G1 comic (Marvel US) review thread

[Shockwave]

Universe 1-4: I have the DW Sourcebooks, but this was that before that was a thing. I really like the artwork in these issues, the characters seem to have been drawn better and with more detail, probably owing to the fact that the characters are the only things that had to be drawn. In fact, it's so good that it actually inspired me to track these down even this long after their original release. It remains some of my favorite images of some of my favorite characters. The profiles are more or less ripped right from or expound upon the Tech Specs and are somewhat altered to reflect events in the original US comic. There's really not much else to say about the content other than I do find DW's method of grouping the merge groups together to be smoother than just having them listed under whatever letter their name starts with. But, it's still alphabetical so it's not like any given character would be tough to find.

[Dominic]

Do you have a copy of issue 4 of the "fly run"? Check Scourge's entry. (A clear impression of a fly is visible on the lower half of the page, indicating an unfortunate insect being stuck in the printing press.)


If I recall correctly, the package profiles were actually based on the text used for the Marvel sourcebooks. As the comics and sourcebooks were both produced by Marvel, it makes sense that there would be parallels.

The art in the Dreamwave books was uneven due to the fact that Dreamwave used a half dozen artists with distinct styles rather than the single, unified, style used at Marvel.

[andersonh1]

I don't have any of the Universe issues, but there are profiles in the back of later Marvel US issues. Are they comparable in style?

I've still probably only read about half the Marvel run. I started buying the book not too long before the Underbase storyline, and though I went back and got a few earlier issues, there are a lot of gaps in the first half of the series as far as my collection goes. I do have everything from about 45 through 80.

[Shockwave]

I don't have any of the Universe issues, but there are profiles in the back of later Marvel US issues. Are they comparable in style?

I've still probably only read about half the Marvel run. I started buying the book not too long before the Underbase storyline, and though I went back and got a few earlier issues, there are a lot of gaps in the first half of the series as far as my collection goes. I do have everything from about 45 through 80.

They're exactly the same style. Which, now that you mention it, means I'll probably want to start tracking down those issues with the profiles in them. It would be cool to put together a complete collection of them.

[Dominic]

I think the entries from the back of the regular comic had "first appearance" listings that the main sourcebook entries lacked.

But, they were otherwise similar.

[Shockwave]

This set definitely lacks those which is a big difference between this and the regular Marvel Universe books. Another is that the MU one also had a "defining moment" listed as well, which showed the character's biggest or most important moment.

Also, no flies on Scourge.

[Onslaught Six]

If I recall correctly, the package profiles were actually based on the text used for the Marvel sourcebooks. As the comics and sourcebooks were both produced by Marvel, it makes sense that there would be parallels.

Budiansky wrote the long bios first, and then either her or Hasbro (not sure which; maybe both at different periods) would cut them down for the packaging. Handwritten bios and copy notes for some guys have shown up in some of Budiansky's panels at various Botcons he has been at, and they more match the TFU profiles than anything else.

[JediTricks]

I picked up an IDW "Hundred Penny Press" reprint of the first issue of Marvel's G1 comic at Botcon, a buck and it has an essay in the back by Barber so I got him to sign it.

The Transformers #1 (IDW Hundred Penny Press reprint)

The issue is reprinted with heavy inks on the art, which muddies the already challenging art style of the time -- some of that is due to the differences in paper between glossy and mando, I suspect. The art has so many oddities and artifacts of its era, as well as mistakes, mistakes, mistakes - coloring mistakes I can forgive, but Optimus Prime leading the charge against the Ark as well as defending it??? I was cracking up at the toy-accurate drawing of the back of Prowl's legs though, a tad more literal than expected. Some of it felt very prototypical for the brand, the transformation art occasionally would be quite nifty, while other elements simply were alien to the brand and would disappear over time. Lettering is a little worse than I expected for the era, there are squeezes and random thickened letters, and letters with spaces in the middle.

Storywise, the tale takes a while to create its foundation, and some stuff is just nutty, but it gets going and you start to feel the "Transformers" of it come out of the little this and that interplays, the story beats and so on. The introduction pages are goofy comic book stuff, but fun to look at and to realize there is some serious worldbuilding in each comment - Bumblebee's economical alt mode lets him go further so he wants to explore more, not a bad idea for a scout - while some characterizations aren't yet fully there, such as Prowl being more terse and logical than Mr. Spock, while Soundwave is just a regular dude. The final battle in the book isn't a worldbuster, which is nice, but also lacks the leaders, which is surprising. I hadn't realized some of the stuff Shooter put in was kept in the comic, the Ark's computer was referred to as "Aunty" for example. Dialogue and narration are exceptionally clunky though, I'd say more than the art, the actual scripting is still working through the most growing pains.

The essay by Barber is 2 pages and gushes over the book without ignoring its shortcomings. The original is one he owned the day it came out (his birthday) and wore out from re-reading. It's a nice and personal read that connects well to the material and places it in context, and a lot of us can see ourselves in his words.

All in all, this is a challenging read, but there are kernels of what is to come. It's a fair read for a Transformers fan and great to have on the 30th anniversary, but not a great comic overall.