Couples on the Beach at Night.
Issue 241: Back From the Dead Part 2/Rage!. 21st October 1989.
Aww, come on!
Happy Christmas everyone! You’ll have no doubt noted the lack of a Christmas quiz for 2016, sadly the timing just didn’t work out. Hopefully I’ll get something together for a New Year’s quiz in a week or so.
Time has also limited the number of addendums to just one this year, and stalled progress on The Book 2. But both of these will be rectified come 2017! Along with more active replying to the comments as well (though I do still read them all!).
Oddly though, time wasn’t the reason for this going up two days late, but Weebly wasn’t working on Friday and I wasn’t working on Saturday (never try to match drinks with a younger woman).
Aww, come on!
Happy Christmas everyone! You’ll have no doubt noted the lack of a Christmas quiz for 2016, sadly the timing just didn’t work out. Hopefully I’ll get something together for a New Year’s quiz in a week or so.
Time has also limited the number of addendums to just one this year, and stalled progress on The Book 2. But both of these will be rectified come 2017! Along with more active replying to the comments as well (though I do still read them all!).
Oddly though, time wasn’t the reason for this going up two days late, but Weebly wasn’t working on Friday and I wasn’t working on Saturday (never try to match drinks with a younger woman).
"Things keep going this way and I might just start a mutiny"
Back in 1989, Back From the Dead enters its second third. Yes, third, not quarter. This brace of issues are going to be short even by the recently variable US standard, with Back From the Dead being 16 rather than 22 pages. There’s no way to cut this into four without ridiculously short parts, a trend that will continue and create some problems that sound like “More reprints” sooner rather than later.
Though the shrinking of the IDW comics from 22 to 20 pages last year did create some pacing problems as the writer’s adapted, Furman is a guy more used to 11 so in many ways he’s in an advantageous position, he can work in a variable format and would no doubt have found this a luxuriously over-long page count. Indeed, the problem is less that he’s having to fight to fit everything in, but in instead struggling to pad things out.
I mentioned last week that Furman’s first US arc is probably his least regarded overall (though there are arguably worse individual issues as part of later story-lines), and here we reach the reason for it: The blatant padding of the USAF base sequences.
So the Air Strike Patrol have taken over an airbase, seemingly wanting to steal a new McGuffin...err...I mean Special Plane. All as a ruse to lure the bulk of the Autobots away from the Ark. It doesn’t really need any more detail than that, but because this B plot needs to carry on till it can actually meet with the A plot it’s going to become very strained and quite uninteresting. It’s something of a blessing Furman quickly established that they’re working for the main villain so as to reassure readers this will go somewhere eventually, but it also rather buggers the mystery for readers that will consume the characters on Earth for the rest of the story.
Also, and I hate to spoil things for next week, one of the two reasons for staging this attack and drawing the Autobots away from the Ark is to leave it virtually empty so the Sports Car Patrol can trick and kidnap Ratchet. Meaning it depends on Optimus sending everyone to tackle just four Micromasters (from the same team that struggled at wrestling) and not taking his medic along in case anyone gets hurt. And beyond that, why bother with the elaborate ruse when the end of this part establishes the new Trans-Time Dimensional Portal can beam the Decepticons aboard silently with no noise and without setting off any internal alarms? Why not just beam Ratchet out of his room when he’s alone? Then maybe beam an Ark destroying bomb in?
Though the shrinking of the IDW comics from 22 to 20 pages last year did create some pacing problems as the writer’s adapted, Furman is a guy more used to 11 so in many ways he’s in an advantageous position, he can work in a variable format and would no doubt have found this a luxuriously over-long page count. Indeed, the problem is less that he’s having to fight to fit everything in, but in instead struggling to pad things out.
I mentioned last week that Furman’s first US arc is probably his least regarded overall (though there are arguably worse individual issues as part of later story-lines), and here we reach the reason for it: The blatant padding of the USAF base sequences.
So the Air Strike Patrol have taken over an airbase, seemingly wanting to steal a new McGuffin...err...I mean Special Plane. All as a ruse to lure the bulk of the Autobots away from the Ark. It doesn’t really need any more detail than that, but because this B plot needs to carry on till it can actually meet with the A plot it’s going to become very strained and quite uninteresting. It’s something of a blessing Furman quickly established that they’re working for the main villain so as to reassure readers this will go somewhere eventually, but it also rather buggers the mystery for readers that will consume the characters on Earth for the rest of the story.
Also, and I hate to spoil things for next week, one of the two reasons for staging this attack and drawing the Autobots away from the Ark is to leave it virtually empty so the Sports Car Patrol can trick and kidnap Ratchet. Meaning it depends on Optimus sending everyone to tackle just four Micromasters (from the same team that struggled at wrestling) and not taking his medic along in case anyone gets hurt. And beyond that, why bother with the elaborate ruse when the end of this part establishes the new Trans-Time Dimensional Portal can beam the Decepticons aboard silently with no noise and without setting off any internal alarms? Why not just beam Ratchet out of his room when he’s alone? Then maybe beam an Ark destroying bomb in?
"Hey Picard, the difference between you and me is I make this look good. Also, check out my fab paperweight"
Even the other reason for the diversion—to get as many Autobots and Decepticons as possible in the same place at the same time—feels fairly pointless when this happens naturally enough on regular basis without behind the scenes shenanigans. Plus there are some other issues with throwing the Mysterious Superweapon (I’m not going to spoil everything that’s coming!) at as many Cybertronians as possible we’ll discuss when we get there.
Cutting to the Ark we do get back to the good stuff. Furman nicely creates as sense of the Autobots being run down as well as depleted in numbers, when they see the press coverage of the airbase takeover Getaway’s first reaction is to wonder if they should bother. Prime quickly snaps him back into line by pointing out there are human hostages (all of which will be amusing for More Than Meets the Eye readers), but this general sense of malaise will be built upon over the next year and there will be a lot more frayed tempers aimed at Prime along the way.
As everyone leaves and Prime sends a message saying the few aboard should keep their shit together and look out for enemy action (he must want the newest Collected Comics pretty badly), this sends Ratchet understandably off the deep end again. Doing the full Picard facepalm he bemoans the fact he’s soon going to have lots more patients. All whilst Hound’s head lays on the desk.
Which is where the Sports Car Patrol come in with their silent sneaky transporter. You get a sense Mr Mystery doesn’t have a vast amount of troops at his disposal as they’re not well suited to a sneaky mission, with Hyper-Drive especially being desperate for a fight. But they have orders and Blackjack has some sense, so we get an effective cliffhanger of them reworking the Ark’s repair bay computer to bring Ratchet’s dream to life (how lucky is it that he was dreaming of such things right beforehand rather than, say, bunnies?) and turn have Jazz’s corpse start to move...
The cut up nature of the British presentation means this segment largely focuses on the weakest part of the story, an extended and contrived bit of padding. But Ratchet remains great and there’s some surprising but pleasing attempt to make the Sports Car Patrol actual characters. It does however feel like a diversion before the proper plot gets back into gear next week.
Delbo is solid on art, with few chances to show off but no disastrous moments and I do like Hound’s head.
Cutting to the Ark we do get back to the good stuff. Furman nicely creates as sense of the Autobots being run down as well as depleted in numbers, when they see the press coverage of the airbase takeover Getaway’s first reaction is to wonder if they should bother. Prime quickly snaps him back into line by pointing out there are human hostages (all of which will be amusing for More Than Meets the Eye readers), but this general sense of malaise will be built upon over the next year and there will be a lot more frayed tempers aimed at Prime along the way.
As everyone leaves and Prime sends a message saying the few aboard should keep their shit together and look out for enemy action (he must want the newest Collected Comics pretty badly), this sends Ratchet understandably off the deep end again. Doing the full Picard facepalm he bemoans the fact he’s soon going to have lots more patients. All whilst Hound’s head lays on the desk.
Which is where the Sports Car Patrol come in with their silent sneaky transporter. You get a sense Mr Mystery doesn’t have a vast amount of troops at his disposal as they’re not well suited to a sneaky mission, with Hyper-Drive especially being desperate for a fight. But they have orders and Blackjack has some sense, so we get an effective cliffhanger of them reworking the Ark’s repair bay computer to bring Ratchet’s dream to life (how lucky is it that he was dreaming of such things right beforehand rather than, say, bunnies?) and turn have Jazz’s corpse start to move...
The cut up nature of the British presentation means this segment largely focuses on the weakest part of the story, an extended and contrived bit of padding. But Ratchet remains great and there’s some surprising but pleasing attempt to make the Sports Car Patrol actual characters. It does however feel like a diversion before the proper plot gets back into gear next week.
Delbo is solid on art, with few chances to show off but no disastrous moments and I do like Hound’s head.
Life's a beach and then you die.
Considering The Big Shutdown! had been a very personal story from Furman and that it had an open ending, it’s no surprise that in Rage! we get a sequel that picks up on it so quickly. The genre feel is gone for a more conventional structure (though the “When you thought it was safe to go back in the water” feel to the opening suggests it might be spoofing Jaws 2, if anyone cares enough to watch Jaws 2 let me know) that doesn’t even feature the hero of the previous story in its first part.
Of course, conventional doesn’t mean bad, and Furman certainly opens things well. It turns out the beach Thunderwing dived into the sea from has been declared off-limits by the authorities. But some smart arse teens decide to have a night-time barbecue. Because if they don’t go in the sea they’ll be fine, right?
Wrong. A big angry monster comes out of the ocean and kills all of them (albeit off panel). Again, Furman continues to be interested in the realities and cruelties of this conflict. He also works in the recap of previous event in much more smoothly than is normally the case, simply by having Thunderwing remember his previous torment rather than the usual awkward (if necessary) situation of characters telling each other things they already know.
Furman also falls back on a familiar trope as Thunderwing is now obsessed with revenge on Nightbeat and the others, to the point it consumes him so much he mistakes a Decepticon shuttle for an Autobot one and is most annoyed when he shots it down after it seems to interrupt his flight of carnage over a city (more casual human death!). All of which is very reminiscent of Galvatron’s obsession with everyone being Rodimus Prime during Fallen Angel! The as yet unseen occupants of the shuttle even have a similar “Oh shit” reaction to the one Swoop experienced there.
Of course, conventional doesn’t mean bad, and Furman certainly opens things well. It turns out the beach Thunderwing dived into the sea from has been declared off-limits by the authorities. But some smart arse teens decide to have a night-time barbecue. Because if they don’t go in the sea they’ll be fine, right?
Wrong. A big angry monster comes out of the ocean and kills all of them (albeit off panel). Again, Furman continues to be interested in the realities and cruelties of this conflict. He also works in the recap of previous event in much more smoothly than is normally the case, simply by having Thunderwing remember his previous torment rather than the usual awkward (if necessary) situation of characters telling each other things they already know.
Furman also falls back on a familiar trope as Thunderwing is now obsessed with revenge on Nightbeat and the others, to the point it consumes him so much he mistakes a Decepticon shuttle for an Autobot one and is most annoyed when he shots it down after it seems to interrupt his flight of carnage over a city (more casual human death!). All of which is very reminiscent of Galvatron’s obsession with everyone being Rodimus Prime during Fallen Angel! The as yet unseen occupants of the shuttle even have a similar “Oh shit” reaction to the one Swoop experienced there.
Starting as he means to go on.
This is all nice and entertaining, but things start to fall apart once the shuttle is made to crash and the Triggercons plus an odd assortment of other subgroup members (Quake, Flamefeather) emerge to reveal that the X-Factor judging panel...err...Deepticon High Council want Thunderwing back to pass judgement on his leadership audition.
I mentioned last time he appeared that Thunderwing is a character with problems that stem from the fact his arc on the American series depends on a descent into madness that never works because he’s completely off his tits from the first moment we meet him. This continues here as he beats the merry crap out of his own potential troops for coming to rescue him. Which is going to make it very hard to buy the later scene in Matrix Quest where he’s horrified at having turned at his own people. Indeed, in a tough field, Thunderwing is probably the Decepticon leader who manages to be the best at trashing his own over any Autobots.
But Thunderwing only cares about revenge, and when it’s pointed out Nightbeat will be on the Ark he decides to requisition the troops who are now in no state to raid the Ark thanks to him and use them to raid the Ark.
Despite some fine art from Andrew Wildman—in one of a surprisingly few chances for him to draw Thunderwing despite the character being a strong presence in the US series—this kind of peters out in the end with the with the contrived fight and Thunderwing is a rather one dimensional character in an era where the book is becoming more subtle and nuanced.
Transformation sees as baffled by the Air Strike Patrol plot as I am, but the most interesting stuff is in the sidebar. The newest Collected Comics is out, and as well as an oddly out of sequence for the reprints lead strip in Enemy Action!, we’re also promised a classic Annual story in... Ark Duty. This last story is not what is actually contained in the book and what we do get must have been a last second replacement, which probably explains the small bit of editing on what is actually contained there. Yes, I’m being deliberately vague as we’re only a couple of months from hitting the ’89 specials piece and I want to create a sense of mystery and intrigue about it. There’s also a striking black and white advert for the special as well.
I mentioned last time he appeared that Thunderwing is a character with problems that stem from the fact his arc on the American series depends on a descent into madness that never works because he’s completely off his tits from the first moment we meet him. This continues here as he beats the merry crap out of his own potential troops for coming to rescue him. Which is going to make it very hard to buy the later scene in Matrix Quest where he’s horrified at having turned at his own people. Indeed, in a tough field, Thunderwing is probably the Decepticon leader who manages to be the best at trashing his own over any Autobots.
But Thunderwing only cares about revenge, and when it’s pointed out Nightbeat will be on the Ark he decides to requisition the troops who are now in no state to raid the Ark thanks to him and use them to raid the Ark.
Despite some fine art from Andrew Wildman—in one of a surprisingly few chances for him to draw Thunderwing despite the character being a strong presence in the US series—this kind of peters out in the end with the with the contrived fight and Thunderwing is a rather one dimensional character in an era where the book is becoming more subtle and nuanced.
Transformation sees as baffled by the Air Strike Patrol plot as I am, but the most interesting stuff is in the sidebar. The newest Collected Comics is out, and as well as an oddly out of sequence for the reprints lead strip in Enemy Action!, we’re also promised a classic Annual story in... Ark Duty. This last story is not what is actually contained in the book and what we do get must have been a last second replacement, which probably explains the small bit of editing on what is actually contained there. Yes, I’m being deliberately vague as we’re only a couple of months from hitting the ’89 specials piece and I want to create a sense of mystery and intrigue about it. There’s also a striking black and white advert for the special as well.
Combat Colin defeats the Gunge with his volcano (the Combat Drill has a very long bit), and promises the mayor of Skegpool—who is wearing a fez for some reason—they’ll only use weapons more environmentally friendly than nukes from now on. Though the mayor is more worried about the volcano. Which is classic Lew Stringer, a sound environmental message surrounded by some very silly comedy.
Action Force picks up from the end of last week with Evasion, though the source has actually switched books to G.I. Joe: Special Missions. That and the change of art teams probably explain some of the discontinuities, most notably the captured A.F. members were sensibly dressed for a covert mission, now they’re in their toy costumes. Meaning we’re asked to believe Snow Job has been running around Madeupcommieland in full Arctic gear and Quick Kick has ripped his shirt off between issues.
Dreadwind has a surprisingly long time coming letter from Fraser Mcphedrian-Brown of Shrewsbury asking how the Matrix can be both a physical object and a computer program in the mind. Amazingly for this period Dreadwind actually gives a sensible explanation of it being housed in the chest but infusing the mind of the host with powers. He also gives B “Bug” Beg from Ilford some helpful pre-Ebay advice on how to find back issues with a list of vaguely nearby London comic shops. So all in all, not a bad week for the Powermaster.
Next week, we see out 2016 with Thunderwing crashing a house party.
ISSUE 240
1989
COMMENT
Action Force picks up from the end of last week with Evasion, though the source has actually switched books to G.I. Joe: Special Missions. That and the change of art teams probably explain some of the discontinuities, most notably the captured A.F. members were sensibly dressed for a covert mission, now they’re in their toy costumes. Meaning we’re asked to believe Snow Job has been running around Madeupcommieland in full Arctic gear and Quick Kick has ripped his shirt off between issues.
Dreadwind has a surprisingly long time coming letter from Fraser Mcphedrian-Brown of Shrewsbury asking how the Matrix can be both a physical object and a computer program in the mind. Amazingly for this period Dreadwind actually gives a sensible explanation of it being housed in the chest but infusing the mind of the host with powers. He also gives B “Bug” Beg from Ilford some helpful pre-Ebay advice on how to find back issues with a list of vaguely nearby London comic shops. So all in all, not a bad week for the Powermaster.
Next week, we see out 2016 with Thunderwing crashing a house party.
ISSUE 240
1989
COMMENT
