The Energon Pub

Hi.

Not sure if anyone remembers me, but I used to post on here a long long time ago.

Iv'e been out of the community for some years now, but looking to catch up. I stopped collecting the New Gen 1 comics sometime around the release of the IDW run on Devastation, I remember the last arc being around The Fallen in War Within.

Thought I might test the minds of my first TF Haunt here and ask for some help recommending how I might catch up since then. My interest used to be from the DD and IDW Gen 1 and War Within but im happy to be steered to better arcs.

I don't even know if they even have the licenses anymore!

Look forward to the responses!

Hey! Welcome back.

Devastation and War Within are very different stories, with the latter being part of the Dreamwave production and the former a part of the IDW reboot. If you want catch up with everything that has happened since, and I'd recommend doing so personally, keep on going from Devastation! The Spotlight collections, ending with Revelation, try tying up the story of the -ation series, and a coda of sorts is Maximum Dinobots.
You then have All Hail Megatron, which some readers dislike for its pace, but I quite enjoy, and the mini-series Last Stand of the Wreckers, definitely recommended for a taster of the new direction IDW is currently on.
After that you have the Costa run (from For All Mankind up to Chaos) which I personally am not a fan of, but Revenge of the Decepticons, Chaos Theory, and Chaos are pretty much essential reads to understand some of the stories later on. And it looks like Heart of Darkness is also quite important to an extent, though the artwork is a bit dodgy.
Finished those, you're on the current run of More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise, which run parallel to each other.

The IDW universe is about to have its first crossover event, which appear to take from a lot of old continuity, so now is the time to catch up before delving into Dark Cybertron!

I hope that helps in some way.

Ah, on another note: if you were into the old Marvel US and UK runs of comics, Furman has been able to get onto a limited series which will finish off the Generation 1 comics, titled ReGeneration One! There's some really interesting stuff in there, and the artistic team is particularly skilled.

Va'al wrote:Hey! Welcome back.

Devastation and War Within are very different stories, with the latter being part of the Dreamwave production and the former a part of the IDW reboot. If you want catch up with everything that has happened since, and I'd recommend doing so personally, keep on going from Devastation! The Spotlight collections, ending with Revelation, try tying up the story of the -ation series, and a coda of sorts is Maximum Dinobots.
You then have All Hail Megatron, which some readers dislike for its pace, but I quite enjoy, and the mini-series Last Stand of the Wreckers, definitely recommended for a taster of the new direction IDW is currently on.
After that you have the Costa run (from For All Mankind up to Chaos) which I personally am not a fan of, but Revenge of the Decepticons, Chaos Theory, and Chaos are pretty much essential reads to understand some of the stories later on. And it looks like Heart of Darkness is also quite important to an extent, though the artwork is a bit dodgy.
Finished those, you're on the current run of More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise, which run parallel to each other.

The IDW universe is about to have its first crossover event, which appear to take from a lot of old continuity, so now is the time to catch up before delving into Dark Cybertron!

I hope that helps in some way.

Thats brilliant as it gives me some idea about the timeline! - nothing worse then going into a comic run halfway through and confusing what happened before or spoiling a cliff hanger.

Many thanks sir

Is the comic art as good as before? - as much as I have fond memories of the art in the 80's comics, when you re-visit them you realise just how much talent there is now out there.

Thanks for the opinions as well and for not giving spoilers

John.

Va'al wrote:Ah, on another note: if you were into the old Marvel US and UK runs of comics, Furman has been able to get onto a limited series which will finish off the Generation 1 comics, titled ReGeneration One! There's some really interesting stuff in there, and the artistic team is particularly skilled.

Whoah, really? - Ill definitely be looking out for that then, Furman made my childhood, - though Ididnt really appreciate it until I met him at auto assembly. - hes a nice guy!

JohnHope wrote:Is the comic art as good as before? - as much as I have fond memories of the art in the 80's comics, when you re-visit them you realise just how much talent there is now out there.

There's some amazing artwork going on out there: Andrew Wildman has handed over in ReGeneration One to Guido Guidi, whose work is absolutely stunning, and they're both inked by Stephen Baskerville. As for the new IDW stuff, Nick Roche has a very cartoony-yet-spikey style, followed by Alex Milne, who has some interesting Japanese influences in my eyes. Andrew Griffith does some nice reworking of the older styles, while still keeping it new; Livio Ramondelli has a really unique take, but not everyone enjoys his smoky style.

The colourists are brilliant too, Burcham, Bove, Tramontano and Lafuente do some gorgeous things with the linework.

If you browse through our Comics section, you can take a look at some previews and reviews of past issues, though they may have some hefty spoilers (for things you know nothing about, so you'll be safe).

Oh, I know! Check out the Comics and Art Thread for some spoiler-free tasters: transformers-comics-and-art-haul-thread-t94249.php

Thank Va'al, you rock

This is the order in which I am currently reading the IDW G1 comics:

Phase 1
Infiltation
Spotlight: Shockwave
Stormbringer
Spotlight: Nightbeat
Spotlight: Hot Rod
Spotlight: Sixshot
Spotlight: Ultra Magnus
Spotlight: Soundwave
Escalation #1
New Avengers/Transformers
Escalation #2-6
Spotlight: Ramjet
Spotlight: Kup
Spotlight: Galvatron
Spotlight: Optimus Prime
Spotlight: Blaster
Devastation #1-4
Spotlight: Arcee
Devastation #5-6
Spotlight: Wheelie
Spotlight: Grimlock
Revelation
Maximum Dinobots
Spotlight: Mirage
Megatron Origin

Phase 2
Spotlight: Blurr
Spotlight: Cliffjumper
Spotlight: Metroplex
All Hail Megatron #1
Spotlight Jazz
All Hail Megatron #2-14
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 1
Spotlight: Drift
All Hail Megatron #15 Part 2
All Hail Megatron #16

Phase 3
Ongoing #1-3 ("Things Fall Apart")
Bumblebee
Ongoing #4-6 ("Things Fall Apart")
Spotlight: Prowl
"Dead Men's Boots" Mosaic
Last Stand of the Wreckers
Last Stand of the Wreckers bonus content
Ongoing #7-8
Ironhide
Drift
Ongoing #9-13 ("International Incident")
Spotlight: Megatron
Ongoing #14-18 ("Revenge of the Decepticons")
Infestation
Ongoing #19-20 ("Space Opera")
Heart of Darkness
Ongoing #21-23 ("Chaos Theory")
Ongoing #25, 27, 29 ("Police Action")
Spotlight: Bumblebee
Ongoing #24, 26, 28, 30, 31 ("Chaos" & "Pax Cybertronia")

Phase 4
Spotlight: Orion Pax
Autocracy
Monstrosity
Spotlight: Thundercracker
The Death of Optimus Prime
More than Meets the Eye #1-5
Spotlight: Trailcutter
Spotlight: Hoist
More than Meets the Eye #6
Robots in Disguise #1-6
More than Meets the Eye #7, Annual, #8-11
Robots in Disguise #7-9, Annual, #10
More than Meets the Eye #12-16
Robots in Disguise #11-16
More than Meets the Eye #17-
Robots in Disguise #17-
Dark Cybertron #1
MTMTE and RID "Dark Cybertron" issues

Why is Megatron Origin in such a weird placement?

Va'al wrote:Why is Megatron Origin in such a weird placement?

Well, since it takes place in the far past, this order shifts it out of the way so as to not interrupt the main plot of the present day issues. And, it is not placed first on the list because it isn't meant to be the beginning proper of the series. Infiltration is. Granted, there really isn't any good place to put it among the first phase issues, but it still counts as part of the first phase since that's when it was published, so it has to go somewhere in there. Thus, it's put off the side of the main story as a sort of "And now, with all that said and done, here's what happened long ago..." case.

Sabrblade wrote:

Va'al wrote:Why is Megatron Origin in such a weird placement?

Well, since it takes place in the far past, this order shifts it out of the way so as to not interrupt the main plot of the present day issues. And, it is not placed first on the list because it isn't meant to be the beginning proper of the series. Infiltration is. Granted, there really isn't any good place to put it among the first phase issues, but it still counts as part of the first phase since that's when it was published, so it has to go somewhere in there. Thus, it's put off the side of the main story as a sort of "And now, with all that said and done, here's what happened long ago..." case.

Fair enough. I tend to put it somewhere with Autocracy, Monstrosity, Chaos Theory, but after War Within. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily on the shelf.

Va'al wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Va'al wrote:Why is Megatron Origin in such a weird placement?

Well, since it takes place in the far past, this order shifts it out of the way so as to not interrupt the main plot of the present day issues. And, it is not placed first on the list because it isn't meant to be the beginning proper of the series. Infiltration is. Granted, there really isn't any good place to put it among the first phase issues, but it still counts as part of the first phase since that's when it was published, so it has to go somewhere in there. Thus, it's put off the side of the main story as a sort of "And now, with all that said and done, here's what happened long ago..." case.

Fair enough. I tend to put it somewhere with Autocracy, Monstrosity, Chaos Theory, but after War Within. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily on the shelf.

Yeah, when I started reading all of IDW's stuff, I wanted to read it all in an order closest to the original publication order, but modified to make the story flow better, but not with too much modification (meaning "Megatron Origin" gets to stay with the era of comics it came out with).

Wait, War Within?

Sabrblade wrote:Wait, War Within?

In my mind.

IDW's big hard-backed books have a "suggested reading order" from their publication start in 2009. And in that compilation, Megatron: Origin was first.

At the time, from a purely chronological perspective, that was correct. Now... well, aside from the flashbacks in Chaos Theory and Shadowplay it's still the earliest point in the IDW universe.

Henry921 wrote:IDW's big hard-backed books have a "suggested reading order" from their publication start in 2009. And in that compilation, Megatron: Origin was first.

I'm aware. I own volumes 1-7 (still need to pick up Volume 8 ), but "Megatron Origin" coming first from the viewpoint of a new reader doesn't feel appropriate since it doesn't work as a beginning story. "Infiltration", however, was written in a way that formally introduces us to the IDW continuity as a whole.

It's like with the old Marvel Comic issues and annuals. Though "State Games" and "And There Shall Come... a Leader!" both take place chronologically ahead of just about everything, I wouldn't recommend them as starting points for new readers since they were written with the mindset of new readers having alread ybeen reading the main issues of the comic. Thus, starting with Issue #1 of Marvel G1 serves as the best starting point.