Your Favourite Era of Marvel US Comics

[Andy Turnbull]

The groupings are entirely arbitrary on my part but fit either tonally or in a story sense.

You only get one vote so it's time to pick and explain your reasons please.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

I've went for G2, narrowly edging out for me the first twelve issues, which would be my second choice.

It's a tight, twelve issue story which while fairly self-contained is in itself quite expansive and offers a wide range of possibilities spinning out of it. The art itself is amazing in places, Derek Yaniger channeling Simon Bisley was an absolute jolt to the system and provided the most visceral and exciting artwork the book had seen since Geoff Senior. It introduced a new faction and a new spin on the Autobot/Decepticon conflict as we'd seen it up until that point.

There was a feeling of finality to several of the deaths that we saw, which is something the Transformers comic didn't quite do well enough in it's previous incarnations, with only one or two exceptions. I've long harped on about the fact it was a war comic, and there didn't really seem to be a sense of any character could peg it at any time. Now I know G2 didn't quite follow through with that all the time, what with Optimus Prime coming back at the end. The destruction of San Fransisco being a quite shocking and callous development. The closest we'd come to any real major devastation at that point would probably have been the Plague of the Insecticons in the first Marvel annual.

One other way to look at it as well is that if the first Marvel US series did only last the twelve issues, the ending to issue 12 has a sense of finality to it and had it ended at that point I would have felt okay with that. The ending to issue 12 of G2 left me feeling that there was more to come and dammit it should have.

Anyhoo I've rambled on enough.

Andy

[jameso]

I've gone for issue 76-80 (I'd have rather gone for maybe the whole last 13 issues, but...). Excellent art, very good characterisation, a real sense of the creative team being at the top of their game, and despite obviously there being some stuff left out enough time to wrap up the series neatly enough. And I like those 'after the storm' stories.
I might have gone for G2, but overall, over the whole 12 issues, it can be a bit inconsistent.
Also, I've gone for favourite, rather than best. I think there can be a difference.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Wisdom in those words, James - my favourite things and the things I think are best are very often at odds with each other. But not in this case.

Absolutely no hesitation in voting here. The first 12 issues of the US comic were the story of the Transformers to my mind. The aspect in which they most obviously exceed the other eras is the sheer density of ideas, concepts and plot. It is arguable that the first issue alone has more ideas, concepts and plot in it than the entirety of any of the other eras listed.

The artwork varies from poor (issues #5-6 - I won't say poorest, which I reserve for Manny Galan's debut effort) to the best in the whole Marvel run (issues #7-8). But even if the artwork from #5-6 had been the standard for the whole twelve issues, I'd still vote the same way on story grounds alone.

This was the era in which the Transformers were portrayed as giant alien robots on an unfamiliar world. We saw them through the eyes of a range of believable, well-portrayed human characters - Buster and Sparkplug Witwicky, Josie Beller, G.B. Blackrock, Bomber Bill - all of whose lives were deeply changed by their encounters with the robots in disguise. We could identify with the normalness of their lives, put ourselves in their places, and then see these awesome metal beings towering over them. We learnt about how different Transformer life is to human life - that they don't have the same concept of death as we do (ref. to Gears at the end of issue #3, the way the Autobots were strung up in the Ark by Shockwave, the way Prime spent most of the run as a talking head with no body, the way they all lay in pieces for 4,000,000 years until the Ark put them together again, the way Shockwave lay buried and conscious for 4,000,000 years and just shrugged it off - contrast to Sparkplug's heart attack and Josie Beller's mental and physical crippling with a single shot); their technology is so much more advanced than ours in many ways, and yet they don't understand how to rely on simple technologies (ref. to building a base out of bits of nuclear power plant, and their difficulty in adapting to carbon-based fuels) just as we with all our knowledge would struggle if thrown back in time; they have no concept of carbon-based life-forms, drive-in movies, kisses, sausages... even unliving machinery seems odd to them. And we see how the resolution of their optics varies, from Rumble's highly pixelated view of the world to the superior images extracted from the same data by Shockwave's processors.

And yet nor do they come across as soulless machines - we can find points of commonality with them - Ratchet's despair when he becomes the last Autobot standing, Megatron's humiliation at being deposed by Shockwave, Huffer's homesickness, Optimus Prime's nobility, Starscream's ambition. Contast with the cold, calculating logic of Shockwave, dominating the era - he is the least human of them all, and yet also represents something humans can become if not careful.

We have iconic images - Shockwave standing triumphant at the end of 'The Last Stand', the Autobots strung up from the ceiling, Jetfire being blown to bits by the power of the Creation Matrix, Prowl with his arm hanging off as the Autobots fight a losing battle before Prime's return. And we have wonderful little scenes - Ratchet learning about humans camping out as a distraction from his woes, Bluestreak's babbling prior to freezing up in combat, Shockwave allowing pizza delivery man 'Mozzarella Mike' through the military cordon to fuel his human slaves and then having Laserbeak heat the pizzas up with his eye-beams...

It's... just such a rich, rich twelve issues. Later stuff just made the Transformers less and less Transformer and more and more generic comic character. Here, they were different and special.

"I'll look behind the grill, Mel!"

"I'll check under the seat cushion, Gus!"

"DO YOU ORGANIC CREATURES MIND? I DON'T GO POKING AROUND YOUR MOUTHS TO SEE HOW YOU TALK, DO I?"

Also:

"Listen, friend traffic signal, we're in a hurry, so if you could please turn green..."

"It doesn't hear you, Ratchet. It's only a machine."

"I'm a machine and I hear you, Buster!"

"Yes, but you're different, you're..."

"Ahh, he changed! Thank you, friend traffic signal. May the rest of your day find you in proper working order. You see, Buster, you have to learn how to talk to people."

Beautiful.

Martin

[Kingoji]

I went with the Unicron War, but tbh, I always look on the Matix Quest on to the series finale as one era. Having to choose between the three was tough, but I had to go with On The Edge Of Extinction because the TransFormers have never been so epic before or since, and Geoff Senior really owned the entire run of the US series with that one issue.

[The Doctor]

The Grimlock/Blaster/Goldbug era.

Not because it's the best, because 'favourite' isn't the same as 'best'. I really like the character dynamics of this period. The stories are not the strongest here, but the character conflict sizzles and gripped the attention of young Ralph.

-Ralph

[charlesrocketboy]

With the character dynamics it had, it should have had strong stories (or at least deserved them). What a missed opportunity!

[The Doctor]

I know. My affection for the period is more for the potential, rather than what was there. The stories were always better in my head.

-Ralph

[legios]

I have to go for Issues #1 -12 here. They will alway be very dear to my heart for many reasons. The first two issues give us a backstory of epic scope - a race of intelligent machines, a planetary war or truly immense proportions, and then bring the initial cast of the comic to an unfamiliar world full of strange lifeforms, and even stranger organic things that seem to swarm over it.

That run gives us the Decepticons as a truly fearsome force, whether it be through Megatron's ability to stand up to the worst that humanity can do through conventional weapons, or the brutal efficiency of Shockwave. Autobots who show intriquing divisions and fractures in how they respond to this new situation. Ratchet's unlikely heroism and eventual triumph through willingness to engage in self-sacrifice for the greater good.

The Autobots and Decepticons are like but unlike us. Not yet simply the big metal men that they would often be treated as later (not that the latter isn't a perfectly valid way to treat them, it just isn't my prefered approach). They have a view of the universe that overlaps with ours but their experience is different and they don't necessarily understand things the way we do or necessarily have the same points of reference.

And in this era what the Transformers do really matters. We probably have a higher density of human characters here (as opposed to generic random shocked bystanders), and there is a real sense that the Transformers impact on the human world in a meaningful and significant way. Josie Beller for example has her life and sanity destroyed by being a bystander in the war. I'm not sure that we ever got quite as much of a feel for a character being changed by the actions of the Autobots and Decepticons after that.

There is a sense of impact here that I think is why I would have to call this era my favourite. Like others I don't necessarily think that this is necessarily the best of the US comic - in strictly technical terms I would have to say it probably isn't - but it is the part of it that has the most meaning for me and which I tend to keep coming back to the most.

If I could have had a second choice it would have been G2, again because of the impact that it has. The first issue opens up the scope of what has been going on in a very effective way and it has a lot of interesting ideas about how to reinvent things that we think we know about the Transformers in new ways. It also is one of the few Transformers stories to really create the sense of there actually being a war being fought. (Along with perhaps The Smelting Pool, which convincingly and disturbingly portrays a war fought and lost)

Karl

[dyrl]

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anybody that next to Ralph, mine is the second vote in the "Grimlock/Blaster/Goldbug era" - and the reasons are exactly those that Ralph gave.

The character dynamics and tensions are just so wonderfully prounounced. All of this was made possible by getting passed the "what are Transformers?" stage that was issues 1-18 - where we saw first their beginnings on Earth and then how they lived on Cybertron...with the history out of the way - it was time to focus on characters.

I like stories which are herma...hermatic?...is that a word? Is that the word I'm looking for?

I mean stories where you need to first digest a lot of desne history in order to fully appreciate what's "currently" going on.

Anyways - to this day - it's the golden memory of Transformers for me - with my favorite issues being the Throttlebot adventures AND issue 36 where Defensor battles Bruticus - Blaster saves them, and Hotshot still wants to arrest him...and then everybody ends up inside Sky Linx!

I just love the pace in that story arc as well Grimlock's pettiness combined with his ruthlessness, the Decepticons being quite in dissaray at the time....

Great, great stuff.

It does, however, have a kind of weak ending, what with Blaster and Grimlock suddenly realizing they need to pool forces due to the Decepticon attack just when they are preparing to fight...

The wasted potential was that Blaster never got to be Autobot leader. The idea was there, since the Bots openly rooted for him and asked him to lead - but I guess the need to bring Powermaster Optimus Prime's toy advert into the comics meant that Bob Budiansky could no longer play out the great story that he had developed...

Pete

[Deleted]

I'm with Ralph and Pete on this one. The stories in the Grimlock/Blaster/Goldbug era. When I last read them there seemed to be a sense of dynamic storytelling during that period. It was the last great period of Bob Budiansky and Grimlock ruling the Autobots with an iron fist just seemed to interest me more than any of the other stories.

[KoshNaranek]

It was a really tough choice between issues 1-12 or G2, but I went for the former. There are many reasons, but it all comes down to the fact that I now have so much more admiration for what Uncle Bob created in those early stories. Shockwave, in particular, stole the show and his character potential was unleashed in ways the cartoon never explored. The comics established early on that they would not be following the cartoon "continuity" and really did portray the Transformers as alien while still allowing us to relate to them.

The sheer number of characters that had to be introduced was well handled and never felt forced. When the Constructicons and Jetfire appeared they had genuine purpose and ongoing impact in subsequent stories. The use of the Creation Matrix as a means of granting life to a Transformer also made me invest much more in characters as that established these robots were indeed alive. It just made it seem so much more important that my favourite characters survived. I don't think I would have cared as much if a Transformer could just be rebuilt after being destroyed.

I also have to give Bob big kudos for daring to depose Prime and Megatron so early on and allowing the spotlight to fall on so many other characters. That gave their respective returns to power further down the road much more impact.

As said, there are many more reasons, but most of them have been said previously and phrased much better than I would have put them, so I'll leave well enough alone.

G2 is only a fraction behind and only lost out for not featuring Shockwave!

- Tony

[Andy Turnbull]

Shockwave was in issue 1 Tony,(albeit in one panel) recant your decision and vote again!!!

Andy

[jameso]

I was looking at the US comics on the TF wiki recently, and I think, from that, some of my problems with the first 12 issues are that they are so error ridden and inconsistent in the details (which is understandble, brand new concept, loads of characters, artists starting blind and so on) that something feels as if it's missing. With the last 12 issues everyone involved seems to know exactly what they are doing.

[Deleted]

I enjoyed the first twelve issues a lot but they were all over the place at times due to how new they were. Once everything had been organised the stories were a non-stop rollercoaster of a ride until Budiansky derailed everything with a series of bad stories just before Furman came onboard.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I think it all depends on how much weight you put on the artwork and how much on the stories. James says the first twelve issues were "error ridden and inconsistent" and you that they were "all over the place at times". I agree - if you are just talking about the artwork. The story of the first twelve issues, I would argue, is as error-free and internally consistent as any we've ever had.

Martin

[jameso]

Yes, to be fair, it probably is mostly the art. Of course, there was talk of Nick and Jack redrawing issues 1-4 and keeping the same script for TMUK a while back, that would have been interesting.

[grahamthomson]

After much deliberation over US 1-12 and G2 1-12 I eventually went with G2. It was very, very close though!

[Andy Turnbull]

Well done, on your enlightened taste and excellent decision making!

Andy

[KoshNaranek]

I went back and read both G1 1-12 and G2 1-12 just because of this poll, and I'm even more torn now. I am considering changing my vote to G2 simply because it really should be higher up the rankings IMO. If I'm really honest, it's actually issues 5-12 of G1 that were what I really enjoyed, whereas I was hooked on G2 from the get go.

- Tony

[blueshift]

I kinda could 56-80 as an 'era', though I voted for the Unicron war section. For me, it is really what Transformers was about. Earlier stories felt a bit claustrophobic, when suddenly the curtain was thrown wide open - we had hundreds of characters, and literally anything could happen. We weren't stuck on Earth, we could be literally anywhere in the galaxy, from small scale to large, and it was fantastic

G2 comes a close second.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Oct 24, 2009 16:49:22 GMT blueshift said:

We weren't stuck on Earth, we could be literally anywhere in the galaxy, from small scale to large, and it was fantastic

Yeah, but don't you get enough of that in other comics / sci-fi? Didn't Transformers lose what made it unique when it went into space and all the giant robots stopped being giant robots and just became normal super-characters?

Martin

[blueshift]

Nope. I was 7. There was nothing else available to me that had giant space robots.

If anything, I found the 'we are robots stuck on earth, lets hide' stories more boring. As I have grown older, I appreciate the older Earth-based stuff more, but I do prefer the robot space adventures.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Fair enough. I suppose these votes come down to what sort of comic you want to read as much as to differences of opinion on their quality. War comics as a genre have no appeal to me, which is probably why I find G2 so empty, but if you like war comics and aren't turned on by aliens trying to adapt to life on Earth then I could see why they would be preferred.

I suspect no-one here - even those who love both the original #1-12 and G2 - would disagree that they are completely different comics. If we didn't have the other 68 issues bridging the gap between them, with Budiansky gradually widening the cast and scope beyond Earth and then Furman taking over and pushing it ever more and more in that direction, it would be hard to see them as part of the same saga - and I could imagine us having two different readerships and fan clubs with minimal overlap (like the limited overlap that does exist between cartoon-focussed TF fan communities and comic-focussed ones).

(Edit: And I do maintain that Furman's US issues aren't really Transformers stories - or robot stories - they are stories that could be told using Thundercats, or Masters of the Universe characters, or whoever - but he just happens to have told them using Transformers as the cast. The plots of 'Matrix Quest', the Unicron war and aftermath, the G2 Empire and Swarm, etc., don't need robots to be in them, certainly not transforming robots. Transforming is largely irrelevant in them. The only bits of story I can think of that wouldn't work if they didn't have giant alien robots in them are the bits involving HiQ and Spike, and their relationships with their binary-bonded partners. Those bits couldn't be readily lifted and re-told using Marvel/DC superheroes or Star Wars characters.)

Martin