Tom B. Long

Optimus Takes On ROM In 'Revolution' #2 [Exclusive Preview]
Optimus Takes On ROM In 'Revolution' #2 [Exclusive Preview]
Optimus Takes On ROM In 'Revolution' #2 [Exclusive Preview]
Two issues into IDW's Revolution event, and while the purpose of the event is to combine most of the various Hasbro toy properties into a single, unified world and not to keep score on who's winning the big fight, I think we've found a pretty clear leader. Rom The Space Knight, who returned to comics after a thirty year absence, is mopping the floor with everybody else in this book. Seriously, in the first issue, he interrupted a stalemate between the Transformers and GI Joe by taking out four Joes all by himself, and in the second issue, he straight up judo-flips Optimus Prime into a creek. All the other teams have at this point is a missing arm and somebody who wants to quibble over the definition of "decimate." Like I said, there's a clear leader, and you can see it for yourself in an exclusive preview below --- but be warned, there are some pretty big spoilers if you haven't read the first one yet!
'Revolution' #1 And The Challenge Of Building A Foundation
'Revolution' #1 And The Challenge Of Building A Foundation
'Revolution' #1 And The Challenge Of Building A Foundation
More than anything else I can think of in recent memory, IDW's Revolution is a comic book that suffers from the crushing weight of expectations. In a lot of respects, it's also the easiest sell to come down the pike in a long while, taking most of Hasbro's toy properties --- with the notable exceptions of My Little Pony, Jem and the Holograms, and Dungeons & Dragons --- and combining them all into a single universe, bookending it all with the return of Rom, the Space Knight. The thing is, in doing that, it's not only attempting to create a new foundation for a shared universe that will involve all of those properties interacting with each other and also pursuing their own storylines, it's competing with everyone who grabbed two different action figures at once and banged them together as a kid. That puts a ton of pressure on Cullen Bunn, John Barber, Fico Ossio, Sebastian Cheng, and Tom B. Long, but they've found a pretty elegant solution: Just straight up overloading the reader with action in a first issue that opens with a mountain exploding and ends with one of the more surprising deaths in recent memory.
The Transformed Man: The Transformers Holiday Special
The Transformed Man: The Transformers Holiday Special
The Transformed Man: The Transformers Holiday Special
Earlier this year, after decades --- literal, actual decades --- of rolling my eyes dismissively whenever anyone brought up the franchise, I agreed to sit down with a complete run of IDW's current Transformers comics and write about the experience of reading them. By the end of it, I wasn't just a fan, but I had to admit that they were, bar none, some of the best comic books I have ever read in my life. Now I'm a dude who got really excited about paying fifty bucks to buy an Ultra Magnus figure that included Minimus Ambus. The system works. The only way I could've liked it more is if they'd somehow combined what they were doing on those titles with something that I already loved, like, say, Christmas. This week, they did that very thing, so in order to talk about it, I'm reviving The Transformed Man for a very special look at this year's Transformers Holiday Special, in which presents are given, trees are decorated, and Thundercracker tries to kill Santa Claus.
Dreams Are Radical In ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics’ Vol. 3 [Preview]
Dreams Are Radical In ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics’ Vol. 3 [Preview]
Dreams Are Radical In ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics’ Vol. 3 [Preview]
If you thought Waynes World 2 was the uncontested champion of revelatory dream sequences, prepare to half your brain melted by the power of heroes in a half shell. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics, Vol. 3 arrives in stores on December 19, containing 128 pages of tales from issues #27-29 of the original TMNT series including Michael Dooney's dreamy "Dreams of Stone," plus "Sons