IDW Publishing's Transformers: Beast Wars #2 – Savage Landing Part 02 – SPOILERS!

This is artist Josh Burcham, and you jumped inside

the pool bag only on the GeekCast Radio Network.

Ah, yes. This is Megatron, and you found the

All Things Transformers frequency here at the

GeekCast Radio Network. Join Steve and Mike as

they unleash the beast in you and talk All Things

Transformers. on this 25 years of Beast Wars.

Yes. Hello, and welcome to episode 403. That's

right, the 403rd episode of The Pullback. I'm

of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining me, as always,

Steve Megatron. Hello, sir. Oh, yes. Yes. It

is I. You waited too long in your paws. Come

on, Megatron, get your sh - together. This is

the 403rd episode and I feel like it's the 404th

episode. Oh boy. So yes, this March we celebrated

eight years, 400 episodes. We are now over that

mark. We are on our well on our way to episode

500. And today we are going to be doing a spoiler

-filled, you are being warned right now, Megatron,

what do you say? Excellent. Yes. Spoiler -filled

review of IDW Publishing's Transformers Beast

Wars issue number two. Written by Eric Burnham.

Art by Josh Burcham. Hey, we just recently interviewed

that guy. Yay. Yay. Yay. Letters by Jake M. Wood.

The assistant editor is Riley Farmer, the editor

is David Mariette, and supervising editor is

Tom Walz. We got to get Tom back on here. Tom

was the original writer person along with Kevin

Eastman and Bobby Kernau on the IDW Turtles comics.

And we interviewed him right before issue 50

or issue something for Turtles a couple of years

ago. And now that he's doing Transformers stuff

on the editing side, I've got to get him back

in here. This is Savage Lending Part 2. I love

the colors. Oh yeah, totally. I'm loving... I

will say, because I think it's a little... Maybe

it's just me, but Optimus Primal's alt mode seems

a little too dark. Considering the rest of the

colors and I'm only I'm only saying this because

I'm seeing the the the the story so far page.

Where it shows him where he says I don't feel

any different, but this fur looks so real computer.

Why was this necessary like that? I don't know.

But anyway, in this second issue. Well, I don't

know how often you've read the Transformers comics

other than when I've told you to do so but for

years ever since 2005 anyway Well when they started

I think for as long as the the previous universe

They would always do roll call page to show you

the characters that are going to be in the comic

Well, this Marvel Comics of old did this too

Okay, I was like, okay. I was not sure I love

this, I think this is super cool. Whether it's

the alt mode, whether it's the beast mode, whatever

kind of thing. I just love the little frames

around it. So whoever did that, kudos. We start

this issue with Rhinox, and Rhinox is not too

impressed with this planet. No, he's not happy

at all. It's a patchwork world, biomes that shouldn't

coexist side by side do. There are mountains

floating in the sky. Oh boy, I can't wait till

we get to that. That episode, or that issue with

a comic, because yikes. Well, and I like how

Rattrap's just cavalier, sitting in the chair,

eating. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of things to

like in this in this book folks and I have this

but I was gonna say one of the most memorable

things is the fact that VAC are showing up this

early in spying on everyone Absolutely, and I

have to say this and we said this in in the interview

with with Josh Birchham Reading this second issue

and the fact that they are now on earth I love,

absolutely love the colors of the backgrounds

and how barren it is. This is prehistoric earth.

This is not supposed to be, or it's not prehistoric

earth, but it's, you know, it's, you know what

I mean? It's, it's earth before humans kind of

thing. you know, like Rhinox says here, it's

a patchwork world. So I'm assuming this is also

before, you know, Pangea, you know, before it,

you know, split into the seven continents that

we now have kind of thing. And that panel where

we see snow and, and desert and, and the colors

are so good. The art on the, like the, the Island,

like The island looks great. It looks so fucking

good. And then you're right, the designs. And

I swear, Rattrap looks like a rat version of

a Metal Gear Solid soldier with that exclamation

point above his head. Anytime I see a red exclamation

point, I have to always reference Metal Gear

Solid because that's where that's from. Yeah,

I mean Rhinox and Rattrap and my question is

why is Rhinox in in Beast in robot mode, but

Rattrap isn't because Rattrap likes to just chill

true Very very true and Rhinox doesn't exactly

have fingers in beast mode. It's also true He

needs that that form to do what he's gonna do

But I do like the fact that the box show up scan

him and then they show up and do the same to

change this Mm -hmm Yeah, they scan who do they

skin? Oh, yeah, they they brain scan Rhinox.

Yeah, you're like they must inspect them too.

I love the flash the flush I love the disappearing

autumn on a PN rat traps like skid Blight, did

you see that? Yeah, well, then TerrorSource sees

the same thing. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And

I have to say, as much as I love the animation

of Beast Wars, the CGI and everything else, I

was never, and I actively avoid tarantulas episodes

because... I didn't like him until he became

a transmetal. Yeah. Yeah, but it was before that.

He just bothered me. Right. But here's here's

the thing that I'm trying to bring up here is

that initial design before the Transmetal. Like,

I really dig to like, I love what Josh is doing

with it. It's not just because tarantulas is

purple. It hasn't. I have never liked that character

because he just creeps me out so much kind of

thing. But um. Might not want to interrupt Megatron

there, Scorponok. No. He gets, um... He gets

grabbed by the neck and, um... Scorponok, I said...

I was not to be disturbed while I was working.

I'm sorry, I just wanted to help. You said we

were going to attack the Maximals, but you've

only focused on the Golden Desk. We all grow

tired of waiting, Megatron. Oh, you do, do you?

Crunch. We should not attack until we can be

sure of our defenses. Yeah, it's awesome. I love

his line as he's picking him up by the tail and

throwing him out. Good. Now leave me. I have

work to do. What are you looking at? Yeah, and

then waspin eater. I love that you can do these.

Well, I'm so glad they've made this comic. Like,

don't get me wrong. It's great that you can inflect

the characters to the animation and everything

else. Obviously, you've been doing this for years.

But just having you do it as the comic goes along

is just so fun. I actually might. I think it'd

be fun once we have like this arc done. Right

to to go through and I'll just voice as many

of them as accurately as possible. And I will

voice as many of them as inaccurately as possible.

Like, yeah, we'll just go through. We'll read

the comic. Yeah. And then, yeah, we'll we'll

divvy up the lines and we'll just see what happens.

Bonus content. There you go, folks. So Nix is

out on the. Guess the top of the ship or whatever.

She's out looking at the sunrise sunset or something

or other an optimist comes up to her and He's

basically telling her to go, you know fly spread

your wings, you know, but be careful That we

have to explore this land. We can't just you

know sit here and Look at readings. We have to

actually use the sensors and the best sensor

is you going to fly Yeah, I like a cheater complains

when he's looking for small hands and then Yeah

in the mechanics it'll be better to crash again.

Yeah I do find it interesting though that the

the dark side in the next panel is not necessarily

in the same place it was during season one. Right.

Um, so it's not by like volcanic stuff. It's

just kind of there. And then Dinobots kind of

the second in command. He thinks he's the second

in command. I mean, cause at this point he is.

Yes. I'm not saying he isn't, I'm not trying

to say it that within this story, he isn't, but

Compare him to tarantulas and trenches is like

you don't have I don't answer to you. I answer

to Megatron Well, that's because he answers to

the tripartite his counsel on the tripartite

his counsel told him to listen to Megatron until

it Otherwise interferes with their plans true

But I like how he's they're just having this

back -and -forth banter which kind of follows

what happens between the two of them throughout

the actual series to is that you know, they're

throwing insults at each other or Dinobot always

knows where to find tarantulas when he doesn't

want to be found. Um, and then manages to pull

one over on tarantulas every time. Um, so yeah,

it's just, it's just interesting watching that,

but you can see the seeds of, of irritation on

Dinobot. Like, Oh, these guys are idiots. Yep.

Pretty much. And I love that. I love those panels

between the two of them because again, Josh's

lines his designs and his colors his colors like

the panel where Dino bots like you have no respect

for the chain of command the bright fuchsia pink

purple background even though it is so bright

it highlights the definition of each of their

faces as they're facing off and I love that so

so much yeah I know and then it's it's funny

because you just You could do those guys I don't

do Dinobot very well, but I can do I can do tarantulas

So Nix is off flying through the air and through

the jungle and through the islands and She's

trying to contact the axel on but apparently

out She's out of range and but calm should work

planet -wide energon Radiation limits signal

great. I Guess I should head back and then I

hear his voice in my head. So Maximus got I hear

like I literally heard pterosaur say this in

this fate like he popped out and said it in my

ear I could oh pterosaur I Know the only thing

I could do it him like really well is where he

goes Tarras are You know did that for the kids

the other day and they were like, oh that's cool

But uh, you know, I like how he Now, how many

times do I have to repeat myself? I don't wish

to be disturbed! Yep. And the interesting thing

about the, I do not want to be disturbed line

is, um, he's got his rubber ducky squeak. I love

Megatron's face. Like in the next panel, the

words is trust me next to him. Yep. Um, just

the irritated snarl on the face. And then of

course then it teases. tarantulas shocks everyone

you know and then it's got the preview panel

tarantulas webbing her up basically like the

web with uh episode three with tarantulas and

cheetor so basically she's filling the cheetor

role on this one where she's scouting and has

the new comm system and gets captured and now

this issue like oh go ahead i was just saying

it's just kind of flipping things on its head

yeah Yeah, I I Didn't think I mean with this

I pretty much knew I would but I didn't think

I would really be that excited to deal with monthly

comics again, but Man this is just like oh, I'm

on the edge of my seat and I wish I could go

like literally the local comic shop to me is

like Two city blocks down the street kind of

like it's two city blocks and a couple over kind

of thing and I wish I could go and support my

local comic shop and everything else, but it's

just not it's just not in the cards right now

and getting them digitally is just the best way

for me to do it currently and I Just love this.

There are three covers. The main cover is Megatron

is a pterosaur I should say with with Nick's

That's the cover with the two moons. Oh, I didn't

even notice on the cover the two moons. Oh, yeah,

they're they're very subtle. About that, but

cover B is Rhinox in robot mode and Scorponok

in or is that Skuld or Scorponok? Scorponok.

Yeah, Skuld is a type of turtle. Yeah. Yeah,

Rhinox and Scorpionok, which is interesting seeing

those two characters together. The main cover

is done by Josh with Art and Colors. Art on Rhinox

and Scorpionok is done by Dan Schoening with

Colors by Lewis Antonio Delgado, who has done

Transformers stuff for years for IDW. And there

is a retailer incentive cover A, where it's Optimus

Primal riding Megatron. and having his arm bit.

Oh wow, that is done by Winston Chan. Which is

your favorite cover of these three? Well, out

of the three, I do like Dan's only for the fact

that he captured the Thrilling 30 Rhinox and

the standard beast from the show of Scorponok.

However, I prefer Josh's just because I like

the Robo design for Nyx and pterosaur in the

double moon in the colors. Yeah. Josh's colors,

man. Oh, his colors, his art, the lines on pterosaur's

head, the design lines on pterosaur's head, how

he makes his smile, the red eyes pop. And then

you got Nyx just standing there like, oh, I'm

just a little bitty prey bat. You know, I don't

Want to mess with you, Mr. Terrorsaur, sir? I

don't know. I like his art anyway. I'm kind of

partial because he designed Ultimus Prime for

me. Yes. And for those that don't know, Ultimus

Prime is the mascot for all things Transformers.

Right, no. But I'm saying, I'm praising the man.

I think it's great. I think it's so fun. And

while I do love Dan Shoning's cover, it's a little

plain. And then you get to Winston Chance and

I'm like, Ooh, Steve's going to really dig that

because hello, it's Optimus and Megatron and

it's Megatron in, in Dino mode. Even though we've

seen that in the book so far, we haven't seen

it in somebody else's style other than Josh's.

Well, if they had them in robot mode, I think

I would be a little bit more keen on it, but

because it's only dinosaur mode, I don't, but,

um, I guess you could say I'm partial to the

robot mode shots, but. I like all three of them

honestly, but out of the affordability factor

This is just fine. Yep And I like that it keeps

in continuity of you know That Josh is the main

artist on the series and I love variant covers.

Don't get me wrong. There are some really Really

really great variant covers out there But for

this episode for this issue of the comic for

the second issue in with how cool and how interesting

Josh's art is in this. Like, wow. Absolutely

amazing. Cannot wait for issue three. You have

any other thoughts that you want to bring up

about issue two? Anything you didn't? Is there

anything out of place for you here or anything?

Or are you just happy to go along with the story?

I'm just happy to go with the story. I I'm loving

every bit of the ride and just looking forward

to the changes and the similarities Absolutely

same here. I really dig it. I think it's cool

I think it's one of those things where this wait

and see thing of how what's gonna happen like

I get like I said earlier I'm I didn't think

I was going to be excited again for monthly things

and I am because of this comic also because of

we haven't had a chance to record it yet, but

also because of Radiant Black from Image Comics

from Kyle Higgins as well. So yes, the next time

that Beast Wars will be inside the pull bag is

sometime during Autobotly April this year, 2021.

The comic releases, it's expected to release

April 7th, 2021. What are you gonna give it zero

to five for issue number two, sir? I Think I'm

gonna have to give it a five. I'm I'm honestly

like I enjoy the direction I enjoyed the the

conversation the colors the designs You get a

little bit of insights of the different machinations

going on with all the different characters, right?

So ultimately it's just it's it's building to

something and There's no filler here. So no,

there's no filler and I think What we're seeing

in the second issue that is so good is character

moments for each care. Like. Almost every character

was spotlighted in this issue, whether it was

Rhinox and Rattrap, Optimus, Nyx and Cheetor,

Nyx versus Tarrasaur, Tarantulas, Dinobot, Megatron

and Scorponok. You know, Megatron and Tarrasaur,

everybody. Got to do something and it is so very

very cool Absolutely love it. I am also gonna

give it a five and I know we need to leave room

in case things go bad, but I have nothing I know

I expect I have no grapes I have nothing but

good expectations for this comic and I know we

didn't say we did talk about the writing But

we didn't really mention his name Eric Burnham

Man, I'm telling you the T the comic writing

T writing an art team for 2021 hands down is

Burnham and Burcham. Man, they are killing it.

Only two. I know they're killing it. Yeah, I

already called my local comic shop and said I

want to subscribe. Yeah, there you go. I'm like,

I'm like, do it. And they're like, they're like,

I think there's only five issues in the series

as far as I know. And I said, I'm pretty sure

it's ongoing. I says you may not have gotten

the memo. I haven't. I have it on good authority

from the person drawing the thing. Yeah, that's

what I more or less said I just interviewed the

artist last night. That's what I said Yeah, so

the next I've been wanting to get Eric in here

for a while because of Turtles and Ghostbusters

and other things he's done. But yeah, the next

hopefully the next interview for all things Transformers,

the pull bag and the Beast Unleashed podcast

will be the writer of this comic, which is Eric

Burnham. It's going to be so fun talking to him.

I just got to reach out and grab that brass ring

to see if he wants to be on the show. So, yeah,

coming up next time, folks, we've got A very

strange idea, and again, just like episode 400

of this show, I have no idea how I'm going to

pull this off. I'm going to try my best to pull

it off to the point where it's not just me talking

to people in clips and me saying the same thing

over and over again like in the upcoming Toycast

episode 100. But it is episode 404, Comics Not

Found. Coming up here inside the pull bag and

then after that we've got episode 405 which will

be ready in black issues number one and two Edward

and Kendra Hale will be joining me for that and

then yeah, that's gonna round out March and We'll

have Autobot Lee April 2021 starting with volumes

two and three of the main ongoing Friday W will

have Beast Wars in there We'll have the galaxies

series in there as well So where can the people

find you online, sir? Uh, er, on Twitter at SCP

-21. Alright, I am also on Twitter at TF2 and

Mike. You'll hear all the rest of the stuff in

the closing, folks. Make your great escape into

comics, and we will catch you next time here

inside the Pull Bag. 404, comics not found. This

is comic book artist Josh Burcham. I hope you've

enjoyed this episode of the Pull Bag. Remember

to always make your great escape into comics.

This is Megatron. And you're listening to All

Things Transformers on the Geekcast Radio Network.

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