As revealed over the weekend during our live coverage of Botcon at the IDW panel at Botcon 2012, July will be a fun month for Transformers comics. July will be Dinobot Month as the Dinobots will be romping and stomping throughout all of IDW‘s title. For those unable to attend and missed out on some of the images shown, the artists for the books have taken the liberty to share their work with us. Andrew Griffith has posted the cover to Robots In Disguise #8 on his Deviantart and now Alex Milne has done the same with an image of the cover to More Than Meets The Eye #8.
Take a minute and check out the images attached.
dovianax
Well I meant redesign in the esthetics sense, not really the overall characterization.
And no. I really doubt Hasbro signs off on EVERY redesign or new take on each character, especially since said redesigns seem to happen with each new artist that jumps on board of the books. That's why IDW has editors. Each editor is responsible for the brand integrity and quality control of each issue they put out.
That's like saying Disney or Warner Bros sign off on every Marvel and DC book, but they don't. Each entity is it's own monster.
AngryChad
"Complete redesign" is subjective, I think. Do you think Hasbro doesn't sign off on each design and story arch? I think Bayformers have taken much greater liberties with the franchise. These comics still feel like G1 to me. A much more mature version of G1 of course, but G1. And I think that's the point, really. These characters were pretty one-dimensional back in the day, and would be incredibly boring to more mature readers if new facets of their personality weren't expanded upon and even added.
dovianax
Actually, there's a difference between a different artistic take on a character and a complete redesign. As you mentioned before, each character comes with certain specific character specs that need to be recognized in order for the character to be identifiable. Sure, people had to follow Romita's (it was Sr. by the way) when it came to Spiderman, but these guidelines were open to artistic interpretation. When McFarlane began doing Spiderman he made a slimmer, more contorted Spiderman with more stylistic webbing and bigger eyes, but it was STILL SPIDERMAN! Same when Larsen did it, Bagley, and all the other artists that had a turn on the book. But when it's all said and done, they still had to respect the design of the character. You can be the new Iron Man artist, and you can have a new take on his armor, but these designs still have to be approved by the editors in order to have a cohesive continuity in terms of redesign and not confuse the viewer, but I fear the editors at IDW simply don't give a damn. It's like the artists are given free range to do their own take on the bots, even redesign them and not even hold any kind of design standard to hold up in continuity. That's why we can have Don Figueroa do a complete redesign/amalgamation between G-1 and bayformers in one issue, but then have Guido Guidi come in with a more blocky G-1 accurate take on them with different head and body molds the next issue with no explanation given.
THAT'S what's getting old. It's ok to have your own take on the characters, but IDW needs to adhere to a single design standard and stick to it.
toaster
Yay, Grimlock's Back !!
Grimlockimus
Dinobot month?
SO. BEAUTIFUL
Gridlock1987
Me think, we will learn from the issue they're in.
AngryChad
I almost wish there was just one more G1 comic that had a consistent, more Dreamwave-y art style, and characters that acted exactly as they did in the cartoon…
…to siphon off the whiners.
For the rest of us, these comics are the best thing to happen to G1 in a very long time. Personally, I'm loving the varied art styles and new takes on old characters. This is how *real* comics do it. Very much looking forward to seeing the Dynobots again.
GWolfv2
that's…that's the EXACT same head, drawn by Alex Milne…the design is identical, except he's got a glowy chest and its drawn in Alex's style…
Which I love. I'm a big fan of Nick's Dinobots (palaeontologist, don't judge me) and I was a little concerned Alex and andrew would redesign em. Good good.
Plus, 3 years since MD, 2 since LSOTW…finally some answers
Anguirus
No. Different version of Springer.
Eugenesis was Roberts' epic fanfic based on Marvel. I think he made it pretty clear that Springer and Grimlock aren't his favorite characters. But here's the thing, he's not writing fanfic anymore and the IDW characters are different.
MaxGoof
Do we know why the Dinobots are on Cybertron? Have they always been and we just haven't seen them since the new series started, or have they just arrived? I don't remember seeing them at all since before All Hail Megatron?
Wadeledge
So happy!!! Reintroduce them right before the game comes out, smooth move Hasbro.
SMOG
If Milne wanted them to be generic, he shouldn't have made one look like Fort Max…
zmog
SMOG
Y'know… it's good to see them and all, but these covers just serve to remind me of how much I HATE the IDW Dinobot redesigns. There's something about their whole look (in both modes) that utterly drains the charm right out of them for me.
zmog
tusko
They kinda split at the end of Maximum Dinobots.
I'm glad… I hope they give more characterization to Slag, Sludge and Snarl. Reintroduction through Ironhide is a brilliant move.
Grimlock as a Diehard – Bruce Willis – is also a great roll for him. We know who he is.
Who are the other bots on the cover? I think the closer one is Fort. Max.*
*I see in the posting they are just generic bots.
YoungPrime
Wait am I seeing the same pics as everyone else? I see two bots beneath him who look nervous.
YoungPrime
Why are they splitting up the Dinobots?
payton34
I am not a fan of many of Milne's redesigns. He has improved slightly lately, but most of his previous work was too Gundam-y for my tastes.
And that's the point. "My" taste. If that qualifies as "rage, raaaage" then so be it.
Kaijumaster
GRIMLOCK!!!!!
Awesome! in the past Grimlock has been so over saturated, but since LSOTW the creative team here has had me frothing to know what happened to him! SO EXCITED!!!
tusko
Grimlock has many looks:
Dunno why they choose that one. I like the no-nonsence G1 head – black and featureless; no vented fins, no antenna.
MechaV
The bots in front of Grimlock are just generics. Alex Milne said so on his DA account.