by starfish » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:13 pm
Hi there - first-time poster, long-time lurker here.
Just got the 1st issue of the UK comic today, and I was extremely disappointed. In fact, it was so bad I felt I had to register here as a member and vent my spleen.
It consisted of:
10 pages new material
5 pages character fact files (not very illuminating)
7 pages IDW prequel reprint (at this rate it'll take them a whole year to re-print the entire 4-issue run!)
6 pages Beast Wars Gathering reprint (ditto)
2-page feature on the original movie (or a big advert for Metrodome if you're in a cynical mood)
Letters pages
An A3 poster of Optimus prime
Advertisements.
I've just sent Titan an email outining my complaints - if I get a reply I'll post it here.
Here's a copy of the email in full:
"Sirs,
Having heard news of a new Transformers comic, I finally bought the first issue today. Alas, I was more than a tad disappointed with it.
I realise that the comic is designed to cater for such a wide range of ages (younger new fans + older stalwarts), and that you can't please all of the people all of the time, but I still feel that, all things considered, the first issue was not particularly good.
The main selling point for older fans (and for the younger ones too, I'd guess) is the brand new strip. However, this took up only 10 pages of a 52-page magazine. Furthermore, it depicted Optimus Prime as being red and blue (when he should have been shown as a grey Protoform, quite dissimilar from his appearance in the movie).
I realise that it may have been confusing to younger readers showing a different Optimus Prime to that shown in the movie, but when my young son (who has the Protoform Optimus Prime action figure) is able to point out the discrepancy, it simply comes across as a glaring error (even more so when you consider that the characters are shown in Protoform mode in your second strip, the prequel series).
I also take issue with some of the comments on the letters page. Your comic was first published this week. The film doesn't open in the UK until the 27th July (although there will be some preview screenings this weekend), so just where did all these kids get to see the film? Kirsty from Newport claims to have seen it "the other week." Considering the film is not yet on general release, one certainly gets the impression that a number of the letters may in fact have been fabrications. I'm not saying that any or all of the letters were made up by yourselves, but that's certainly how it comes across.
As for the reprinted strips, well IDW's movie prequel is available as a complete graphic novel in all good bookshops, and the Beast Wars Gathering can be bought for the princely sum of £4.00 on amazon!
This might be fine for the fans who haven't got all this stuff already (although it also begs the question as to how many of the newer fans will really be interested in Beast Wars anyway), but for fans such as myself it's a bit of a let-down, considering the material is readily available elsewhere. How about reprints of rarer stuff like, for example, "Raiders of the Last Ark"?
Also, even for those who haven't seen the reprints already, they are over so quickly that one can't really get into the story before it's all over. How about just one back-up strip with twice the amount of pages?
Considering that the back-up strips were originally written and paced to be read 20-odd pages at a time, they just don't work in six page chunks - it's like watching an episode of the old cartoon series spread out at a rate of five minutes a month.
Although I don't expect you to print this, I hope you'll take my thoughts on board (a response would certainly be appreciated), and perhaps aim for an improvement in later issues."
Harsh or fair? Comments please!