Fyi, IDW has put all of their Transformers comics on comixology. Each issue is reasonably priced at $0.99. Also, issue 1is of All Hail Megaton is free to download. I think this will finally interest me enough to start reading Transformers comics.
AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
okay
because I love you guys, I'm gonna post the chronological order of the series and tell you what to skip or read
here's the (rough) timeline for the IDW series
Megatron Origin — A four-issue miniseries. Megatron rises from a laboring miner to founder and leader of the Decepticon faction.
Infiltration — A seven-issue miniseries (issues #0 to #6). On Earth, the Decepticons have discovered a potent new power source, and risk everything to exploit it.
Stormbringer — A four-issue miniseries (issues #7 to #10). On the burnt-out husk of Cybertron, Bludgeon works to revive the ultra-powerful but crazed Thunderwing.
New Avengers / Transformers — A four-issue miniseries. The Earth Autobots team up with the superhero squad the New Avengers to confront the Decepticons in the country of Latveria.
Escalation — Sequel to Infiltration. Six-issue miniseries (issues #11 to #16). The war on Earth breaks out into open conflict as the Decepticons attempt to make use of the newly-discovered Ore-13.
Devastation — Sequel to Escalation. Six-issue miniseries (issues #17 to #22). Megatron throws caution and protocol to the wind, unleashing his ultimate warrior, Sixshot, on the Earth-based Autobots.
Revelation — Sequel to Devastation, presented as a special series of four Spotlights. The Autobots abandon Earth to deal with the threat of the Dead Universe.
Maximum Dinobots — Sequel to Revelation. Five-issue miniseries that features Scorponok and his Headmasters, Sunstreaker, Hot Rod and the return of the Dinobots and Shockwave.
All Hail Megatron — A 16-issue maxi-series dealing with the fate of Earth at the hands of the Decepticons one year after the withdrawal of the Autobots at the end of Revelation.
The Transformers Continuum: The Definitive Chronology — A one-issue (somewhat skewed) history of the Transformers thus far.
Last Stand of the Wreckers — A five-issue miniseries spotlighting the Autobot subgroup's adventured outside of Earth. Published alongside the ongoing series but set, initially, before it.
The Transformers ongoing series — takes place 2 years after All Hail Megatron, with the Autobots in hiding from the military out to destroy them.
The Transformers: Bumblebee — A four-issue miniseries focused on Bumblebee as the newly elected Autobot leader, which takes place between issues 3 and 5 of the ongoing series.
The Transformers: Ironhide — A four-issue miniseries revolving around Ironhide's mysterious resurrection on Cybertron. It was written by Mike Costa with art by Casey Coller and colors by Joana Lafuente.
The Transformers: Drift — A four-issue miniseries that was published biweekly, beginning in August 2010. It focuses on Drift's past as a Decepticon and was written by Drift's creator — Shane McCarthy — with art by Alex Milne (line-art) and Josh Perez (colors).
Infestation — IDW multi-franchise (with Star Trek, G.I. Joe and Ghostbusters) crossover event. With zombies. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, art by Nick Roche.
Heart of Darkness — A four-issue miniseries focusing on Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps, and on events that take place between the All Hail Megatron code and Infestation. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with art by Ulises Farinas.
The Transformers: Spotlight — An irregularly ongoing series of one-shot stories focusing on a single Transformer per issue. The stories generally fit in to various points in the Transformers' history.
New Avengers/Transformers is quite possibly the worst comic crossover ever, and it's non-canon for Marvel and barely referenced in one issue of the series, Spotlight: Ramjet.
The Transformers: Continuum was intended to be a starting point for new readers but it's so riddled with errors as to be useless.
Sadly, the Infestation issues by DnA were garbage, and they're canon. I'm not fond of All Hail Megatron, or the current ongoing. the Drift miniseries is only for if you want to know about the dude, who isn't as bad as the fandom makes him out to be, but he's still IDW's pet character and a bit annoying. Heart of Darkness has bad art, reminiscent of the Dreamwave comics, inflated limbs, incorrect mechanical anatomy, etc. But, it's canon, so you might as well read it.
Last Stand of the Wreckers is absolutely a highlight of the series. The other -ation series were good, and Maximum Dinobots was fun.
upcoming:
Chaos — "the first-ever TRANSFORMERS event book from IDW", leading off from Heart of Darkness, Infestation and issues 22 and 23 of the Ongoing series. Due later in 2011.
A Punch/Counterpunch story, with Jimmy Pink from the earlier stories.
Basically, read All Hail Megatron, Last Stand of the Wreckers and Ironhide. That'll give you a good idea of the recent line to see if you want to continue, and they're pretty good books. All Hail Megatron definitely benefits from a lack of prior knowledge.
Comixology is running a "Wonder Woman 101" sale this weekend, with all related comics being half off. The sale includes:
DC: The New Frontier #1-6
Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #1-7
Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1-24
Wonder Woman Vol. 3 #1-44, 600-602, Annual (the annual is regular price, but it's the end of the first arc)
Sensation Comics 1-9 (first issue is free, the others come in a set of two, each set for $0.99)
All Star Comics #8
JLA #1
Kingdom Come #1
Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta
Batman/Superman/
Wonder Woman: Trinity #1-3
This is a pretty nice sale all around, as you can get most issues for $0.99 each. At the very least I'll be buying New Frontier and possible an arc or two of Gail Simone's run.
Okay, so New Frontier for $6 is a steal, but can I safely buy Gail Simone's run on Wonder Woman? Though I doubt I can get the whole thing, so does any particular arc stand out?
People said the same thing about mp3s, but it took years of iTunes profitability to prove to the record industry that digital music was viable enough to remove DRM. Since publishers, particularly the big 2, don't seem inclined to skip that middle step, we are going to have to live with DRM and a higher than ideal price point if we want legal digital comics from mainstream publishers. Eventually we ought to arrive at a point where the DRM is gone. I'm convinced, though, that $0.99 across the board is a pipe dream. We will probably see a tiered pricing scheme, with same day as print comics priced near or at cover price to cater to retailers, relatively new comics at 1/3 to 1/2 off cover price, and older comics priced between $1 and $2, depending on popularity.
Okay, so New Frontier for $6 is a steal, but can I safely buy Gail Simone's run on Wonder Woman? Though I doubt I can get the whole thing, so does any particular arc stand out?
I thought it was a great run but it's not quite at BoP or S6 level. Gail really gets the character IMO.
I haven't been able to find any information on this online, but does anyone know if flashpoint 5 is going to be released on digital 1 month after print like the rest of flashpoint. Because that's pretty silly that they'd release it after the new line is underway and its irrelevant.
coutts on
Pearl FC - 2535 1604 7594 // Black FC - 2494 3438 2717
Have any of you tried reading digital comics on a netbook screen (11-inch)? I'm thinking about getting an 11-inch Macbook Air to use as my primary computer, but I'm wondering whether or not a screen that small would make reading digital comics a pain.
I haven't bothered with digital comics much so far, but with DC's tentative step into same-day digital releases I'm thinking that that will change in the near future. Consequently, I don't want to buy a computer that'll ruin the experience for me.
I don't particularly like it on my 15'' MacBook Pro, because unlike my iPad I can't read it vertically. The zooming can be a pain but it's not the worst thing in the world. Why not get an iPad and like an Acer netbook for the cost of the Air?
Yeah, I think that a tablet is the superior way to view digital comics.
Also, Comixology is running a "Vertigo 101" sale this weekend. http://iphone.comixology.com/sponsored/vertigo/ All issues are $0.99 each. There's a lot of good stuff in this sale. All of the Unwritten, the first story arcs of new series (American Vampire, Fables, DMZ, Sweet Tooth, iZombie), and some older Vertigo hits.
Honestly, most of those books I want or already have in trade, so I probably won't be buying anything except possibly The Other Side .
Has anyone else tried the Graphic.ly app? It crashes constantly on my Droid X. I saw that they had Marvel Comics that are actually viewable on android devices, and it works well enough for viewing stuff that you buy through the desktop app.
It doesn't seem like a sale, but rather a new kind of item. If they start doing more completed series like this, I'm going to start buying more digital comics.
Is there some reason, aside from PIRACY, that Marvel and DC don't just do webcomics? Make it a pay site, make it cheap to join, have ads on the one side, comics in the middle. No flash bullshit, just pictures on a webpage.
Like Disney and WB marketing couldn't find enough advertisers to make it free. They wouldn't because for some reason this is fantasyland territory to them, but they could.
Goddamn it I hate the piracy justification. My brother's work (especially photos) get stolen and repurposed every fucking day. Gawker, IIRC, used at least one of his photos without attribution because they're scum, and that ignores all the kids and dickbags who think having a tumblr makes them a fucking art gallery curator (though all attributions and linkbacks magically disappear). But the fact is that it's going to happen no matter what. Every Shadowrun book I can think of is available on BitTorrent and elsewhere, and I'm sure that includes my book (and future books). However, the fact that they're sold as PDFs has made the product more accessible even though it makes pirating them as PDFs as easy as nothing else. You don't have to do anything but say, "Here. Take this." It just seems a Hell of a lot more likely when people don't have an alternative that they'll pirate rather than plop down the money. It's the iTunes Store argument. It works for these books as far as I can tell. RPGs are a niche industry smaller than comics. As far as I can tell everyone has just bitten the bullet and sells products as PDFs. Decent people will buy the PDF and/or the hard copy. Others will torrent it, and chances are that they would have anyway. So why worry about sales that aren't lost so much as ... I don't know how to describe that.
DCU is a shitty "alternative," but that's got to be the only way for comic sales to work. Sell them as CBR singles. Sell collected trades. And sell them day and date for less than the fucking hardcopy. It's that simple. God knows there are readers. This Flash crap (besides Flash being The Devil) has got to go. If something comes onto your computer, you can make a permanent copy of it somehow, so all that DRM and inconvenience falls squarely on the people who are actually trying to buy this stuff legitimately. It's unfair to them, and it fucks up the free market, to say it something like DCU fails it's bad news for comics. No. It's bad news for DCU. Make something better. I swear to God, no one seems to have much regard for the free market anymore. They just want ... Not that.
Considering that one of the largest owners of Disney, and thus Marvel, is Steve fucking Jobs that this would have been addressed at some point in the last year. Then again, megacorps move slowly. I just hope that it's within my lifetime. However, I somehow doubt that Marvel will be selling the richness of books like Dark Horse(?) has where at least there's some justification for selling at a price closer to hardcopy for something where you get more than what is on the page (plus what's under it) in that time.
All Spider-Man Family / spider-island tie in books to go day and date (probably will start with ASM 667).
Also all X-Men books go day and date with the relaunches in Oct.
They also strongly hinted that the Avengers books would be day and date sometime before the movie comes out next year.
All Spider-Man Family / spider-island tie in books to go day and date (probably will start with ASM 667).
Also all X-Men books go day and date with the relaunches in Oct.
They also strongly hinted that the Avengers books would be day and date sometime before the movie comes out next year.
No word on an Android app yet
I've stopped holding out hope on an Android app. They don't seem to care about it at all. It can't be due to technical difficulty, because every other publisher has titles available through Comixology on Android. Until Marvel gets their shit together with respect to Android, I'm going to be spending my money with the other publishers. It's gonna be weird as hell to be buying comics on a regular basis and not buying a single Marvel title.
On fan questions this week, let's start with boberto who had a question about a Marvel announcement that's not directly tied to storylines: a day-and-date digital push for the Spider-Man and X-Men titles. He asked, "Now that Marvel is transitioning to same-day digital comics, what are the chances of getting an Android app sometime in the near future? Should the facts that Marvel has just put out a Captain America game on the Android Market, as well as a live wallpaper, and that Marvel Pinball is forthcoming on the platform be viewed as signs that Marvel will embrace Android more fully in the future?"
Brevoort: This seems to me like a question for our Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media Group, Peter Phillips:
Phillips:Let's just say Marvel always listens to its fans and makes their requests of the highest priority. So stay tuned
One of the most pressing issues every comic book publisher is dealing with right now is how to properly manage the future — and current — implications of the digital landscape, from distributing comics on devices like the iPad to spreading the marketing message on social media.
Marvel, the industry's current No. 1 in terms of market share, announced earlier this month the hiring of Peter Phillips to help them deal with all of the above. Phillips, who has prior work experience at Fandango and Paramount Pictures, comes to the company with the mouthful title of "Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Media Group."
The digital landscape at Marvel continues to be a busy one — at Comic-Con International: San Diego this past weekend, the publisher announced that both the Spider-Man and X-Men lines would be released digitally on Marvel's apps the same day the print product hits stores. Shortly after the news of his hire was made official, Newsarama talked with Phillips about his new position at Marvel, what exactly it entails, and what areas he's looking to grow.
Newsarama: Peter, obviously you've got a diverse background, and have worked for a lot of different places — given this new job at Marvel, do you have much of a background in comics, as a fan or otherwise?
Peter Phillips: Yeah, definitely big fan, of both the books and the movies. That's one of the biggest draws for me, just the love of the characters and the stories, and that sort of thing.
Nrama: So beyond what's in the press release, what does your job entail exactly within the digital realm of Marvel?
Phillips: My role is going to be to continue building the brand via the digital world. That includes strategic ownership of the websites, of all our extensions of the websites — platform products, applications, social networking, things like that — and then customer acquisition. I don't mean that in a sales-y sense. I want to get more people interested in digital comics. I want to make the natural transition. A lot of people, I believe, are very familiar with the franchises, but they're familiar with it through Hollywood — which is fantastic. I want to extend that continuity out, leverage that, so people can enjoy it 24/7 through all mediums. My role is to build the digital business continuously off of a fantastic brand that's been around a long time.
Nrama: What you're noting is sort of an ongoing curiosity and kind of a vexing problem — more people than ever are interested in these comic book characters through the movies, but it hasn't translated in terms of greater awareness of the actual comics. And it seems like quite a challenge to be taking on.
Phillips: I think that part of what is so exciting about the technology that's out there now, for example the proliferation of tablets,— if you look at the projections that some of the experts have put out, they're staggering, and they keep revising them upward — it's just a great way to enjoy content in a very different way. The print world has had its publicized struggles in general. I think this is a real opportunity for younger generations to understand how exciting comic books are, and this medium is.
Is it a challenge? Of course it's a challenge. Every job's a challenge. But for me, it's exciting, because it's a great product, and it's a fun product, and I think it's just new generations enjoying things in a new way. I'm not denigrating the print business, it’s the bread and butter of the comics world. Part of the research I did was I went to a lot of comic book stores and talked to a lot of people, and sort of re-acclimated myself. Fans are as hardcore as ever, so it's pretty exciting.
Nrama: And there's definitely a democratization factor with digital comics — not everyone can get to a comic book store, and even if you can, there's always a chance the book you're looking for might not be in stock.
Phillips: Absolutely. I work in New York City, so you walk down and there's a ton of great comic shops. But what about hardcore fans that live in the more remote areas? They don't have the same type of access, or maybe they don't have access to nearly the depth of inventory. I think this is another great extension of one of the powers of the web.
Nrama: The biggest debate in the industry surrounding digital comics is the merits of releasing digital comics the same day as in print, with one side saying that it'd be handicapping traditional retail outlets. Marvel has been experimenting with same-day digital releases, and DC announced a little more than a month ago that all of their books will be available online the same day as in stores starting in September. It's obviously early in your tenure, but could you see Marvel heading in that direction?
Phillips: Well this is my first month, so I wouldn't even be able to say. I would note that Marvel as an organization will prioritize its fans, but also keeping in mind what makes the business run. It's a complicated question, so we have no announcement in that regard. I heard and read about what DC is doing, and it's going to be interesting to see how that pans out.
However, we have announced our Spider-Man and X-Men lines going day & date with the "Spider-Island" and Schism events, respectively, so we’re certainly not shying away from day & date. I should also note that we’ve had our Ultimate line day & date since the beginning of year.
Nrama: At this point, what do you see as the areas for growth in the digital efforts at Marvel? What are you looking to nurture and expand?
Phillips: We've got the Digital Comics Unlimited on the site, and our mobile comics applications, and those are great offerings. At heart, I'm a product person, so I want to figure out ways we can continue to enhance what we offer to delight the fans. Obviously there's distribution we talked about, but then there's how do we continuously innovate and improve. The consumer is king, and we want to make sure that we find him or her opportunities to continue to enjoy our products and grow the business.
Nrama: And when talking about digital efforts at Marvel, it's not just the publishing side, but you'll be working on the whole slate, including movies, video games and TV shows, correct?
Phillips: Correct. And I think part of why I'm here is that I have the background, especially from the movie side.
We're a very integrated company, people work well together. The Marvel Studios part of this business is obviously a critical one for me to work with. It's a nice family here.
Nrama: Obviously between the website and social networking efforts there's a lot going on with Marvel's digital efforts already. Is there anything specific you're looking to focus on in the near future?
Phillips: My focus in the beginning probably won’t be to come up with something completely brand new that turns everything on its head, but rather taking a good, hard look at what the offerings are from Marvel for its consumers and continuing to innovate and improve on them.
I use social networking and I know the power that it has, and I looked at some of the comments because it's such an active community of fans, and a lot of people responded to the press release today by saying, "OK, Peter, welcome, now you've got to this. You've got to do that." I took a lot of notes, because I want to hear what people think. I think what I'm going to focus on is really learning what the consumer wants, that's my background, and figure out ways to continue to excite them.
Nrama: This being your first full-time job in the comics world, it's definitely a very vocal and passionate consumer, so if you're looking for feedback, you'll surely get a lot of it.
Phillips: Yes! I know there will be no shortage of feedback, and I'm excited about that. I don't mind constructive — or maybe constructive isn't even the right word — but I don't mind the criticism. I want to hear what people want. This is a consumer brand, so that's what's important.
Posts
because I love you guys, I'm gonna post the chronological order of the series and tell you what to skip or read
here's the (rough) timeline for the IDW series
New Avengers/Transformers is quite possibly the worst comic crossover ever, and it's non-canon for Marvel and barely referenced in one issue of the series, Spotlight: Ramjet.
The Transformers: Continuum was intended to be a starting point for new readers but it's so riddled with errors as to be useless.
Sadly, the Infestation issues by DnA were garbage, and they're canon. I'm not fond of All Hail Megatron, or the current ongoing. the Drift miniseries is only for if you want to know about the dude, who isn't as bad as the fandom makes him out to be, but he's still IDW's pet character and a bit annoying. Heart of Darkness has bad art, reminiscent of the Dreamwave comics, inflated limbs, incorrect mechanical anatomy, etc. But, it's canon, so you might as well read it.
Last Stand of the Wreckers is absolutely a highlight of the series. The other -ation series were good, and Maximum Dinobots was fun.
upcoming:
This is a terrible way to read.
Basically, read All Hail Megatron, Last Stand of the Wreckers and Ironhide. That'll give you a good idea of the recent line to see if you want to continue, and they're pretty good books. All Hail Megatron definitely benefits from a lack of prior knowledge.
DC: The New Frontier #1-6
Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #1-7
Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1-24
Wonder Woman Vol. 3 #1-44, 600-602, Annual (the annual is regular price, but it's the end of the first arc)
Sensation Comics 1-9 (first issue is free, the others come in a set of two, each set for $0.99)
All Star Comics #8
JLA #1
Kingdom Come #1
Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta
Batman/Superman/
Wonder Woman: Trinity #1-3
This is a pretty nice sale all around, as you can get most issues for $0.99 each. At the very least I'll be buying New Frontier and possible an arc or two of Gail Simone's run.
I thought it was a great run but it's not quite at BoP or S6 level. Gail really gets the character IMO.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
I haven't bothered with digital comics much so far, but with DC's tentative step into same-day digital releases I'm thinking that that will change in the near future. Consequently, I don't want to buy a computer that'll ruin the experience for me.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Also, Comixology is running a "Vertigo 101" sale this weekend. http://iphone.comixology.com/sponsored/vertigo/ All issues are $0.99 each. There's a lot of good stuff in this sale. All of the Unwritten, the first story arcs of new series (American Vampire, Fables, DMZ, Sweet Tooth, iZombie), and some older Vertigo hits.
Honestly, most of those books I want or already have in trade, so I probably won't be buying anything except possibly The Other Side .
At $25 for 27 issues, it's a pretty good deal.
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My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Goddamn it I hate the piracy justification. My brother's work (especially photos) get stolen and repurposed every fucking day. Gawker, IIRC, used at least one of his photos without attribution because they're scum, and that ignores all the kids and dickbags who think having a tumblr makes them a fucking art gallery curator (though all attributions and linkbacks magically disappear). But the fact is that it's going to happen no matter what. Every Shadowrun book I can think of is available on BitTorrent and elsewhere, and I'm sure that includes my book (and future books). However, the fact that they're sold as PDFs has made the product more accessible even though it makes pirating them as PDFs as easy as nothing else. You don't have to do anything but say, "Here. Take this." It just seems a Hell of a lot more likely when people don't have an alternative that they'll pirate rather than plop down the money. It's the iTunes Store argument. It works for these books as far as I can tell. RPGs are a niche industry smaller than comics. As far as I can tell everyone has just bitten the bullet and sells products as PDFs. Decent people will buy the PDF and/or the hard copy. Others will torrent it, and chances are that they would have anyway. So why worry about sales that aren't lost so much as ... I don't know how to describe that.
DCU is a shitty "alternative," but that's got to be the only way for comic sales to work. Sell them as CBR singles. Sell collected trades. And sell them day and date for less than the fucking hardcopy. It's that simple. God knows there are readers. This Flash crap (besides Flash being The Devil) has got to go. If something comes onto your computer, you can make a permanent copy of it somehow, so all that DRM and inconvenience falls squarely on the people who are actually trying to buy this stuff legitimately. It's unfair to them, and it fucks up the free market, to say it something like DCU fails it's bad news for comics. No. It's bad news for DCU. Make something better. I swear to God, no one seems to have much regard for the free market anymore. They just want ... Not that.
Considering that one of the largest owners of Disney, and thus Marvel, is Steve fucking Jobs that this would have been addressed at some point in the last year. Then again, megacorps move slowly. I just hope that it's within my lifetime. However, I somehow doubt that Marvel will be selling the richness of books like Dark Horse(?) has where at least there's some justification for selling at a price closer to hardcopy for something where you get more than what is on the page (plus what's under it) in that time.
BAH!
I'm preaching to the choir like an idiot.
Also, you can read the first issue of the latest Criminal series at G4TV's Fresh Ink Online: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/714535/fresh-ink-and-graphicly-give-you-free-comics/
Also all X-Men books go day and date with the relaunches in Oct.
They also strongly hinted that the Avengers books would be day and date sometime before the movie comes out next year.
No word on an Android app yet
I've stopped holding out hope on an Android app. They don't seem to care about it at all. It can't be due to technical difficulty, because every other publisher has titles available through Comixology on Android. Until Marvel gets their shit together with respect to Android, I'm going to be spending my money with the other publishers. It's gonna be weird as hell to be buying comics on a regular basis and not buying a single Marvel title.
Not saying it's his directive. It's more likely no one wants to be the one to say, "And sales through the Android app have outpaced the iPhone app."
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Yesss All Star Superman!
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/marvel-digital-peter-phillips-110728.html