Simon Furman has updated his blog with the following information.

As we teeter on the precipice between October and November, IDW squeezes out yet another Transformers comic release in a month already bursting at the seams.

Issue #2 of the Beast Wars Sourcebook (character profiles series) hits stores this week (31st Oct in the US, 1st Nov in the UK), taking you through from Elephorca to Noctorro.

Now here’s a tester for those of you who figure you can detect a Furmanism at thirty paces: can you identify (or guess) which of the character profiles were written by me (rather than Ben Yee)? If memory serves, there are nine of them in total in issue #2. Now, if we (myself and Ben Yee) have done our jobs well, it shouldn’t be easy to spot who did who, as they were done in a style, to a format, and I kind of did an editorial pass to make sure the whole thing was as seamless as possible (text-wise). But maybe you can work it out.

Feel free to post your thoughts/conclusions on this thread and in a few days I’ll reveal who was on the money and who missed the mark. I’ll give you one for free, though, as it’s a bit of a no-brainer: eight letters, begins with ‘G’ ends with ‘K’.

Click on the thumbnail below for a better butchers at the cover for Beast Wars Sourcebook #2 and don’t forget to check out the IDW site for more preview pages and news of upcoming Transformers releases.

Over on the IDW message board, Chris Ryall has responded to some of the negative feedback that IDW have received over last weeks release of the Beast Wars Sourcebook issue 1. Here's what Chris had to say

Hey, everyone--

In the time we've been doing Transformers comics, there have been highs and lows for the fans, I know. As there's going to be on anything -- some projects work better than others, for various reasons.

This one seems to be ranking somewhere near the first issue of the TF Animated Series for most of you, from the responses I've seen.

Which sucks all around--the last thing we want to do is release product that doesn't work for you. Especially since this particular book took so long to finally arrive. And because so many artists and colorists labored over it. And because Simon and Ben Yee did the same, and then waited patiently for the book to finally be assembled and released.

So for the person who just e-mailed me very angry and said "once again, IDW screws its fans," well, that's hardly true and hardly a sound approach to business, I would think. And nothing we would ever set out to do.

So what happened?

That's a good question. But there's really no need for me to make excuses or air any beasty-smelling laundry, so I'll just say that the book is, like everything we publish, ultimately my responsibility. This book was one that sort of slipped through the crack while I was dealing with an editorial shift, and it went out with some errors. Book Two was completed during this same period. But Andrew is here as the TF Editor now, and is extremely competent and he and I will do what we can to ensure the rest of the books are produced as they should be. As many errors are able to be corrected in the collected version will be fixed, too.

I know that this book was a bit of a disappointment for fans who waited so long. Transition with art teams or editorial teams can cause hiccups that are evidenced in the finished product, but certainly not on purpose.

So know that I share your pain on this--maybe moreso, since so many people have shared their pain with me--but also know that putting out something you don't love is never our intent. We'll get 'em next time.