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Is there any way to get the Dreamwave Transformers run in TPB or HC editions nowadays? I read some of it back when, and really liked it. So far, I've only been able to find some OOP Dreamwave stuff. Did noone pick up the rights and re-issue those stories?
Bonus question: how does the IDW stuff compare?
I too would love Idw to reissue these to match their current Transformers HB books and would love to see them reprint the 80s marvel stuff again too in hc
IDW's Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye and Transformers: Lost Light series are both excellent. John Roberts wrote all of them, and Lost Light is a sequel to MtMtE. I give them my highest recommendation. In fact, I'll argue they are the best Transformers fiction ever, regardless of medium.
I'm also a huge fan of Tom Scioli and John Barber's batshit-insane Transformers vs. G.I. Joe series. Imagine Jack Kirby as a crazy and creative 10-year-old boy creating his own fanfiction in the '80s, and you start to approach the awesomeness of this series. There's an oversized hardcover that collects all 13 issues and the "Movie Adaptation," but I own it in three TPBs and the single issue of the "Movie Adaptation."
IDW also published the best G.I. Joe comic of all time (and I include all of Larry Hama's '80s and '90s output for Marvel in there) -- Cobra: The Last Laugh. I highly recommend the hardcover, or wait until August for the entire epic to finally come out as a TPB.
Thanks for the IDW tips!
[QUOTE=Hive;4820265]Is there any way to get the Dreamwave Transformers run in TPB or HC editions nowadays? I read some of it back when, and really liked it. So far, I've only been able to find some OOP Dreamwave stuff. Did noone pick up the rights and re-issue those stories?
Bonus question: how does the IDW stuff compare?[/QUOTE]
IDW reprinted several of the Dreamwave comics. If you click on the pages for the individual series below and then check the collected editions you can see which ones were reprinted by them.
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dreamwave_Productions#Series_published[/url]
IDW's own Transformers comics went up and down in quality - the best way to read it now is probably via the OHCs:
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers:_The_IDW_Collection[/url]
1) Furman's reboot was great and anbitious but was probably a bit too convoluted for some fans. It was published as a series of miniseries ([I]Infiltration, Stormbringer, Escalation[/I], etc.)and all of it was collected in volumes 1-4.
2) [I]All Hail Megatron[/I] by Shane McCarthy was an attempt to appeal to fans of the classic Transformers by focusing on the older characters and even changing their designs to match but this resulted in a lot of continuity errors. It was collected in Vol. 5.
3) IDW then released it's first ongoing [I]Transformers[/I] series which was written by Mike Costa and lasted for 31 issues. It's quality was mixed at best but it was better than McCarthy's run - it was collected in Vols. 6-8.
4) The series was renumbered again and split in two - [I]Transformers: Robots in Disguise[/I] (later just [I]Transformers[/I]) by John Barber and [I]Transformers: More than Meets the Eye[/I] by James Roberts. This is the most popular version and lasted from 2012 to 2018. both series were renumbered once and there was also at least one spinoff series, [I]Windblade[/I]. It's being collected in the Phase Two IDW Collections of which there are currently 11 volumes.
There's a fuller overview here:
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/2005_IDW_continuity[/url]
IDW rebooted the series in 2019 if you want an easier jumping-on pont though!
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/2019_IDW_continuity[/url]
Thanks, Sandbagger! That helps a lot.
I did read some of Furman's continuation of the old Marvel run (which I liked), but really didn't like it. Dreamwave's stufd is the best TF I've read. Are "Robots in Disguise" and "More than Meets The Eye" of the same quality?
[QUOTE=Hive;4828075]Thanks, Sandbagger! That helps a lot.
I did read some of Furman's continuation of the old Marvel run (which I liked), but really didn't like it. Dreamwave's stufd is the best TF I've read. Are "Robots in Disguise" and "More than Meets The Eye" of the same quality?[/QUOTE]
Yes they are.
You can jump into Phase 2 with only reading the Last stand of the Wreckers 4 issue mini, cause that gets referenced, but other than that all you need to know is that the million year war ended and there is some form of peace, and the cybertronians are trying to live on Cybertron again, this time both factions together.
It's a bit confusing at the start but not more so than a regular superhero series would be, jumping in with a new story arc. I grew up reading superhero comics out of order, wherever I can get my hands on them so I'm quite used to this and also I don't mind just reading the best stuff if it's understandable enough on its own and I think TF phase 2 is.
[QUOTE=Hive;4828075]Thanks, Sandbagger! That helps a lot.
I did read some of Furman's continuation of the old Marvel run (which I liked), but really didn't like it. Dreamwave's stufd is the best TF I've read. Are "Robots in Disguise" and "More than Meets The Eye" of the same quality?[/QUOTE]
If you're talking aboout Regeneration One that was totally different and was set in the old Marvel US continuity only. It had its moments but I didn't enjoy it as much as the old series:
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers:_Regeneration_One[/url]
Furman's various -ation series which kicked off the 2005 IDW continuity are as far from the old Transformers series as Syfy's Battlestar Galactica series was from the original one. He left out a lot of the 'mythic' stuff from previous incarnations such as Primus & Unicron, and Galvatron wasn't Megatron in this continuity. I agree with Balakin re Phase 2 - it's a good place to jump on and the general quality of the stories is much higher than the McCarthy and Costa years. Don't ask me about Revolution though - I haven't caught up to that yet and will probably skip it when I do!
I can't highly enough recommend More than Meets the Eye and Lost Light by James Roberts. The universe-building, character development, and extended plotlines are just a joy to behold. It's that rare thing when both a comic company and a writer are happy to work with each other for a long long time and get it right.
Regarding the Dreamwave stuff, if you're in the UK the entire Transformers comic history, including the Marvel US, Marvel UK, Dreamwave and IDW runs have been collected in one hardcover series by Hachette books: [URL="https://hachettepartworks.com/transformers-the-definitive-g1-collection"]https://hachettepartworks.com/transformers-the-definitive-g1-collection[/URL]
You may be able to look up which books held the DW stuff and simply order them from ebay. I've been collecting the set as I couldn't miss this. They even coloured some of the later UK black and white strips.
[QUOTE=Sandbagger77;4829543]If you're talking aboout Regeneration One that was totally different and was set in the old Marvel US continuity only. It had its moments but I didn't enjoy it as much as the old series:
[url]https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers:_Regeneration_One[/url]
[/QUOTE]
He's also done the Transformers '84 #0 one-shot prequel last year - it was pretty decent. And just recently it was announced that IDW have him back doing a follow-up mini-series in April this year I think.
Most recent Dreamwave reprints I'm aware of are these 7 hardbacks that are part of the Hachette Definitive G1 Transformers Collection. Collecting G1 vols 1 and 2, War Within vols 1 and 2, Transformers/GI Joe vol 1 and the Furman written Armada issues across two books. The Armada stuff is filled as the later Dreamwave content such as Micromasters and G1 vol 3 that was intended for inclusion remains unavailable for reprint owing to the situation with creatives never being paid for their work as DW were going under. Should be fairly easy to source from UK sellers, some may still be available on the Hachette webstore but they only ship to UK addresses. Be aware that the volume numbers on the spines are different to the issue numbers (as in they were released out of order) and that earlier printings of Armada World's Collide vol 2 have a printing error where one page has the wrong speech balloons imposed on, repeating the ones from the previous page. G1 vol 2 also has a page with the speech balloons not aligned quite right but at least they're there.
That sounds... confusing. But the volumes does look good together, thanks for the picture. :)