Simon Furman explains what we can expect from the plot of the book.
Simon Furman wrote:Announced yesterday at Bleeding Cool News, Newsarama and a host of other sites, Free Comic Day 2012 (May 5th) will feature the official launch of Transformers: Regeneration One, the epic continuation/conclusion of the original Transformers comic series, originally published by Marvel (which ended with issue #80 back in 1991). Transformers: Regeneration One #80.5, featuring all-new story (by me) and art by Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville, will be available FREE on May 5th at all good comic book stores, with #81 following in July. So what can you expect from #80.5? Clearly, I don’t want to give away salient plot points at this stage, but I can say… the story picks up 21 years after #80. Cybertron has been at peace (mostly) for all that time, but — of course — there are loose ends. And as those loose ends involve some of the biggest and baddest villains in the (original) Transformers Universe, it’s pretty safe to say that the ‘peace’ will be shattered in a fairly monumental way. The issue will be pretty balanced between stuff to bring readers up to speed and stuff that propels the new storyline onwards, so whether or not you read the original run, you can still easily jump onboard here. What else? Well, when I was doing the prep for the continuation, I re-read all eighty issues, plus mini-series, and made pretty extensive notes about anything and everything that needed attention or some kind of reference or wrap up, so you can expect a really comprehensive and thorough conclusion to the series (though that’s a ways off yet, in issue #100!), as well as copious nods to what has come before (and not necessarily just in the US comic). What else? Only that Andrew and Stephen are seriously knocking the ball out of the park on the art side. They’re managed that rare trick of recapturing the spirit of the original run but also bringing in another 20 years’ worth of experience to the pages, making each panel worth savouring again and again. Just wait until you see the opening splash and final page of #81. Both are stunning jaw-droppers! Oh yeah, one last thing – categorically, #81-100 are not a lead in to G2. But neither are we exactly ignoring G2 either. Weird as that sounds, I think/hope it’ll kind of work. I’m drawing on everything I can here, and because we know we’re building to a conclusion, you can expect some total bombshells as the issues unfold. Hope that’s whetted your appetite. Keep checking in for more Regeneration tidbits here and on the official IDW website.
Andrew Wildman goes into details about the cover and the interior colourist on the book.
Andrew Wildman wrote:So now that you have all seen the amazing front cover for the new Transformers ReGeneration comic many have asked who did the awesome colouring.
We did have a number of colourists approach us who wanted to do the job. For me the first and foremost choice was always going to be Jason Cardy . I have known Jason for a number of years and he has been an amazing contributor to the Draw the World Together project. His colours are some of the best around and he has already built up a portfolio of Transformers colour work for the UK Transformers magazine. Due to other commitments Jason is not able to colour the interiors so the search went on for an interior colourist. We considered many but the one that stood out as a great colourist for the interiors was John-Paul Bove. JP (as we call him) was kind enough to do us a sample page and with a few notes and nips and tucks and guidance he captured the look we were after. A successful blending of the old and the new. Something that harked back to the old Marvel Transformers comic but that also incorporated some of the modern techniques of colouring. I can’t show you the results yet as it would be a bit of a spoiler but rest assured it is great and I will show you something as soon as IDW let me.
I have also set up a Transformers ReGeneration Facebook page. If you do the Facebook thing why not pop along and take a look.
