THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

TITAN BOOKS TRANSFORMERS REPRINTS, 2001-2006

Denyer's Quick Guide to Reading the Titan Marvel Reprints

MARVEL US STORIES

First, some basic information: the Transformers ran for 80 monthly issues in America, plus two miniseries (Headmasters 1-4 and G.I. Joe & TFs, each four issues long.) In the UK, those stories were reprinted but interspersed with dozens of exclusive original stories, the comic running weekly (then fortnightly) for a total of 332 issues, plus reprints and hardback annuals. A variety of writers and artists worked on titles in each country.

In reprinting this material Titan have not opted to present the UK stories in their logical places between US stories, an approach which offers both advantages and disadvantages. It does enable readers to avoid most of the mid-series US material if they choose, much of which is frankly rather uninspiring. On the other hand, a working knowledge of the US title will certainly allow more enjoyment of the later US run and of UK stories.

You may notice I've already begun to stress the later parts of the US run. Whilst early stories introduced concepts core to the Transformers comic, such as the Creation Matrix and in-fighting within the Decepticon ranks, the series went through a low patch with stories which emphasised generic human characters or jokey concepts. The principal writer on this part of the series, Bob Budiansky, was in the awkward position of having to introduce large numbers of characters on the frequent basis required by Hasbro. As such, it was difficult for Transformers to reach beyond its toy promotion origins and Budiansky was confessedly burnt out on the title by the time he transferred away from it.

Enter long-running TF scribe Simon Furman. To the US book he brought the same perspective having a relatively free hand on the Marvel UK book had inspired, coinciding fortuitously with Hasbro's decision to release classic characters in new forms. This allowed Furman to build on material already published in the UK, continuing characterisations which owe less to toy promotion and more to extended writing.

Of course, this isn't to suggest that Furman's work on the US title (or indeed the UK one) is flawless. His run included further superhero characters, the early throwaway parts of Matrix Quest, and story digressions in the final issues that make the ending of the series feel rather rushed. Other aspects are less to his accountability — although his name appears on US strips from "Back From the Dead", it seems likely that Furman was following through on plot lines and notes left by Budiansky until beginning his own story arcs in earnest with "Primal Scream".

All of which means that most fans will recommend the issue 75 story "On the Edge of Extinction" as the best of the original US series. How much you want to read around that will depend entirely on taste; if you don't want to be confused too much, I'd suggest starting at Primal Scream and collecting through to End of the Road. You can then jump back to Beginnings and read the stories which led up to it if you choose.

MARVEL UK STORIES

As we've already touched on, it would be difficult to read the Titan reprints so that the UK stories appear in the order they were originally interleaved with the US ones. This isn't a great hardship, though, as these stories often weren't printed in linear order in the first place; of necessity they slotted into the gaps allowed for in the schedule for reprinting US stories.

Fortunately, because of that original printing schedule, many UK story arcs function as self-contained blocks, linking together into a contiguous whole but being readily accessible to new readers. At time of writing, it's still unsure exactly how much of the material Titan intend to reprint, but the majority of the arcs UK fans regard as favourites (and which international fans have been trying to get their hands on for years) have seen light of day.

Those printed thus far can be divided into two main categories: tales of the early characters (Dinobot Hunt, Second Generation, Prey) and tales spinning off from Transformers: the Movie (Target: 2006 thru to Time Wars) that also tend to deal with events on Cybertron (City of Fear). The core of Second Generation is something of an anomaly, being written to fill the gap between release of the combiner team toys in the UK and the publishing of the stories which introduced them in the US — much of it actually revolves around a dream sequence. Dinobot Hunt reprints some of the best Dinobot stories, characters for whom Furman developed a fondness and that he was able to use to great effect after Budiansky moved on to newer toys in the US.

Furman's real stroke of genius, though, was to include the 1986 movie into UK continuity, allowing him to tap a well of characters he could not only define but introduce an original Cybertronian cast alongside. Indeed, one of his better known and most highly regarded characters came in the form of Death's Head, a robot mercenary not even a Transformer.

Most of the Titan UK volumes read extremely well independent from one another, and can be dipped into as you feel like. Each has something to offer, above and beyond a great deal of the US material. Titan have also put together five pocket-size volumes of the short black-and-white backup strips from the UK comics, ranging from character-driven stories to others with a more lighthearted tone.

US GENERATION 2

We conclude this overview with mention of what is by far my favourite Transformers comic material. Weighing in at twelve issues produced for Marvel US, Generation 2 had little to do with plugging the toyline of the same name, which undoubtedly contributed to its successes. Bringing back Simon Furman, teaming him with a selection of artists and giving him creative control over a year's worth of comics (including two double-length issues) produced the rest.

G2 is a continuation of the US title only (it would be hard to tie it into the projected future of the UK fiction that includes Transformers: the Movie characters) and has been reprinted by Titan in two volumes. It's more violent and darker in tone than previous Marvel comics, and you don't need to have been introduced to any of the characters to enjoy it: ideal gift material, really. See my reviews of the two volumes for more info.

There was a UK comic for Generation 2, but it was essentially a butchered version of the US comic — the beginning was rewritten so as to avoid having to explain the American G.I. Joe elements, and lasted for only five issues before being canned. Not surprisingly, there have been no plans announced to reprint this limited and lacklustre extra material. More annoyingly, there have been no plans announced to reprint either the G2 / G.I. Joe prelude story or "Ghosts" backup strip from issue #2 of the US G2 comics — though the former might need licensing from Marvel, so Titan may see this as unprofitable. Generation 2 doesn't suffer by its absence, which is the most important thing. "Ghosts" would be nicer to have, in my opinion, purely for the sake of completeness.

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