Marvel US comic marathon

[bumblemusprime]

I have a nostalgic fondness for People Power. It was the first issue I got in my subscription. Also, of course, it features Optimus Prime finally coming back and kicking Decepticon butt, a quality that was soon to vanish from the comics for the sake of a space circus, Decepticon movie star, the Road***ingJammers, and Club Con, until we finally got the Underbase Saga.

Dark days await you, Spidey.

[spiderfrommars]

So, to my annoyance, The Big Broadcast of 2006 wasn't reprinted in my TPB, so I went to the back of my wardrobe to fish out my old UK comic collection. Just the smell of that aged paper pile took me back to the 80s.

One of the best things about the reprints, of course, was the fact that Lee Sullivan did the covers: http://transfans.co.uk/popup.php?id=1547 And I remember buying this issue. It's one of the last comics I picked up before starting the 5 year hell that was boarding school.

Aaaanyway... why rip off a cartoon episode instead of writing an original story? I assume no-one's heart was quite in it. Macchio is writing for the first time since issue 1 (!) but his over-reliance on narration is just so unengaging. The story just rolls from one scene to the next with all the finesse of a drunk vervet monkey trying to steal your banana whilst characters appear out of nowhere and then dissapear like someone moving the pieces on your chessboard whilst your back is turned.

However, at least Galvatron is still badass, as he seems to be whatever continuity he's in.

The abiding impression of the story is 'WTF?' If it was written to stop readers asking for the movie characters I'm sure it did the trick.

At least Bob's worst stories have some measure of... clarity. This is a badly told mess with about 6 good panels (the Galvy and Roddy fight).

In fact, seeing Rodimus Prime, albeit briefly, I'm reminded that the character never did sit well did he?

[bumblemusprime]

Titan reprinted the beginning and end of Wreck-Gar's frame story for Big Broadcast and stuck a one-page synopsis in the middle of it in the Space Pirates TPB. I guess it's so wretched that Titan didn't ever want to reprint it. I wonder if IDW will.

Speaking of, IDW ever do that promised book of the new cover art for their reprint issues? The Evil Dead homage cover of Car Wash of Doom was just spectacular.

In fact, seeing Rodimus Prime, albeit briefly, I'm reminded that the character never did sit well did he?

This was the only time US fans ever saw Rodimus in a comic as Rodimus... but Simon really added some depth to Hot Rod in the Back From The Dead storyarc. He had been woefully underused up until that point, especially since he didn't show up until Headmasters in the US continuity.

[spiderfrommars]

This was the only time US fans ever saw Rodimus in a comic as Rodimus...

Well he had a bit of a cameo as a mangled husk in Rhythms of Darkness. I get the impression Furman never was much of a fan.

[Best First]

He did actually give him some credit in Rythems tho - letting him frustrate Galvy from beyond the grave.

I think my biggest issue with Rodimus Prime was that it didn't mean anything - we went from toys with latin names to toys with cod latin names.

God, it turns out the young me was almost as annoying as young Spencer. Almost.

[spiderfrommars]

Seems strange that Optimus Prime Mk 11's first proper adventure is something as schlocky as The Cosmic Carnival. Odd too that we don't see him in his Powermaster mode. And it would've been more interesting to see him retake the mantle of Autobot leadership instead of guffing about here.

The story's a bit of an oddity for Budiansky too - he rarely wrote anything so alien-filled and space-centric.

Also present are the returning Space Hikers (yawn), a second rate Jabba the Hutt knock off as villain and a chap called Berko (with a cliche-ridden back story where he was beamed aboard a spaceship in the middle of the night - like you do).

Then Berko switches sides in the space of a panel and high jinx ensue.

Pretty stupid overall, but Budiansky is still able to make me smile, even when I'm determined not to have a good time. "First I'll tear you apart limb from limb - then I'm going to fire you." Indeed.

NB - Had the cartoon been axed yet?

[inflatable dalek]

Yeah, it was dead by that point.

If anyone wants an idea of how Bob might have handled Action Masters one of the Titan books has his rough outline for the concept, readers of the British comic will recognise it as the source of Blaster's self introduction in the letter's page that was later passed off as "Being stolen off the back of a toy box").

All sorts of stuff about black holes, and more importantly perhaps Megatron is talked about as if he were already up and about, suggesting the rumour his return was always planned for when it happened and Furman just had to run with it are true.

[bumblemusprime]

As I remember, there was a story on the back of the Action Master boxes that involved a black hole and Nucleon... here it is in the Wiki:

Toy packaging blurb:

Optimus Prime went searching for new energy sources and, within the heart of a black hole discovered Nucleon: a miracle fuel that made Transformers stronger, faster, and more alive, but cost them the ability to transform. Soon the Decepticons stole the technology and created Action Masters of their own.
This story was later referenced with the Japanese release of Nucleon Quest Super Convoy, a black repaint of Powermaster Optimus Prime who was given the backstory of being Prime specially outfitted for this trip into the black hole.

I liked Grimlock's motivation better. That was one thing Simon always got. All the contrived **** he could come up with for Hasbro would work if he got a solid character motivation behind it. It makes me wonder how he would have handled Fortress Maximus and the infamous self-beheading.

[bumblemusprime]

Oh, and the circus issue was the second one that eight-year-old Spencer (or was I seven? Was this a 1987 issue?) got in the subscription.

I did not like. I wanted some Autobots and Decepticons fighting. Now that I'm all old and mature, I can still see why, when Bob kicked up such a standard with Return To Cybertron and The New Order. These one-off goofy issues were pretty dumb in comparison. The "Headmasters-on-Earth" story had been good, too, with Galen dying, Fort Max getting missile-nuked, the showdown between Blaster and Grimlock, Shockwave dying, and Prime returning to kick Dreadwing's tuchus.

[inflatable dalek]

Yeah, that's the original Bob, though what's in the Titan book is longer and even has some dialouge (Megatron: Anything the Autobots can do we can do... badder" being a groanworthy example).

Having now done extensive research 9ie, looked up my old reviews) I can exclusively reveal it was in the Last Stand trade, along with the original treatment for the Creation Matrix (interestingly right from the start Bob pre-empted all those "Where do baby Decepticons come from?" discussions by emphasising it's only one way of creating Transformer life and there are others) and a drawing of a Mechanibal.

http://tfarchive.com/comics/titan/repri ... =laststand

[bumblemusprime]

Someone CENSORED the hot Amazon chick from US#53?

I remember getting that one in the mail... my mother raised one serious eyebrow.

[inflatable dalek]

The hot woman was AOK, it was the decapitated head that caused problems, they were forced to draw his body in.

[spiderfrommars]

Monstercon from Mars sees Bob have fun poking at Hollywood archetypes. And as usual I do get tickled by Bob's sense of humour. Jake is such a wanker it's hilarious. Sample quote:

Carissa: Maybe I should've become a nurse like my mother wanted me to.
Jake: What a crushing loss to the acting profession that would've been.

Circuit Breaker seems to be down on her luck these days. She doesn't seem to have anything to her name other than an old van and a dodgy Bridget Nielsen haircut.

Nice to see the loose end with the Space Hikers tied up (I felt sorry for Sky Lynx in this scene). There's plenty more plot threads left dangling though. What the heck happened to the Throttlebots for instance?

Skullgrin doesn't seem outright evil does he? The scene when he reveals himself is quite nice, as well as when Circuit Breaker flies into action.

I've noticed that CB's stories often end with her not killing her intended target and just flying off: Dis-integrated Circuits, Christmas Breaker and now this one. She's a bit of a softie really.

At the end Rollie says his film will be bigger than Star Wars. First of all, think bigger! (Pretty sure ET was the most successful film ever at that point). Second of all, a film about a rampaging alien that gets killed at the last minute from a hitherto unmentioned plot device would be rubbish. (Still, if it's good enough for H G Wells...)

I wonder why the Pretenders split through their front and not the side like the toys. Probably because it looks better.

If anyone wants an idea of how Bob might have handled Action Masters one of the Titan books has his rough outline for the concept, readers of the British comic will recognise it as the source of Blaster's self introduction in the letter's page that was later passed off as "Being stolen off the back of a toy box").

Did Bob do that before he left the title? The Actionmasters seemed some way off then. Perhaps that's how he would've brought back Megatron?

[Guest]

Nice to see the loose end with the Space Hikers tied up (I felt sorry for Sky Lynx in this scene). There's plenty more plot threads left dangling though. What the heck happened to the Throttlebots for instance?

Didn't they get nice, shiny new bodies just in time to get royally shafted on a bridge by Starscream in the Underbase Saga? And it was necessary, so Goldbug would end up needing to be repaired, and Ratchet could Pretender him up as Bumblebee. Or something like that...

[spiderfrommars]

Cash and Carnage is easily one of Budiansky's worst stories ever IMO. Yes, there are stupider, sillier ones out there but they've always got some measure of charm and sense of humour. That's not something you can say about the Roadjammers.

Even Guzzle can't save this one.

So when did these new Headmasters join the Decepticon ranks? Has Zarak still got allies on Nebulos joining his cause? Has he been back?

Is the space bridge in this issue Spanner? The dialogue suggests it may be one of several. (It's the last time we'll see anything of the sort. From here on in it's all portals and teleports).

I notice Fizzle's dialogue is different in the US version. UK dialogue has him mentioning that the Sparkabots have been to Earth before to fight Galvatron.

I have to say Scorponok's strike rate is pretty poor. This issue sees another one of his overcomplicated plans bite the dust. It's quite funny seeing him get his arse kicked though. One of the least effective Decepticon leaders perhaps?

Didn't they get nice, shiny new bodies just in time to get royally shafted on a bridge by Starscream in the Underbase Saga?

Yep! But we never see them get them! So why bother blowing them up again?

[bumblemusprime]

For years the only issues I needed to complete my run were US #37 (the mayhem at the mall one) and US#46. By the time I got them, I was thirteen and Generation 2 was starting out. When I read them my reaction was: "Why did I bother?"

[spiderfrommars]

Club Con goes to show what you can get away with if you make the story fun. The idea of the Decepticons setting up a holiday resort is as preposterous as it gets. Let's think about it, just for a minute)... Who is cooking all the Cordon Bleu meals? Who is changing the hotel sheets? Giving the massages? Enquiring minds need to know.

Budiansky must have been feeling nostalgic as he approached issue #50. Recently we had Circuit Breaker and now Jessie's back. But even better Starscream returns in a starring role. It's funny how the original set of characters transcend so many of those that followed. I like how Blaster describes him as "one of the most murderous mechanical beings in the galaxy" when Jessie assumes he's a sweetie.

Interesting how one of the most cataclysmic TF tales ever starts with this fun ride. The Seacons make a more interesting combiner team than others of late. We get a swashbuckling flashback adding to the epicness that is to come. And how awesome was Budiansky's Blaster? He's taken on Straxus, the Dinobots, the Combaticons, and wasn't doing too badly against the Seacons until an annoying kid distracted him.

How do you lose a starship? Guess we'll have to ask Fort Max - there's no sign of the Steelhaven in this issue, or ever again. But Prime is back as leader, and Grimlock seems fine with that.

There's a rare glimpse of Outback. Should we assume he's part of Fort Max's crew in this continuity? The UK issue also has Starscream talking about the life support pod he'd been in since Target 2006. Here he just creeps up to Ratbat instead.

More questions! How did the Cybertronian 'bots who sent the tapes know where the Ark had crashed? Is that a Battlecharger aboard the Ark? And why do Club Con and the Z Foundation have the exact same phone numbers? (Maybe Ratbat and Scorponok have different extension numbers - yep, that must be it).

For years the only issues I needed to complete my run were US #37 (the mayhem at the mall one) and US#46. By the time I got them, I was thirteen and Generation 2 was starting out. When I read them my reaction was: "Why did I bother?"

Similar thing happened with me. I'd long been missing the first part of Space Hikers and tracked it down round about the time of G2 #1. Both stories starred Blades, but the similarities ended there!

[inflatable dalek]

What I love about Club Con is the neon pink lettering the stories title is done in. The campest thing in Transformers ever.

[Best First]

worryingly i vaguely remeber thinking Jesse was quite fit. This may well be the sexual awakening issue.

Bob Blaster (BoBlaster) is awesome.

[Ozz]

How do you lose a starship? Guess we'll have to ask Fort Max - there's no sign of the Steelhaven in this issue, or ever again.

Isn't Steelhaven the thing that Starscream uses in Dark Star to smash island-ship to bits? EDIT: No, wait, that's Scorponok's ship Starscream has stolen.

How did the Cybertronian 'bots who sent the tapes know where the Ark had crashed?

IIRC, one of them was Defensor, so I guess at some point he travelled back in time, met The Doctor, got shrunk and sent to Cybertron.

[spiderfrommars]

The nostalgia continues in the Flames of Boltax. Not only is the original Optimus Prime back but so is Megatron. And seeing Megs kick ass and take names (he punches a hole through Boltax's chest!) serves to remind that some of the recent Decepticon leaders have been drips.

Backstreet gets his second starring role in the space of three issues. Poor Guzzle's been shafted. But it must be said that the Triggerbots and 'cons must be pretty old if they were around at the start of the war.

The UK version of the strip includes a splash page actually nicked from the US cover (probably because the page count was low).

I also remember the UK editor going to the trouble of adding a note that present-day Megatron was thought, mistakenly, to be dead.

Prime has a habit of sending dangerous things hurtling off towards Earth doesn't he? First the Underbase, then the Ark...

Do we take it he was a Triple Changer? In issue 1 he was a gun battle station thing, but here he's a truck. A truck with a totally different colour scheme, but a truck nonetheless.

worryingly i vaguely remeber thinking Jesse was quite fit. This may well be the sexual awakening issue.

Yes, looking back I was too young to appreciate Jessie in a leotard back in issue 4.

Bob Blaster (BoBlaster) is awesome.

He will henceforth be known as BoBlaster then.

How did the Cybertronian 'bots who sent the tapes know where the Ark had crashed?

IIRC, one of them was Defensor, so I guess at some point he travelled back in time, met The Doctor, got shrunk and sent to Cybertron.

These art gaffs by Delbo are becoming a regular occurrence.

[Guest]

Do we take it he was a Triple Changer? In issue 1 he was a gun battle station thing, but here he's a truck. A truck with a totally different colour scheme, but a truck nonetheless.

Isn't he supposed to be a young Optimus here? Rather than the more seasoned veteran portrayed in #1? So, it's likely he'd have modified his alt mode to be more defensive/offensive and effective against Decepticon attack in the intervening time.

[bumblemusprime]

Op's truck confused the heck out of eight-year-old Spencer. He may have terrible taste in art, but he is smart enough to realize that a funky Frank Lloyd Wright-looking semi would not transform into the exact Optimus we know.

I'm amazed at the amount of sensible continuity that was added to Transformers once the fans who actually cared started to grow up.

I got the Dark Designs trade from the library yesterday. Some interesting stuff from the foreword: Simon's now well-known tidbit that "we were selling well, all things considered, in the region of 90,000 copies (which by today's standards is downright spectacular)." Starkings has an intro that is pretty funny, regarding his days as Simon's editor: "At this point there were so many Transformers in the strip you'd need a Hasbro catalogue to keep track of them all, and I hadn't exactly been paying attention... I would read his stories over and pretend to understand who was who and waht was going on, and he would then sit with me while I made comments like 'Put more Unicron in' and pretend that he was listening. This kept management happy and allowed us to get on with the business of getting a round in at the pub."

Also from Satrkings: "Simon would often complain that we just couldn't attract certain artists to Transformers because all they really wanted to do was work on Judge Dredd. 'Forget 'em!' I said one day when Simon's face was fixed in a particularly deep scowl, one that would have made Dredd fearful and Geoff Senior proud. 'Twenty years from now, all the kids who grew up reading Transformers, Thundercats and GI Joe won't even remember 2000 AD! They'll be wishing their mums hadn't tossed out the TF comics when they left home for college, and they'll be scouring comic marts and eBay looking for vastly overpriced back issues. And furthermore, if any of those kids turn out to be comic book artists, they'll be the first in line if there's ever a revival. You'll see.' It's true, I swear, that's exactly what I said (well, except for the bita bout eBay)."

Starkings drops the statistic that the UK comic moved a good 120,000 copies each week at its height, which is the equivalent of the US comic selling 480,000 copies per month in two respective Californias, population-wise.

Sheeeyit.

[spiderfrommars]

Cold War sees Decepticon vs Decepticon! A nice idea and one that 49 issues in hasn't been used yet. The arctic setting feels new too.

The meeting of Ratbat and Scorponok's factions is pivotal and seismic and like Totalled before it also serves to remind just how many TF characters there are now. These really are armies.

Starscream is also being very smart here: from the Decepticons to Buster, he's controlling everyone like puppets.

I must say, Pirranacon must be bloody strong if he can hold up a Decepticon starship with everybody inside it.

I never realised that the sequence with the Underbase was taken from the prologue of US #50. In the UK it was added on to the end of Cold War Part 2 and made a pretty cool cliffhanger.

Bob may have been tired of writing TFs but it doesn't neccesarily show here - if he'd quit after this saga he would have gone out on a relative high.

Isn't he supposed to be a young Optimus here? Rather than the more seasoned veteran portrayed in #1? So, it's likely he'd have modified his alt mode to be more defensive/offensive and effective against Decepticon attack in the intervening time.

Sure, I can go with that. As war escalated, so did the Cybertronian arms race!

Starkings drops the statistic that the UK comic moved a good 120,000 copies each week at its height, which is the equivalent of the US comic selling 480,000 copies per month in two respective Californias, population-wise.

Sheeeyit.

Oh yeah, it was quite the phenomenon. Marvel UK's most sucessful title. They actually considered continuing it after the US comic folded.

[Best First]

i always felt a bit sorry for the Underbase saga - if it hadn't sat so close to Time Wars it would have got a bit more respect in the UK i think.

[spiderfrommars]

Time for Dark Star, issue 50, and what a massacre! First of all though, didn't the comic do well to reach its half century?

Bob really does clear the decks here. It's apocalyptic stuff, but no wonder the next 5 issues were of a questionable standard when some of the best characters had been wiped out.

But oh, how the mighty have fallen. Omega Supreme killed off Buzzsaw and five other 'cons in his comic debut. Here he has the indignity of coming off worse in a 1 to 1 with Buzzsaw. Starscream soon puts him out of his misery by getting his long overdue revenge too.

Talking of Starscream, the power really goes to his head in this issue, even before he absorbs the Underbase. He reels off poetic rhetoric like he's auditioning for a part in Richard III.

Nice of him to tell everyone his plan though. He wants to conquer New York, Tokyo and... Buenos Aires. Bueno Aires?? Must've been an in joke for the benefit of the Argentinian artist Jose Delbo. It would've been more fun to see Starscream trash London or Paris if you ask me.

Up until this point there aren't many examples of Autobot/Decepticon alliances are there? It proves quite a novelty, seeing characters like Prime and Scorponok work together. It has to be said that Scorponok acts like an idiot through most of this but it's nice to see Optimus Prime at his heroic best. Since his return as a Powermaster he hasn't really had the chance.

NB. The UK version of this story did not have 'Chapters'.

i always felt a bit sorry for the Underbase saga - if it hadn't sat so close to Time Wars it would have got a bit more respect in the UK i think.

Yep, that may well be part of the problem here. The story definitely has some exciting points. Killing off major characters like Ratbat, Grimlock, Goldbug and Soundwave feels massive. One of the deaths most keenly felt is BoBlaster's. Not only is his death scene one of the better ones but it really was the end of the character. When he finally came back it was Furman's inferior version.

But compare this to the drama and intensity of Time Wars and it is often lacking. A typical action scene reads off like this: "With a wave of Starscream's hand Hound, Bluestreak, Mirage, Hoist, Brawn and Gears cease to function." Not only is that the end of some of our childhood favourites but it's recounted with all the passion of a shopping list!

BTW Mirage manages quite a nifty trick in this issue, by dying twice.

[Best First]

BoBlaster... RIP

This is one of those stories that i wonder how much better it would be had Senior drawn it (which admittedly is true of almost all stories Senior did not draw).

I imagine the hand waving obliteration would have been a lot more compelling.

[Yaya]

I remember disliking the Underbase Saga. Even in my naive youth, it was clearly obvious to me Bob was just trying to make way for new characters.

But what a massacre! Don't know who was working as the head of Hasbro at the time, but clearly he had way too much to drink that day when Budiansky asked for carte blanche in offing the enitre Transformers cast. "Shure, go right ahead, jush do it wish shtyle..hick...hick.."

And it was the most developed characters, too. BoBlaster. Ratbat. Jetfire. The other Seekers. All the characters that Budiansky had used to craft his most historic TF title run the first 25 or so issues, the ones he could have rightfully labelled 'his babies'. Gone. I mean, what happened to the love? Does Bob hug his child one day and slap the **** out of him the next?

Having said that, looking back, had there really been an Underbase housing that kind of power, that's pretty much how it might have really gone down. No uplifting speeches or honorable defiant last words from Blaster or Omega, just ZAP!!. You're dead. Next! I guess it was nice in that sense, that there was some actual realism to things, that it somehow mirrors real life in that the best of people often go out with a whimper.

And Bob's casual approach at death didn't start there. Shockwave dies in the most ridiculous of fashions. Shockwave. Budiansky's ace in the hole. I remember it was such an affront to the character, that when I picked up the UK version of the issue, Simon had actually scribbled out "it is only logical that I burn up" and PENCILLED IN "it is only logical that I FALL TO EARTH". Ha! That was awesome. Gotta love Simon. "I'll be damned Bob if you kill off your best character!"

Thinking even further, Bob's approach, when looked upon today, is so refreshing compared to what we have now, where a character just can't stay dead. Such courage back then. We need a little burned-out Budiansky in the TF writing today, don't we?

[bumblemusprime]

I have actually gained massive admiration for Budiansky--see more in the UK thread on Second Generation.

Weirdly enough, there was a big outpouring of fan demand, around the Underbase time, asking for more stories with the classic Prime/Megatron faceoffs and at the same time asking for stories set in 2006.

I can't remember which issue, but there was one extremely optimistic fan who asked for three monthly comics in the US letters page: a classic TFs with the 1984 characters, the ongoing TFs with the Pretenders & etc, and a "next generation" TFs from the post-movie era. Rob Tokar's reply was a somewhat stupid joke: "It took a long time to coax the editorial team off the ledge when we said we might do three books a month!:

The crazy part is: they could have, and for nothing! There was tons of UK material that could have fit into a regular book of reprints. It would have sold well, too, but this was about the time that Marvel kiboshed a second Transformers Universe series, leading to the cancellation because "toy books don't sell." This when a second TF series would have only cost them a few pithy royalties to reprint.

[DJ_Convoy]

Imagine "Killer" Budiansky wading into the book today with a wacky story (prehaps a cosmic-powered, scraplet-spewing car wash/resort/spaceship could show up and wreak havoc) that killed off the main cast. The someone else could come in and introduce next year's toys (and each character could briefly highlights their "personality" in a quippy sound bite).

Sarcasm aside, that might actually get me to come back!