It would be nice to not have to judge a comic until the trade is out, and the arc is done, but you do, as a reviewer and as a reader. You're expected to do some analysis. To make connections and interest others in possibly responding to your thoughts and ideas. A review can't be only stating facts of this happened that happened and done. (I don't claim to be good at any of those things, or better than anyone else - once upon a time, it fell in my lap-).
Reviews are a service to site users/visitors. They give a heads up that a recent issue was released, and maybe give someone a reason to buy, pay attention to, or ignore an issue without spoiling the issue -but I really don't think we have that much influence on users.
Most of you posting here don't fall into the above category of user. You are passionate readers who know what you like, or what you'd like to see, and how the current comics are doing at meeting that. You buy the comics, sometimes out of habit, or because you do like to consume this media for your Transformers fix. The review in this case, pretty much just gives us a way to start building conversations, if needed.
I think Scotty does a really nice job of analyzing Transformers literature, as many of you do, too. Doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with his takes on it, that's what conversations are about. You all know that good discussions come about because one person said something they thought and then another person introduces their point of view based on their thinking and experiences, and away we go, we have ideas flowing and dialogue! If they are respectful of each other, and actually hearing each other out, it works really well!
Like many of you, I do personally love back stories containing Cybertronian history. Ever since
Dreamwave's War Within series (but even before that with issues of Marvel and UK comics, or episodes of the cartoons that take us back in time like 'War Dawn'), I've always wanted more. I'm not sure really why, maybe, because it makes the whole world that we're currently reading about/viewing seem a little more solid. I also like to see what characters show up and have a role in events that have transpired. I like seeing their pre-Earth alt modes and looks.
Sadly, I didn't have anything to really offer Scotty about this issue when I read it and he was writing the review. It did feel very familiar, which is what I shared. Well, I think I said, "not much happened again" and based on the current situation with the comics, I wasn't looking for this so much (Orion and Megatron's Point Break adventure), as I was looking to see what actually happened with Rubble at the end of the last issue. I also know, I'm not in charge of timeline, nor do I know overall how this issue will fit in. SO in looking back it may end up being perfectly timed.
Thanks for the remarks. I do enjoy seeing what others think because I often get an idea of things that I might have missed, or things I might not have thought of. I'm glad some are enjoying the series, some are giving it a chance, some are disagreeing with what's been said about the issue, and some are supporting what's been said in the review.
On a side note, comic review staff has thinned tremendously. Issues every two weeks are taxing in trying to come up with more to say about Transformers content that has been a (mostly) slow simmer.
If you might be interested in being a comic reviewer on Seibertron, we are looking to get some more dedicated reviewers again. Share your review of issue #7 in two weeks. You can e-mail it to me (PDF or e-mail text) at tt24@seibertron.com. I'll share what I get with ryan (seibertron) and the other comics, podcast, and staff, and we'll see where it goes from there.Thanks for keeping the conversation going! -Old Timer Tigetrack