IDW's Transformers Comics Win Best Ongoing, Writer, Artist and More at Reader's Choice Awards

OK well congrats but I just don't get it. IDW's TFs don't work for me at all and not that huge on the art-styles in the comics but yeah good for them.

I was excited when I saw this. Sara Pitre-Durocher deserves this!

Any other year I would agree with this whole heartedly, but in 2017 Scott blew Roberts out of the water.

congrats winners

Congrats to the winners! Good year for Transformers books.

It tickles me a bit that Lost Light is apparently being appreciated by all except the Transformers fans on here.

Pitre-Durocher most likely deserves it, congrats to her. But Roberts? He's on the level of Orci and Kurtzman when it comes to writing Transformers. The state of comics and/or the taste of the average fan must be depressingly bad if he's considered "the best." Was John Barber even considered?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?

I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?

I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.

Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)

Rodimus Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?

I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.

Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)

Based on the fact that the books he works on are the ones that have to accomodate changes in design to suit toys and spotlight particular characters. I am not talking about my own opinion, just stating why fans may prefer Roberts solely on the fact that he writing is not as dictated by Hasbro. Kinda like how people preffer writer directors over a director just doing someone else's script. Or how people preffer singer songwriters over singers who sing songs written for them or cover artists.

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?

I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.

Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)

Based on the fact that the books he works on are the ones that have to accomodate changes in design to suit toys and spotlight particular characters. I am not talking about my own opinion, just stating why fans may prefer Roberts solely on the fact that he writing is not as dictated by Hasbro. Kinda like how people preffer writer directors over a director just doing someone else's script. Or how people preffer singer songwriters over singers who sing songs written for them or cover artists.

I'm not entirely sure this is a thing, when it comes to ComiXology.


These fan polls (that's what they were, Twitter fan polls) are based almost entirely on the amount of issues they sell on their platform. Barber doesn't sell as much as Roberts, so he wasn't considered.

People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.

Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.

Exactly. I started by reading MTMTE, and picked up the other series much later, simply because MTMTE was getting such good reviews. By the time I finished both series, I found that I was anticipating what Starscream, Windblade and Bee were going to do much more than what was happening on the Lost Light. And that's including me being a Rodimus fanboy. (I think Rodimus could be written much better than he was in MTMTE.)

But just how much of the story does Hasbro meddle in? Or do they just give them specifics regarding designs?

Maybe if that happened with Roberts he might have written better.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.

Exactly. I started by reading MTMTE, and picked up the other series much later, simply because MTMTE was getting such good reviews. By the time I finished both series, I found that I was anticipating what Starscream, Windblade and Bee were going to do much more than what was happening on the Lost Light. And that's including me being a Rodimus fanboy. (I think Rodimus could be written much better than he was in MTMTE.)

But just how much of the story does Hasbro meddle in? Or do they just give them specifics regarding designs?

They do and they don't. There's PR responses and direct responses, and there is a lot of freedom with how certain characters or plotlines can develop - but also Hasbro can just ask for 'can this character be in the story somehow' and that's where Rook gets one panel, Alpha Bravo another, and you'll end up with issues like Combiner Hunters where everyone happens to have a new deco for some in-story reason and totally not a box set exclusive to an event.

Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.

Hell yeah, like my favourite comic so far: RID 22 Soundwaves

Va'al wrote:They do and they don't. There's PR responses and direct responses, and there is a lot of freedom with how certain characters or plotlines can develop - but also Hasbro can just ask for 'can this character be in the story somehow' and that's where Rook gets one panel, Alpha Bravo another, and you'll end up with issues like Combiner Hunters where everyone happens to have a new deco for some in-story reason and totally not a box set exclusive to an event.

But those are mostly harmless examples. The one I find quite egregious so far was the sudden importance of Scoop. Scoop? Why, where? How is he suddenly the new voice of a religion?

Oh right, he has a toy coming out.

Or other things like how Rattrap, a character which so far only existed many years after the war ended, is now interacting with g1 characters and quite prominant.

Hate to say it, but if people can’t accept toy-related mandates, Transformers is the wrong franchise for them. And even then, it could be a lot worse. Titans Return, for instance, could have been a lot more egregious in its advertising, but instead, Barber used it as a way to near-seamlessly advance pre-existing storylines.

Personally, I think Barber excels in one area that Roberts lacks: versatility. Barber can write grand narratives, he can write personal stories, he can write action, he can write comedy, he can write drama, he can write sci-fi, he can write superheroes, and he can mix and match any elements between the extremes. Roberts has his style and his schtick, and it works... for a time. Barber, meanwhile, has less of a distinct style because he knows how to switch things up for whatever he’s writing.

william-james88 wrote:But those are mostly harmless examples. The one I find quite egregious so far was the sudden importance of Scoop. Scoop? Why, where? How is he suddenly the new voice of a religion?

Oh right, he has a toy coming out.

Or other things like how Rattrap, a character which so far only existed many years after the war ended, is now interacting with g1 characters and quite prominant.

Was he really that important, though? Sure, it might feel forced at the start, but they fade enough into everything else that it doesn't really make that much of a difference. See again: Rook.

As for Rattrap - he's an excellent character (truly excellent) in TAAO.
Let go of your past fictional notions, this is a whole new universe, and has been so for the past 12 years.

Daniel Adkins wrote:Personally, I think Barber excels in one area that Roberts lacks: versatility. Barber can write grand narratives, he can write personal stories, he can write action, he can write comedy, he can write drama, he can write sci-fi, he can write superheroes, and he can mix and match any elements between the extremes. Roberts has his style and his schtick, and it works... for a time. Barber, meanwhile, has less of a distinct style because he knows how to switch things up for whatever he’s writing.

Exactly! I couldn't have said it better. And the only reason Roberts gets away with his shortcomings for as long as he does is because of the talented people around him who cover up for him, either intentionally or unintentionally simply by trying to do the best they can.

I'm really glad to hear this. I just recently started collecting the comics. So far my favorite mini series is Sins of the Wreckers. I absolutely loved the story-line. I'm also enjoying The Lost Light. I haven't read any of Till All Are One yet, but it's on my list of "to read" titles. So many to read, so many to collect. I pick up any I can find at the two stores I go to near me to buy comics. Anyway, super glad to hear this. I hope IDW keeps going strong. The stories are awesome, the characters are awesome, and the art is amazing.

So I have been reading all of these comics and while I am very happy these talented people are getting this recognition, and from the readers no less, these wouldnt be my choice.

I feel I am more in line with the Eisner awards this year, with Brian K Vaughn as best writer, over James Roberts. I have loved Roberts in the past, but 2017 was not his best work. And when it came to IDW's Transformers books, I feel its mairghread scott who really rocked instead.

TAAO did get a "best of" win for the artist but see there I feel Sara Pitre-Durocher doesnt do great interiors (she is one of the best, if not the best at covers though). When it comes to Transformers, I still find Alex Milne the best in the business. Sara plays it a bit too loose on the detail sometimes and they look more like toys, scale and all, due to lots of smooth surfaces (especially her Chromia, her Wheeljack is more up my alley). Of course, Milne didnt really handle much TFs this year but even then, I would say Jack Lawrence did a better job on at duties.

My favourite artist of the year though would be Mikel Janin for his work on Batman. That is just gorgeous!

Best series would be Saga (with TAAO after that, followed by Batman).