Spotlight:

[andersonh1]

Spotlight: Trailcutter

Die Hard with Transformers? Not exactly, though we do get a tried and true "one guy has to stop an army by himself" storyline. The success hinges on the execution and the character in question, and I think it's pulled off fairly well. Granted, the story works in part because it's set in the more whimiscal MTMTE series. It held my attention and I enjoyed it, which is more than I can say for Bumblebee's spotlight, which I skimmed through but still haven't really finished.

Trailbreaker is still named Trailbreaker when the book begins, and even when the story ends it's still not established that he's changed his name to Trailcutter. He only suggests the name in the first place thanks to Whirl's "advice" to make himself more fearsome. Trailbreaker's a cheerful guy who resents being known as "the guy with the forcefield". He finds a very creative use for it to defeat Lockdown and his crew (which is actually a bluff since it's not working at the time), a use which references Spotlight Kup. He fends off Decepticons with a smile and bluster, and against my expectations I found it a lot of fun.

We see a few characters I don't think we've seen much of in IDW. Lockdown is the leader of some Decepticon raiders who are hunting down Titans, including Metroplex. I suspect we'll see this plotline picked up again down the road. Perhaps because Lockdown is present, some of the background characters look like Animated Blitzwing and Lugnut. And the Deluxe Insecticons show up, though they're little more than generic Decepticon thugs, so little use is made of these seldom-seen characters. Venom, Chopshop and Barrage are seen and named.

And there are a few inside jokes, such as the large Rodimus badge looking like G1 Rodimus Prime's box art, and Brainstorm, Chromedome and Highbrow mentioning that they used to "work together".

[Onslaught Six]

That's TWICE now that the Deluxe Insecticons have showed up like this! That enough for you, Dom?

[Dominic]

I will be more impressed when they actually *do* something.


Trailcutter:
All things considered, this issue was better than expected. First off, it had a point, and Roberts managed to actually convey that point pretty well. Trailcutter is trying to rebrand himself, which nicely parallels Hasbro's practical need to rename the character. Roberts also does a good job of showing what it is like to be a competent workman on ship full of feckless assholes. While there was a fair amount of whimsy, it is far more tolerable in a one-shot than in an ongoing series.

Grade: B/C


Aside: Has there been any pushback from fans about Robert's handing of Rodimus? During Furman's early run, Rodimus was a competent if somewhat headstrong trooper. Now, IDW's Rodimus is simply repugnant. (I am fine with some of the heroes being rotten individuals. But, I am wondering if Saint James is getting a pass on his "mis-characterization" of Rodimus.)



Dom
-Rodimus is stamping his face on awards now? Wow.

[Gomess]

Saint James

You want some lime with that lemon, Mr. Bitterpants?

[Onslaught Six]

I haven't seen any. I'm loving Rodimus, he's such a snarky fuckup who thinks he's so great. It's a much better (and WAY more interesting) characterisation than "TEH CHOSEN 1!!!~" which is usually what Rodimus gets thrown into.

[Shockwave]

Aside: Has there been any pushback from fans about Robert's handing of Rodimus? During Furman's early run, Rodimus was a competent if somewhat headstrong trooper. Now, IDW's Rodimus is simply repugnant. (I am fine with some of the heroes being rotten individuals. But, I am wondering if Saint James is getting a pass on his "mis-characterization" of Rodimus.)

Dunno and don't care and still wondering why you care. None of this has any impact on the story itself. I couldn't really care less if "fans" give Roberts a pass on anything because it has nothing to do with the story.

[andersonh1]

Spotlight: Hoist

Finally, someone on the Lost LIght who isn't neurotic or full of wildly exaggerated personality traits. (Trailbreaker's fairly normal, but Hoist is even moreso). Hoist is just a down to earth, dependable maintenance bot, who can't stand to be all alone, which probably explains why he's on the ship. The threat of the story is interesting if a little "out there", but the twist does allow for an amusing combiner joke, as well as the obligatory Metroplex appearance. And it's nice to see Sunstreaker get a fairly prominent role in the story since we haven't seen him for awhile apart from a panel or two. This issue and the concept behind the threat felt like some of the more imaginative stuff that might have turned up in the Marvel run. Good issue.

[andersonh1]

Author comments on Spotlight Hoist.

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PAGE 1: What was it that stood out about Hoist as a character that would allow you to tell this story about him and all that he is?

JAMES ROBERTS: Truthfully? What stood out for me, going back and re-reading previous stories that he’s been in (and there aren’t many, and I’m afraid I didn’t seek out the G1 TV episodes), is that nothing much stands out! He’s the archetypal “background ’bot”–competent, pleasant, hardworking, straightforward. But that’s not a bad thing when you’re settling down to write a SPOTLIGHT about someone. It gives you more of a canvas. Having said that, I sort of made his vanilla-ness a plot point in itself. I deliberately put him with three characters (excluding Bob [the Insecticon] for a moment–sorry, Bob) who are larger-than-life, and let the story play out from there. If I’ve done by job properly, Hoist will be a more fully-rounded character by Page 22.

PAGE 2: How was the collaborative process for you with artist Agustin Padilla? Was there a lot of give and take on how the pages turned out?

JAMES ROBERTS: This was the first time I’d worked with Agustin (we collaborated again on MTMTE #16), and while he and I would communicate very little (English is his second language and he works with—I don’t know what the word would be? An intermediary?—who passes his pages back and forth.

Anyway, Agustin would submit the rough page breakdowns and then respond to any feedback, and in the art itself he’d make choices that improve on how I saw things play out in my head. I love what he’s done—the art has a real Geoff Senior vibe about it—all those heavy blacks, all those close ups, all that weight—so I was a happy little scribbler.

And the first three pages of this SPOTLIGHT are uncharted territory for me: pages without dialog. But Agustin makes them look so beautiful and kinetic and alive (that shot of Hoist in midair on Page 1!)… it’s enough to make me wonder why I don’t go for the silent treatment more often.

Special mention, also, to Joana Lafuente’s scrumptious color work. Together, Agustin and Joana create pages that invite close scrutiny and then slap you in the face—in a good way.

PAGE 3: This issue is set between issues of TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEET THE EYE. Is it hard to find a gap for the story to slot seamlessly into?

JAMES ROBERTS: So far, there are two big gaps in MTMTE where you can squeeze any number of “lost” stories: the gap between issues #5 and #6, which is where the Hoist and Trailcutter SPOTLIGHTS take place, and the gap between issues #12 and #13. So for any fanfic writers out there: go fill those gaps! I didn’t deliberately create those gaps, incidentally, but I’m glad they exist.

PAGE 4: Swerve and Sunstreaker are revealed inside of Hoist’s craft. Sunstreaker hasn’t had a lot of page time in MTMTE—why bring him along for this trip with Swerve and Hoist?

JAMES ROBERTS: I think you’ve answered your own question! The fact that Sunstreaker doesn’t get much page time was a big reason for making him one of the crew. And I know that he has a lot of fans out there, and people had been clamoring to see more of him, and Bob, so I thought that doing this would people happy. Same with Perceptor, to be honest. I almost put Hound in there too, but it would have been too crowded. I do want to write a little off-shoot story featuring the likes of Hound, Huffer, Gears and so on—all the classic G1 characters that we only see in the background of MTMTE. Maybe one day.

PAGE 5: This comic is going to be included with a toy—do you feel a sense or pride this could be someone’s introduction to Transformers through your work? What would the boy inside you say?

JAMES ROBERTS: The fact that this will be someone’s first TF comic—and maybe their first introduction to any TF continuity—was a little daunting. I wanted to write something that would appeal to the uninitiated and to regular readers. I didn’t want the former to feel left out or the latter to feel they were reading something that didn’t complement the style of story they’re used to.

Of course, my most fervent wish is that a boy or girl buys Hoist, reads the comic, and dives headlong into the IDW books, old and new. Hoist as an entry point into Everything Else. I like that!

[Gomess]

Heyyy, "down to earth" is something I haven't seen in a TF character for a while, good ol' Hoist.

Seriously, tired of the Whedon-derivative glibness that almost every character needs to spout in mainstream TV and comics.

"Less of this, please."

[BWprowl]

PAGE 1: What was it that stood out about Hoist as a character that would allow you to tell this story about him and all that he is?

JAMES ROBERTS: Truthfully? What stood out for me, going back and re-reading previous stories that he’s been in (and there aren’t many, and I’m afraid I didn’t seek out the G1 TV episodes), is that nothing much stands out! He’s the archetypal “background ’bot”–competent, pleasant, hardworking, straightforward. But that’s not a bad thing when you’re settling down to write a SPOTLIGHT about someone. It gives you more of a canvas. Having said that, I sort of made his vanilla-ness a plot point in itself. I deliberately put him with three characters (excluding Bob [the Insecticon] for a moment–sorry, Bob) who are larger-than-life, and let the story play out from there. If I’ve done by job properly, Hoist will be a more fully-rounded character by Page 22.

I dug this, I liked the way Hoist pointed out that his ‘normal-ness’ showed that he was one of the few characters on the ship not suffering from a crippling personality disorder. At least Roberts is aware he’s doing these things (he also brought up in the same issue his tendency towards overpacking the story with dialogue).

And the first three pages of this SPOTLIGHT are uncharted territory for me: pages without dialog. But Agustin makes them look so beautiful and kinetic and alive (that shot of Hoist in midair on Page 1!)… it’s enough to make me wonder why I don’t go for the silent treatment more often.

You and me both, Jimmy…

JAMES ROBERTS: So far, there are two big gaps in MTMTE where you can squeeze any number of “lost” stories: the gap between issues #5 and #6, which is where the Hoist and Trailcutter SPOTLIGHTS take place, and the gap between issues #12 and #13. So for any fanfic writers out there: go fill those gaps! I didn’t deliberately create those gaps, incidentally, but I’m glad they exist.

Dom’s head explodes in 3, 2, 1…

PAGE 5: This comic is going to be included with a toy—do you feel a sense or pride this could be someone’s introduction to Transformers through your work? What would the boy inside you say?

JAMES ROBERTS: The fact that this will be someone’s first TF comic—and maybe their first introduction to any TF continuity—was a little daunting. I wanted to write something that would appeal to the uninitiated and to regular readers. I didn’t want the former to feel left out or the latter to feel they were reading something that didn’t complement the style of story they’re used to.

Of course, my most fervent wish is that a boy or girl buys Hoist, reads the comic, and dives headlong into the IDW books, old and new. Hoist as an entry point into Everything Else. I like that!

This is an interesting point, that these comics are going to be ‘firsts’ and ‘gateways’ for a lot of toy-buying kids. In that respect it’s nice that they’re mostly ‘good’ comics. I also just love the idea of a toy that comes packed with a whole adventure starring it. Also amusing that the comics included with mass-market toys are mostly set in a period of TF fiction where the war is effectively over.

Oh, I rather liked the comic itself, by the way. Yet another example that while Roberts can be somewhat frustrating to read doing an ongoing story, he can nail out shorter, one-shot stories like nobody’s business.