"Lost" Marvel Issue Art Discovered.

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inflatable dalek
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"Lost" Marvel Issue Art Discovered.

Post by inflatable dalek »

Thanks to all round splendid chap primenova over at TMUK via Seibertron, pages for a "Kept in reserve" adaptation of The Dweller in the Depth have been uncovered:

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... ths/32679/

Presumably this was commissioned around the same time as Big Broadcast (with Bob's increasingly itchy feet I wouldn't be surprised in Don Daley wanted to make sure there was enough in the bank just in case the book needed something between writers in a hurry), and considering that was adapted by its author, there's a good chance Paul Dini at least had first refusal as writer. After all, it would make sense to go for episodes the original writers were willing to do, it'd be hard to get someone else excited about a potentially never to be published fill in they'd have to share the fee on gig.

The art looks more solid than Broadcast, but then, the US stuff usually does when you can see it without Nel's crayons.
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Post by Tetsuro »

inflatable dalek wrote:the US stuff usually does when you can see it without Nel's crayons.
Hah :D It really does look pretty good in black and white tho.

I wonder how the UK publication had handled this story, had it been made into publication in the US. The framework story Furman came up with worked with Big Broadcast, but they would've had to come up with something else a second time.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Pure speculation, but if it had been a case of this being picked from the reserve pile instead of Broadcast the UK would have done basically the same framing device. Both have Wreck-Gar and Quintessons meaning it could have been easily made a lie from one told to the other. You'd have just lost the useful loose end of the capsule.

If both had been used as filler close together, the book may have been buggered. Though the letter's page to 153 shows they were thinking of presenting the adaptation as a straight up "Special preview" of season 3 with no extra baggage. The slow realisation ITV wouldn't be showing any post movie stuff may have scuppered that (it would be hard to present a preview to nothing) but it would have covered either, both or any episode based comics.
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Post by Death's Head »

I haven't seen the episode in question, so is that some funky new Quintesson design cooked up for the comic, or something from the episode itself?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

It's been a while since I've seen it, but IIRC that's how the Quint guest star looks in the episode, there's an actual plot reason for him being a bit different.

It's actually quite a fun show once you get past the weight of expectations from the writer.
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Post by Ryan F »

According to the wiki, the cartoon version of Big Broadcast was written by Michael Reeves. The marvel comic adaptation was by Ralph (no, not that one) Macchio, who was also the guy who did the '86 movie adaptation.

So chances are this was another Macchio script, and therefore lacking any spark, wit or colour. This news actually makes me glad we got Monstercon from Mars instead...
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Well, there you go, I was under the impression BB0'06 was written by the cartoon author, don't know where I'd gotten that idea from then.
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Post by Ryan F »

Although it would have been good to get a TF comic from Paul Dini. He wrote all the best He-Man episodes.

EDIT:

Huh, from this very site's comic guide...

"This issue was a last-minute fill-in, with Ralph Macchio adapting his own Season 3 TV script for the comic."
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Post by Tetsuro »

inflatable dalek wrote:Pure speculation, but if it had been a case of this being picked from the reserve pile instead of Broadcast the UK would have done basically the same framing device. Both have Wreck-Gar and Quintessons meaning it could have been easily made a lie from one told to the other. You'd have just lost the useful loose end of the capsule.
I was under the impression they were under obligation to use all the material that got printed in the US magazine, but then I remembered the Transformers/GI Joe crossover was never printed in the UK magazine either.
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Post by Ryan F »

The TF/Joe crossover would never have worked in the UK, basically because UK readers were two or three years behind when it came to the Joes.

You'd have the problem of a story featuring Sepentor, who hadn't actually been created yet! If that series had been even remotely reconcilable, it would have been used!

Another point to note is sales. Between 1987 and 1988 TF UK lost a quarter of it's readership. Although the cover price went up a few pence, they were still churning out the same comic but with far less income. The 87 TF comic could afford to turn down material, in 1988 they couldn't be so choosy.

IIRC the editorial pages for those issues were totally clear that none of Big Broadcast was 'real', even pleading with readers not to write in and nitpick.

In the end, when sales started getting even lower, the UK comic did eventually print the TF/Joe crossover, basically because it was free and the comic was dying on its feet.
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Post by Warcry »

I'm actually a bit disappointed that this never got published. Dweller was a fun little episode and I think it would have made for a better comic than Big Broadcast did. It also makes me wonder if any other episodes got the "emergency backup comic" treatment that we don't know about.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to adapt earlier episodes, though? The season 3 stuff mostly stars characters who didn't even exist in the US book. And it's not like Galvatron, Rodimus and co. were hot new toys in need of a push by the time 1988 rolled around, so going back to season one or two scripts shouldn't have been an issue. Though I guess they could have commissioned the stuff a year or two earlier than that, and just gone with what was fresh at the time.
Ryan F wrote:Ralph (no, not that one) Macchio
I was very disappointed when I found out that they weren't the same guy. :(
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Ryan F wrote: Huh, from this very site's comic guide...

"This issue was a last-minute fill-in, with Ralph Macchio adapting his own Season 3 TV script for the comic."
Ah, I knew I'd read it somewhere. Almost certainly inaccurate then as I know Tom considers that guide to be wildly out out date by this point.
Tetsuro wrote:I was under the impression they were under obligation to use all the material that got printed in the US magazine, but then I remembered the Transformers/GI Joe crossover was never printed in the UK magazine either.
Oh sure, I just mean that, as they only wound up using one of these, if the luck of the draw had fallen on the other strip it wouldn't have made that much difference to the UK's plans.
Warcry wrote:I'm actually a bit disappointed that this never got published. Dweller was a fun little episode and I think it would have made for a better comic than Big Broadcast did. It also makes me wonder if any other episodes got the "emergency backup comic" treatment that we don't know about.
Presumably it was a balancing act between always having something in reserve and not commissioning too many strips that would never be used (they'd still have to be paid for after all). Presumably in those days an author who missed too many issues unexpectedly (as opposed to a planned "I'm on holiday/needed on another book for something" style thing) wouldn't have been kept on for two long.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to adapt earlier episodes, though? The season 3 stuff mostly stars characters who didn't even exist in the US book. And it's not like Galvatron, Rodimus and co. were hot new toys in need of a push by the time 1988 rolled around, so going back to season one or two scripts shouldn't have been an issue. Though I guess they could have commissioned the stuff a year or two earlier than that, and just gone with what was fresh at the time.
I think we can be reasonably sure these didn't exist at the point Man of Iron was pressed into service in mid-1987, else they'd have probably been used due to the aforementioned dull budgetary reason of getting some mileage out of stuff they've paid good money for rather than something effectively free from the UK.

As that didn't seem to be a planned break (the previous Next Issue describes the events of 35) not having anything to fall back on other than UK material coupled with Bob's increased feeling of being burnt out might have inspired Don Daley to commission these in the aftermath.

In terms of episodes, they may have been limited by what scripts Sunbow had to had to give them, obviously they wouldn't be hugely inspired to go digging deep into the archive of a now dead series.

I was very disappointed when I found out that they weren't the same guy. :(
The TFwiki page for the poor guy is horrendous, a relic of their now thankfully much more toned down "Funny" phase, it's so full of injokery about The Other One as to be basically useless. I looked at it the other day to check it was still as bad as it was for my book and I still didn't realise he wrote BB0'06 because it doesn't bother to mention it.
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Post by Ryan F »

inflatable dalek wrote:Presumably in those days an author who missed too many issues unexpectedly (as opposed to a planned "I'm on holiday/needed on another book for something" style thing) wouldn't have been kept on for two long.
My theory is that the sticking-point was Totalled (US#41) and it was Jose Delbo to blame - after all, that story was a bit more complex art-wise than most others!

If you look at the run of stories immediately after it, you have People Power (US#42), in which Delbo is credited for breakdowns only (rather than full pencils), and you had no less than two artists, Dave Hunt and Don Hudson, helping out on 'finishes'. I would contest, as a result of Totalled taking longer to draw than usual, Delbo could only do half a job on People Power.

Then you get Big Broadcast (the fill-in), and then Cosmic Carnival (with Frank Springer on 'guest pencils'). Monstercon from Mars comes next, and again the rushed-off-his-feet Delbo is only able to do the breakdowns.

So after Totaled in 41, Delbo isn't credited for full pencils until five issues later, Cash and Carnage. As I say, my guess is that Totalled took an AGE to draw, giving him a bit of a backlog that took the best part of five months to clear.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Good point about Delbo, he may not remember who Fortress Maximus is but he does remember the issue he had to draw Every Single Transformer with an almost Alex Milne level of intensity.
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Post by crazysteve »

I did a short audio interview with Mr. Hunt after seeing the pages at that con. You can listen to it here by right clicking where it says "OR DOWNLOAD IT DIRECTLY" in big yellow letters and then choosing "Save As". My conversation with him comes in at the 27:00 minute mark. I strongly recommend fast forwarding over everything else and just getting to the Hunt part.

It was obvious from our pre-interview conversation that he couldn't remember much about working on the pages so I kept the questions light. Both he and Bob Budiansky (who was sitting at the next table over) told me to contact Don Daley for more information about any more inventory issues. I've sent out emails to both Daley and Ian Akin via their websites but neither have responded.

Delbo will be at a local comic shop next weekend for free comic book day and I was planning on seeing him again. I've talked to him once or twice before and as you all know, 41 and 50 stuck in his mind as being hellacious issues to work on. I could ask him about his side of the inventory issue situation but I doubt he'd recall much. I guess it would all depend on my manner of asking.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Just coming up to the end of this, though I was initially wary as your excitement during the opening made it seem as if you'd overdosed on blue smarties, you soon settled down into a perfectly fine host.

The Hunt interview was nice beyond the find about the pages because the poor old American artists are so often looked down on or ignored in comparison to the British invasion, so getting to hear a bit more from them is always a pleasure.

I also enjoyed how sardonic the sadly just departed Herb Trimpe was.
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Post by crazysteve »

Dave Hunt's son is now selling one of the original art pages from the unpublished Dweller in the Depths comic adaptation on ebay. His scans at the auction are better than the pictures I took that day years ago.
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Post by Denyer »

Couldn't spot it -- got a link?
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Post by crazysteve »

I can't post links because I am a new member but the item number is 273064419142.
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Post by Denyer »

Sorry about that, spambots have really been hammering the forums lately (and apparently other sites judging by threads that have stuck around until mods have gotten to them). Thanks for the ID.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-u ... 3064419142

Weirdly doesn't show for me when searched for, but a direct link works.

Looks lettered straight onto the artwork, and very nice US-style stuff. :)
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