Today is proving to be a good day for sharing interviews with IDW talent, as Transformers writer Brian Ruckley directs our attention to his recent talk with the Westfield Comics Blog.
Westfield: What can readers look forward to in the series?
Ruckley: Peace and harmony! Not really. Although we are going back in time, building from the ground up if you like. We’re starting the story back before the Transformers robots are at war with each other, and in most ways Cybertron is actually a peaceful, harmonious, prosperous place, full of life and variety. Bit by bit, we’ll reveal some of the cracks beneath the surface – starting with the first murder the planet’s seen in a crazy long time. How you go from that to a galaxy-spanning war, how it feeds into existing tensions and forces some choices, both good and bad, onto some pretty well-known characters – that’s where we’re heading. With a few surprises along the way, hopefully.
Check out the entire interview for yourself, remember to pre-order the first two issues at your preferred local comic shop and then join in the discussion on the 2005 boards! [Cover #4 A credits: writer Brian Ruckley, artists Angel Hernandez & Ron Joseph, cover artist Sara Pitre-Durocher]
Mirimus
We did…at least, as originally envisioned in the first Marvel series. They describe Cybertron as a mechanical paradise before the war.
Girl Pants
I have to wonder if the whole "first murder in a long time" will turn out to actually be "first murder the public knew about in a long time".
EDIT:
Although I would actually be totally into Cybertron being an actual utopia before the fall, if for no other reason than the fact that we've never really had that in TF fiction before.
raindance773
This sounds exciting! Let’s hope the follow through is as good as advertised.
simpatico
Ahahahahahahahahah
Thumbaticon
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I can assure you that this is 100% accurate.
Dire 51
U
Unfortunately, Diamond Distribution only ships their direct market comics to local comic stores – and IDW doesn't have a subscription service.
Your best bet is digital.
ErbFan28
I've never purchased single issues of comics at the time of their release. I don't have a comics shop within a reasonable distance from me. Is there a way to purchase issues to be shipped to me on or at least very close to the release date?
Focksbot
There's very little so far about this series that sounds remotely interesting. Cybertron as a hub world for other species is good, but we haven't heard any more of that recently. The rest of the pitch is barely more than an outline of one of the classic storytelling templates: everything is fine, then the status quo is disrupted, this leads to a journey.
Maybe we could get some character profiles like they produced for the Cyberverse series, or the very short ones that MTMTE had? Or something else to help us get invested/hyped before the first issue drops?
(If it does turn out to be bad, of course, I'm at least looking forward to the mass autopsy on these pages.)
Magnus’ Mate
I have high hopes for this new series, wiping away the disappointment of the last few years of – what I consider – pretty terrible TF comic stories.
Glad this is an all-new creative team, the franchise needed it.
Berser Car
It will start with Blaster killing Scrounge. I know it.
Haywired
Make a story with Cliffjumper and Dirge. They'll both die.
Dire 51
You're right. Its a work in progress
But you know, in fairness… the initial ideas for RiD and MtMtE weren't exactly nail biters either. The war is over, etc.
Lionheart
"The first murder in a long time".
I wonder how long that is? If it's only a year or something then it's probably just a very strict society, but if it's been like, hundreds of years…Now, that's interesting. Either the totalitarian rule on their planet is so constricting that it's ability to oppress crime is near flawless or we're talking about a species so pure that it can't even fathom murder until a rotten egg among them decides to commit murder (the Cain of the lot). If it's the latter, this book is going to spiral into some pretty dark territory. What would war be like to a species that never had to depend on it to advance prior to this?
TheSoundwave
Sounds like interesting stuff, I'm looking forward to reading this. It sounds refreshing after all the over-complicated, convoluted stuff in some of the other recent backstories…
"Primus created the Thirteen Primes to defeat Unicron, and he created the Well of Allsparks to create more Transformers, and then he became Cybertron's core, and then the Quintessons came along and pretended to be their creators, and then Optimus was a lowly librarian, but he was actually one of the Thirteen Primes all along, and then there was a Prime named Megatronus who turned evil, but Megatron was also named Megatronus, and then…something about the rust age…or maybe the dragon age (?)…"
In my opinion, this comic sounds like the interesting stuff. How the war started. How Cybertron went from being a peaceful planet to what we know later on. I like the bit about existing tensions and whatnot. It sounds like there's going to be a lot of nuance, but it's going to be executed in a pretty straightforward and relatable way. I don't really care about a whole 'Lord of the Rings-style' backstory that has a lot of complicated details. It's not relatable or necessary, and it doesn't add anything to the story. It honestly just serves to make the characters feel more distant. If this comic does delve into the Transformers' origins (which I'd actually enjoy), I'm hoping they stick to something simple (you really don't need anything more than the Sunbow origin..that was perfect).
justiceg
Honesty time:
I have found every solicitation for the book published thus far to sound pretty boring
This interview was also pretty boring
Doesn’t lead me to big hopes for the new series, although there are some unique takes within it so hopefully I’m wrong
I think the pitch for MTMTE up above is a bit of an oversell
Cosmoglide
starting with a murder mystery in a crazy sci-fi world. I wonder how much The Expanse inspired him? Isn't that how that show starts or am I misremembering?
streak2
Sounds like a interesting take! I don\'t think we ever had much stories that happens before the war, also, I really want to see Decepticon and Autobots interact without the war have happened.
Dire 51
I don't have a good feeling about this new idw series/ run/ iteration.
I give it 12 months until it folds.
I'm as die hard a TF as it gets, and that pitch the writer gave in the interview was unbelievably boring.
Allow me to paraphrase.
"It's a time of peace." Oh, that's great.
"There's a murder." Oh, wow – really?
"There may a few new robots… uhh… Rubble!"
Allow me to pitch MtMtE:
"Gay, drug addicted robots, on a fools errand – attempt suicide, and discover love alongside a genocidal mastermind."
(Something like that.)
That book was a small miracle.
This? Aww fuck. Pack it up now.
ColdGoldLazarus
I really hope so. Don't get me wrong, Cliffjumper deserves better eventually, but I want to see how long this meme can go on for before he finally survives something.
CelticMutt
I hope not. I'm getting tired of Cliffjumper being the designated victim.