| I. Questions about the comic | II. Questions about the Guide | III. Legalese/Administrivia |
Wait. I understand the idea of this 'comic guide', but I thought Transformers was American?
You're right. Sort of. Transformers as a series (be it toy, comic, TV, whatever) is an American invention. And Marvel US were the first to put a comic out. And that comic was reprinted in a British edition for the British audiences.
See, in the early 1980s, comics weren't automatically shipped intact to other countries and made widely availabe. Places like Europe, Australia and elsewhere often had their own editions of such things. Rather than simply shipping and selling the original comic, the contents of the comic would be repackaged for other local audiences. Sometimes this meant collecting several issues together, editing content to reflect local concerns (I used to read a Sunday Comics paper that would very badly white over the speech bubbles to scrawl in Australian brand names and other references), or whatever other moves the publishers/printers deemed more appropriate in the new market.
Transformers was one such title, set up in the USA but repackaged for the British kiddies. Given the toy market of the time, where Transformers were about to become hideously popular, it was a pretty obvious move. The US comic had been started as a monthly four-issue limited series, but the British comic was fortnightly and ongoing. With the two-weekly format, Transformers UK split the content of one 22-page US issue over two 11-page UK instalments - partly in black and white, as was the realities of market and production cost at the time. The rest of the 20-30 (it went up and down, but usually stabilised at around 24) pages would be given over to letters pages, editorial, a back-up strip, competitions, and so on. At this stage, British comics - particularly kid's comics - tended to be much more community-based and 'friendly' than their US counterparts.
Marvel UK probably knew that the US series was going to become a continuing series, but even with that, they would soon run out of story material. Twenty-six (and a bit) fortnights in a year, after all, compared to twelve months, twenty-four 'issue halves' from the USA. The American comic would have a gap between #4 and #5 (the first 'non-limited' issue), which would only stretch the drought. What to do? Stop the comic? Dangerous thing to do to a young readership - they might not return for these 'bursts' of fortnightly fun. Instead, original British material was produced to fill the gaps. After Transformers became a weekly comic, it was even more apparent. 52 and a bit weeks of the year, less than half of which the US comic would cover? That clinched it. Original British material would be a mainstay of the comic. Eventually, it would become more popular with many readers than the US content, although the comic itself originally kept the 'open secret' of the different countries of origin. Sometimes.
Then the Brits got more Transformers comic than the Yanks? Pretty much, yep.
How long did the comic run?
The comic ran for 332 regular issues. Issue 1 was dated 20 September 1984, and issue 332 was dated 19 January 1992. The comic began as a fortnightly release, went weekly with issue 27, then became fortnightly again towards the end. As well as the 332 regular issues, there were various seasonal specials (usually reprinting popular stories), Annuals and other releases. Overall, Transformers UK publications number over 350!
Is it true that the letters pages were run by Transformers?
Yes! Well, as far as the readers knew they were, anyway. The UK comic was a lot more kid-centric than the US one, though (usually) not in a 'dumbing down' way; more a 'fun' way. Part of this was that the letters pages were ostensibly run by Transformers characters.
Who were they?
Soundwave was the first, running the page as 'Soundwaves' until issue 73. Except for issue 41, that is, when Ratchet stepped in for 'Rat-Chat'. Soundwave - who no doubt got the job because he's the Decepticon communicator - had a reign famous for saying 'puttup!' every so often. That was the sound of him spitting, usually when he had to mention someone he didn't like. No, we don't know how Soundwave spits without a mouth, but once he did it in the comic itself, too!
With issue 74, Grimlock began 'Grim Grams', and became the longest-running and most popular letter answerer. Very clued up on storylines past, present and future, and holding a severe grudge against his predecessor on the page! Grimlock used pretty normal (if colloquial) diction on the page, as the 'me talk bad' stuff only settled into the comic partway through his run (and thankfully didn't carry over to the page!). Grimlock explained that his intelligence and therefore grammar sometimes went up and down. Given that apart from the grammar, Grimlock on 'Grim Grams' is the most like the one Simon Furman writes about so much, there's a good chance - though we don't know for sure - that either Furman himself was 'helping' Grimlock on the letters page. Or maybe that Simon was inspired to rework the character by reading the letter answers! Grimlock was very fond of the insult 'dirtwad', which he used to describe pretty much anyone who wasn't a Dinobot. Or a letter-writer: they were 'kid' (or 'kidult' if they were older).
Dreadwind took over the page at issue 184 as Grimlock retired for a nice long holiday. The name of the column changed again, to 'Dread Tidings'. Being a Powermaster, Dreadwind's Nebulan partner Hi-Test was also along for the ride. The two of them often exchanged barbed banter on the page. Dreadwind was nothing like his pessimistic comic self. At first he came across as slightly more acerbic than - but not completely unlike - Grimlock. He even made 'hume' his pet term. However, as time went on, Dreadwind seemed to know fewer and fewer answers to readers' questions, and insulted people more and more.
Blaster stepped in from issue 300 for the final days of the comic. Strangely, Blaster didn't seem to know too much about what was happening in the comic he worked for! Blaster seemed to suffer from an overdose of using 'cool' words ('dig', 'man', 'happenin'' and so on - which makes him not unlike the TV Blaster, but a far cry from the one in the comic), and the tone of the letters page seemed literally more juvenile - as though the comic was trying to extend its life by appealing (or trying to appeal) to new younger readers rather than acknowledging that many of it existing readership was growing up. He ended the letters page crying because the comic was over. No 'It Never Ends!' from Furman here!
Didn't they have female characters in the UK comic?
Yes, lots. But not many robot ones.
The British comic did use Arcee, who was pretty much sidestepped by their American cousins. She did pretty well for herself, and even got her own origin story, Prime's Rib, in issue 234. Her origin was either a parodic spotlight on, or embarrassing failure to address, the question of female Transformers or lack thereof in the comic, depending on your view. Apparently the other Transformers aren't really 'male', humanity just assumed they were by default (so it's our fault, then).
However, despite rumours that pop up from time to time about rarely-seen or not-reprinted parts of the series, Arcee was pretty much it. So if you're looking for Chromia or Elita-1 in these pages, no such luck.
There were numerous recurring female humans, though, who tended to be well-written and have character beyond 'being a girl'. The Ark's computer, 'Auntie', also appeared as 'female' when it became sentient and interactive (though she was probably destined to it with a name like 'Auntie', but anyway...). Given the frequency of female non-Transformer characters popping up, it could be that the creative team(s) did want to bring forth a better gender balance, but had their hands tied in matters beyond Arcee.
Why did the comic stop?
A number of reasons, probably. The ending of the US comic can't have helped, for a start (the American series stopped at #80 in 1991). Other than that, best guess is what appears to have plagued the comic - in both countries of origin - for a good few years towards the end of its run: rising costs and dropping sales.
At that point, toy-based series - no matter how popular - tended to have a limited lifespan, and Transformers had had a better run than most with almost eight years on the clock. Large-scale Transfandom, conventions and revivals were still a few years off.
Many readers had already started to turn away with the three-story (issue 213) and parts-in-black-and-white (issue 215) formats. Though it's really to Transformers' credit that they kept going as long as they did. These days, if a comic's sales fall beyond a certain point, more often than not it's simply cancelled, rather than having its life extended through cost-cutting methods.
Also, at the time, Marvel UK was undergoing a regeneration of sorts. From 1991 - beginning with Death's Head II - a revival of an ex-Transformers character - they were producing 'American'-style comics, with the 'Marvel UK Sub-Universe', monthly schedules, and the smaller size. It seems that the promised issue 333 of Transformers would have been like this: TransFormation announced that it would contain a small amount of new material amongst some classic reprints and some GI Joe material. However, someone must have changed their mind, and Transformers died with the old Marvel UK.
And Generation 2? Wasn't there a UK Generation 2 comic?
Yes, there was. But don't get excited.
Transformers was relaunched in the US in 1993 as Transformers: Generation 2, written by Simon Furman. There was even a five-issue lead-in in GI Joe. It wasn't long before a UK title sprang up to reprint it for local audiences. Its first issue even boasted brand-new UK-exclusive material, written by Furman and drawn by Robin Smith!
However, there the similarities ended. The comic was put out by Fleetway, rather than Marvel UK. After two issues of UK-exclusive stuff, it went over to the US material, which in itself is no bad thing, but not all of it was there. The first two issues were probably produced to tell an alternate story that cut out the involvement of GI Joe and Cobra in the Generation 2 origins. The style was nothing like the rest of the series. This comic was very clearly aimed at children, whereas the original US material was darker and probably looked towards fans of the old series who had grown up. Despite being credited to Simon Furman, Simon is reported to have said he knew nothing about it (though on another occasion he did take credit, so either someone's confused or he forgot something). Additionally, while the US Generation 2 series used several updates from the new Generation 2 toy range, the UK material went overboard. Except for Bludgeon, there were no characters in the comic not available as Generation 2 toys, and this included updating all the colours for those 'classic' characters that had stayed. The US series only did this for some, and kept non-toy characters around anyway, which made for a quite jarring transition between UKG2 issues 2 and 3. All this, and the whole comic collapsed after five issues anyway. By this point, getting the American comics in Britain and Australia was less of a challenge, which can't have helped either.
There was also a Generation 2 annual, but it didn't fit in with either version of the comic.
Who's this Death's Head I hear so much about?
In Wanted: Galvatron - Dead or Alive (issue 113), Rodimus Prime offered a 10000 shanix reward for the capture of his Decepticon opposite. The robot who took up the offer was a bounty-hunter (though he hated that term, preferring 'freelance peace-keeping agent') named Death's Head. Death's Head, with his businesslike attitude to killing, replaceable hand, and distinctive speech pattern, became quite popular and eventually got literally blown out of the Transformers Universe in issue 151. He went on to appearances in Doctor Who Magazine #135 (where he was shrunk to human size; quite handy for crossing over with non-Transformer characters),
Dragon's Claws, his own 10-issue series and several appearances in Strip, all from Marvel UK, as well as Fantastic Four and The Sensational She-Hulk from Marvel US. Yes, somehow between getting blown into and chucked out of the Space/Time Vortex and travelling in the TARDIS, he ended up in the 'main' Marvel Universe. Killed and reborn as Death's Head II in, erm, Death's Head II, he became a flagship character for the Marvel UK reinvention. It seemed that almost every series they put out either starred him, was about him, involved some part of his history or at the very least had a guest appearance from him. Unfortunately, he couldn't save Marvel UK's line from disappearing without a trace in 1994.
Popular as he was, the cyborg Death's Head II never quite 'did it' for fans of the original robot. What if...? issue 54, however, asked What if Death's Head I had lived?, where Simon Furman and Geoff Senior returned to tell one last tale of the classic Death's Head - kicking the arse of his would-be replacement.
In early 2006, Marvel's Amazing Fantasy #16 debuted a new Death's Head. Even though the story was written by Simon Furman, this Death's Head appears to have no solid connection to either of his predecessors.
Do you plan to do the entire run of the comic?
Certainly plan to, yep. But don't be surprised if it takes me a while!
Are your comics for sale?
No. This is probably the most frequently-asked question. But no. Besides, if I sold all my comics, how would I write the Guide?
When are you going to do Target: 2006/Matrix Quest/Aspects of Evil/whatever?
I did think for a while about dashing backwards and forwards between stories, but it came down to doing it 'in order, from the start'. It makes more sense that way, at least I think so. Besides, if I started off doing stories I liked, I'd only have stories I didn't like left to do, and that probably wouldn't encourage me to finish! What I've also found, though, is doing it this way, where I don't get to pick which issue I do next, means that a few surprises pop up. I originally shuddered at the idea of many Budiansky stories, but reading them like this has shown that he can do a lot better than he's often given credit for. A lot of stories have reputation and remembrance for being good or bad, yet an honest re-reading can reveal a few surprises.
Or, to be even simpler: The comic came out in this order, I'm writing up the comic, so that's the order I'm writing it up in.
Will you do Generation 2 and other stuff?
Yep. Generation 2 was a continuation of the series by its most prolific writer, so as far as I'm concerned, it's part of it. Generation 2 is already in some of the sidebar features, in fact. I'll be taking it from the US rather than UK version in this instance, because:
Will you do the Dreamwave or IDW comics?
No. Not in this guide, anyway.
Why don't you put full scans of each comic up on the site?
Skirting the whole legal issue for the moment, there simply isn't the space or bandwidth. And from 2001, Titan started doing what once Transfans didn't dare dream of: Publishing collected editions of both British and American Transformers comics.
How come when you're doing articles and sidebars, sometimes you follow the editorial decisions and sometimes not?
Trust us, if the TransFormation page or whatever makes sense we'll follow what it says. Makes everyone's job easier, yes? It's just that sometimes what they say doesn't fit in with the actual stories themselves, and it's down to us to find another position.
What do you use to colour the black-and-white pictures?
A few different set-ups, mostly various incarnations of Adobe Photoshop. And lots of patience - you'd be surprised how many little what-the-slag-colour-is-that-bit-again bits Transformers have on them! :)
Can I link to your site?
Please do!
How can I help with the Guide?
Why, by donating your UK comics, of course! (Joke. Well, mostly. Shan't stop ye, anyway.) More seriously, though, if you spot anything that I've missed in an issue, wish to ask a question about something that's on here or in the comic, have thoughts about some of the theories and things, or any other words to say about the thing, you can E-mail me on udsigma@yahoo.com.
This document last updated 8 March 2006. The Virgin's Guide to Transformers UK is © Daria Sigma 2000-2006. Transformers is the property of Marvel, Hasbro and Fleetway, and all appropriate copyrights belong to them. The opinions of this guide do not reflect any but the guide's own writers and contributors. The Virgin's Guide to Transformers UK, all contributions (only in capacity as part of the Guide) are also property of Daria Sigma and/or Recycadelic Cacti. This site is part of Virgin's Guide Central. Here is the word 'underpants' to see if anyone's really reading. The site is a Recycadelic Cacti Production.
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