Editing Nick Roche

{{disambig3|Nicholas|Nick/Nicholas}}
[[File:Nick Roche 2012 LSCC.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|Trousers lie shattered in the background.]]
'''Nick Roche''' (born [[September 5]], [[1979]] <ref>[http://nickroche.blogspot.com/2008/09/twenty-nine-club.html "The Twenty-Nine Club"]</ref>) is an Irish comic book artist and writer for [[IDW Publishing]]. He is '''awesome'''.

Nick Roche is a native of County Wexford, but currently resides in Dublin, Ireland. Having always been a massive Transformers fan, Roche's produced artwork for fan fiction, including the [[Transmasters UK|Transmasters UK (TMUK)]] group, and UK convention publications, gaining a healthy fanbase within the UK, but remaining almost entirely unknown outside of the tight-knit UK fandom.

He pitched his work to [[Dreamwave Productions]] but had no response, something he's glad about in hindsight; he notes "at the time, I'd have worked for free but it turns out everyone else at Dreamwave was doing that anyway".<ref name="Moonbase Two">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIkqheta3GE Nick Roche interview with Moonbase Two]</ref> Nick finally got his break into Transformers when IDW Publishing acquired the Transformers license. A friend of Nick's by the name of Dave Hendrick sent IDW supremo [[Chris Ryall]] Nick's samples.

Twenty minutes later there was an email back from Chris.

Nick started on the "Chrischarger" art before being given ''Spotlight''s, then ''more'' ''Spotlight''s (and a ''[[The Transformers: Devastation|Devastation]]'' fill-in) before being given the ''[[The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots|Maximum Dinobots]]'' mini-series. He's also penciled numerous covers for the different Transformers series, including a piece for the ''[[The Transformers: Target: 2006|Target 2006]]'' reprints featuring the original team of [[Wrecker]]s, the covers for the [[Metrodome]] DVD sets of ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'', and a special comic and a piece of artwork packed with [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Generation 1'' DVD set. Nick has also worked on the new Transformers UK comic book ([[Transformers Comic issue 2|issue 2]]) and the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' comic for [[Titan Books|Titan]].

If that wasn't enough, Nick drew ''and'' wrote ''[[Spotlight: Kup]]'', which also has the distinction of being the first issue in the [[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW G1 continuity]] written by someone other than [[Simon Furman]]. He co-wrote and drew the incredibly well-received ''[[The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers|Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' with [[James Roberts]]. And he also writes panto!<ref name="Moonbase Two" />

Shattered trousers are usually left in his wake.

{{quote|Look: you can't comprehend the scale of trouser destruction that will occur. The current financial crisis? Pffah! There will be people wandering around this Christmas with next to no trouser coverage. And as for the potentially countless children who will lose their sight and sense of decency from flying pant-shards...well, it doesn't bear thinking about. No gusset is safe this Christmas.|Nick on the imminent release of ''Maximum Dinobots'' #1<ref>http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=106763#106763</ref>}}

==Fiction==
===IDW Generation 1 continuity===
Nick was sitting at a signing table at [[Auto Assembly 2009]] when [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] barged his way past [[Gregg Berger]] and [[Liam Shalloo]], complaining about his absence from ''[[The Transformers: All Hail Megatron|All Hail Megatron]]''. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|''All Hail Megatron'' #13 cover}} One year later, [[Auto Assembly 2010]] attendees could apparently "buy Nick's pants" at [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]]'s charity auction and tombola. {{storylink|International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads"|''The Transformers'' #9 cover}}

==Writing==
Nick's writing often tackles or addresses the concept of change within Cybertronians, both as a shapeshifting race and a culture left in stasis by millennia of war. Many of his stories have unflinching and graphic robotic violence—dismemberment, decapitation, bodily mutilation, and copious amounts of blood, among other things. Like Roberts, he also has a tendency to use characters with little or no previous media appearances—''Last Stand of the Wreckers'' featured a cast almost entirely comprised of European toy-exclusives and obscure Japanese characters, while ''Sins of the Wreckers'' introduced many characters from the Beast Era as antagonists. Also, he put [[Tidal Wave (G1)|Tidal Wave]] into the IDWverse, because that's just how cool he is.

*"[[Spotlight: Kup]]"
*[[All Hail Megatron issue 15|''All Hail Megatron'' #15]] story 1: "Everything in Its Right Place"
*''[[The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers|Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' (co-written with James Roberts)
**"[[Escape (G1)|Escape]]"
**"[[In Word and Deed]]"
*"[[Spotlight: Megatron]]"
*''[[The Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers|Sins of the Wreckers]]''
*''[[Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers|Requiem of the Wreckers]]''

==Comic book art==
Roche's art style is instantly recognizable in a comic due to his strong shapes, exaggerated proportions and bold, simple character designs. According to him, he just "makes the hands bigger and the pointy bits pointier", and he would like to draw with "[[Geoff Senior|Senior's]] energy, [[Andrew Wildman|Wildman's]] expressiveness and [[Derek Yaniger|Yaniger's]] chins!". According to Roche, he finds he does change his art style automatically depending on the story; such as upping the cartooniness for "Spotlight: Hot Rod" and toning it down for a story from [[Prowl (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Prowl's]] point of view.<ref name="Moonbase Two" />

[[File:FerreroRocher.jpg|158px|thumb|A lesser-known variation on the spelling of Nick's name.]]

===IDW Publishing===
*"[[Spotlight: Shockwave]]"
*"[[Spotlight: Hot Rod]]"
*"[[Spotlight: Kup]]"
*[[Transformers: Beast Wars Sourcebook|''Beast Wars'' Sourcebook]] #1 ([[Apache]], [[Autocrusher|Autocrasher]], [[BB]], [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]], [[Break]], [[Big Convoy]]), #2 ([[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Guiledart]], [[Heinrad (BWN)|Heinrad]], [[Injector]], [[Lio Convoy]], [[Lio Junior]], [[Mach Kick]], [[Moon (BWII)|Moon]])
*''[[The Transformers: Devastation|Devastation]]'' [[Devastation issue 3|#3]]
*"[[Spotlight: Hardhead]]"
*''[[The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots|Maximum Dinobots]]''
*[[All Hail Megatron issue 15|''All Hail Megatron'' #15]] story 1: "Everything in Its Right Place"
*''[[The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers|Last Stand of the Wreckers]]''
**"[[Dead Men's Boots]]"
**"[[Escape (G1)|Escape]]"
**"[[In Word and Deed]]"
*[[Heart Like a Wheel|''The Transformers'' #13]]
*''[[Infestation (IDW)|The Transformers: Infestation]]''
*"[[Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime]]"
*''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye]]'' [[Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It|#1]], [[Interiors|#6]]
*"[[Spotlight: Megatron]]"
*''[[The Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers|Sins of the Wreckers]]''
*''[[Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers|Requiem of the Wreckers]]'' (with [[Geoff Senior]] and [[Brendan Cahill]])

===Madman Entertainment===
*''Transformers Generation 1'' Complete Collection DVD set ([[The Transformers (Madman)|pack-in comic book]] and [[Matrix of Leadership]] chamber artwork with [[Don Figueroa]] and [[Josh Burcham]])

===Titan Books===
*[[Transformers Comic issue 2|Titan ''Transformers'' comic #2]]
{{creatorstub}}
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==DVD cover art==
===[[Metrodome]]===
*''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Transformers Takara Collection Super-God Masterforce]]''
*''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Transformers Takara Collection Victory]]''

==Convention appearances==
*[[BotCon]] ([[BotCon 2007|2007]])
*[[BotCon]] ([[BotCon 2009|2009]])
*[[Unofficial conventions|Auto Assembly]] (2009)
*[[Unofficial conventions|Auto Assembly]] (2010)

==Notes==
[[File:Derpnick.jpg|thumb|What can brown do for you?]]
*He has admitted to being "gay for [[Hot Rod (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Hot Rod]]".
*He is also the first Transformers celebrity to have interviewed another Transformers [[Stan Bush|celebrity]].<ref>http://c3.libsyn.com/media/20749/EP_26_-_OLDMOON_OILBASE_INTERVIEWS_STAN_BUSH.mp3?nvb=20100909170039&nva=20100910171039&sid=fd4711763d08f49953c5982d42719c75&l_sid=20749&l_eid=&l_mid=2021798&t=0155622406f16c055d36b</ref>
*On Twitter, while talking about how more than five panels average a page is a burden for artists, he strongly indicated that James Roberts' masses of detailed panels are why they hadn't worked together in years<ref>[https://twitter.com/NickRoche/status/665246818389856256 "Well, we haven't worked together in three years... make of THAT what you will... :)"] (11:16 a.m. - 13 Nov 2015)</ref> (though they are still friends). 
*He also admitted he's an "asshole to myself" when he breaks that rule himself in his own scripts!<ref>[https://twitter.com/NickRoche/status/665238634531061761 "Furman aims for that &#91;five panels&#93;. Everyone's different. I'm an asshole to myself, to be honest!"] (10:43 a.m. - 13 Nov 2015)</ref>
*At Auto Assembly 2010 it was discovered that Nick can do an uncanny [[David Kaye]] impression. Yesssssss.
*The way Shockwave was killed in [[The Legacy of Unicron]] has haunted him since childhood.<ref>[http://moonbase2.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=601856 Moonbase 2 interview], 50:26 to 51:08</ref>
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==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
File:SpotlightHotRod rush.jpg|[[Hot Rod (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Hot Rod]] enjoys freefalling to a planet in "[[Spotlight: Hot Rod]]".
File:TFGenerations12.jpg|[[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]]'s never looked this cool before or since. Cover art for ''[[The Transformers: Generations]]'' issue #12.
File:SpotlightHardhead HardheadsHeadshot.jpg|[[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]]'s got a hard head in "[[Spotlight: Hardhead]]".
File:AHM15 SpringerpunchesProwl.jpg|[[Prowl (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Prowl]] is [[Springer (G1)|Springer]]'s personal punching bag in [[All Hail Megatron issue 15|''All Hail Megatron'' #15]]
</gallery>

*''[[:Category:Images by Nick Roche|Extended Nick Roche gallery]]''</center>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://nickroche.blogspot.com/ Nick Roche's blog]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Nick}}
[[Category:IDW Publishing]]
[[Category:Illustrators]]
[[Category:Titan]]
[[Category:Writers]]