Category: Transformers

By Simon Furman & various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-910-9

Titan Books continues its reprinting of Marvel’s Transformers output in a new format with the Best of … line. This first volume collects issues #62-66 and #69-75, two extended epics that took the Robots in Disguise to the far corners of the universe and the pinnacle of cosmic cataclysm.

Writer Simon Furman had inherited the American title as well as the British counterpart by this time and after a few tentative forays began a galactic odyssey with Matrix Quest. This five part saga saw the noble Autobots in all their variations seek the enigmatic device that was the soul of the original mechanoid Primus, who had created the planet Cybertron and all the robots who inhabited it to combat the monstrous world-eater Unicron millions of years ago.

Primus and Unicron were implacable enemies and the matrix was the means by which new Autobots were created. Its loss in the depths of space severely weakened the robots’ chances of defeating the reawakened planet killer, so the recovery was vital to Autobot survival. But the sentient artefact was also a device of immense power, coveted by many deadly foes, mechanical and organic alike…

This action-packed sci-fi romp for kids of all ages is illustrated by Geoff Senior, with the second and third chapters pencilled by the hugely undervalued veteran José Delbo (and inked by Dave Hunt and the legendary Al Williamson), and pays loving tribute to classic movie scenarios such as The Maltese Falcon, The Magnificent Seven, Moby Dick and even Godzilla and Alien whilst still providing a sting in the tale that should leave most readers reeling.

The next epic is the long-anticipated final confrontation with Unicron, an all-out battle of good and evil that sees Autobots and Decepticons unconventionally reunited, and their four million year civil war ended. The yarn also features a key role for Earth’s anti-robot champions G. B. Blackrock, Circuit Breaker, Thunder-Punch, Rapture and Dynamo, collectively known as the Neo Knights.

With this tale the Brits assumed total control of the morphing Mechas’ destiny as Andrew Wildman joined Geoff Senior on the daunting pencilling chores, and after the first part (inked by Harry Candelario and Bob Lewis) our own Stephen Baskerville becomes the master of brushes and pens for the rest of the book.

Modern comics have precious little to offer younger readers and those fans who just want a series they can pick up and put down as they please. These gripping, competent, unassuming and above-all-else fun stories are a much needed embassy for comics’ core appeal in a world increasingly leaving us to stew in our insular juices.

Buy this and give it to someone who’s ripe for conversion!

© 2008 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

By Simon Furman & various (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-647-7

The shape-changing Transformers took the world by storm in the 1980’s and a monthly US Marvel comic book was a smash hit. Marvel’s UK branch produced their own weekly comic reprinting the American material but the scheduling disparity quickly necessitated the creation of original material.

After a truly colossal series of interlocking tales – previously collected as Transformers: Target 2006 (ISBN: 1-84023-510-1), Fallen Angel (ISBN: 1-84023-511-X), Legacy of Unicron (ISBN: 1-84023-578-0) and Space Pirates (ISBN: 1-84023-619-1), the epic time-busting saga of paradox and predestination exploded to a climax in this volume reprinting material from issues #130-131, #189 and #199-205 of the weekly Transformers comic, plus two tales from the 1988 Transformers Annual.

In the animated film Transformers: The Movie (released in 1985) Optimus Prime and Megatron fall in a climactic battle to be replaced by the heroic Ultra Magnus and the devilish Galvatron. Set in 2005 (remember, this was set 20 years in the future at that time…) the Autobots were almost completely defeated by the Decepticons when a huge new horror threatened to destroy all the robots and even the Earth itself. A giant sentient planet-eating robot, Unicron is pure evil, and saves the fallen Megatron for his own sinister purposes.

Spinning off from the film’s dramatic conclusion, in the comic series Galvatron travels back twenty years from 2006 with his two cohorts Cyclonus and Scourge to unmake his own unwanted reality and free himself from bondage to Unicron by judiciously altering events, but once here he finds that the Autobots are not the only alien shape-changing robots that want to stop him.

The time-tossed Transformers encounter spirited resistance from friend and foe alike and by the time of this concluding volume the very fabric of time itself is unravelling, threatening to unmake the universe. In 2009 the surviving Autobots and Decepticons decide to risk everything by sending rescue parties back to the 1980s in hope of saving reality – and producing a timeline more favourable to their particular needs.

Fast-paced and furious in intensity, this cosmic drama for all ages still carries a punch today and the early work of contemporary luminaries Robin Smith, Will Simpson, Lee Sullivan, Andrew Wildman and especially Dan Reed is a distinct pleasure for modern fans to see.

Good, solid action and a great starter for kids thinking of picking up the comic bug.

© 2002 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

By Furman, Anderson, Senior, Simpson & Ron Smith (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-510-1

The Transformers took the world by storm in the 1980’s and the monthly US Marvel comic book was a smash hit. The UK division had their own weekly comic which reprinted the American material but the scheduling mismatch quickly necessitated the creation of original material.

With the potential for continuity chaos uppermost in editorial minds this extended time-travel epic was created to enthral the kids and not step on any upcoming storylines or new toy launches. Evil Decepticon leader Galvatron travels back twenty years from 2006 to unmake his own unwanted reality by judiciously altering events, but once here he finds that the Autobots are not the only alien shape-changing robots that want to stop him…

Challenging at the time of release (in Transformers #78-88, 1986), the plot has lost a lot of its impact simply because so many films and TV shows have used it in the intervening years, but in conjunction with the taught scripting of Simon Furman and the fast-paced action and great colour artwork from veteran Ron Smith, and such then- newcomers as Jeff Anderson, Geoff Senior and Will Simpson, Target: 2006 is still a thriller with a lot of punch.

This is a great book to bring kids into comics, and I wish we had a few more like it.

© 2002 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Bob Budiansky, Jose Delbo & Jim Fern (Titan Books)
IBN: 1-84576-008-5

The collection of Marvel’s highly readable Transformers franchise reprints issues 51-55 of the US comic series just in time for the giant robots’ twentieth anniversary. No longer trapped on Earth, space-faring Autobots Landmine and Cloudburst must contend not only with Decepticons Dreadwind and Darkwing but also the pernicious Mechannibals, who are intent on reducing the heroic robots to table scraps!

This volume also sees the first appearance of the Micromasters, who play such an integral role in the Dreamwave version of the saga of the Autobots. (New readers might be a little baffled here, but just wing it, the stories are easy to follow and designed to clue you in on the fly).

This is the last of the US reprints in this format and the Diamond edition features a superb pin-up gallery from some of the biggest names in comics as well as the usual behind the scenes features. It is a great package and a perfect series for luring the young and disinterested into comics.

© 2005 Hasbro. All rights reserved.

 

By Bob Budiansky & Jose Delbo (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-960-3

As the Transformers franchise trundled towards its big anniversary, this collection of reprints garnered from the US comic series (#46-50) detailed the coming of the bounty-hunting Roadjammers. Meanwhile Optimus Prime has to contend with the evil Scorponok in a quest to discover artefacts of super technology hidden in the lost city known as the Underbase.

Writer Budiansky was soon to relinquish his role to Simon Furman, and the stories were already taking on a darker edge, but that is largely irrelevant and this still remains one of the most successful children’s comics of modern times. Here is a great way to introduce young readers to the magic of comics.

© 2005 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Simon Furman & Various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84576-059-X

This Transformers collection in Titan Book’s Black and White digest format is packed with stories that originally saw print in the British weekly of the 1980s and 1990s, featuring the scripting of Honorary Mechanoid Simon Furman and a veritable host of home grown talent, most of which moved on to greater, trans-Atlantic things once they’d proved themselves drawing heads with sharp corners on them.

Jeff Anderson, Simon Coleby, Stuart ‘Staz’ Johnson, Peter Knifton, Dan Reed, Geoff Senior, John Stokes and Lee Sullivan, aided and abetted by inkers Stephen Baskerville, Michael Eve, Tim Perkins and Pete Venters illustrate the extended tale of Carnivac, a Decepticon defector who joins with the benevolent Autobot Skids only to become the quarry of The Mayhem Attack Squad, who have been tasked with hunting them down and teaching them the real meaning of betrayal.

These are immensely enjoyable, entry-level comics, originally published in Marvel UK’s Transformers #219-222, 229, 237-239, 272-274, 282-283 and 249-250 and still capable of enthralling the young at heart.

© 2005 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Simon Furman, & various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-935-2

This compilation of Marvel UK’s Transformers franchise features another grab-bag selection from a variety of British creators moments before they were famous – or at least lured away to America by the promise of loose bucks and big women – or something like that.

First up is the extended story line from issues 59-65 that introduced – at the behest of licensor Hasbro UK- the “New Teams” – a new line of toys that needed plugging – under the creative auspices of writer Simon Furman and artists Barry Kitson, Will Simpson, John Stokes and Jeff Anderson.

Rounding out the volume is a trio of seasonal tales from Furman, Anderson, Ian Rimmer, Andy Wildman, Dan Reed and Stephen Baskerville with a moodier, almost melancholic feel as opposed to the punch-up histrionics of the regular stories. It should be noted that although a toy and cartoon show tie-in, the weekly British comic, when not reprinting US Marvel stories seemed to pitch their material at a slightly older – if not necessarily more mature readership. All in all, not a bad read, but not to everyone’s taste.

© 2005 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Simon Furman & various (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-959-X

In this twenty-first century incarnation of the eternal civil war of the “Robots In Disguise”, both Autobot and Decepticon factions are on Earth seeking to replenish the life giving fuel source Energon, leading to simultaneous conflicts both here and on their own planet Cybertron.

In this much improved Volume 2 the heroic and hard-pressed Autobots strive valiantly to defeat a force of Decepticons who are trying to resurrect the ultimate, planet crushing Unicron whilst saving their new human allies Rad, Carlos and Kicker. Matters are further complicated when Autobot leader Optimus Prime vanishes, lost in space between Earth and Cybertron. He seems to have been captured by the “ghost” of Megatron, long since consumed by Unicron…

Chock full of high-tech, explosive-but-not-gratuitous action, this yarn fairly barrels along and the marked improvement of the colouring since volume one adds some much appreciated clarity to the process. A solid read for aficionados and thrill-seeker of all ages.

© 2004 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Simon Furman, Guido Guidi, Joe Ng and various (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-932-8

I’m usually all in favour of new and innovative formats and I’ve normally nothing but praise for quality licensed comic strips as they tend to be a good introduction to the wider world of cartoon storytelling. However with this book I find myself reserving judgement.

Under new management, but with long time writer Simon Furman, we’re all introduced to another baffling array of characters and back-story that interact with old stalwarts such as Optimus Prime in what is obviously a sequel to something we haven’t seen, but nevertheless uses a dreadfully old plot to carry the action along. And then to end the volume halfway through the story is just plain annoying.

If you care, there is war on Cybertron, a refitted Prime is out of options and the miracle power source Energon can only be found on Earth which is being ravaged by the Terrorcons under their new leader Scorponok. Unfortunately I only really understood that after reading the press release, not the book.

Another bone of contention is the art and reproduction. I appreciate that styles have changed and that a Japanese flavour is currently the vogue, as is the whole concept of giant warrior robots, but the passionless, technological line-work works in monochrome, but when obscured by murky, overly fussy computer colouring it just means that these tired old eyes can’t tell one giant bucket of bolts from another. A little variation in shot choice and camera angle wouldn’t hurt either.

I think this might be something for the dedicated collector only.

© 2004 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.