

"Talking of some new characters coming into the series, here's cover B for issue 13, drawn by the awesome
@coralus_SF
. I like triple-changers …"

Stargrave wrote:Posted today to IDW's Brian Ruckley's Twitter is the alternate 'B' cover for IDW's Transformers by artist Umi Miyao (Coralus_SF on Twitter)featuring fan favorite Springer who's got better things to do tonight than fry...fly...try...oh it's something that rhymes with try, does anyone know the rest of that famous Springer catch phrase? Be sure to let us know in the forums and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!

"Talking of some new characters coming into the series, here's cover B for issue 13, drawn by the awesome
@coralus_SF
. I like triple-changers …"

Springo!

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Ah, so the difference between the marvel comics and the IDW comics, storytelling wise then?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Ah, so the difference between the marvel comics and the IDW comics, storytelling wise then?

That's actually a really good way to look at it.

Comic Cover artist: "OK how Toy accurate do you want this to be?"

Hasbro: "Yes"

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Ah, so the difference between the marvel comics and the IDW comics, storytelling wise then?

At this (or any) point since they got the Transformers license? Very little.

The trick is really more about making you feel as though something happened, whether anything actually happened or not.

Prime Target wrote:Comic Cover artist: "OK how Toy accurate do you want this to be?"

Hasbro: "Yes"

Ha! totally.

Tell you what though, remind me not to stand behind Springer. I feel like he could kill ya just with that look.

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Ah, so the difference between the marvel comics and the IDW comics, storytelling wise then?

At this (or any) point since they got the Transformers license? Very little.

Any point really, I haven't read a lot of marvel

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Can someone tell me what Bendis did?

Sure.

He's largely (but not solely) responsible for the term "decompressed storytelling" as it relates to comic books. A lot of talking heads with minimal action and the plot being stretched 22 pages at a time over 6 issues. Ruckley is using 5 issues with a filler, but it's the same principle. The art tends to be more sweeping with less emphasis on action.

The counter is the old style where an issue had pretty much everything in it and if it had a cliffhanger then it would be roughly two issues for a complete story.

Ah, so the difference between the marvel comics and the IDW comics, storytelling wise then?

At this (or any) point since they got the Transformers license? Very little.

Any point really, I haven't read a lot of marvel

That was the answer. Very little.

It's definitely not exclusive to Marvel. Just Bendis is kind of known as the guy for it.

sol magnus wrote:
It's definitely not exclusive to Marvel. Just Bendis is kind of known as the guy for it.

Here to say that it can be good. It being dialogue heavy means you still get a lot of personality from your characters and interactions between the different personalities can be super fun.

I really enjoyed a series called Dark Avengers, which Bendis wrote. Where Norman Osborne was the head of the Avengers, as a combination of both Iron-Man and Captain America, Bullseye was Hawkeye, Venom was Spider-man and Wolverine's son was their Wolverine. With a team like that, it couldn't be all talk, **** happened. And funny enough, they really did try to be heroes, that's what makes it all so tragically wonderful. I never found it boring.

He also wrote House of M and its lead up called Avengers Dissassembled which was VERY eventful and worth a read.

And of course his writing for Daredevil is some of the best Marvel Comics ever written.

His actual New Avengers though (with the avengers proper) could get quite grating. But overall, I would say I read more good stuff from Bendis than bad.

william-james88 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:
It's definitely not exclusive to Marvel. Just Bendis is kind of known as the guy for it.

Here to say that it can be good. It being dialogue heavy means you still get a lot of personality from your characters and interactions between the different personalities can be super fun.

I really enjoyed a series called Dark Avengers, which Bendis wrote. Where Norman Osborne was the head of the Avengers, as a combination of both Iron-Man and Captain America, Bullseye was Hawkeye, Venom was Spider-man and Wolverine's son was their Wolverine. With a team like that, it couldn't be all talk, **** happened. And funny enough, they really did try to be heroes, that's what makes it all so tragically wonderful. I never found it boring.

He also wrote House of M and its lead up called Avengers Dissassembled which was VERY eventful and worth a read.

And of course his writing for Daredevil is some of the best Marvel Comics ever written.

His actual New Avengers though (with the avengers proper) could get quite grating. But overall, I would say I read more good stuff from Bendis than bad.

To be fair, I don't want anyone getting the impression I don't like Bendis. I own most of the comics he's written pre-X-Men. However, william-james88's assessment is in line with my own. It works when it works. It doesn't when it doesn't.

william-james88 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:Still, this is nothing new. We've been dealing with decompressed storytelling for 20 years now. Thanks, Bendis.

Oh man, and now it's been plaguing Batman too. I think it hit a new extreme with that book.

Also is it just me or is Daredevil still Bendis' best work in comics? I feel that's the only time his style really worked with a character.

Not at all Bendis' best work IMHO has always been more in the "street" level characters going back to his early and creator-owned work Fire, AKA Goldfish, Jinx, Scarlet, and Powers.

I feel he's more comfortable with "grittier" heroes like Daredevil and Batman than with sci-fi and fantastical characters like Superman and Iron Man. Although to his credit he's not afraid to try and write out of his wheel house with mixed results.

To me at least all of his comic work has always felt he was more HEAVILY inspired by Quintin Tarantino, for better or for worse, than any comic book writer he grew up reading.

Ironhidensh wrote:Here is the real question: How many people are still buying this book because they actually like and enjoy it, and how many are doing it simply out of some sort of sense of responsibility and loyalty to the franchise?

Still buying out of a hope that it gets better and a general lack of self-control when it comes to collecting Transformers merchandise and media. Not proud of the latter sometimes, it's just what it is. If they go back to normal 5-6 issue TPBs I may scale back to just those for physical copies though.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Now objectively list what IDW 2.0 has done uniquely off it's own back, without trading in on pre-existing continuity.

Kinda cheating but if new characters count - the one panel showing the new lady bot that turns into Sentinel's spaceship made me realize that too few Transformers ships are also robots. Astrotrain, Sky Lynx, Galaxy Shuttle and others show this isn't a new concept, but this character looks to be new and I want to know more.

As far as concepts themselves go, yikes. Maybe the stuff with Rubble and choosing an alt mode being implied to be a rite of passage/coming of age sorta thing, but with them dead I guess that's not going anywhere. Maybe killing off Rubble so soon was a mistake

Thanks to iTunes we have the three page (four including the cover) for IDW's Transformers #13! Here's the synopsis from iTunes:
"The hunt is on! Chromia and Prowl launch a massive security operation, desperately trying to track down two murderers. Bumblebee visits an injured Windblade, Orion Pax, Sentinel Prime, and Megatron wrestle for control and influence—and nobody knows whose side (if anyone’s) Termagax and Starscream are on in all of this!"

Interesting to note Jhiaxus in his Thrilling 30 rendition which itself was a retool of the Armada Starscream homage released that same year. Despite what some fans have described as slow pacing the title does not appear to be lacking in fun obscure references for fans of all Generations. Enjoy the preview and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!

Um, wow! Savage

A few issues behind, but I've gotta say I love how the series is using a lot of the pre-existing Generations figures as the basis for characters who didn't get a Siege figure, especially since the toyline is leaving Cybertron earlier than most of us would've probably liked. I've gone about moving TR Sentinel Prime and Quake to my Siege shelf.

Milne is a god, wow. These pages look great, that first one is especially effective.

Kaon, Helex, Deadlock and Fulcrum on the screen behind Jhiaxus, that'd be fun but I won't read into it.

Ah, there is the art I love!

Milne is the best artist for TFs, my opinion of course

*Has more action and reaction in 3 pages than the previous 12 issues*

alex milne is the best.

william-james88 wrote:And yeah, the only thing it really references is Grant Morrison's new X-Men which is great because that's the last time such pure and deep sci fi notions were explored.

Picked up the big hardback omnibus of this, through roughly ten issues or so. Just finished up Germ Free Generation and the silent issue. Story's good, I like the tight casting. The art is pretty bad if I'm honest, the layouts are fine but the details, eh, not so great. Still cool to get some additional context on Genosha.

These ten issues have also done way more than the Bold New Era. Heard it suggested that the Netflix series is supposed to tie in and that's why we're moving at a snail's pace. I really hope this isn't true, it makes the current product suffer and multimedia tie-ins rarely age well.

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And yeah, the only thing it really references is Grant Morrison's new X-Men which is great because that's the last time such pure and deep sci fi notions were explored.

Picked up the big hardback omnibus of this, through roughly ten issues or so. Just finished up Germ Free Generation and the silent issue. Story's good, I like the tight casting. The art is pretty bad if I'm honest, the layouts are fine but the details, eh, not so great. Still cool to get some additional context on Genosha.

These ten issues have also done way more than the Bold New Era. Heard it suggested that the Netflix series is supposed to tie in and that's why we're moving at a snail's pace. I really hope this isn't true, it makes the current product suffer and multimedia tie-ins rarely age well.

Thats the first I've heard of that, my thoughts were how would the comic react when the toyline outstrips its pace? Given that hasbro likes the comics to be advertisement, I wonder how it will work.

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And yeah, the only thing it really references is Grant Morrison's new X-Men which is great because that's the last time such pure and deep sci fi notions were explored.

Picked up the big hardback omnibus of this, through roughly ten issues or so. Just finished up Germ Free Generation and the silent issue. Story's good, I like the tight casting. The art is pretty bad if I'm honest, the layouts are fine but the details, eh, not so great. Still cool to get some additional context on Genosha.

These ten issues have also done way more than the Bold New Era. Heard it suggested that the Netflix series is supposed to tie in and that's why we're moving at a snail's pace. I really hope this isn't true, it makes the current product suffer and multimedia tie-ins rarely age well.

Some of the art is notoriously atrocious, one artist was drawing 3 issues a month. But did you find it all bad? The first few issues are by Quitely who is rather revered. Both he and Morrison have wirked a lot together and their work is covered in the class Va'al used to teach.