IDW Transformers solicits for Dec 2009

Welcome to December, and Christmas is just around the corner. To get into the Christmas spirit I've started doing the comics I promised my parents, and persuaded my dad to look for Masterpiece toys. Hasn't the year flown by? This time last year we were entering the halfway point for McCarthy's All Hail Megatron. But anyway. Here's the comics that IDW has on offer for us this month:

THE TRANSFORMERS #2
Written by MIKE COSTA
Art by DON FIGUEROA
Colors by JAMES BROWN
Covers by Figueroa, ANDREW WILDMAN

"Things Fall Apart," Part 1: After the shocking events at the end of last issue, the Autobots are in total disarray. An unexpected leader rises, and unlikely alliances are made.

32 pages, $3.99.

TRANSFORMERS: BUMBLEBEE #2

Story by ZANDER CANNON
Art by CHEE YANG ONG
Colors by MOOSE BAUMANN
Covers by Chee, GUIDO GUIDI

After a shakeup in Autobot leadership, Bumblebee finds himself leading a group that believes him to be unprepared for the job. An opportunity to radically improve the Autobots reputation arises and he accepts despite his reservations, embarking on a clandestine mission for the human military to find and disable all remaining rogue robots. 

32 pages, $3.99.

TRANSFORMERS BEST OF UK: PREY #5

Written by SIMON FURMAN

Art by VARIOUS

Colors by ANNIE HALFACREE

Covers by ANDREW GRIFFITH, interior art

Dinobot Swoop sets out alone to settle an old score with Divebomb, but gets more than he bargained for when the rest of the Predacons arrive. Continuing the collection of classic tales from across the pond.

32 pages, $3.99.

TRANSFORMERS TALES OF THE FALLEN: RAVAGE
Written by SIMON FURMAN
Art by ALEX MILNE
Colors by JOSH PEREZ
Covers by Milne
The momentous event that is Transformers: Nefarious kicks off with the sudden, shocking -- and silent -- reappearance of stealth agent Ravage. Thought destroyed in Revenge of the Fallen, Ravage is back. But who is pulling his strings, and what is his mysterious but crucial mission?

32 pages, $3.99.
And with that, Fanbot bids you farewell for now. Do NOT miss these!

Posted by Fanbot at 5:01 pm, WEDNESDAY 2 December

Anticipated IDW Transformers releases for October 2009

Hello Fanbot followers and welcome to October! By Primus, the year's just slaggin' flown by. Will be Christmas soon - get your TF wish lists ready! Anyway, here's the releases for this month, don't miss them. Enjoy!

TRANSFORMERS: All Hail Megatron #16 (w: Mike Costa,Zander Cannon/a: Guido Guidi,Chee)

TRANSFORMERS: All Hail Megatron Vol.3 TPB (w: Shane McCarthy, Andy Schmidt/a: Casey Coller,Robby Musso,Marcelo Matere,E.J. Su)

TRANSFORMERS: Tales of the Fallen #3 (w: Chris Mowry/a: Carlos Magno)

TRANSFORMERS: Best of the UK: Prey #3 (w: Simon Furman/a: Will Simpson)

Posted by Fanbot at 8:59 pm, FRIDAY 2 October

IDW December solicits update + covers

Comics Continuum was updated very recently with some IDW TF solicits for November. The cover art is nothing you won't have seen before if you've been paying attention to Fanbot's gospel. But more importantly, there's some info on what the slag the issues are going to be about. Hooray! Here's the scoop on all Transformers happenings for December:

TRANSFORMERS: BUMBLEBEE #1: Written by Zander Cannon, art by Chee, covers by Chee and Trevor Hutchison. After a shakeup in Autobot leadership, Bumblebee finds himself leading a group that believes him to be unprepared for the job. An opportunity to radically improve the Autobots reputation arises and he accepts despite his reservations, embarking on a clandestine mission for the human military to find and disable all remaining rogue robots. 32 pages, $3.99.

TRANSFORMERS #2: Written by Mike Costa, art by Don Figueroa, covers by Figueroa and Andrew Wildman. "Things Fall Apart," Part 1: After the shocking events at the end of last issue, the Autobots are in total disarray. An unexpected leader rises, and unlikely alliances are made.

TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN #5: Written by Simon Furman, art by Alex Milne, covers by Carlos Magno, Milne. The momentous event that is Transformers: Nefarious kicks off with the sudden, shocking -- and silent -- reappearance of stealth agent Ravage. Thought destroyed in Revenge of the Fallen, Ravage is back. But who is pulling his strings, and what is his mysterious but crucial mission? 32 pages, $3.99.

TRANSFORMERS BEST OF UK: PREY #5: Written by Simon Furman, art by Jeff Anderson, covers by Andrew Griffith.Dinobot Swoop sets out alone to settle an old score with Divebomb, but gets more than he bargained for when the rest of the Predacons arrive. Continuing the collection of classic tales from across the pond. 32 pages, $3.99.

Posted by Fanbot at 12:14 pm, WEDNESDAY 30 September

IDW Transformers releases for Sep. 2009

It's September everybody! And that means more Transformers for all of us fans. So here's IDW's Transformer releases for this month:

TRANSFORMERS: All Hail Megatron #15 (w: Nick Roche,Denton Tipton/a: Roche,Casey Coller)

TRANSFORMERS: Tales of the Fallen #2 (w: Simon Furman/a: Carlos Magno)

TRANSFORMERS: Best of the UK: Prey #2 (w: Simon Furman/a: Geoff Senior, Jeff Anderson)

TRANSFORMERS: All Hail Megatron vol 2 (w: Shane McCarthy/a: Guido Guidi,Emiliano Santalucia, Robert Deas

TRANSFORMERS: Animated vol 11 (w: Marty Isenberg/a: various)

Enjoy! Have a great month, see you soon!

Posted by Fanbot at 4:21 pm, SATURDAY 5 September

IDW Transformers solicits for Nov. 2009 (Warning: may contain awesomeness)

Hello all you Transformers fans out there. This post is a bit late, but it's very important nonetheless. On August 22, Seibertron.com updated us with IDW's November solicits for Transformers. It's a jam-packed month for the bots, so here's the scoop...

TRANSFORMERS #1: 

Written by Mike Costa, art and covers by Don Figueroa. It's been three years since the devastating events of All Hail Megatron. The Earth has been rebuilt, the AUTOBOTS are in hiding, and the next great era in the Transformers saga is about to begin! This is IDW's biggest book of the year - the launch of the first ongoing Transformers title in five years!

TRANSFORMERS CONTINUUM: Written by Andy Schmidt, art by Ken Christensen. Brush up on current Transformers events with the Continuum, a special 32-page, ad-free book that runs through all the key players and important events in the Transformers universe so far! From their debut story in Infiltration all the way up through the end of All Hail Megatron -- the Continuum is an essential guide for every Transformers fan!

TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN #4: 

Written by Simon Furman, art by Carlos Magno, covers by Magno, Alex Milne. 

Who is/was The Fallen? Why did he turn away from the fraternity of Primes to embrace all-conquering evil? The answers are revealed in this searing, mind-scouring trip to the very heart of darkness, as The Fallen rises, and, perhaps, entire universes fall! 



TRANSFORMERS BEST OF THE UK: PREY #4: 

Written by Simon Furman, art by Will Simpson, Jeff Anderson, cover by Andrew Griffith. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus team to take down Megatron, but what role does Straxus play in this massive confrontation? Continuing the fan-favorite collection of classic tales from across the pond, written by Transformers mainstay Simon Furman with an all-new cover by Andrew Griffith! 


Fanbot can not wait for these awesome comics to hit stores. Roll on November (original article from Comic Book Resources)!

Posted by Fanbot at 11:34 pm, MONDAY 24 August

Review - Transformers Best of UK: Prey! #1

Having lived in isolation for most of my childhood I was never fortunate enough to have read any of the old Marvel Transformers comics. Now, with Transformers Best of UK: Prey #1, I can finally see what TF fans read back then. This comic was originally published in Marvel UK's the Transformers #96 and #97 in January 1987. Here we go...

Synopsis: Following his return from the limbo dimension, Optimus Prime is disconcerted his Autobots were so lost without him they were forced to join forces with Megatron so they could defeat Galvatron. Optimus decides to test his soldiers, afraid they would be unable to cope if he should die in the future. He plans to convince the Autobots he has died so he can see how they cope without him. Informing only Wheeljack that he has made a fascimile of himself, he then tells the other Autobots that he is going on a reconnaissance mission to the Decepticons' base. He plans to destroy his fascimile and send a distress signal to the others who will discover his "body".

Meanwhile, Megatron is becoming more and more paranoid about Optimus, even attacking Motormaster when he dares to suggest he and the Stunticons could defeat Optimus. Soundwave (acting as double agent for Shockwave in order to depose Megatron) is alarmed by this, and, deciding it is time to remove Megatron permanently, persuades Megs to call in the Predacons from Cybertron to weaken Optimus so Megatron can finally kill him.

Later, while looking for a suitable setting to set up his "death", Prime is attacked by the Predacons. Taken by surprise, he struggles to throw them off. Gradually the Preds wear him down, cornering him. Megatron orders them to finish the job, and they close in for the kill...

Later, concerned that they haven't heard from Optimus, the Autobots (with Wheeljack) set out in a search and discover Prime's body, torn to shreds by the Predacons.

The Good: I like this issue, I really do. Simon Furman did well; the story is as good quality as his modern work, and good dialog as well - I love Prime's internal monologue and his mental conflict. The art, though nothing like today's standard, is pretty good for the era. Andrew Griffith's new cover (pictured above) is really cool, great shot of Predaking about to slag Prime (though he's killed by the Preds in their individual forms). You can see the original covers at TF Wiki by clicking here. But on the subject of the comic itself, all in all a satisfying issue.

The Bad: The quality of the art scanning is terrible (as an illustrious relative pointed out). Whether the comic was originally like that or whether IDW did a half-assed scan of it instead of using the original plates is a mystery that I will likely never find the answer to. Ah well, that is all.

The Ugly: It seems awfully convenient that Prime decided to go out alone at pretty much the exact same time that Megatron came up with a plan that required Prime to be alone. This happens a bit in the 80's - often the writers don't think things through enough, if at all. But hey, it's still a good story - very satisfying for a "hardcore" fan such as I. Oh, and the writing at the bottom has not been changed from the last Best of UK series - it reads "best of uk city of fear".

Verdict: Hugely satisfying all in all. I absolutely loved this issue, and I'm very much looking forward to the next issue (won't ruin it for myself by going on TF Wiki). Real fans should check this one out, it's totally worth it. Rated 8 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 3:44 pm, SUNDAY 16 August

Transformers releases for August 12 (that's today)

Released today are two great Transformers titles from IDW - Best of the UK: Prey #1 and Tales of the Fallen: Bumblebee! If you haven't bought these yet you can view a five page preview of each at comixology.com. Just cause I'm nice, I'll include a link so you don't have to search ... Enjoy, and get off your lazy butts and go get these! Go go go! Stop reading this blog and go already! The links are for Best of the UK: Prey and Tales of the Fallen respectively.

http://www.comixology.com/previews/JUN090939/0/

http://www.comixology.com/previews/JUN090933/0/

Posted by Fanbot at 4:40 pm, WEDNESDAY 12 August