Tales of the Fallen: Arcee preview

TRANSFORMERS: TALES OF THE FALLEN" ARCEE
Story by CHRIS MOWRY
Art by ALEX MILNE
Colors by JOSH PEREZ
Covers by Milne, CARLOS MAGNO

Setting out in search of OPTIMUS PRIME and the AUTOBOTS, ARCEE is captured by the vicious THUNDERCRACKER. And what better punishment for this AUTOBOT warrior than being the catalyst for a new squad of DECEPTICONS? ARCEE must learn that a good leader conquers all, especially in war. 2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.

32 pages, $3.99.

Posted by Fanbot at 12:46 pm, SATURDAY 2 January

Tales of the Fallen: Ravage preview

The informative fansite TF Archive has been updated with a four page preview of the Transformers: Nefarious tie-in, Transformers: Tales of the Fallen: Ravage. Finally, the return of Alex Milne! he is so much better than Carlos Magno in every respect. And I love Ravage! Here's the preview:

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?

There you go. I probably will get this one, but Christmas has stretched my wallet thin so it ain't a certainty. If I do you'll get the review as soon as possible. See you then!

Posted by Fanbot at 9:24 pm, SATURDAY 19 December

Tales of the Fallen: the Fallen preview

OK, here's four pages of the fourth issue of Tales of the Fallen, with the spotlight falling on ... THE FALLEN! Here's the five pages:

Posted by Fanbot at 6:28 pm, MONDAY 23 November

Tales of the Fallen: Jetfire preview

After the disappointment of Tales of the Fallen: Sideswipe, the five-page preview of Tales of the Fallen: Jetfire looks to drag this miniseries out of the mud. With Carlos Magno clearly upping his art quality, and  the prolific Moose Baumann on color duties, the quality of this issue looks to be the best yet. Chris Mowry is back to writing TotF, right where he should be. Finally, we learn of leaky, creaky ol' Jetfire's origins. Here's the five pages for viewing pleasure:

Look out for Transformers Tales of the Fallen: Jetfire, out on October 21. Don't miss this one. See you round. Fanbot has spoken!

Posted by Fanbot at 11:07 am, SUNDAY 18 October

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

Review - Tales of the Fallen: Sideswipe

Tales of the Fallen started off very well with the spotlight shone on fan-favourite Bumblebee. The story was enjoyable and the art very nice to look at. But all this goes out the window with Tales of the Fallen: Sideswipe. Before we get into the review, let me direct your eye to the cover, left. Art and colors by Alex Milne, and he has done a great job on it. Great colors and art-nouveau design. Bit disappointed about the lack of a name on it, as was with 'Bee's cover. This title has been seen in some versions of the cover, but unfortunately has been omitted for the release. Why, IDW, why?

The Good: Well, Moose Baumann, who colored about half of the comic, did an excellent job at enhancing Carlos Magno's artwork. Very well done. And, um, well nothing else really. See below for details ...

The Bad: Man, I don't even know where to start with this one. Carlos' art did the job alright as usual, but his detail quality went extremely downhill here. In Sideswipe's flashbacks, the cybertronian-altmode Transformers were drawn very generically, with no real deviation from each other. They looked like badly drawn Bionicles. Next up, Simon Furman's writing (Chris Mowry did the previous issue); I know that everyone says he has very predictable and cliched storylines, but this is just ridiculous. There is virtually no substance to the story other than "Sideswipe's pissed at Demolishor while Demolishor slags a couple city blocks and escapes to fight another day". This is definitely the worst issue I have ever read. The stuff you get on Free Comic Book Day is better. But at least there was a decent amount of internal monologue, which is more than can be said for Shane McCarthy's Spotlights. But this issue still sucks majorly.

The Ugly:In his first appearance in the comic, Demolishor is drawn pain-stakingly toy-accurate, with wheels formed from his folded out treads and no fingers on his shovel-hands. However, when he shows up again later, he's instead drawn the way he appears in the movie, with fingers and separate tires.

Verdict: Absolutely disgusting. This is Simon at his very worst (something I've never seen before) and Carlos' sub-par artwork fails to impress. Rated 6.5 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 5:17 pm, SUNDAY 20 September

Finally, Arcee gets the Milne treatment

Finally the Milne Tales of the Fallen cover set comes full circle. At last we are treated to the variant cover for Tales of the Fallen: Arcee! Art and colors by Alex Milne. This one is cybertronically awesome. The Cybertronian hieroglyphs are more dominant for this cover, which may or may not have something to do with her transition from her single Arcee body to her three components (Arcee, Chromia and Flare Out). Anyway, I just loove the cover as always. As  I have said before, Milne has to do his own coloring now, it's so cool. This on comes out in mid-December. Rated 9.5 out of 10. Can't wait.

Posted by Fanbot at 6:53 pm, SATURDAY 12 September

A brief reflection - TF: Tales of the Fallen covers by Alex Milne

Hellooo internet viewers! In recent light to Chris Ryall's sound verbal beating on his TF ongoing art, he has attempted to appease us with an offering of other covers from Tales of the Fallen. These four covers, by movieverse artist legend Alex Milne, are exquisitely designed and beautifully done. Here they are, in all their glory.

First up is Alex's cover for Tales of the Fallen: Sideswipe, which comes out on 9 September (click here for a preview of this):

Wow. Awesomely totally awesome. Alex said that when he was doing these he wanted to go for a more "designed" feel to the artwork. And boy does it show. I mean just look at it! The lines are clean and smoothly done, the colors are absolutely perfect. I couldn't wish for more. Rated 8.5 out of 10.

Next up is his cover for Tales of the Fallen: Jetfire:

For some strange reason this one was put out into the internet ahead of the Sideswipe one. But it is pretty cool nonetheless. The SR-71 Blackbird silhouette for the lettering is awesome, and Jetfire is in a well-drawn pose - though in one that implies he is (in the pic at least) a lot younger than in ROTF. Bit weird to think about; Jetfire, not old? Woah! But anyway, The art rules majorly. Though the colors are a bit more drab than the rest of the set. Rated 8 out of 10.

Next, the cover for Tales of the Fallen: The Fallen (lol repetition):

Now this one is probably the best of the best. The Fallen's pose looks like he's beckoning you, to come into his deathly embrace ... breathtaking artwork. Those colors are beautiful. I don't really know how to put it, they just strike something inside my inner Transfan. Nuff said. Rated 9.5 out of 10.

And finally, the cover to Tales of the Fallen: Ravage (Arcee is not provided):

This cover comes in for me at a close second place to the Fallen's cover. The layout and Cybertronian hieroglyphs make it look like some ancient engraving, prophesizing the rise of Ravage. Art: awesome. Very well set out and drawn (why isn't Alex drawing the actual comic?). Colors: great. Misty, with effective contrast in Ravage's circle that draws the eye to him. Rated 9 out of 10.

Well, that wraps it up for a while, until Transformers: Nefarious kicks in. Remember to watch out for Tales of the Fallen: Sideswipe, out on September 9. Transformers forever!

Posted by Fanbot at 4:34 pm, TUESDAY 8 August

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 - Tales of the Fallen #1: Bumblebee

Just picked this issue up today, and bloody hell is it great. Writer Chris Mowry and new guy Carlos Magno collaborate to form Tales of the Fallen: Bumblebee! I was originally a bit apprehensive of this series, but I just had to have it once I viewed the five-page preview. By the way, this series consists of several one shots focussing on a single character from the TF movieverse. AKA TF movie Spotlights. Sooo cool.

The Good: Wow. That's all I can say when I read this comic. Wow. This is one of the greatest ... no, the greatest movieverse comic I have seen since Reign of Starscream. This "Spotlight" has the internal monologues which are supposed to be standard in Spotlights, but have been driven to extinction by Shane McCarthy. It's a welcome return for me. The story is well-written, and awesome action sequences toward the end. Carlos' art is cool, this guy has promise that could be developed in the future (who's drawing the ROTF sequel Nefarious?). Old hand Chris Mowry does a superb job with his pen. I haven't enjoyed a Transformers movie comic in a long long time. And Alex Milne's cover (I was fortunate enough to get this one) is beautiful, great design, great colors too - Alex, you have to do your own colors now, I'm in love. Sorry Josh Perez, you color great as well.

The Bad: As a Transformers fan, I m easily pleased by what IDW gives me every month. However, when I want to nitpick, I will nitpick mercilessly. Now is that time. Carlos' art was great, but it looked very rough - not hurried-rough, but kinda grainy-rough. It wasn't enough to ruin the experience of reading it, but it nevertheless niggled in the corner of my eye as I perused the issue. Also, the RE cover (fan expo exclusive apparently) is a bit dumb - just a photo of Megan Fox aka Mikaela Banes who isn't even in the comic. I mean, they could at least have put a photo of Bumblebee on it to somehow link it into the story, but no.

The Ugly: I have identified no uglies within the comic itself, but on Carlos Magno's cover B (pictured) the Tales of the Fallen subtitle is wrong. In the publisher solicits it is as above, but when it was actually released the title was set underneath the TRANSFORMERS title, in the same font as the title above it. I'd say "get it right, IDW", but that'd be nitpicky.

Verdict: A solid comic with quality job done all round. This series is a must for all you TF movieverse fans - make sure you get Alex Milne's cover though. Rated 9.5/10.

Posted by Fanbot at 1:36 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