Review: Angry Birds/Transformers

Few things have captivated our household the Angry Birds/Transformers has. Ever since the day I mentioned the title my children were fascinated. That was a few months before issue #1, and oldest (age 7) asked at least twice a week if the title had come out yet.

 

And then one day, it did. My children had previously been obsessed with another (less mind boggling) Transformers cross-over.

To date there have been 3 issues and each has been more treasured in our house than the previous. Just the other day our 4 year old brought one of the issues into our basement entertainment room to read because he enjoyed it more than television. Television people (and to him that means Netflix). The 4 year old has spoken.

I honestly don’t know what type of magic the writers and artists have conjured to produce this comic book, but so far it is the only comic that my wife has audibly laughed at while I was reading it to the boys (I totally caught her listening to us when she was pretending not to).

One final note on the last issue. On the ride home from the comic book store, my 7 year old asked if we could hold off reading it for a week or two. I was caught off guard and a little bummed that he had potentially lost interest. I asked if he wanted to take the title off our pull list. His response was priceless. No. He still wanted to keep it, but he just didn’t want to wait an entire month between reading issues.

WOW! (BTW he could only hold out 3 days).

Will I Read it to my Children?

The essential question asked in all of my reviews. Asked and answered, whether I have read it to them already or not. Yes, I will read it to them. Yes, I will read it to them again. And I will probably wind up buying a copy of the trade paperback for them also.

 

Review: The New Avengers / Transformers

Not too long ago I started reading Transformer comic books. (To learn why read this post).

IDW offers great hard cover volumes for new readers like myself. Most of the stories are grim and violent… well maybe not violent by Cybertronian standards. In any case, I let my children page through the books but I generally don’t read the stories to them.

The exception was in Volume 2 where there is a cross over with “The New Avengers”. My oldest who was about 6 at the time loved it. Loved it so much that if I wanted to read from the Volume I had to ask him where it was.

Which is cool. I’m glad he’s excited about the story. This was the type of excitement I was hoping he would find in books. Plus it is a blast reading it to him. But 6 year olds are not gentle with their toys… or anything belonging to their parents. So I gave him a trade paperback copy of the series of his own. Again, he was captivated by it.

A quick check on Goodreads for the reviews shows that it was not well received having an average rating of 2.62 stars. So I guess my boys and I are the rare ones that really enjoy this little adventure.

I’m speculating that the low rating has more to do that this was an “All Ages” book and not for the teenagers grown adults who are regular readers of both series.

Will I read it to my Children?

Every one of my reviews concludes with this section, and I don’t see a reason to skip this one just because I’ve already read it to them. Yes I’ll continue to read this to them. But right now they are on a break from it. Their interest has been replaced by another all ages Transformers Crossover.

Review: More Than Meets The Eye

More Than Meets The Eye Cover

I purchased my first comic book in my mid thirties, and count myself lucky that it was Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye.

In this earlier post, I ramble on about how continuity of the Transformers series is so loosely aligned between multiple continuities it appears inconsistent to newcomers (I didn’t say it that well, but it certainly captures the essence of the post).

I read Volumes 1 through 4 using the kindle app on my android tablet which got me through issue 16. For the moment, Volume 5 is only available in print.

Volume 1 begins with a “one shot” that splits the Transformers story line into two directions: More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise. I’m saving my thoughts on the diverging story lines for a separate post.

I picked More Than Meets the Eye as my introduction into Transformer comics based on the reviews it received from Amazon. Many of the reviewers that loved it seemed were not comic book collectors, but enjoyed the original cartoon as children. In contrast, the reviewers that complained about it were comic book puritans.

I’ll say it again, I was lucky this was my first comic book. The artwork complemented and enhanced the story. I read each volume at least twice so I could enjoy and appreciate the art.

The artists’ interpretation of Rodimus throughout the series is impressive. He is frequently drawn with an extremely relaxed posture which distinguishes him from the others. This compliments his highly emotional character, a trait I find engaging. Rodimus experiences the range of human emotion more than any other Transformer.

More Than Meets the Eye has story lines full of conflict and turmoil, including one Autobot’s struggle with addiction, another who copes with his past through violence, another that over compensates his insecurities by talking constantly, and plenty of others. To help guide the Autobots (and the readers) through these challenging character traits is a psychiatrist named Rung.

There are a multitude of villains. Some are new (I think) and some from the past, which the series effortlessly reintroduces.

The one exception is an ongoing story line with Skids which I am struggling to understand. His character seems to have a lot of history that is excluded from the series. Although, I could be wrong since the character is admittedly suffering from memory loss.

It is worth noting that a different reviewer had trouble following all the characters, but it seems he was only reviewing issue #1.

I’m going to hold off on reading this series to my kids (who are enjoying the Rescue Bots ). More Than Meets the Eye has plenty of gory scenes, even though it is energon and not blood. These scenes would likely distract them from enjoying the larger story.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read for me and a good start into a larger series. I wouldn’t recommend it if you just want to read one graphic novel and be done with the series.

Back Story #3: Transformers

My boys love is Rescue Bots. It is part of the Transformers line. Instead of the Autobots Vs Decepticons format, it begins as a team of heros overcoming terrible circumstances. But unlike lots of shows that follow that format, Rescue Bots gradually introduces villains. The first episode includes an appearance by Optimus Prime, and Bumble Bee joins one adventure in the first season.

The boys watch almost all of their shows on Netflix, which also had Transformers Prime. I figured it wouldn’t be a stretch for them to go from watching one Transformers cartoon to another, so I previewed a few episodes to see if I thought they would like it. My conclusion: bad for them – awesome for me.

I wound up watching all three seasons. And as I mentioned in this post, I don’t have time for this stuff.

After watching the first two seasons I found myself incredibly nervous that the third and final season wouldn’t have a conclusion. Or worse, the series would be concluded in the made for TV movie Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising which wasn’t on Netflix. Yes, I understand I just admitted that a Transformers cartoon was a source of anxiety for me. Believe me, it caught me off guard too.

What can I say? I like my stories to have endings. They don’t have to be happy. Or even good. But it is important that a story has some conclusion. As far as I’m concerned, writers are free to take all sorts of artistic liberties at any point during their story. But experimenting with a stories conclusion (mostly by not having one) is heavily discouraged.

In any case, Transformers Prime has a conclusion. A well written one too. But after the series was over, I was interested in learning more about the story lines prior to the fall of Cybertron. This became my second gateway into the world of comic books and graphic novels.

So that is the complete back story. I started reading comics to find stories to read with my children and wound up finding some I enjoy on my own. Some where a marketing consultant has earned their wings.

What about you? Any other people willing to admit they began reading comic books and graphic novels as an adult?

Reading Order: Transformers

It started so  innocently. What would be a good starting point in reading Transformer comics books?

I learned in probably the most difficult and frustrating way that there isn’t one starting point for Transformers.

No.  Transformers have several “continuities”.  This effectively means that reboots exist in parallel with others. Plus, the stories don’t necessarily belong to one continuity, but tend to align with one, or break ground on a new one altogether. The relationships between the continuities are so complex they require written guides and flowcharts. Not exactly stuff for beginners, or people short on time. (I am both).

I discovered “continuities” after reading a handful of Transformer comics. My initial reaction can be summed up in this observation: If you have to explain what a “continuity” is, then your story isn’t continuous.

One of the more noticeable consequences to this approach to story telling is the proliferation of conflicting story lines and character development. This isn’t the usual drift that occurs when telling stories in one medium (say a comic book) and then adapting it to another (movies). 

But here is the problem: The stories are amazing. It didn’t cross my mind that it would be possible to enjoy the variety of historical context. Mainly, I just thought it was unnecessary. Without knowing what I was doing I planned to exclusively read comic books aligning with the Transformers Prime continuity. Instead, I wound up reading something altogether different.

So my real problem is that the Transformers comics aren’t clearly labeled which would help greatly in understanding

1. There are multiple continuities
2. There are multiple continuity families (I’m still trying to understand that one)
3. A story aligns with a continuity
4. If the characters and history will be consistent with other issues.

But perhaps there is some genius behind this approach. It seems remarkably easy to cross-pollinate readers. After-all if a reader had an easy way out of a story line (at a conclusion), they may just take it and move onto something else.

Returning to the reading order:

I started with IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye, and have started on Robots In Disguise. The kindle versions bundle about 4 issues into one ebook. 

I also read the graphic novel Autocracy, and Rage of the Dinobots.

Looking back, I’d say that this was probably a good place to start, but at the time (not understanding the various continuities) I felt lost.

What do you think? Is this a common occurrence in comic books? Let me know in the comments.