Spotlight:

[Dominic]

I assume that this issue of "Spotlight" will deal with Prowl taking his stupid pills.

Dom
-still not sure what Prowl did in "Coda" was so bad. Kup was brain-dead after all.

[Onslaught Six]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... chmidt.htm

You would be right, Dom.

[Dominic]

I have decided that issue 4 of the ongoing will be the point of failure/success. (Yes, this is stacking the deck heavily in favor or me dropping the Costa/Schmidt/Figueroa book.)

Dom
-might have time to read "Last Stand of the Wreckers" before FCBD. Maybe. One can hope.

[andersonh1]

Here's an interesting take on Prowl from a guy I used to post with on the old Outpost Gallifrey message boards, DanielW.

I think that Prowl is a mech of many masks.
He plays the "pole up the tailpipe official" which oddly enough gets things done on two levels - either they do things his way (good) or they go off and either succeed doing things their way (good) or Prowl is in the right for not acting (good). it's all good for Prowl.

Then he sees the need for someone to motivate the crowds, to give them hope. He keeps stumm about Prime. He manipulates Kup. End result? Prowl wins, because he's maintained hope.

Prowl isn't working for accolades. He doesn't CARE what people think.
He's working to his plan, and that's (1) Keep the Autobots together (2) Defeat the Decepticons (3) keep the Autobots from becoming like the Decepticons.

So when the Autobots are caught up in fear of humanity, when they're dithering about what to do, when Prime has lost his way what does Prowl do?
He grabs the core principles of OPTIMUS'S own ideal "freedom is the right of every sentient being" and "we're better then the Cons". And goes off to free a Decepticon.
What does that do? It spurs action. End result - Prowl suffers in the short term, Autobots benefit in the long term.


It just remains to be seen if the schisms of the Autobots is part of his plan, or how he's going to factor that INTO his plans. He's trying to prevent the Autobots from allying too closely with the Decepticons though. And he's sided with the most powerful and reacting faction - most likely to reign them in, or manipulate them more closely.

Interesting, if a little optimistic. It remains to be seen whether the Spotlight issue will confirm Daniel's theory or not.

[Dominic]

I agree, it is an interesting, if very charitable, reading of the comic so far.

Of course, Prowl's actions are not the only problematic thing about the series.

Dom
-when did Bumblebee get hit with an idiot stick?

[andersonh1]

Chris Ryall posts a few preview pages for Spotlight: Prowl.

http://ryalltime.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-prowl.html

Let's all officially welcome artist E.J. Su back to Transformers, in the form of the SPOTLIGHT: PROWL issue coming soon enough. The first of two new TF-related comics that the now-father-of-three Mr. Su is handling for us. Colors on the interior pages courtesy of Andrew Dalhouse, doing his first work for IDW here.

I was reading some of the online scuttlebutt about this coming Spotlight issue, and the number of erroneous assumptions about what it is, what it means, and why we're doing it was impressive even for the Transformers boards. The nice thing about that is knowing how many "pleasantly surprised" responses we'll see after people read this one.

[Dominic]

Looks good. No idea how it will read though.....

[andersonh1]

Spotlight: Prowl

Most of the spotlight takes place before ongoing #1. It looks like Prowl is taking a similar journey to Thundercracker in that time among the humans has changed the way he views them. In Prowl's case, he's been undercover for eight months, riding along with the police and observing their attempts to keep the peace in the days following the end of the war and the destruction that the Decepticons visited on Earth during All Hail Megatron.

Prime's journey towards respect for life continues, as he insists that the Autobots remain on Earth and help rebuild, even if they can only do so covertly. Prowl spends the time learning, as he puts it. And he watches the cops kill Thrust by setting fire to the building he's been hiding in. This has quite an effect on Prowl.

We get an explanation about why so many new faces came to Earth, including Jetfire. And we see the beginning of the end of the Autobots as a military unit. A lot of things that occur during the ongoing are addressed here, and I can't help but think that many of them might have been better addressed in the ongoing series itself. This particular spotlight can stand on its own if it has to, but it works far better as a supplement to the regular series.

It's interesting to see Prowl weigh the worth of human lives versus Transformer lives using population counts and the fact that humans live such short lives. But then Mr. By the book breaks cover and orders to save the life of a child, and if not for a reasonable policeman who appreciates what he did, Prowl probably would have been lynched as a result. And it makes sense to me. We're seeing the Autobots evolve into the group that we've always known, the one that values life and doesn't just count them as acceptable losses. Prowl is among that group, and he finally decided that it was time to act instead of watch, even if that endangered his own life as a result. It's a strong moral stance, and it's one I approve of.

I'd call the issue a success. It answers some questions and fills in some gaps. And though I didn't really have a major problem with the way Prowl reacted in trying to save Breakdown, it's good to see how he got to the point where he was willing to do that. And it was good to see EJ Su's art again, even though his style has evolved since he was the regular artist.

[Dominic]

I actually posted my thoughts in the ongoing thread. (I agree with Anderson that this issue works best as a tie-in with the main book, though I reverse stance in saying it works best as a tie in and less as a stand alone issue.)

And though I didn't really have a major problem with the way Prowl reacted in trying to save Breakdown, it's good to see how he got to the point where he was willing to do that. And it was good to see EJ Su's art again, even though his style has evolved since he was the regular artist.

There is also a casual reference to the need for change towards the end. If Prowl recognizes that, then his wholly irrational actions in this issue and the ongoing make a certain amount of sense. (The only way to get new results is to try different actions.) Prowl's reaction to Thrust's death do not make sense. There is no reason he should be upset by that, given what a threat Thrust was to him.

[andersonh1]

There is also a casual reference to the need for change towards the end. If Prowl recognizes that, then his wholly irrational actions in this issue and the ongoing make a certain amount of sense. (The only way to get new results is to try different actions.)

I caught that. It does seem as though he had a goal to change the status quo.

Prowl's reaction to Thrust's death do not make sense. There is no reason he should be upset by that, given what a threat Thrust was to him.

The point is that Thrust was not a threat, the humans were, and Prowl recognized that. And I'm not sure it was so much Thrust's death that Prowl had a problem with, not in a broad sense. It was the fact that the humans would kill a helpless and incapacitated opponent that he had a major problem with. Not to mention, he knew the humans would make no distinction between Autobot and Decepticon under similar circumstances.