Genesis: The Art of Transformers

From MediaWiki
(Redirected from Transformers: Genesis)
Jump to navigationJump to search

SEND THE BOOKS!
Genesis: The Art of Transformers
Publisher Image Comics
First published "September 2003"[1]
Continuity Generation 1 continuity family
ISBN ISBN 1582403228

ISBN 978-1582403229

Page count 116

Published in 2003 by the somewhat infamous 88MPH Studios through Image Comics, Genesis: The Art of Transformers is a coffee-table art-book focusing largely, but not exclusively, on Generation 1 characters.

Content

[edit]
Art of Transmetal Megatron by Guido Guidi.

Apart from Introduction and Thanks pages by art director Sébastien Clavet (including a gratuitous headshot), Genesis consists entirely of high-quality "pin-up" style artwork, mostly one piece of artwork per page. Some pictures feature dynamic tableaux, battle scenes or pimped-out group shots, but more often than not are character portraits.

Images are a combination of reprints of works drawn by artists of the then-budding Dreamwave Studios (especially Don Figueroa and Pat "Serfdom" Lee), originally published by Dreamwave as comic covers and posters/lithographs. There are also contributions by Mainframe Entertainment, Aaron Archer, BotCon comic artist Dan Khanna and future Transformers artists such as E. J. Su, as well as many by non-regular TF artists.

The previously non-official painted covers by Patrick Thornton and Chris Allen to the first volume (and alternate-cover 2nd edition) of Antarctic Press' toy guide Cybertronian: The Unofficial Transformers Recognition Guide are included, thus effectively retconning the works as official.

Apparently a good proportion of the artwork for the book was commissioned, but the book contains no index or bibliography to quantify this.

The most common source of inspiration for the artworks is Generation 1, although there is also a large amount of content pertaining to Generation 2 and Beast Wars, with a small number of artworks relating to Beast Machines, Machine Wars, 2001 Robots in Disguise, early Armada and BotCon exclusive characters featured in 3H's then-current The Wreckers and Universe.

Despite the presence of some Japanese artists, there are comparatively few pieces of art featuring characters from Japanese-exclusive continuities, and those that are mostly drawn by Western artists. Such characters include Star Convoy (by Don Figueroa), Overlord (by Guido Guidi), Lio Convoy and Big Convoy (both by Dan Khanna).

There are no contributions by veteran Transformers artists such as Andrew Wildman, Geoff Senior, Derek Yaniger etc. It is unknown if they were even approached. The only artwork which has any vintage association is a reproduction of Mark Bright's well-known painted cover to Transformers U.S. #5, featuring Shockwave. However, as it reproduces the original art sans cover dress, the image's gag no longer makes sense unless you remember the original cover.

The book contains no pictures of any Transformer in vehicle mode, apart from some blurry Vehicon aero-drones in the background of a Beast Machines Megatron portrait, a blurry silhouette of a jet in the background of a Generation 1 Starscream portrait, and a blueprint of Generation 1 Optimus Prime's truck mode as the background of a picture of Optimus in robot mode.

Contributing Artists

[edit]

Publication controversy

[edit]

Originally rumored in June 2002 as a 200-page art book "featuring original concept art from Hasbro, Takara, Dreamwave, and Mainframe" coming in November of the same year,[2] Genesis was in fact conceived as a book of "fan art" featuring hand-picked artists from both inside and outside the Transformers fandom of the era.[3] At the time, however, Genesis would have been the first-ever art book created in the West for the brand. During negotiations with Hasbro, the focus of the project was changed to include original Hasbro/Takara box art (along with "Hasbro and Takara concepts sketches of never-before-seen designs; new and original Dreamwave art by Pat Lee and James Raiz; Draxhall Beast Machines and Transtech designs; original and brand-new CGI stills from Mainframe"),[4] which eventually required splitting Genesis into two 120-page volumes. The published book was labeled as "Part One", with a second volume supposedly to include the aforementioned packaging and other official artwork, but this book never materialized.[5] At one point, "Part One" was going to be published in "late February" of 2003 with "Part Two" coming in October.[6]

In 2002, solicitations originally credited Dreamwave with publication and distribution of the book, but that deal apparently went sour. Image Comics became the publisher instead.[7] However, even after the split from Dreamwave, official solicitations for the book still listed Pat Lee as the cover artist.[8]

As well as distributing the book through retailers, 88MPH intended to sell the book directly through their own website, with the incentive to buy from them being an exclusive lithograph. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Sébastien Clavet completely underestimated the number of direct orders the studio would receive and was left unable to fulfill them. In September 2004 (a full year after publication), Clavet issued form letters instructing those with preorders to request refunds via PayPal and that they would be handled through that system accordingly. Some months later, Clavet cancelled all refund requests via PayPal, issuing no explanation and ignoring all personal communication.[9]

Some of the artists involved were not paid by Clavet for their contributions. E. J. Su was among those not properly compensated, as was Joe Givens. When the piece Givens "sold" to Clavet for Genesis appeared as cover art for the OTFCC: Official Convention Souvenir Guide, Clavet responded by threatening to sue Givens for reproducing the art without permission.[10]

Hasbro later initiated legal proceedings against 88MPH Studios and Clavet for their failure to fulfill their contractual obligations. On July 21, 2006, 88MPH Studios filed a counterclaim against Hasbro, seeking damages for "wrongful doings and the non respect of multiple contractual terms in regards to a licensing agreement concerning the publication of Transformers related books".[11]

Man, what is it with Hasbro and its licensees?

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ This is the month printed in the book itself. Copies of "Part One" began hitting comic book shops in mid-October (which lines up with an 88MPH announcement saying they'd begin shipping on October 13th), while Amazon lists its release as November 9th, and a contemporary Barnes & Noble listing put release date as November 28th (with a footnote from... SOMEWHERE that its actual release date was October 8th???).
  2. ↑ https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-genesis-official-art-book/80/
  3. ↑ Promotional interview with art director Sébastien Clavet about the book (archive.org copy)
  4. ↑ https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=16816081
  5. ↑ Promotional interview with art director Sébastien Clavet about the book (archive.org copy)
  6. ↑ https://tformers.com/transformers-/975/titans-return-hits-post-holiday-clearance-at-target/32977/news.html
  7. ↑ 2002 solicitation from Mile High Comics
  8. ↑ https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=16816081
  9. ↑ TFW2005 forum post with timeline and copies of Clavet's form letters re: refunds and lack thereof
  10. ↑ OK..get this.. seems I might get sued...
  11. ↑ archived post reporting news of the lawsuit at TFW2005
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Genesis:_The_Art_of_Transformers&oldid=1905974"