|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 19, 2014 23:00:16 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 20, 2014 8:44:34 GMT
I didn't have a UK #1 at the time, but my first exposure to TFs came with the Marvel US "The Transformers are coming" house ad with the silhouettes.
The first UK issue I got was 5 (first half of US#3) which dad brought me home from work. It's probably the first Marvel UK appearance of Spiderman's black costume (I'd need to check my Secret Wars issue dates but can't believe they'd got to issue 8 that quick) Thjis brings home how close to the Marvel US run TFs was: most Marvel UK titles tended to be 18 months to 2 years behind and still are.
I don't recall seeing any issues for a long while after this, despite visiting newsagents and WHS most weeks. Similarly I don't recall seeing the Secret Wars title, effectively TFs stable mate, on shelves.
TF#1 was acquired from a jumble sale c Summer 85 and I saw two issues (25/26 I think) on the newsagents on Richmond station during a school trip out to London.
The next issue I owned was 39, brought home from Dad's work, but by then I was looking at US issues in my local comic shop. I started buying those with US 23. The TF supply from Dad had got more regular in the 70s, and I was reading issues in WHS/Bentalls mag section. I started buying it from the first issue with the wreckers having read the prologue and part 2 of Target 2006 but missed part 1.
The first go at reading the early US stories came not from Collected Comics but the diddy US Digests.
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 20, 2014 8:48:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Sept 20, 2014 16:21:01 GMT
I don't know what it was that drew me to that first issue. I doubt I'd have seen any of the toys at the time. I was by that point getting Doctor Who Monthly delivered by the newsagent, and I may still have been getting the Eagle too, I can't remember. I was fortunate in that my parents were happy to buy things I wanted to read, so Transformers became a newsagent delivered title almost immediately and I still have my original run. Those comics are one of my most prized possessions, moreso than most of the actual toys. Purely because they brought all those characters to life.
30 years. Wow. This whole anniversary thing has been a year long celebration with the toys we've had, but this for me is the actual date. The beginning.
|
|
|
|
Post by legios on Sept 20, 2014 20:14:59 GMT
30 years. Wow. This whole anniversary thing has been a year long celebration with the toys we've had, but this for me is the actual date. The beginning. Although The toys were the first thing that I actually encountered it was the comic which ended up lifting Transformers above all the other toy lines that were around (and by extension started the avalanche at led me to the wider mecha show genre) so in many ways it is The Date for me as well. I still remember getting my hands on that first issue, spending a long time pouring over those pages, struck by the epic history of a huge war on a -I believe the term is "Ginormous Metal Planet", a desperate space mission, and the robots slumbering for Geological Time beneath a mountain. Really seized my imagination. Karl |
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Sept 20, 2014 20:50:18 GMT
I feel quite moved you know. Thinking about this is giving me all sorts of flashbacks to reading those early issues.
The comic and the ladybird books/tapes. Those defined the Transformers for me far more than the cartoon.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Sept 28, 2014 21:37:59 GMT
Have not managed to shift thinking about this from the back of my mind this week. I entered the vacuum-sealed, air-conditioned (I wish) archive this afternoon and retrieved issues 1-10. I have been re-reading the UK strips through the IDW books since they started, but I reckon I'm going to do a slow burn repeat run and re-read 1-332 on their anniversary dates cover to cover and relive the thrill of a weekly comic (alright, fortnightly for a bit). It must be the being 10 then and 40 now thing, but this 30th anniversary has meant a lot more to me than 20 or 25 did.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Sept 29, 2014 13:28:39 GMT
I'm thinking of doing the same thing, though for me it will be a first time read through from the start, in order. I only started getting the comic with issue 200 bought for me as I left hospital for some reason or another. Prior to that I had issue 28 (? the first issue to go full colour) issue 153 and Collected Comic 3, oh and complete works part 2.
I finally got a hold of the last of the missing issues a few years ago and have been meaning to read the full run ever since.
|
|
|
|
Post by inflatabledalek on Oct 7, 2014 10:26:28 GMT
Reading it at a weekly rate is highly recommended, doing so for my site has really thrown up some interesting (well to me) connections and thoughts that hadn't occurred to me before(like how long Galvatron is removed from the plot by the Volcano plot when you think about it in real time and what a shame that is when Time Wars is going to wind up so rushed).
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Oct 7, 2014 22:22:09 GMT
I'm under way. Issue two last Saturday. Made me wonder, despite the cover dates, did the comic actually come out on Saturdays? I have a vague feeling it actually appeared in shops on a weekday because I remember the excitement discussing it with my Transformers bud beforehand in the playground. Those were the days, waiting for the paperboy to drop the next issue through the letterbox.
I'm thinking that if I'm doing this it ought to have some external benefit in some way, but the Solar Pool is so good it doesn't really need duplicating, and the basic core data is covered by the wiki and the archive. So there doesn't seem to be an awful lot to record that'd be of any use to anyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 7, 2014 22:26:18 GMT
I'm under way. Issue two last Saturday. Made me wonder, despite the cover dates, did the comic actually come out on Saturdays? I have a vague feeling it actually appeared in shops on a weekday because I remember the excitement discussing it with my Transformers bud beforehand in the playground. Those were the days, waiting for the paperboy to drop the next issue through the letterbox. I'm thinking that if I'm doing this it ought to have some external benefit in some way, but the Solar Pool is so good it doesn't really need duplicating, and the basic core data is covered by the wiki and the archive. So there doesn't seem to be an awful lot to record that'd be of any use to anyone. The comic was almost always in my Newsagent on the Friday, so if I got to it after school I was always able to pick up my copy. Andy |
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Oct 7, 2014 22:41:11 GMT
That does vaguely ring a bell. The build up discussions to the new issue coming out, then not being able to discuss it until the Monday after. It makes me smile just to think of those days. No wonder I'm still into this mythology now, those comics created an awesome universe. Without the Transformers and Doctor Who running right through my life I've no idea who I'd be today.
|
|
|
|
Post by inflatabledalek on Oct 8, 2014 16:09:52 GMT
Yeah, Saturday was (usually) the official release date, but it seems in the carefree '80's many newsagents would just put it out when it came in.
I think I never used to get my reserved copy until the middle of the week...
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 8, 2014 16:49:49 GMT
As a Newsagent's employee in the 80s I can confirm that's exactly what happened. And still haoppens to this day
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 10, 2014 22:08:38 GMT
It was a thing of joy being able to get that comic on the Friday night, it felt like I was getting it before other people.
Daft I know, but still. Then there was the hellish wait for an entire week until the next issue. Never so painful as during Target: 2006.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by inflatabledalek on Oct 11, 2014 6:56:46 GMT
It was a thing of joy being able to get that comic on the Friday night, it felt like I was getting it before other people. Those fiendish newsagents, making us feel special when they were all at it! |
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Oct 19, 2014 22:14:35 GMT
I'm enjoying re-reading. I keep coming across little things I'd not noticed before. Like the fact Prime refers to the Ark as Aunty in the first US issue before reverting to just Ark after that. I thought Aunty was a UK invention because of Raiders...
And in the transfer background picture in issue one the repair shop is called S Witwacky.
And the retyped text in the issue 2 centre spread is slightly reworded from the original.
And surely the stuff in those Robot Roundup columns is mostly made up.
And Machine Man is still rubbish.
I know for certain now though that I owned no toys when issue one came out because I found I'd filled in the survey in the back. Wish I could find something that would tell me which one I eventually did get first.
I don't think I've looked at these for years. Whenever I've re-read the classic comics I've used the US ones. I think there's a real shift in how seriously the writing is taken between the first and second US issues. Issue one feels wooly and undefined, but the second feels like it suddenly realised it was going to have to play by the rules it was creating. Love the toy accurate character models.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Dec 14, 2014 20:18:36 GMT
Issue 7 this fortnight then. The first Christmas tinted issue, bringing news direct from Hasbro for the first time too. So now we know that yes, Megatron will be out in the UK, hurrah! but not until Easter, boo!
In households all over the UK at Christmas in 1984 the Autobots really did have it their own way.
And Machine Man is still rubbish.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Dec 14, 2014 20:59:31 GMT
I have a fondness for MM.
Though it's not a patch on the DeFalco/BWS MM tale to come later. Damn that is good.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Mar 8, 2015 10:38:36 GMT
30 years ago this week: Simon Furman's TF:UK debut! It's time for... The Enemy Within! |
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Mar 8, 2015 10:45:18 GMT
30 years of the Furmanator! There should be a public holiday for this.
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Mar 8, 2015 11:41:58 GMT
30 years of the Furmanator! There should be a public holiday for this. -Ralph I raise my glass to the man! Andy |
|
|
|
Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 8, 2015 12:37:42 GMT
Furman eh? Sounds tough.
*raises quart of oil*
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Jul 12, 2015 11:32:21 GMT
30 years ago this week: the first soft reboot for the comic as the Transformation and Soundwaves pages first appear, and the first Robot War! article puts the previous 21 issues into a sensible order, also handily explaining for newer readers why everyone except Shockwave is suddenly dead.  Also this fortnight 30 years ago - Collected Comics #1 presents the original two issues for Johnny-come-latelys who weren't there from the start.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jul 12, 2015 17:06:56 GMT
And for those of us who were Johnny-come-even-more-lately we have to wait for The Complete Works Volume 1!
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Jul 12, 2015 21:23:27 GMT
30 years of Soundwaves!!!
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Sept 12, 2015 14:43:25 GMT
30 years ago this week: Issue #27Transformers relaunched as a weekly title, reducing the page count from 32 to 24 pages and upping the price to a whopping 30p - but going full colour in the process. It's amazing to think the first year only covered the first seven US issues (and the whole of issue seven was in UK #26)  I also think at this point the title changed their cover dating from being the onsale and offsale date to just the offsale date. Because all of a sudden we're a week ahead on the covers.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Doctor on Sept 12, 2015 21:12:36 GMT
Wow. 30 years since it went full colour! My goodness!
-Ralph
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Sept 13, 2015 17:29:27 GMT
And weekly.
I feel old.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Pinwig on Sept 13, 2015 18:48:57 GMT
Tremendous moment for the comic which I think is more significant than it seems. Fortnightly to weekly is obviously driven by the sales and popularity at the time, but over the four week period the page count is going up by 50% from 64 to 96 but the income almost by 100% from 64p to £1.20. More colour pages each issue will absorb some of that - but I think 22 pages of UK strip becomes a factor in the costs for each month too from this point. From #27 onward the average of 22 US pages and 22 UK per month starts, so it's in the gameplan. From this moment onward Furman knows he has to create a whole separate continuity while making it look like part of the US one.
|
|
