IDW's Transformers Comics Win Best Ongoing, Writer, Artist and More at Reader's Choice Awards
Sunday, December 24th, 2017 12:15AM CST
Category: Comic Book NewsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 22,176
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The fact that this is a choice of the people reading the comics as opposed to a select committee really shows the presence of the brand in the comic book medium and in the hearts of fans all throughout the world. It is worth noting that the best ongoing series was a shared win with Saga, My Hero Academy and The Mighty Thor, which is impressive when you realize that it is the only series out of those whose characters come from a totally different medium (unless you count Norse Mythology).
Congratulations to all the winners!
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Posted by Carnivius_Prime on December 24th, 2017 @ 3:22am CST
Posted by Sunstar on December 24th, 2017 @ 4:37am CST
Posted by LE0KING on December 24th, 2017 @ 9:01am CST
Posted by steve2275 on December 25th, 2017 @ 4:39am CST
Posted by Cheesinator on December 25th, 2017 @ 1:44pm CST
It tickles me a bit that Lost Light is apparently being appreciated by all except the Transformers fans on here.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 25th, 2017 @ 4:31pm CST
Posted by william-james88 on December 25th, 2017 @ 9:41pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?
I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 26th, 2017 @ 1:04am CST
Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)william-james88 wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?
I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.
Posted by william-james88 on December 26th, 2017 @ 1:10pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)william-james88 wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?
I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.
Based on the fact that the books he works on are the ones that have to accomodate changes in design to suit toys and spotlight particular characters. I am not talking about my own opinion, just stating why fans may prefer Roberts solely on the fact that he writing is not as dictated by Hasbro. Kinda like how people preffer writer directors over a director just doing someone else's script. Or how people preffer singer songwriters over singers who sing songs written for them or cover artists.
Posted by Va'al on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:18pm CST
william-james88 wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Based on what? He can definitely write better than Roberts. (I base that on reading MTMTE and its concurrent ongoing up to the Titans Return story.)william-james88 wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Was John Barber even considered?
I doubt it. I believe there is a stigma with Barber being associated with mandated books.
Based on the fact that the books he works on are the ones that have to accomodate changes in design to suit toys and spotlight particular characters. I am not talking about my own opinion, just stating why fans may prefer Roberts solely on the fact that he writing is not as dictated by Hasbro. Kinda like how people preffer writer directors over a director just doing someone else's script. Or how people preffer singer songwriters over singers who sing songs written for them or cover artists.
I'm not entirely sure this is a thing, when it comes to ComiXology.
These fan polls (that's what they were, Twitter fan polls) are based almost entirely on the amount of issues they sell on their platform. Barber doesn't sell as much as Roberts, so he wasn't considered.
People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:44pm CST
Exactly. I started by reading MTMTE, and picked up the other series much later, simply because MTMTE was getting such good reviews. By the time I finished both series, I found that I was anticipating what Starscream, Windblade and Bee were going to do much more than what was happening on the Lost Light. And that's including me being a Rodimus fanboy. (I think Rodimus could be written much better than he was in MTMTE.)Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.
But just how much of the story does Hasbro meddle in? Or do they just give them specifics regarding designs?
Maybe if that happened with Roberts he might have written better.
Posted by Va'al on December 26th, 2017 @ 3:24pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:Exactly. I started by reading MTMTE, and picked up the other series much later, simply because MTMTE was getting such good reviews. By the time I finished both series, I found that I was anticipating what Starscream, Windblade and Bee were going to do much more than what was happening on the Lost Light. And that's including me being a Rodimus fanboy. (I think Rodimus could be written much better than he was in MTMTE.)Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.
But just how much of the story does Hasbro meddle in? Or do they just give them specifics regarding designs?
They do and they don't. There's PR responses and direct responses, and there is a lot of freedom with how certain characters or plotlines can develop - but also Hasbro can just ask for 'can this character be in the story somehow' and that's where Rook gets one panel, Alpha Bravo another, and you'll end up with issues like Combiner Hunters where everyone happens to have a new deco for some in-story reason and totally not a box set exclusive to an event.
Posted by william-james88 on December 26th, 2017 @ 8:57pm CST
Va'al wrote:People who like Roberts but not Barber out any reason other than 'it's not Hasbro mandated' are missing out on some truly excellent stuff.
Hell yeah, like my favourite comic so far: RID 22 Soundwaves
Va'al wrote:They do and they don't. There's PR responses and direct responses, and there is a lot of freedom with how certain characters or plotlines can develop - but also Hasbro can just ask for 'can this character be in the story somehow' and that's where Rook gets one panel, Alpha Bravo another, and you'll end up with issues like Combiner Hunters where everyone happens to have a new deco for some in-story reason and totally not a box set exclusive to an event.
But those are mostly harmless examples. The one I find quite egregious so far was the sudden importance of Scoop. Scoop? Why, where? How is he suddenly the new voice of a religion?
Oh right, he has a toy coming out.
Or other things like how Rattrap, a character which so far only existed many years after the war ended, is now interacting with g1 characters and quite prominant.
Posted by Daniel Adkins on December 26th, 2017 @ 10:04pm CST
Personally, I think Barber excels in one area that Roberts lacks: versatility. Barber can write grand narratives, he can write personal stories, he can write action, he can write comedy, he can write drama, he can write sci-fi, he can write superheroes, and he can mix and match any elements between the extremes. Roberts has his style and his schtick, and it works... for a time. Barber, meanwhile, has less of a distinct style because he knows how to switch things up for whatever he’s writing.
Posted by Va'al on December 27th, 2017 @ 1:24am CST
william-james88 wrote:But those are mostly harmless examples. The one I find quite egregious so far was the sudden importance of Scoop. Scoop? Why, where? How is he suddenly the new voice of a religion?
Oh right, he has a toy coming out.
Or other things like how Rattrap, a character which so far only existed many years after the war ended, is now interacting with g1 characters and quite prominant.
Was he really that important, though? Sure, it might feel forced at the start, but they fade enough into everything else that it doesn't really make that much of a difference. See again: Rook.
As for Rattrap - he's an excellent character (truly excellent) in TAAO.
Let go of your past fictional notions, this is a whole new universe, and has been so for the past 12 years.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 27th, 2017 @ 2:24am CST
Exactly! I couldn't have said it better. And the only reason Roberts gets away with his shortcomings for as long as he does is because of the talented people around him who cover up for him, either intentionally or unintentionally simply by trying to do the best they can.Daniel Adkins wrote:Personally, I think Barber excels in one area that Roberts lacks: versatility. Barber can write grand narratives, he can write personal stories, he can write action, he can write comedy, he can write drama, he can write sci-fi, he can write superheroes, and he can mix and match any elements between the extremes. Roberts has his style and his schtick, and it works... for a time. Barber, meanwhile, has less of a distinct style because he knows how to switch things up for whatever he’s writing.
Posted by Chibi Starscream on December 30th, 2017 @ 10:58pm CST
Posted by william-james88 on January 1st, 2018 @ 1:58am CST
I feel I am more in line with the Eisner awards this year, with Brian K Vaughn as best writer, over James Roberts. I have loved Roberts in the past, but 2017 was not his best work. And when it came to IDW's Transformers books, I feel its mairghread scott who really rocked instead.
TAAO did get a "best of" win for the artist but see there I feel Sara Pitre-Durocher doesnt do great interiors (she is one of the best, if not the best at covers though). When it comes to Transformers, I still find Alex Milne the best in the business. Sara plays it a bit too loose on the detail sometimes and they look more like toys, scale and all, due to lots of smooth surfaces (especially her Chromia, her Wheeljack is more up my alley). Of course, Milne didnt really handle much TFs this year but even then, I would say Jack Lawrence did a better job on at duties.
My favourite artist of the year though would be Mikel Janin for his work on Batman. That is just gorgeous!
Best series would be Saga (with TAAO after that, followed by Batman).