Reading – Transformers Continuum

NOTE: This is not a detailed review of Transformers Continuum. These are my thoughts on a 32-page comic without any serious thought put into criticism of the comic. Consider this more immediate thoughts after reading and not a carefully considered review about the book.

So I grabbed IDW’s new Transformers Continuum comic (mentioned here) and it wasn’t exactly what I expected. Based on the comic’s description, and my own (obviously) unreasonable expectations, I sat down to read this expecting a thorough, detailed history of IDW’s series of Transformers comics.

I should have had different expectations; especially since MTV’s preview of the comic was actually pretty clear. It’s just that I relied more on the description than I did the preview.

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What is it?

Transformers Continuum is a 32-page comic book format book that reprints artwork from IDW’s various Transformers comics. The cover says “The Definitive Chronology,” and author Andy Schmidt did the best job that he could with the source material, but unfortunately even IDW can’t make sense of the organization and chronology of their Transformers series. I was hoping this would help me determine where to go next (I’ve read Infiltration, Stormbringer, Spotlight 1, Spotlight 2, Spotlight 3, and Revelations but I haven’t been sure which trade to grab next).

That didn’t happen. If anything, all this comic did was make me question even buying another trade. That’s unfair to IDW, since they’re trying to condense a lot of information into one short comic, but it was my first thought after finishing with the “ad-free comic” . . . that actually includes a few ads. A couple of ads don’t bother me all that much, just don’t call a book ad-free if it includes ads.

Page After Page of Disjointed Text

The most difficult part about reading Transformers Continuum is the fact that the tone of the comic changes drastically from page to page; hell, even from panel to panel. It’s as if the author tried to paint a landscape that includes multiple magnifying glasses over a few key scenes; the comic makes remarkable leaps in the timeline with the occasional tight focus on one small scene.

It’s possible this is because the comics this timeline was drawn from don’t cover many details, but this review at tformers.com hints at larger problems:

“Jarring back and forth between broad coverage of huge arcs, to individual attention to functional minutia, Continuum reads like listening to some one tell a lengthy joke, who has to keep going back to add elements they know will affect the punch line.”

“The effect is that the narrative is disjointed and confusing, its hard for me, having read the comics being condensed, to evaluate how effectively Continuum will be as a guide for the uninitiated, but my feeling was one could read this issue and still feel quite lost. “

As someone with limited experience with the series, I can report that the reviewer’s concern that this comic is confusing is dead on. I did okay with the sections that covered what I had already read, but all of the new (to me) information just had me scratching my head and trying to figure out what had exactly happened. Sure it was only a $4 comic, but the way it was promoted the last thing I expected was to be confused by the book.

On the Plus Side, it’s Pretty

The layout’s decent, the art’s great, and for $4 this is significantly cheaper than The Art of IDW’s Transformers (mentioned here), but I can’t help but feel that a Transformers fan without any experience with the IDW Transformers comics would be better off putting the $4 toward the art book.

That would be less confusing in the long run and the art book’s a lot easier to pull off a shelf and enjoy than the comic will be.

Skip This Comic

If you haven’t bought a copy of Transformers Continuum then you’re better off avoiding it. I’m unhappy with the book, and I don’t see any reason why anyone else should buy a copy of this. It’s just not worth the $4, which is sad since I was really looking forward to this and this comic is the biggest reason I went to the comic store this week.

This thread at www.tfw2005.com supports my conclusion that this comic is a bad buy. Scan through for other opinions, but the basic theme in the thread is that this is a bad book.

I agree.