Just bought the G1 Omnibus volume one

Jazz to moon base 2 · Post by **Jazz to moon base 2** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:10 am

I have actually been planning on this for quite some time, but upon opening it I see that Spiderman has been entirely removed, no doubt because IDW does not own his rights. Instead there's just two pages of text with some pictures. Makes me angry because I've been wanting to read that cheesy tie-in for a long time now. Does anyone have the scans?

Jazz to moon base 2 · Post by **Jazz to moon base 2** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 6:05 am

Just finished the first 4 issues, the summary of the 3rd issue was adequate. I knew what was going on but I still want to SEE it. Also I am very glad I read Shockwave's spotlight, as it ties into this perfectly. I believe Simon Furman wrote it, whom I further believe to be responsible for the G1 UK comics, which I have read one issue of. They have far less cheesy writing and well I just really enjoy his stuff and how he keeps it canon. Like I have said before in other threads, still just a n00b looking to learn here, and I feel like I've finally found the hobby to keep me busy during the Christmas holiday.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:09 am

The first Titan Trade Paperback, ‘Beginnings’ contains the Spider-man stuff in full. The Spidey bits are the best thing about the first 4 issues IMO. That and Shockwave crashing the party at the end.

Jazz to moon base 2 wrote: Also I am very glad I read Shockwave's spotlight, as it ties into this perfectly.

There's overtones to the Marvel continuity but they are not the same sequence of events.

Jazz to moon base 2 · Post by **Jazz to moon base 2** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:00 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:The first Titan Trade Paperback, ‘Beginnings’ contains the Spider-man stuff in full. The Spidey bits are the best thing about the first 4 issues IMO. That and Shockwave crashing the party at the end.

Yeah I got to see Shockwave [composite word including 'f*ck'] **** up, but again, no Spiderman. Do you know where I could find this trade or a scan of it?

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:01 pm

It's on Amazon, ebay etc.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:37 pm

To be fair on IDW (something I rarely am these days) there was nothing they could really do about the Spider-Man issue. According to Furman it took a great deal of negotiation for Titan to reprint it, and it almost didn't happen. And that's from a company with a long history of Marvel reprints.

A couple of issues with Circuit Breaker have also been dropped as well due to her being a Marvel character too. These are in the Titan books as well(which are still plentiful and cheap in the UK at least, the Brum Forbidden Planet has had a huge pile on offer for 3 quid each for years). Though Titan themselves didn't reprint a few issues (Man of Iron, Big Broadcast) for "continuity" reasons that the IDW books do have in them.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:46 pm

Does this mean IDW can't reprint stories with Death's Head in them? Holy frak!

Jazz2 (I'm just going to call you that since it shortens your handle and we have another Jazz who pops up now and then), definitely get the old Titan reprints if you can. They have good new covers by Andrew Wildman and they are all over Amazon at dirt cheap prices (at least the paperbacks are; the hardbacks are a little more rare). I believe the list goes:

US:

1. Beginnings - Bit crap, both art and story-wise. This includes the Spider-Man story.

2. New Order - Shockwave kills all the Transformers. Definitely buy this one. Includes the Circuit Breaker stories.

3. Cybertron Redux - Some good stuff, including the Return to Cybertron story, some crap like the Robot Master story.

4. Showdown - Worst Prime Death Ever. Buy it only to show to others said Worst Prime Death Ever.

5. Breakdown - Other than a good passage where Predaking tears off Megatron's face, crap.

6. Treason - Crap. Although it had decent character development for Blaster, even if it involved a "plague of Scraplets."

7. Trial By Fire - The comic-book Headmasters story, aaaand it's crap. Fort Max practices self-decapitation.

8. Maximum Force - Crap.

9. Dark Star - Starscream kills everyone. Decent if only for lots of gore.

10. Last Stand - Sooo bad you have to get it. Transformers become professional wrestlers, romance giant Amazon women (DEATH BY SNOO-SNOO) and climb to the top of the Empire State Building, Kong-style.

11. Primal Scream - The first Furman-penned issues of the US comic. Megatron returns and uses Ratchet in his evil scheme. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

12. Matrix Quest - More Furman, with an Angry Baby Matrix. Brilliant, scary stuff, even though he does some weird tributes to the Old West, Moby Dick and The Maltese Falcon.

13. All Fall Down - The Unicron Saga. Extremely essential, extremely good. Still cry when I think about Scorponok.

14. End of the Road - End of Furman's US run. Brilliant writing, brilliant art, including a valiant shot at making a decent story out of those damn Action Masters.

15. Dark Designs - Furman writing the Transformers Generation 2 comic. Some amazing art by Derek Yaniger and a mostly good story if subject to a bit of early-90s tough-guy wanking. Also, shotgun shells embedded in Prime's head.

16. A Rage In Heaven - Bumblemus Prime's #1 Transformers Comic Story of All Time. Nuff Said.

God, I have no life. Anyone else want to do this for the UK trades?

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:31 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:Does this mean IDW can't reprint stories with Death's Head in them? Holy frak!

Not at the moment anyway. IDW have reprinted one Circuit Breaker issue (Edge of Extinction, in the best of Furman book), suggesting they're prepared to go that bit further to get what's basically an unskipable issue out. There's probably a sliding scale, reprinting something with Spider-Man a definate no-no, Death's Head a possibility and CB for the right price. And Marvel keep trying to palm off the Neo Knights on people. It all boils down to the two companies coming to an agrement along the lines of "We can't reprint and make any money off these issues because you have the TF licence so we'll grant you permission to do it for a 5% cut". Or whatever. The problem is from IDW's POV these are money for old rope collections and aren't worth the expenditure, whilst Marvel aren't likely to make it easy for others to use their characters even in reprints.

The UK stuff [In rough chronological order, the contents do jump about though]:

Dinobot Hunt: The earliest mini-epic collected, lots of good stuff, especially Soundwave.

Second Generation: Slightly rubbish dream sequence story coupled with some apropiately seasonal Christmas stories.

Target 2006: The biggest and the best story ever. The best jumping on point for the UK stuff, my full review can be read here: http://thecomicscode.weebly.com/target2006-part1.html

Fallen Angel: Death's Head, nuff said. Not as sold as T:2006 overall (Galvatron's plan is a bit crap in the end) but there's still 95% win here.

Legacy of Unicron: The secret origin of the Transformers, the back door pilot for the Death's Head comic, Shockwave nabbing the single best Marvel TF moment of all time, Cyclonus and Scourge as a comedy double act and there's even a plot.

City of Fear: Excellent story that should be mailed to IDW with a note explaining that this is how you do a standalone tale that still respects and uses continuity without alienating new readers.

Space Pirates: Interesting as the only one of the pre-Time Wars future stories that really has nothing to do with the ongoing Galvatron plot (bar a little bit at the very end which feels tagged on). It's basically Furman writing his own sequel to the Movie using it's characters, locations and time period. And it's rather good fun.

Time Wars: The climax to the main story is more than a little rushed (no present day Ultra Magnus after all the build up!) but there's lots and lots to enjoy here, especially Lee Sullivan's gorgous art as the comics ultimate villain meets his end.

There are also five black and white Titan collections (Aspects of Evil, Perchance to Dream, Fallen Star, Earthforce and The Way of the Warrior) which are randomly selected from the comics final days and therefore each contain about equal brilliant and stupid strips. All are very cheap though.

Important and vital note: Some of the IDW collections of the UK stuff have the same names but slightly different content, so you can't really mix and match the two publishers runs without some repetition.

Jazz to moon base 2 · Post by **Jazz to moon base 2** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:25 am

After reading this I really like the fact that [seemingly at least] it is entirely possible to seek out all the TF comic media ever produced and not have it be something you have to spend your life doing. Everything is [somewhat] easy to find, reproduced at least. When I think of people who are really into superman or batman, there's just SO MUCH stuff of theirs to read. I find this odd because there's so many Transformers and so much could be done with them. I look forward to reading it all, and hopefully collecting originals of my favorite issues. Quick question: The UK arc "Prey" Which omnibus does it appear in?

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:23 pm

Whoops, I managed to miss that one off. Prey is in the trade of the same name.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:45 pm

Prey comes just before Target:2006... doesn't it?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:29 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:Prey comes just before Target:2006... doesn't it?

Nope. Directly follows it.

Jazz to moon base 2 · Post by **Jazz to moon base 2** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:05 pm

so it's not in any of the IDW UK Compilations? There's a couple at the comic shop, I guess I'll just look through em. No big deal though. I want to finish up Merc with a Mouth's first arc and Power Girl too. And ultimate spidey. Comics

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:28 am

It's currently being reprinted by IDW as issues and will no doubt be out in a trade from them soon.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:45 pm

So has IDW been able to reprint Death's Head?