Transfans interview with Bob Budiansky

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:15 pm

Spidey (not Jerusalem, the other one) has for you an interview with one of the fathers of TF fiction.

http://www.transfans.net/interviews_budiansky.php

Post by **Kaylee** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:05 pm

He's a strange guy. I can't help but like him, especially for some of the flak he's taken, but he does rather sound like he doesn't care too much about the franchise (or at least has very little interest in it beyond a casual paycheque).

Very interesting read

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:19 pm

Nice interview!

Heh, everytime i read about Bob i like him more and more! And to think, he's essentially the creator of most of the characters that we know and love! It's kind mind boggling that he's so laid back about TFs when we're all dribbling over them (still).
Interesting his comment about essentially being begged to stay for months even tho his heart wasn't in it... unfortunately that is quite evident from his last few issues (wrestling micromasters for instance), which is a real shame imho as so many of his earlier issues were fantastic.
Also what i find interesting was that one of the key attractions for Bob was the TF/Human interaction element to the stories - something that i normally found very grating.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:36 pm

The second cover is from #47, not 37.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:56 pm

Nice interview! Much love to throwing out the Clone Saga in the word association part.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:45 am

Great stuff.

His review of TFTM was brilliant

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:40 am

Awesomeness in a can!

He also spills the beans that both Jim shooter and Denny O'neil themselves(!) has had a hand or two in the creation of the Transformers!

Metal Vendetta wrote:Great stuff.

His review of TFTM was brilliant

But surely the animation wasn't that bad??

The other things might be true tho...

Also... he's got a daughter..?

Post by **Best First** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:05 am

one of the things that strucjk me was how ambivilant he was a bout the eturn to Cybertron stuff - which we all think is ace - he just wanted to get back to Bomber Bill and co as fast as possible.

Frankly i love how "whatever" he is about it all - its kind of refreshig to see someone looking at he fans as a bunch of people who take something far too serioulsy because, clearly, we are.

Also much respect to the sick genius that came up with the notion of the smelting pool.

Post by **Denyer** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:51 pm

Ozz wrote:The second cover is from #47, not 37.

Sorry. Bleary and painkillers.

Predabot wrote:He also spills the beans that both Jim shooter and Denny O'neil themselves(!) has had a hand or two in the creation of the Transformers!

Been known for quite a while.

Predabot wrote:surely the animation wasn't that bad?

Compared to the series, and the opening sequence is particularly well-done. Notsomuch compared to other animated films.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:22 pm

Best First wrote:Frankly i love how "whatever" he is about it all - its kind of refreshig to see someone looking at he fans as a bunch of people who take something far too serioulsy because, clearly, we are.

Defo.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:56 pm

Maybe he's just a non chalant guy.

Hey Bob, your Return to Cybertron was AWESOME!!! It's loved by millions!

Bob : "Whatever."

Hey Bob, your Clone Saga arc (during which he was Spidey EIC) was CRAPPY!!! It's hated by millions!

Bob : "Whavever."

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:17 pm

Umm.. so Bob wrote the Spiderman Clone saga?

Dunn 'cause I only marginally read Spidey in the past.

Funny how he doesn't even remembers many of the characters he practically 'invented' and gave them character... but I guess, as much as he worked on it, he never truly liked (or understood) the aspect of giant transforming robots. After all, if it wasn't for Bob, we still wouldn't have a TF origin story other then "life came from naturally evolving cogs".

I was also suprised Marvel US didn't know about Simon and his run of TF UK...

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:49 pm

Ahh, he wasn't as much to blame as I originally blurted out, I suppose.

He was Spidey EIC during that year and a half or so where different Marvel families had different EICs.

But he inherited the Clone Saga, and got transferred out of the Spidey buisness before they even revealed Ben to be the Clone after all.

But my impression from reading Glenn Greenberg's The Life of Reilly (an excellent read, btw, if you like Spidey, want to know what happened in the Clone Saga w/o buying back issues, and also want to know exactly what was happening behind the scenes to cause that train wreck) is that his stewardship was marked by indecision and a lack of direction, which did nothing but stretch out the Clone Saga needlessly and piss off a lot of fans.