NEW IDW has announced G5 comics

[starscout]

The artwork in these is absolutely atrocious. Not because it's ugly, but because the artist clearly does not care. Just about every single pony she draws is very clearly traced from either vectors from the show, or even fanart. IDW MLP artists have done this several times in the past, but not quite this bad. You'd think they'd really give it their all for the final piece of G4 media. It's just so disappointing because the artist is talented, at least when it comes to humans. I'm not sure if she's just never bothered to venture outside her comfort zone, or if it is pure laziness. If it's the former, I wonder why they didn't check that before hiring her? I do hate to be so harsh on a fellow artist, but stealing another's hard work and profiting off of that theft is unforgivable. I am amazed the editor(s) didn't throw out her sketches the second she turned them in.

[Leave a Whisper]

Dunno if they're losing it for MLP, but I do know for sure they're losing it for Transformers and G.I. Joe. Hopefully they'll lose the rest too.

[starscout]

Dunno if they're losing it for MLP, but I do know for sure they're losing it for Transformers and G.I. Joe. Hopefully they'll lose the rest too.

They're not. In fact, a G5 IDW comic series was just announced.

[Leave a Whisper]

Dunno if they're losing it for MLP, but I do know for sure they're losing it for Transformers and G.I. Joe. Hopefully they'll lose the rest too.

They're not. In fact, a G5 IDW comic series was just announced.

How sucky. Although from what I understood they won't be given the boot till the end of the year.

[Carrehz]

Oh huh.. if they were losing the license I was going to say, that'd explain a LOT about this so-called 'crossover' - it'd suggest it was just pumped out quickly to try and get a bit more cash from the property before they lost the license - but if they've still got it then that's odd.

Maybe it was just a stopgap between gens and they were more focused on keeping a MLP comic on the shelves over the actual contents/quality/etc of the comic? Sorta like how the G4.5 toys didn't seem to have much thought or effort put into them. (Not really knocking G4.5, it's grown on me, but it was very obvious from the get-go that it was just there to keep the shelves warm while they were working on G5.)

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Helloooo general comics discussion thread anyone?

Yes, comics have been announced for G5! One of the artists for the comics has mentioned that at least up to issue 10 has been assigned. I have linked the Wiki page since I'll be keeping it up to date with comic covers and such.

The artwork in these is absolutely atrocious. Not because it's ugly, but because the artist clearly does not care. Just about every single pony she draws is very clearly traced from either vectors from the show, or even fanart.

I love this image. I couldn't find all of the vectors at the time but this is so perfect.

[starscout]

I love this image. I couldn't find all of the vectors at the time but this is so perfect.

In that case, have some more (ft. art theft from other issues of MLP IDW)

Spoiler

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[Leave a Whisper]

That whisk!!!

[Dragonflitter]

Okay there seems to be a lot of IDW bashing suddenly going on in this thread so I just wanted to step in and say how much I firmly, vehemently disagree with that statement. IDW is an amazing company. Is everything they do of good quality? No, of course not. Just like any company. This Generations crossover was a complete disaster. It's not the only poorly made comic they've produced either, but neither is it what they normally make.

It's not easy being a comic book company when you're not Marvel or DC. Those two had a monopolizing stranglehold on the comics industry for many years, and IDW went up against them and took a great concept (revitalizing franchises from the 80's and 90's that we feel nostaligic for) and giving us new stories with the characters we love from our childhoods.

I've never read the Transformers of GI Joe series, but I absolutely adore the TMNT and Ghostbusters comics they've given us, and there's been a lot of MLP FiM comics from them that I enjoy too. I liked their little Back to the Future mini-series, too. Also I liked the Jem comics and I'm sad that they weren't popular enough to continue. They changed the story, yes, but just like The Babysitters Club show on Netflix, you have to modernize your story sometimes in order to reach a modern audience.

Keep in mind that there's over 100 issues of TMNT and over 50 issues of Ghostbuters comics from IDW. They have shown they can withstand the test of time. People do like their content enough to have kept them afloat for years.

The MLP IDW comics ran from 2012 to 2021. That's nine years! That's a great run for a comic series. A lot of the stories in the comics were aimed at kids, being simply friendship lessons, with a few being a little more in-depth and complicated. Similar to the MLP FiM show, actually.

Sometimes they have really great artists, and sometimes they don't. There's been a lot of awesome MLP comic art over the years. Some of the art is traced, yes, but not often. (The same can actually be said of any comic book, including Marvel and DC. People have been pointing out traced art in comic books since comic books were invented, basically.)

There's 100+ issues of the main MLP comic series, and a side-series called Friends Forever that has Mane 6 and background characters team up on little adventures. It gives a lot of random characters, like the Mayor and Shining Armor and Babs Seed, time to shine. The side series has over 30 issues. With other stand-alone stories and Annuals and other mini-series, there are about 200 issues of MLP FiM comics altogether. It's one of IDW's most successful series out of all their franchises.

I will repeat that yes, Generations was horrible. It's sad that the FiM comics ended with a whimper and not a bang. The art is bad, the story is very bad. They lied when they said it was a Crossover, because it basically wasn't. Like Carrehz said, it might have been a thrown together project that they did just to have something until the G5 comics were ready.

IDW is precious to me, because they keep alive the shows and movies that meant so much to me as a kid. And it's obvious it's not just a cash grab. IDW actually cares about these franchises. If you follow the Twitter accounts of the artists, you'll see how much they are fans of these franchises. (In fact one of the primary Ghostbusters comic artists was just a fan who made tons of Ghostbusters fanart on DA until IDW hired him to make it officially. You can still find his old DA account with all his old fanart.)

So please, if you haven't read other IDW comics, don't come into this thread and assume that everything this company produces is bad based on our reviews here, because it's not. Don't automatically assume the G5 comic is going to be horrible. Personally, I'm excited to see new stories from these characters that we barely got to know from the movie.

Not every comic appeals to every person, just like any form of art. But if you like old 80's cartoons and you someday see IDW has made a comic based on it, maybe pick it up and judge for yourself.

[Leave a Whisper]

Okay there seems to be a lot of IDW bashing suddenly going on in this thread so I just wanted to step in and say how much I firmly, vehemently disagree with that statement. IDW is an amazing company. Is everything they do of good quality? No, of course not. Just like any company. This Generations crossover was a complete disaster. It's not the only poorly made comic they've produced either, but neither is it what they normally make.

It's not easy being a comic book company when you're not Marvel or DC. Those two had a monopolizing stranglehold on the comics industry for many years, and IDW went up against them and took a great concept (revitalizing franchises from the 80's and 90's that we feel nostaligic for) and giving us new stories with the characters we love from our childhoods.

I've never read the Transformers of GI Joe series, but I absolutely adore the TMNT and Ghostbusters comics they've given us, and there's been a lot of MLP FiM comics from them that I enjoy too. I liked their little Back to the Future mini-series, too. Also I liked the Jem comics and I'm sad that they weren't popular enough to continue. They changed the story, yes, but just like The Babysitters Club show on Netflix, you have to modernize your story sometimes in order to reach a modern audience.

Keep in mind that there's over 100 issues of TMNT and over 50 issues of Ghostbuters comics from IDW. They have shown they can withstand the test of time. People do like their content enough to have kept them afloat for years.

The MLP IDW comics ran from 2012 to 2021. That's nine years! That's a great run for a comic series. A lot of the stories in the comics were aimed at kids, being simply friendship lessons, with a few being a little more in-depth and complicated. Similar to the MLP FiM show, actually.

Sometimes they have really great artists, and sometimes they don't. There's been a lot of awesome MLP comic art over the years. Some of the art is traced, yes, but not often. (The same can actually be said of any comic book, including Marvel and DC. People have been pointing out traced art in comic books since comic books were invented, basically.)

There's 100+ issues of the main MLP comic series, and a side-series called Friends Forever that has Mane 6 and background characters team up on little adventures. It gives a lot of random characters, like the Mayor and Shining Armor and Babs Seed, time to shine. The side series has over 30 issues. With other stand-alone stories and Annuals and other mini-series, there are about 200 issues of MLP FiM comics altogether. It's one of IDW's most successful series out of all their franchises.

I will repeat that yes, Generations was horrible. It's sad that the FiM comics ended with a whimper and not a bang. The art is bad, the story is very bad. They lied when they said it was a Crossover, because it basically wasn't. Like Carrehz said, it might have been a thrown together project that they did just to have something until the G5 comics were ready.

IDW is precious to me, because they keep alive the shows and movies that meant so much to me as a kid. And it's obvious it's not just a cash grab. IDW actually cares about these franchises. If you follow the Twitter accounts of the artists, you'll see how much they are fans of these franchises. (In fact one of the primary Ghostbusters comic artists was just a fan who made tons of Ghostbusters fanart on DA until IDW hired him to make it officially. You can still find his old DA account with all his old fanart.)

So please, if you haven't read other IDW comics, don't come into this thread and assume that everything this company produces is bad based on our reviews here, because it's not. Don't automatically assume the G5 comic is going to be horrible. Personally, I'm excited to see new stories from these characters that we barely got to know from the movie.

Not every comic appeals to every person, just like any form of art. But if you like old 80's cartoons and you someday see IDW has made a comic based on it, maybe pick it up and judge for yourself.

It's not as though, those "old 80s movies and shows" are now obscure properties. With Jem being the exception. They don't have to completely wreck a pre-existing pack of characters and reformat their personalities and looks to suit their own egos.

Other properties have shown that they can modernize just fine without gutting something and crapping on the remains. It's a labor of love, and well researched. They can still stay true to the spirit and personality while rewriting within new parameters.

Then there are those who Just. Can't. Resist. And they  wonder and whine about  why fans spit on it and reject it so vehemently. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm talking about Jem and this poorly written crapfest of a crossover.

So in this case, I have read AND judged for myself. I don't have to agree with you on them being the savior of old properties, especially since most of them take care of themselves. If what I've seen does nothing but bore or annoy me, why am I going to want to continue reading it?

I will be fair and say that different writers will of course be better then others.

[Dragonflitter]

And that's fine, like I said not everyone is going to like everything that someone makes.

The Jem series didn't have a lot of fans (obviously, because it was cancelled pretty quick) but it did have some. And I followed the Jem comic artist/writer on DA back then and she had a HUGE love for the show. She was a big Jem fan back in the 80's. She was seriously trying her best to make something that would appeal to people. It didn't work, but that's okay, sometimes it doesn't work, ya know? Sometimes you think you're on the right track, as a creator, and then it finally comes out and the public's reaction shows you just didn't hit the mark.

I wasn't trying to change your opinion, just offering another view so people don't assume everything that IDW makes is as badly written and produced as MLP Generations was.

[starscout]

I don't think anyone here was saying IDW itself is bad, or that because Generations is bad, then all other IDW comics must suck as well. You have to keep in mind IDW is a publisher. The same team who worked on one IDW comic is not the same team that works on another IDW comic. And much of the team working on Generations have not been pulling their weight.

[Wardah]

I do think it's odd that the media is saying IDW "lost" GI Joe and Transformers when IDW just said they aren't publishing them anymore and Hasbro hasn't said anything about it at all. It's entirely possible IDW just decided it wasn't worth it to renew the license.

[Taffeta]

Dragonflitter, before I say anything else, I respect your defence of IDW and you're right, people should not judge on a handful of experiences, since there will always be good and bad writers, artists etc wrapped up in the project.

I don't want to take this too far away from MLP, but I do feel the need to comment on the assumptions that Jem was somehow obscure or that it being cancelled quickly means it didn't have a fandom to care about it being reinvented.

The Jem fandom has always been pretty proactive. They tracked down voice artists. Writers. Designers. Most of the surviving Jem prototype material is in collector hands. Jem fans were able to have direct dialogue with the people who created the series canon - most specifically Christy - and fundraised for Roger Slifer's family when he had the accident that put him in a coma and sadly, took his life. They got people from the original Jem together at the Jem conventions long before Bonnie was ever invited to a pony fair. They went to a lot of energy and trouble to connect to all those people, to find out things from them, to share those things. For that reason, we've master tape versions of songs. Original scripts. And other things, in the hands of the fanbase.

Lots of things that the pony community have never had, and will probably never have.

For this reason, the fandom has always been eclectic. Fans of the show, fans of dolls, fans of certain actors, fans of music production...fans of fashion design...and so on and so forth.

As for the comic, I don't want to dwell too much on that because it's not on topic for the thread. But the idea was pushed into the fandom - in a pretty militant way - by a small group. It wasn't ever reflective of the general fandom opinion. Despite that, when the comic came out, it was made out like it was a popular fan concept. It never was.

If people liked it then that was up to them.  But it wasn't reflective of fan opinion at the time.

It really doesn't matter how much of a fan the writer was. Lauren Faust was a fan of G1 - but that doesn't mean her personal perspective of G1 supersedes everyone else's.

For me it's disrespectful to that proactive, loyal and long-standing fanbase to just assume it's fine to refresh the Jem concept because it's obscure, forgotten or not very popular. It's not really ever been like that. The adaptations and stuff happen because it still has a cult following and presence. Just because you aren't a part of that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just like the pony IDW is not necessarily representative of the whole franchise.

[brightberry]

Spoiler

Good point on the "is Tales 'representing' G2" thing - hadn't even considered that but you could be onto something... she HAS to be there for Brony-related reasons. It can't be a coincidence that they picked the one whose name bronies borrowed for a G4 background pony.

Honestly I've never understood why this comic exists. It's clearly not aimed at us - you know, G1 fans - but... I dunno, I can't say I know how G4 fans think, what they'd like to see, etc, but would they really be into this...? It seems so far removed from the G1 cartoons (or ANY previous G1 works - like I've said all along, I'm fine with a bit of reinterpretation, mixing canons, etc, but this just really feels like G1 in name only, not much connection to anything? It doesn't "feel" like G1) that surely it wouldn't appeal to any G4 fans who maybe enjoy some concepts from G1 but not the gen itself? if that makes sense? I'm sure there ARE some primarily-G4 fans who are also into G1...
The G4 stuff in the comic felt pretty generic to me, what I read of it, but I don't do G4 so I can't really comment there.

It's just a weird choice for a comic all around. Surely a crossover is meant to appeal to fans of both properties that were crossing over? Why make a "crossover" and then have it focus on entirely new chars who have nothing to do with G1 other than some very tenuous, vague, tacked-in links to older characters - which you could snip out and it wouldn't affect the story itself - and not introduce any actual G1 characters until the story's already over half over?!?! I know I keep saying this, but it's just so bizarre!

Out of curiosity - I know there was a FiM/Transformers crossover comic at some point - has anyone on here read it? Did that suffer from the same problems as this G1 comic or was it a proper crossover?

I have it and read it.  Honestly, I thought it was pretty cute.  I didn't hate the art but they did dumb down the transformers just a little bit.  I loved both Transformers and My Little Pony growing up so that kind of story really appeals to me.  It works because Transformers have always been "visitors" to other worlds including alternate dimensions and I love seeing them put off center.  I don't know if I'll read about the ponies going to Cybertron.  Some skits can go on too long and spoil everything.

I haven't read the G1 crossover either.  It would be ok to me if they took on one art style or another but combining them... eh.  It would have been fun to make them all look like G1 when they entered the G1 universe.