Skybound’s Transformers Comic Series, 3-Page Preview of Issue #6

AzT

https://twitter.com/Skybound/status/1765414126518743335

I read mine when I woke up this morning (thanks Comixology!). It was a good issue with more world building.

Skybound & Hasbro are rushing new printings of Void Rivals & Duke! Coming to your local comic shop on March 27, 2024.

BombSquad

I think having Mike Spicer stick around as colorist will help a bit for the visual continuity. Really interested to see what Corona's pages look like.

Yeah for sure. Jorge Corona's TFs at least stylistically looks similar to DWJ's so far, so having the colorist be the same will be a big help.

Treadshot 2.0

Dude… as one GEEWUNer to another, you're gonna LOVE this series. There's a reason why comics fans in general are all over this shit. Topnotch art, topnotch characterizations, topnotch action, topnotch pacing. You WILL be on the edge of your seat and you're lucky that you'll only have to wait one month to see this arc wrapped up… The rest of us have been biting our nails month-to-month, LOL

What I'm really worried about is the next arc. Losing DWJ on art is a big deal, and while the next artist looks good, we don't know if that will translate yet. If he's good, I hope he stays on long term, because I dislike constant art style changes. I haven't been this excited for a book since the early days of MTMTE, and barring a few fill-ins here and there, Alex Milne was a constant presence on the book, and that contributed a lot to the book having a consistent look and tone.

Turbine027

oh, for sure I want physical issues! Didn’t know if there was like a mail service … hitting up my LCS now … I grabbed 1-5 on eBay, and both 1-2 for the 2 Joe comics… I’ll see if the store has Void Rivals #6 when I’m there, otherwise I’ll eBay that one too  

I appreciate all the help. Been watching some YouTube videos (don’t mind the spoilers) and I’m pretty excited!

Dude… as one GEEWUNer to another, you're gonna LOVE this series. There's a reason why comics fans in general are all over this shit. Topnotch art, topnotch characterizations, topnotch action, topnotch pacing. You WILL be on the edge of your seat and you're lucky that you'll only have to wait one month to see this arc wrapped up… The rest of us have been biting our nails month-to-month, LOL

Turbine027

I appreciate the intel! I bought the first 5 TF comics … looks like Void Rivals has 5 out as well? And Duke and Cobra Commander 2?

I’ll probably hunt eBay to get them and then get in touch with my local comic store for future issues.

Do y’all purchase through some place local or is there some internet site all the cool kids use that I should be using?  

First 6 issues of void rivals are out with issue 7 due out next month. There was a bit of break in the publishing of it.

Duke issue 2 is out not sure about CC.

I get mine from a local comic shop or LCS for short. I'm not a big fan of digital issues, prefer physical copies. I'm old school too.

Turbine027

Even though I’ve been a toy collector my entire 40 years of life now, I’ve never really followed any of the modern comic lines and I’m a bit of a dunce on that front  

there’s something intriguing about buying and following along from the beginning so I just ordered the first 5 issues and they’ll be here this week…

Question: Is this 100% stand alone? Are there tie ins with other series? Like, treat me like I’m 7 years old and tell me what I’m missing haha

Functionally, at least at this point, it’s completely standalone. But it does tie in with skybound’s other titles in their Energon universe. It remains to be seen whether it will stay that way however, as the other books seem to be setting up some pretty significant events tying into the Transformers plot in the future. So, for example, each of the Decepticon “big four” have appeared already, but not necessarily in the Transformers comic itself.

As already mentioned, void rivals serves as a sort of prequel and an introduction to the larger galactic community, with many characters that appeared in the old cartoons. And the new Duke and Cobra Commander titles directly tie into Transformers in ways I don’t want to spoil for you. The company has committed to restricting the verse to no more than four titles so it’s not impossible to keep up with.

If you’re asking whether it ties into any previous continuities, like skybound’s current ongoing G.I. Joe comic still ties into the old IDW comics, the answer is no. The original G1 cartoon seems to be the basis for the character designs certainly, but not slavishly so especially when it comes to the alternate modes. The plot itself is completely different. It doesn’t tie into any previous series. Unlike the dream wave comics, it’s not presented as a sequel to the original cartoon, and unlike IDW’s regeneration one and secrets & lies comics it’s not presented as a sequel or prequel to the older marvel continuity.

I suppose it’s possible to fill in the current comic’s backstory with some other kind of media, but only in broad strokes because the characterizations of everybody are done in such a way that it wouldn’t make sense for this to be, for example, the future of IDW 2 (The previous publisher’s rebooted Transformers continuity that chronicled the beginning of the war on Cybertron)… mainly because of Skywarp.

Even though I’ve been a toy collector my entire 40 years of life now, I’ve never really followed any of the modern comic lines and I’m a bit of a dunce on that front  

there’s something intriguing about buying and following along from the beginning so I just ordered the first 5 issues and they’ll be here this week…

Question: Is this 100% stand alone? Are there tie ins with other series? Like, treat me like I’m 7 years old and tell me what I’m missing haha

Dictionaryabot8407

just finished reading issue 5 and I am already so goddamn excited for this issue. DWJ seems to make every issue end just so that you (read this in Vangelus stilted yelling) really really REALLY REALLY just want more. what can I say but this comic goes hard. I'm afraid I don't understand what you lot are on about.

I also read issue 4-5 today.
Absolutely smashing.

SMOG

Hey, you're the one who played the "I'm sure you could do better" card.  

But if you actually read, you'll note my example was that someone doesn't need to be an artist to see when something looks wrong… this is because most of us may not be artists, but we all have some experience at recognizing when things look "right"

Being critical of something is not the same as being "offended" by something. We are all entitled to be critical of media, characters, art, and stories for various reasons.

I think I probably am, which is why I'm not on the "DJW sucks" brigade. However, As the saying goes… keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out. With experience also comes a degree of discernment, and art school is rather heavy on the critique process as a tool for understanding art production.

I'm not saying the artist who made that cover has no professional skills… but that is definitely a bad cover. The DJW cover is bad too, but I feel like one cover shows the artist's current skill limitations, while the other shows a skilled artist's carelessness (which is maybe worse).

"Has always been" only means that the issues with the character are also original to her (which was exactly my point).

But setting aside the much larger question of what "acts like a girl" even means, and the associated baggage inherent there, we can also make the argument that Arcee isn't, and has never been "a girl". Part of a common critique of Arcee's overdetermined femininity is that it is surplus to context and projects a lot of archetypical behaviours onto her that make little sense.

The only really sensible counterargument to that is "it's a scifi-fantasy cartoon aimed at children, so it's painted in broad strokes — don't think about it too hard".

But since we're adult fans of said 40-year-old scifi-fantasy toy-commercial cartoon, it's sort of in our nature to think about these things too hard, right? (such as imagining all the intergalactic ballet lessons Arcee has taken in her long existence, just to justify clumsily-drawn dance poses   )

Thanks. Actually, it has really been stressing me out knowing that someone on a comic book forum has disagreed with me about portrayals of Arcee. After the sleepless night I just had, your acknowledgement really helps a lot! Whew!

Honestly, having 2 fine arts degrees is really a self-own. "Having done professional illustration work" only means I'm not gainfully making art now (like most people with fine arts degrees). Statistically, I'm probably living out of a 1993 hatchback and eating discarded pizza from a dumpster.  

zmog

Hmmmm,
I see some of your points, and not so much others….
However, ultimately here I respect your well worded and thought out rebuttals.
And your sense of humor about it all.  

As Galvatron once said to Optimus, “There will be no war this day…”
You certainly hit the nail on the head about fans like us thinking about these things too hard.  

If I ever run into you at your 1993 hatchback, pizza is on me. (I probably scavenged it myself from the dumpster across town, after spending too much money on toys and comics.)

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