#transformerstuesday

Transformers is one of those franchises that got its claws in my early-on and has never really let go. What's cooler than a toy? A toy that turns into another toy! Also, they're robots, and some of them are robot dinosaurs! Don't act like you wouldn't be impressed by that between the ages of 5 and 10.

My first love was the cartoon and in retrospect a lot of that was down to the voicework and bombastic score of that original (G1, for fans in the know) cartoon. Also, the absolutely over-the-top rock opera of an animated movie.

Despite that, the Marvel comics never quite did it for me until I went back years later to re-examine the comics when IDW had the liscence and was putting out reprints, including the rarer UK material and gained a newfound appreciation for the (slightly) more mature storyline, expanded cast of characters and deeper characterization that the comic offered.

The history of Marvel and Marvel UK's intertwined but technically separate continuities has its own fascinating history. For those interested, I recommend checking out the TF Wiki for more details: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_%28Marvel_comic%29

Alternatively, Chris McFeely has done a video on the topic if you want 'The Basics': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsyNrlcGecE

Most recently, I threw down 300 big boys to get some fancy kickstarted compendium editions of the entire Marvel comic collection; US, UK, spin-offs, and tie-ins. The same stuff is available in retail editions, but with the US and UK material being released separately. All thanks to Skybound, an imprint of Image Comics, who currently hold the license for Transformers comics (And have their own ongoing series with its own continuity)

All that to say I thought it would be fun to document my thoughts as I re-read this series for the umpteenth time and share my thoughts.

The original 4 issue mini-series was plotted (initially) by Bill Manto, with the actual dialogue written by Ralph Macchio (who will return for the comic adaptation of the 1986 animated movie), at least for the first issue. Jim Salicrup takes over the script on issue #2 and then is credited as the sole writer for issues #3 and #4.

The first issue lays all the groundwork; alien robots from another galaxy who end up on earth in a war for energy resources.

Spider-Man shows up in issue #3, because at the time this was only a mini-series and so why not have it set in the main continuity?

Issue #4 ends with the Decepticons only barely defeated, but the autoboots themselves then felled by Shockwave, who was alluded to earlier in the issue.

Overall, the first four issues are a hard sell to continue the series. The character designs bounce between re-creations of the toy models and the more familiar cartoon style (eventually ending up somewhere in-between for the most part). But we get the groundwork for our main cast, their motivations and characterizations. The first issue is a real slog of a read, but I promise it does get better, and then even better from issue #5 on when Bob Budiansky takes over.

We then jump over to something the UK comics did that the US ones wouldn't have bothered with; a prose story, detailing Megatron's origin as a gladiatorial warrior and his rise to power.

There are a few more early UK stories following that, and the continuity is extra fuzzy this early on, but they're fun, if inconsequential. They all have a bit of the of the 'Saturday morning adventure' vibe about them. However, they're also where Simon Furman gets his start in the comic and will go to be the voice of the UK material and eventually take over writing duties for the US issues in the last two years or so of the comic's run.

Issue #5 is where things kick off proper. Shockwave has taken control of the Decepticons, and deactivated the vast majority of the Autobots (the comic is never completely immune to the whims of the toy line in terms of who stays/goes in the cast, and soon a surprising amount of the original Autobot cast from the first four issues will be taken offline and put in cold storage for a while.

Shockwave has also stripped Optimus Prime down to just a head, later forcing him to be used to give life to newly built transformers in order to shore up the Decepticon's numbers (and introduce characters with toys). More on that later.

Lastly in this introductory period we have issue #6, which mostly involves Megatron attempting to thrown down with Shockwave for leadership rights and losing.

This issue also introduces Josie Beller, aka Circuit Breaker. An original character created for the comic, she would go on to be a main antagonist, appearing several times throughout the run. One of the biggest strengths of the comic compared to the cartoon was the ongoing drama surrounding the Transformers' presence on earth and how it affected certain individuals.