Revisitation 17 (for real): The Hole Truth.

16/4/2021

Yes, I got the numbering wrong on the last two pieces...

But more importantly, this week it's a dead pool leading to a dead universe that may well be a dead end. And only the Autobot's greatest detective can crack the case like his own head gets cracked...

All in Spotlight Nightbeat!

9 Comments

Ryan F

16/4/2021 09:08:31 pm

I really liked Lost!

Anyway, this is a really creepy, atmospheric issue. There’s a real sense of dread, menace and intrigue here, like a perfect synergy of script and art.

As you say, it’s such a shame that every modern review of this story is legally-obliged to mention the awful Dead Universe stuff that came after this - which is a bummer because, as an issue in it’s own right, this is actually pretty good stuff!

But yeah, you’re spot on - this is a story that’s far from a clunker, but it’s ‘guilty by association’, so to speak.

Stuart

16/4/2021 09:25:30 pm

As the man prepared to die on the hill of the end of BSG being great, I salute you.

Llama God

18/4/2021 05:41:17 pm

Having just done a rewatch of BSG I will also join you in dying on that hill, Robin of Sherwood style, because I also thought that the finale of BSG was great. But that's not what this blog is about. Not yet, anyway.

Yeah, as you say, this is a curious issue. The first big one is the art, which as I've noted elsewhere I couldn't stand, and still amn't particularly taken with. Or I wasn't until Josh made that comment, and now if I picture it Yomtov-coloured it works a lot better. It'd be interesting to see that happen one day, although it'd never be sellable as a project given the opening would have to be "because the original version sucked", but heigh ho.

The story itself I really like. It's all very doom-laden, swerving into horror and giving us a very dark, unexpected ending which I still really like. And it was great at the time, too, since it set up a lot of mystery for the ongoing story. Sure, these things are meant to be one shots, but I was here for the long haul (I don't think he ever got a one shot, though) so I was happy for little hints of things to come to be dropped like this.

What I liked less was the talk of the Dead Universe. Whilst I'm fairly ambivalent about it now (but more on that later), at the time it felt like Furman was dropping in a Big, Unexplained, All Powerful Bad Guy Threat Thing way too soon. Fair enough if you want to build to some sort of epic, universe-threatening saga, but the key is you need to build to it. Introducing us to this only, what, twelve?, issues into the new story, before we've come to know and care about a lot of the characters, seemed like too much and too soon. And Furman had form in shooting off the big guns too soon, as evidenced by how early he dropped in Unicron in both the Armada/Energon comics and in the UK 2007 movie tie-in comics. (And sure, some of that was down to the need to sell toys, but even so.) So that was the thing that concerned me the most - going too big, too soon.

But whatever the eventual result might have been, this certainly wasn't the issue that I was expecting, so by that measure at least it was far from being a failure...

Grant

1/5/2021 02:06:45 pm

"It’s kind of a shame they’ll never be any happiness, joy or excitement at being a Cybertronian with a special power, just suffering. Especially as Furman is going to extend the idea of a gimmick to being a woman."

A paragraph as beautifully constructed as it is utterly savage, like if Faberge made spiked maces. Still laughing at it as I write this - partly the sheer audacity of it; mad props to your cojones, Stuart. Made of neutron-star material, I'll wager! As much as I still hold Furman in high regard for the imprint he left on my childhood and subsequent adulthood, it is absolutely correct to say there are weaknesses to his writing that often deviate into Serious territory, his approaches to Gender being the most infamous and infuriating.

I've also always been deeply unimpressed with his attitute to TF gimmicks more generally. As a TF toy collector their gimmicks are as much a part of the character as their names, colour schemes and biographies and I'm convinced most could have been showcased well with the right attitude. Taking Nucleon as one [pet] example: "who wants to be stronger, faster, more alive" could have had implications for Transformers becoming bona-fide Superheroes, as well as opening interesting questions about Consciousness, balanced more or less equally against the loss of Alt-modes. But no, in Furman's hands it makes you strong but also cripples you entirely; an entirely Faustian bargain. He seems to have not understood that in the minds of children these concepts spark joyous wonder and life - his depictions always seem to verge on the side of robbing the concepts of any that sense of fun.

Bah.

I said on Twitter that liked Mark Bright's art, as I do when other less-traditional artists will come to show off their unique representations, and I've always thought this a really likeable and solid issue overall. Not as successful as Spotlight: Shockwave but still a really fascinating take on a beloved character and a decent little story, though the Micromasters-evolved-from-Human-sized-aliens [forcibly, as it later transpires] concept is just silly, even if the transhumanism elements depicted in the early stages of their cultural re-forging are genuinly fascinating.

Llama God

2/5/2021 05:04:47 pm

Since this website doesn't seem to allow "like"s on comments I'll just say that I liked your comment. So... I liked your comment.

But yeah, one of the things that's always struck me about Simon's writing is the very downbeat, melancholic nature of it. All of his characters are angsty and traumatised, which certainly doesn't make it a lot of fun, (Although, you know, war is hell, and all that.) But oddly I think that's why his work on the Marvel TF comics stuck with me so much from childhood - whilst it wasn't joyous fun, it felt to the younger me that these characters were being taken seriously, and with some depth. So in some regards I guess that worked. Of course, now I'm out of my teens, into my forties and more deeply involved with The Real World I want more joy in my comics, but here we are.

Stuart

3/5/2021 10:39:18 am

I like all these comments in my heart.

Jeremiah Ecks

26/9/2021 11:35:10 am

Time to play Devil's advocate...

Firstly, I really liked the art. Actually sometimes more modern art feels more... cinematic and realistic, yet less good old storytelling. Sometimes I haven't a clue which character is which or what is going on with modern stuff. Old school art work may be plain and lack dynamism but you can't accuse it of being unclear... in the main.

So that's preamble for me to say I really, really like the art work in this story. Like, I would take it over Alex Milne any day.

There are a few artists in IDW I really like. Guido is my absolute favourite, but I like Marcelo and Roche - man I remember his old TMUK issues, we all knew this guy was talented but I never dreamed he would be as consistently good as he is. I do like Su as well. But Milne, who seems to be well regarded, leaves me in the cold, because I can rarely follow their art and it always strikes me as a bit... lifeless.

But that's the thing about art, it is totally subjective and nobody can be right or wrong. That said I'm in a minority about Bright (or even Wildman in Regeneration One).

As far as the story goes... no, I don't think a lot of it and sadly, I'm not a big fan of the Dead Universe. IDW Galvatron in the particular is a miss for me but I'm jumping ahead a bit...

Llama God

26/9/2021 11:39:24 am

With regards Milne, whilst I did very much like his work on MTMTE, you'll see elsewhere on here that I'm not so much of a fan of his work on some of the other issues, such as the recently-completed Megatron Origins...

Jeremiah Ecks

26/9/2021 01:06:31 pm

I look forward to see what you're gonna say, Llama but jumping ahead, I really didn't like Milne on Megatron: Origin either. The colouring was also really weird to me.

Revisitation 17 (for real): The Hole Truth.

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