Marvel UK comics marathon

Post by **Kaylee** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:18 pm

I really like Distant Thunder

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:24 pm

Over to the Fallen Angel TPB for Fallen Angel!

uhhhh… drool…

Senior never lost it. All that storyboarding work seems to have just improved him. The sinister shadow of Death's Head makes me rather sorry for the miscolored Galvatron, Rodimus and Magnus. They're gonna die and they weren't even colored correctly?

Senior draws Galvatron beautifully tearing Centurion to little shreds. Unfortunately, the reprint pixellates the fight a little bit. Bummer. The transfer is fine in the glorious, goriest passages in which Galvatron wastes the Autobots again.

Then we go to Jeff Anderson's, in a chapter that really works against his strengths. He does his level best, but even with Galvatron half-afire and fighting mad, his figures look stiff and static. He's not a slugfest guy. Shoulda given this to Senior or Sullivan.

And so Galvatron has returned… and… eh.

"Fallen Angel" proves, in the end, rather disappointing, as Galvatron inexplicably comes down a few notches. His arm cannon, which tore Starscream to scrap in T2006, knocks Swoop over and makes him too woozy to transform without Morris's help.

The collective attack by Autobots and Decepticons drives Galvatron off, with the Transformer equivalent of "I'm not going to fight you because I don't want to get in trouble with the yard teacher, but I could kick your ass!"

I suppose we can explain it by saying that Galvatron is weak from Unicron's meddling, the fight with Rodimus, and his facefirst charge through Unicron's abs. Still, it's a disappointing return. After his elemental force in T2006, this Galvatron seems to be a bit of a loser.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:30 pm

All the Senior stuff in Fallen Angel is gold, Jerry, gold!

The brutal battle between Roddy and Galvatron... and then DH steps in... fantastic.

Then a total let down in the final chapter.

Imagine being a kid in the UK and

a) having to buy that annual to get the end of the story

and

b) having bought the annual, getting that as the resolution

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:12 pm

Who needs to imagine what some of us lived?

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:58 pm

Distant Thunder is pretty much as dark as the original run would ever get.

"We were this close!"

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:17 pm

Resurrection!

Now this, my friends, is a collection of great moments, and about the worst thing I've ever seen were the words "Next: Afterdeath!" on the final page of the story.

Prime's arc is fun but predictable--lead the Autobots to victory and then return home, at his own funeral, on his tombstone, no less. Megatron's is a good bit weirder and more fun. I can't express how much I loved the scene where he shatter the glass and crumples Straxus's head like a soda can, and then begins babbling "Megatron is Straxus is Megatron is Straxus…"

The Prime/Megs fight is cut short with the use of Megatron's black-hole cannon, not seen since "Raiders." Why are the Prime/Megs fights so sparse in the comics? At this point I don't think we've seen one since US#4. Gotta love the way Ultra Magnus steps up. He's become one of the best characters.

Simon is growing into a stunning writer, with the ability to juggle plotlines, twist the US stories, and maintain a sense of humor.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:34 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:I can't express how much I loved the scene where he shatter the glass and crumples Straxus's head like a soda can.

Awesome sequence. But then in the next issue it kind of fizzles out doesn't it?

But yeah - Prime and Megs were getting some incredible characterisation at this point only to have it come to a crazy end in the next story.

Oh and of course the Straxus subplot will have MAJOR repercussions further down the line.

bumblemusprime wrote:Simon is growing into a stunning writer, with the ability to juggle plotlines, twist the US stories, and maintain a sense of humor.

You mean the whole Megatron-gets-amnesia-and-forgets-the-Predacons thing?

Simon was having some close calls here! The US storylines ended up repeating his basic premise in Prey (Predacons vs Megatron/Prime dies) and with a few tweaks he's able to make it make sense!

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:43 pm

spiderfrommars wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote:I can't express how much I loved the scene where he shatter the glass and crumples Straxus's head like a soda can.
Awesome sequence. But then in the next issue it kind of fizzles out doesn't it?

And in order to use the black hole fusion cannon, no less, which really never mattered one **** to the story.

siderfrommars wrote:But yeah - Prime and Megs were getting some incredible characterisation at this point only to have it come to a crazy end in the next story.

Oh and of course the Straxus subplot will have MAJOR repercussions further down the line.

bumblemusprime wrote:Simon is growing into a stunning writer, with the ability to juggle plotlines, twist the US stories, and maintain a sense of humor.
You mean the whole Megatron-gets-amnesia-and-forgets-the-Predacons thing?

Simon was having some close calls here! US storylines end up repeating his basic premise in Prey (Predacons vs Megatron/Prime dies) and with a few tweaks he's able to make it make sense!

I benefit from the lack of US stories in this reread. The collateral damage from them is pretty funny, though, especially the "prediction" of Special Teams. I've got to laugh at the fact Ancient Relics is about three stories down the line, which will IMMEDIATELY bring Megs back.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:44 pm

Wanted: Galvatron Dead or Alive

[composite word including 'f*ck'] yeah! Movie bots!

For a US fan, seeing any original comic book Rodimus story is like finding the Loch Ness Monster. They told you it didn't exist.

Transformers contributed two major characters to the Marvel mythos: Circuit Breaker and Death's Head. One was a half-naked chick with a mullet. Not a bad concept, really.

But Death's Head thoroughly kicks CB's ass for mythos, and power. CB might need to tap into electrical relays, but all that DH needs to waste Cyclonus and Scourge are his bare hands--or bare morningstar, in this case.

Gotta love Geoff's rendition of the final fight in the movie. I wish there was more fighty fight bang smash in his chunk of the tale.

The second part of this tale is a real milestone in Transformers. I can't count the number of times I've rolled my eyes in a TF story because an Autobot refused to kill a Decepticon lest said Autobot become no better than said Decepticon.

But a Decepticon pleads for mercy and Rodimus GUNS HIM DOWN.

There's a lovely glimmer of a real soldier in Rodimus. His job is to blow Decepticons to pieces, but he doubts himself, and the beginning of the speech is really quite effective. "We just terminated eight sentient beings." Again, Simon injects just a hint of thematic weight that will bear out.

There's a subtle corollary to Optimus's motto there. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, but these Decepticons, being dead, will never have freedom and agency again. That's how it goes in war.

Rodimus Prime is apparently way more awesome here than the cartoon ever dared to make him. And he farmed out Galvatron's death! A rather un-Autobotic thing to do. "A big nasty bounty hunter went after the bounty we posted? On peaceful little 1987 Earth? Uh… someone else take this ******* Matrix already."

Death's Head continues to be a villain I love to hate… screw that, I just love him, even though eight-year-old Spencie is PISSED that DH blew his favorite Transformer, Bumblebee, to bits.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:47 pm

Comic Rodimus would kick the crap outta cartoon Rodimus. That little, whiny wimp.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:01 pm

Ooh, I dunno.... Comic Rodimus starts out pretty well but by the end of the Wanted Galvatron arc he is pretty much Galvatron's bitch. Head Hunt and Time Wars will see more humiliating defeats for him. He was never in Magnus' league.

bumblemusprime wrote:The collateral damage from them is pretty funny, though, especially the "prediction" of Special Teams.

I think Second Generation did well to give the Special Teams a backstory. In the US continuity they turn up out of nowhere, whereas in the UK version we know when the work began.

bumblemusprime wrote:I've got to laugh at the fact Ancient Relics is about three stories down the line, which will IMMEDIATELY bring Megs back.

Both Megatron and (later) Shockwave's deaths in the US comic looked far from absolute. It was pretty obvious Megs was transported somewhere and that Shockers could handle a rough re-entry (kinky) so having them turn up pretty much straight away wasn't a big deal.

Though we definitely knew Bumblebee had had it after he was blown into itsy bitsy teeny weeny pieces.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:05 pm

That's true- he goes toe to toe with Galvatron- gives it his all- and doesn't get the job done.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:26 pm

bumblemusprime wrote: Weird. Not sure if this one works. I was flipping through this TPB and wondering why there were cyborg apes.

Feel's a bit like a Star Trek episode doesn't it?

I like that the time-travel in Simon's run is not without a price.

Yeah but a price that someone else pays!

*travels back in time and send 8 year old Bumblespunk to cybermonkey hell*

edit - agree with la Dave about Roddy, he stats off ok but pretty much turns into a whining tart after his first few appearences. It always galled me that they turned the confident Hotrod into this guy - i know there is supposed to be a message about responsibility in there, but last time he met Galvatron he kicked his ass, he should act as such. Instead he goes into it like he is going to lose.

One really random thing i didn't like about this arc was the way each 2 issues were a seperately titled story - as kid this made it seem somehow less epic than T:2006.

Best bit for me: Magnus getting his rage on (even if he is a bit daft at the end "He hesitates... and is lost!")

Worst bit: Yeah, the end, or lack thereof.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:36 pm

Poor eight-year-old Bumblespunk.

I guess we'll continue without him...

Burning Sky!

I rather like Dan Reed's debut. Eight-year-old Spencie hates the "dirty" art (or would if he wasn't fighting cyborg apes under the influence of Negative Zone brain squids) but I find it a nice variation on the normally clean, proportionate robots. Reed seems to be saying "I will draw them like Swamp Things if I want to." You do that, dude.

Future Ultra Magnus and modern Ultra Magnus on the same page! MARTY THE TIMESTREAM WILL COLLAPSE

Simon knew a good thing when he had one, and Magnus and Galvatron fighting is a good thing. Galvatron thankfully gets back to his typical badass self as he plows his way forward into the path of Magnus's fire. "Fool! Have you learned so little from our previous battles?"

He rips into Magnus's EYES, and then Magnus fights savage and blind. How could it get more awesome than this?

I love Simon's kind of object lesson here when Magnus doesn't want to kill Galvatron. Should have just killed your enemy and bailed, dude. Rodimus was much smarter to blow his enemy to bits.

Joy Meadows is a plucky and likable human, willing to get herself in trouble for the sake of the greater good. Whew. You have to wonder when she seems to have a thing for robots.

And Galvatron's got another super weapon. He has a real thing for super weapons. I'm thinking this guy's main fuel pump is tinyyyyy.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:38 pm

Is Skids ever freed from brain leech limbo or whatever the deal is? Or is that put right by the resolution to the Time War? Maybe he just dreams of having his hubcaps polished over and over again...

Edit: Oh- that's dealt with in an Earthforce comic, right?

Post by **Best First** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:39 pm

Geoff!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet lord it's good.

This comic, at it's best, is so much better than the pump we get today.

IT'S NOT NOSTALGIA - WE WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG!

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:41 pm

I've been rereading War and Peace and I'm quite shocked by how good it is! It's rather Furmanesque when it works. But that's for the DW discussion a few miles down the road.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:42 pm

Liking Galvatron scooping out Magnus' eyes can never be consigned to mere nostalgia. It's GREAT.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:44 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:I've been rereading War and Peace and I'm quite shocked by how good it is! It's rather Furmanesque when it works. But that's for the DW discussion a few miles down the road.

*makes note for future self to travel back in time to this moment and consign current Bumblesprunk to CYBER-MONKEY HELL*

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:57 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:Joy Meadows is a plucky and likable human, willing to get herself in trouble for the sake of the greater good. Whew. You have to wonder when she seems to have a thing for robots.

Joy Meadows? Sludge's squeeze? She wasn't in the DH/Roddy/Galvy arc. That's Cindy/Cyndi(however it's spelt). Joy Meadows isn't in the comic again until Ladies' Night.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:30 pm

DJ_Convoy wrote:Is Skids ever freed from brain leech limbo or whatever the deal is? Or is that put right by the resolution to the Time War? Maybe he just dreams of having his hubcaps polished over and over again...

Edit: Oh- that's dealt with in an Earthforce comic, right?

Yep (well, just pre-Earthforce but it's the B&W stuff), Survivors. Where we learn Skids had such a traumatic time he completely changed his head (to that of his Diaclone variant/future Crosscut no less).

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:36 pm

Ah! I've only read some of the b&w stuff (only have a couple of issues of TFUK that have it and didn't buy the Titan b&w reprints due to bad reviews)... or I read all of it briefly via... less than legal means and promptly forgot it.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:00 pm

Best First wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote:I've been rereading War and Peace and I'm quite shocked by how good it is! It's rather Furmanesque when it works. But that's for the DW discussion a few miles down the road.
*makes note for future self to travel back in time to this moment and consign current Bumblesprunk to CYBER-MONKEY HELL*

So, since you've returned from 1987 to post this, eight-year-old Bumblespunk is now back. He is, in fact, a shattered wreck, weepy and unable to touch Transformer comics.

He's an alt-continuity Bumblemus, it seems, since he is getting a monthly comic I never got. But now he has been changed forever. Traumatized. Violent. Unspeakable things done by cyber-apes. He will probably grow up to be the most evil dictator the world has ever known, and he will most certainly kill his continuity's Best First.

Should I kill him?

Is it okay to kill Hitler as a child?

Also, is this our board's own version of Time Wars?

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:12 pm

Only if future Mike Costa shows up with an armful of awards for his sterling work on ten years worth of the Ongoing.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:15 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:
Best First wrote: Is it okay to kill Hitler as a child?

Nah, as a child you'd have been too short to kill Hitler.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:18 pm

Rebis wrote:Joy Meadows? Sludge's squeeze? She wasn't in the DH/Roddy/Galvy arc. That's Cindy/Cyndi(however it's spelt). Joy Meadows isn't in the comic again until Ladies' Night.

Cindy... Joy... they're all Megan Fox as far as I'm concerned.

But Verity is a circa 99 Natalie Portman.

Hunters/Fire On High

After a break to drive eight-year-old Bumblemus to therapy, we are back to the issues he missed while in cyborg ape limbo.

Death's Head is back! And Simpson's work is finally looking better, with both better inks and colors. I will never get tired of seeing Death's Head beat the **** out of Transformers. It would have been nice to leave Soundwave with a cracked chest plate…

I will also never get tired of Galvatron and Ultra Magnus beating on each other, even if this one is drawn by Simpson and features an anus shot of Galvatron.

Juxtaposed hilarity: Death's Head and Rodimus bicker over who gets Galvatron like two independent contractors at the same job site. "Do you seriously expect me to stand aside and let you do something I was planning to do myself?"

So Galvatron kicks Rodimus's ass and sends him running. Back to Dan Reed as Cindy (or was it Joy? Hell, idunno, they're all fleshies) runs in tears from Ultra Magnus.

I've always hated Goldbug. Just Bumblebee with an ugly-ass head. Here he doesn't do much to redeem himself. Wreck-Gar has a nice moment of glory as he crashed into Galvatron, who manages to look like a psycho vampire Beelzebub every time Dan Reed draws him.

Senior closes out the future arc with a stunning slugfest between Prime, Death's Head and Galvatron, and Rodimus Prime's final fatal error, the douche, as he leaves Galvatron on Earth!

I cannot find the rest of this page online, My very favorite Geoff Senior page ever. Anyone got a scan?

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:30 pm

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:58 pm

*sigh* Death's Head was so brilliant. And badass. And funny.

bumblemusprime wrote: Galvatron, who manages to look like a psycho vampire Beelzebub every time Dan Reed draws him.

Haha! It's true! Dan just did his own thing really didn't he? You know he was an American? Do they teach you guys to draw bendy in school?

bumblemusprime wrote:My very favorite Geoff Senior page ever.

Mine too!
Fire on High Pt 2 must be one of the most entertaining TF slugfests ever.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:48 pm

Vicious Circle!

Subpar art without Baskerville's inks, but storywise, this is one of Simon's very best works. He's given us a classic cliffhanger, leaving Magnus to step up and return to the theme of fate. "Neither one of us were supposed to get off that easily. This is just how it is supposed to be."

I love the twists and turns of this conclusion. In the same polyglot madness of T2006, Simon brought the future Autobots, Death's Head, and even Goldbug into the mix before snatching them away again and ramping everything up for a mano a manna conclusion.

Magnus cements his place as an Autobot to go down in legend, and for all the joy of Time Wars, I'm a little sad that Galvatron didn't die here, given the emotional resolution in this conclusion.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:27 pm

I must've re-read Vicious Circle 100 times at the time. It's another story that really disturbed me, but I couldn't tell you why. Perhaps it was the really downbeat ending. And the action seemed more brutal - and less caperish - than earlier parts of the saga.

Talking of Annual stories - don't forget the other two strips in the same book!