Editing The Transformers (Marvel comic)

{{disambig2|the [[Marvel Comics]] series|other uses of ''The Transformers''|Transformers (disambiguation)}}
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{{bigquote|Four million years ago, they came from '''Cybertron''', a world composed entirely of machinery... a world torn by an age-old war between the heroic '''Autobots''' and the evil '''Decepticons'''. These incredibly powerful living robots, capable of converting themselves into land and air vehicles, weapons and other mechanical forms, continue their conflict here on '''Earth'''. They are...'''THE TRANSFORMERS'''|Marvel US introductory blurb}}
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[[Image:MarvelUS-01.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The heroic Autobots fight to crush Earth's highways.]]
'''''The Transformers''''', the monthly comic book published in the U.S. by [[Marvel Comics]], was the very first original fiction to feature the famous robots in disguise, as well as the longest-running.  It started life as a four-issue, bimonthly limited series in 1984, but proved so popular that it continued publication as an ongoing monthly until spring of 1991. The series ultimately reached 80 issues and spun off several miniseries.  

The series established the [[Marvel Comics continuity]], which would form the basis for several successor stories over the years.

Nearly all of the U.S. stories were later published by Marvel UK, along with new stories that fit between the gaps of the U.S. tales. See [[#Marvel UK|Marvel UK]] below.

==Marvel U.S.==
{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">Marvel US issues:</font>'''
 |- align="center" 
 || [[The Transformers (issue)|#1]] | [[Power Play!|#2]] | [[Prisoner of War!|#3]] | [[The Last Stand|#4]] | [[The New Order|#5]] | [[The Worse of Two Evils!|#6]] | [[Warrior School!|#7]] | [[Repeat Performance!|#8]] | [[DIS-Integrated Circuits!|#9]] | [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#10]] | [[Brainstorm!|#11]] | [[Prime Time!|#12]] | [[Shooting Star!|#13]] | [[Rock and Roll-Out!|#14]] | [[I, Robot-Master!|#15]] | [[Plight of the Bumblebee!|#16]] | [[The Smelting Pool!|#17]] | [[The Bridge to Nowhere!|#18]] | [[Command Performances!|#19]] | [[Showdown!|#20]] | [[Aerialbots over America!|#21]] | [[Heavy Traffic!|#22]] | [[Decepticon Graffiti!|#23]] | [[Afterdeath!|#24]] | [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|#25]] | [[Funeral for a Friend!|#26]] | [[King of the Hill!|#27]] | [[Mechanical Difficulties!|#28]] | [[Crater Critters|#29]] | [[The Cure!|#30]] | [[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom|#31]] | [[Used Autobots|#32]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#33]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#34]] | [[Child's Play (issue)|#35]] | [[Spacehikers!|#36]] | [[Toy Soldiers!|#37]] | [[Trial by Fire!|#38]] | [[The Desert Island of Space!|#39]] | [[Pretender to the Throne!|#40]] | [[Totaled!|#41]] | [[People Power!|#42]] | [[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|#43]] | [[The Cosmic Carnival|#44]] | [[Monstercon from Mars!|#45]] | [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|#46]] | [[Club Con!|#47]] | [[The Flames of Boltax!|#48]] | [[Cold War!|#49]] | [[Dark Star (issue)|#50]] | [[The Man in the Machine!|#51]] | [[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?|#52]] | [[Recipe for Disaster!|#53]] | [[King Con!|#54]] | [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|#55]] | [[Back from the Dead|#56]] | [[The Resurrection Gambit!|#57]] | [[All the Familiar Faces!|#58]] | [[Skin Deep|#59]] | [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#60]] | [[Primal Scream (issue)|#61]] | [[Bird of Prey!|#62]] | [[Kings of the Wild Frontier.|#63]] | [[Deadly Obsession|#64]] | [[Dark Creation|#65]] | [[All Fall Down (issue)|#66]] | [[Rhythms of Darkness!|#67]] | [[The Human Factor!|#68]] | [[Eye of the Storm|#69]] | [[The Pri¢e of Life!|#70]] | [[Surrender!|#71]] | [[...All This and Civil War 2|#72]] | [[Out of Time!|#73]] | [[The Void! (US)|#74]] | [[On the Edge of Extinction!|#75]] | [[Still Life!|#76]] | [[Exodus!|#77]] | [[A Savage Circle|#78]] | [[The Last Autobot?|#79]] | [[End of the Road! (US)|#80]]
|}

===Related mini-series===
* ''[[G.I. Joe and the Transformers]]''
* ''[[Headmasters (comic)|Headmasters]]''
* ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]]''
* ''[[Transformers: The Movie (Marvel Comics)|Transformers: The Movie]]'' (Though published by Marvel in the US and UK, is only related in the UK canon)
* Various ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' stories (Jumps off from the US Marvel comic, but disregards the Marvel UK material and the Generation 2 comic.)

===Overview===
[[Image:Autobotline.gif|left|250px|thumb|After watching traffic reports for an hour, they finally decided to just stay home.]]
The story begins with a brief history of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and its [[Great War (G1)|civil war]], which eventually causes the planet to become lost in space.  Battling aboard the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], the original 28 characters crash-land on [[Earth]] four million years ago and awaken in the (then-) present day of 1984. The quest for [[Energon (fuel)|fuel]] becomes their initial goal, driving the first several issues.

As the first fiction in the entire [[Generation 1 (franchise)|franchise]], the initial issues of ''Transformers'' were breaking completely new ground. Early issues contain a variety of plot points and conventions, some of which would go on to shape the very mythos... and others that would fall by the wayside, forgotten and hilariously quaint. The concept of the life-giving [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]] is a good example of the former group; "[[Atechnogenesis|naturally occurring gears, levers and pulleys]]" comes to mind for the latter.

[[Image:Newyorkunderbase.jpg|right|150px|thumb|With a single wave of Starscream's hand, Hound, Bluestreak, Mirage, Hoist, Brawn, and Gears cease to occupy valuable page space!]]
The book soon built its own elaborate and wide-reaching universe, including hundreds of characters — [[Transformer]]s, [[human]]s, [[alien]]s — on Earth, Cybertron, and beyond. Late in the series, a long-running plot brought in the sinister menace of [[Unicron]], giving him a backstory and build-up that for many fans surpassed his original appearance in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' for storytelling and gravitas. This backstory would eventually go on to eclipse the origin given in the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]].

Because it was a book intended [[to sell toys]], ''Transformers'' featured an ever-rotating cast. New Transformers were often hastily brought in to meet the demands of [[Hasbro]], and older "product" was often swept aside or killed off ''en masse'' in [[Dark Star (issue)|epic, climactic battles]].

After some troubled times and steadily declining readership, the series was finally canceled at issue #80. A combination of factors was likely responsible: the Transformers toyline had become yesterday's fad, the core readership had grown older and moved on, and Hasbro seems to have pulled the plug.

Several subsequent series would build upon the series; see ''[[Marvel Comics continuity]]'' for more information.
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===Creative team===
[[Image:MarvelUS-75.jpg|left|150px|thumb|He's authorized to devour anyone not in the current product line.]]
The book featured two primary writers: [[Bob Budiansky]] edited the original 4-part limited series and wrote the book from issue #5 to issue #55. After that, [[Simon Furman]], already heavily experienced from his work on the UK book, took up the reins until the book was cancelled at issue #80.

''Transformers'' is a bit notorious for wild swings in writing quality, as serious plots alternated with such strange concepts as [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|Micromaster wrestling]] and [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|ridiculous bounty hunters]]. Some of this may be attributed to Bob Budiansky's eventual burn-out; after years of having to wrap his stories around to meet the latest toy-appearance demands from Hasbro, his later writing on the book showed a decline in quality. Among Transfans, he is sometimes remembered unfavourably because of this period, perhaps unfairly so considering his fundamental role in shaping the Transformers universe and most of its characters, as well as some of the book's [[Warrior School!|most gripping early stories]].  Still, even such oddball stories as "[[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom]]" and "[[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?]]" have both their merits and their fans.  

Budiansky himself proposed that Simon Furman take over as the U.S. series writer.<ref name="steveo otfcc2004">[http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/tidbits/otfcc2004.txt Steve-o's OTFCC 2004 notes]</ref> With the changeover, the stories took on a more serious tone, relying on character conflict more than outlandish plot devices. Many fans regard Furman's run on the original book as one of the high points of all Transformers fiction.

The comic was written in "Marvel Style", where the writer gives the artist a plot outline instead of a full script. The artist then lays out the pages himself; afterward the writer comes back in and scripts the dialog based on the artist's work. This approach gives the artist a larger role in telling the story than simply drawing what the writer tells them to.<ref name="steveo otfcc2004" />

A number of artists worked on ''Transformers'', but the most frequent pencilers included [[Frank Springer]], [[Don Perlin]], [[José Delbo]], [[Geoff Senior]], and [[Andrew Wildman]]. Also of particular note is colorist [[Nelson Yomtov|Nelson "Nel" Yomtov]], who colored every single issue of the book, as well as all of the related mini-series.
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===Publication and format===
As ''The Transformers'' title began life as a limited series, it was subject to the conventions Marvel had established for limited series at the time of its publication. "Standard" Marvel comics released concurrently in 1984 cost 60 cents and were printed on newsprint; in contrast, ''The Transformers'' sold for 75 cents and was printed on a whiter, higher-quality stock (for the time) known as "[[Mando paper]]".

Evidently considered a "deluxe format" book by Marvel, ''Transformers'' continued to be printed on Mando paper even after it became an ongoing series. <ref>''Marvel Age'' #23, November 1984</ref> It also remained at 75 cents—at least until [[King of the Hill!|issue 28]], when the price of the book rose to 1 dollar. With the exception of the double-sized [[Dark Star (issue)|issue 50]] and [[On the Edge of Extinction!|issue 75]], which were both priced at $1.50, ''The Transformers'' would remain at 1 dollar for the remainder of its original run.
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===Cover dates===
There is some confusion over when issues first appeared, due to changing practices regarding the cover dates. When the comic began in 1984, Marvel issues were normally cover dated four months ahead of their going on sale. This was partially a hangover from the days of fierce newsstand competition when each company tried to make its comics look newer than its rivals and partially a mechanism to compensate for slower distribution on newsstands and overseas sales.

As a result of this, although [[The Transformers (issue)|issue #1]] is cover dated September, it went on sale in May. This is supported by the first Usenet post about Transformers which was posted by Ted Nolan to net.comics on May 22 1984.<ref>Ted Nolan, "[http://groups.google.com/group/net.comics/msg/1cdaf7df610e0376?dmode=source&amp;hl=en Year's worst?] in net.comics, 22-May-84 02:07:22 EDT</ref>

In 1989, Marvel decided to rationalize things by moving to a system where the cover date was only two months in advance. In order to achieve this, issues released in August 1989 have the cover date "Mid November", those in September 1989 have "December" and those in October "Mid December". The relevant ''Transformers'' issues were [[Skin Deep|#59]], [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#60]] and [[Primal Scream (issue)|#61]].
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==Marvel UK==
'''Marvel UK''' produced a G1 comic which ran for 332 issues, reprinting the American stories and adding in many new stories built around them.

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">Marvel UK issues:</font>'''
 |- align="center"
 || [[The Transformers (issue)|#1]] | [[The Transformers (issue)|#2]] | [[Power Play!|#3]] | [[Power Play!|#4]] | [[Prisoner of War!|#5]] | [[Prisoner of War!|#6]] | [[The Last Stand|#7]] | [[The Last Stand|#8]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#9]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#10]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#11]] | [[Man of Iron (story)|#12]] | [[The Enemy Within!|#13]] | [[The Enemy Within!|#14]] | [[The Enemy Within!|#15]] | [[The Enemy Within!|#16]] | [[The Enemy Within!|#17]] | [[Raiders of the Last Ark|#18]] | [[Raiders of the Last Ark|#19]] | [[Raiders of the Last Ark|#20]] | [[Raiders of the Last Ark|#21]] | [[The New Order|#22]] | [[The New Order|#23]] | [[The Worse of Two Evils!|#24]] | [[The Worse of Two Evils!|#25]] | [[Warrior School!|#26]] | [[Repeat Performance!|#27]] | [[Repeat Performance!|#28]] | [[Decepticon Dam-Busters!|#29]] | [[Decepticon Dam-Busters!|#30]] | [[The Wrath of Guardian!|#31]] | [[The Wrath of Grimlock!|#32]] | [[DIS-Integrated Circuits!|#33]] | [[DIS-Integrated Circuits!|#34]] | [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#35]] | [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#36]] | [[Brainstorm!|#37]] | [[Brainstorm!|#38]] | [[Prime Time!|#39]] | [[Prime Time!|#40]] | [[Christmas Breaker!|#41]] | [[Crisis of Command!|#42]] | [[Crisis of Command!|#43]] | [[Crisis of Command!|#44]] | [[The Icarus Theory|#45]] | [[The Icarus Theory|#46]] | [[Dinobot Hunt!|#47]] | [[Dinobot Hunt!|#48]] | [[Dinobot Hunt!|#49]] | [[Dinobot Hunt!|#50]] | [[Shooting Star!|#51]] | [[Shooting Star!|#52]] | [[Rock and Roll-Out!|#53]] | [[Rock and Roll-Out!|#54]] | [[I, Robot-Master!|#55]] | [[I, Robot-Master!|#56]] | [[Plight of the Bumblebee!|#57]] | [[Plight of the Bumblebee!|#58]] | [[Robot Buster!|#59]] | [[Robot Buster!|#60]] | [[Devastation Derby!|#61]] | [[Devastation Derby!|#62]] | [[Second Generation!|#63]] | [[Second Generation!|#64]] | [[Second Generation!|#65]] | [[The Smelting Pool!|#66]] | [[The Smelting Pool!|#67]] | [[The Bridge to Nowhere!|#68]] | [[The Bridge to Nowhere!|#69]] | [[Command Performances!|#70]] | [[Command Performances!|#71]] | [[Showdown!|#72]] | [[Showdown!|#73]] | [[In the National Interest|#74]] | [[In the National Interest|#75]] | [[In the National Interest|#76]] | [[In the National Interest|#77]] | [[Target: 2006|#78]] | [[Target: 2006|#79]] | [[Target: 2006|#80]] | [[Target: 2006|#81]] | [[Target: 2006|#82]] | [[Target: 2006|#83]] | [[Target: 2006|#84]] | [[Target: 2006|#85]] | [[Target: 2006|#86]] | [[Target: 2006|#87]] | [[Target: 2006|#88]] | [[Aerialbots over America!|#89]] | [[Aerialbots over America!|#90]] | [[Heavy Traffic!|#91]] | [[Heavy Traffic!|#92]] | [[The Gift|#93]] | [[Decepticon Graffiti!|#94]] | [[Decepticon Graffiti!|#95]] | [[Prey!|#96]] | [[Prey!|#97]] | [[The Harder They Die!|#98]] | [[Under Fire!|#99]] | [[Distant Thunder!|#100]] | [[Fallen Angel (issue)|#101]] | [[Fallen Angel (issue)|#102]] | [[Resurrection!|#103]] | [[Resurrection!|#104]] | [[Afterdeath!|#105]] | [[Afterdeath!|#106]] | [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|#107]] | [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|#108]] | [[Funeral for a Friend!|#109]] | [[Funeral for a Friend!|#110]] | [[King of the Hill!|#111]] | [[King of the Hill!|#112]] | [[Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!|#113]] | [[Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!|#114]] | [[Burning Sky!|#115]] | [[Burning Sky!|#116]] | [[Hunters|#117]] | [[Hunters|#118]] | [[Fire on High!|#119]] | [[Fire on High!|#120]] | [[Mechanical Difficulties!|#121]] | [[Mechanical Difficulties!|#122]] | [[Crater Critters|#123]] | [[Crater Critters|#124]] | [[Ancient Relics!|#125]] | [[The Cure!|#126]] | [[The Cure!|#127]] | [[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom|#128]] | [[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom|#129]] | [[Worlds Apart!|#130]] | [[Worlds Apart!|#131]] | [[Kup's Story!|#132]] | [[Headhunt|#133]] | [[Headhunt|#134]] | [[Grudge Match!|#135]] | [[Grudge Match!|#136]] | [[Ladies' Night|#137]] | [[Ladies' Night|#138]] | [[Used Autobots|#139]] | [[Used Autobots|#140]] | [[Child's Play (issue)|#141]] | [[Child's Play (issue)|#142]] | [[Spacehikers!|#143]] | [[Spacehikers!|#144]] | [[Stargazing|#145]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#146]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#147]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#148]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#149]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#150]] | [[The Legacy of Unicron!|#151]] | [[Enemy Action!|#152]] | [[Enemy Action!|#153]] | [[Toy Soldiers!|#154]] | [[Toy Soldiers!|#155]] | [[Trial by Fire!|#156]] | [[Trial by Fire!|#157]] | [[The Desert Island of Space!|#158]] | [[The Desert Island of Space!|#159]] | [[Salvage!|#160]] | [[Salvage!|#161]] | [[Pretender to the Throne!|#162]] | [[Pretender to the Throne!|#163]] | [[City of Fear!|#164]] | [[City of Fear!|#165]] | [[Legion of the Lost!|#166]] | [[Legion of the Lost!|#167]] | [[Meltdown!|#168]] | [[Meltdown!|#169]] | [[Deadly Games!|#170]] | [[Deadly Games!|#171]] | [[Wrecking Havoc|#172]] | [[Wrecking Havoc|#173]] | [[Totaled!|#174]] | [[Totaled!|#175]] | [[People Power!|#176]] | [[People Power!|#177]] | [[The Cosmic Carnival|#178]] | [[The Cosmic Carnival|#179]] | [[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|#180]] | [[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|#181]] | [[Space Pirates!|#182]] | [[Space Pirates!|#183]] | [[Space Pirates!|#184]] | [[Space Pirates!|#185]] | [[Space Pirates!|#186]] | [[Space Pirates!|#187]] | [[Firebug!|#188]] | [[Dry Run!|#189]] | [[Monstercon from Mars!|#190]] | [[Monstercon from Mars!|#191]] | [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|#192]] | [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|#193]] | [[Club Con!|#194]] | [[Club Con!|#195]] | [[The Flames of Boltax!|#196]] | [[The Flames of Boltax!|#197]] | [[Cold Comfort and Joy!|#198]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#199]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#200]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#201]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#202]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#203]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#204]] | [[Time Wars (issue)|#205]] | [[Cold War!|#206]] | [[Cold War!|#207]] | [[Dark Star (issue)|#208]] | [[Dark Star (issue)|#209]] | [[Dark Star (issue)|#210]] | [[The Man in the Machine!|#211]] | [[The Man in the Machine!|#212]] | [[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?|#213]] | [[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?|#214]] | [[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?|#215]] | [[Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?|#216]] | [[Recipe for Disaster!|#217]] | [[Recipe for Disaster!|#218]] | [[Recipe for Disaster!|#219]] | [[Recipe for Disaster!|#220]] | [[Survivors!|#221]] | [[Survivors!|#222]] | [[Aspects of Evil!|#223]] | [[Aspects of Evil!|#224]] | [[Aspects of Evil!|#225]] | [[Aspects of Evil!|#226]] | [[Aspects of Evil!|#227]] | [[(Double) Deal of the Century!|#228]] | [[The Hunting Party|#229]] | [[The Big Shutdown!|#230]] | [[The Big Shutdown!|#231]] | [[King Con!|#232]] | [[King Con!|#233]] | [[King Con!|#234]] | [[King Con!|#235]] | [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|#236]] | [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|#237]] | [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|#238]] | [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|#239]] | [[Back from the Dead|#240]] | [[Back from the Dead|#241]] | [[Back from the Dead|#242]] | [[The Resurrection Gambit!|#243]] | [[The Resurrection Gambit!|#244]] | [[The Resurrection Gambit!|#245]] | [[All the Familiar Faces!|#246]] | [[All the Familiar Faces!|#247]] | [[All the Familiar Faces!|#248]] | [[Skin Deep|#249]] | [[Skin Deep|#250]] | [[Skin Deep|#251]] | [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#252]] | [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#253]] | [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#254]] | [[Perchance to Dream|#255]] | [[Perchance to Dream|#256]] | [[Perchance to Dream|#257]] | [[Perchance to Dream|#258]] | [[Primal Scream (issue)|#259]] | [[Primal Scream (issue)|#260]] | [[Primal Scream (issue)|#261]] | [[Bird of Prey!|#262]] | [[Bird of Prey!|#263]] | [[Bird of Prey!|#264]] | [[Once upon a Time...|#265]] | [[Life in the Slow Lane|#266]] | [[Snow Fun!|#267]] | [[Flashback!|#268]] | [[Mystery!|#269]] | [[The Bad Guy's Ball!|#270]] | [[The Living Nightlights!|#271]] | [[Cry Wolf!|#272]] | [[Wolf in the Fold!|#273]] | [[Where Wolf?|#274]] | [[Secrets|#275]] | [[Bugged!|#276]] | [[Internal Affairs!|#277]] | [[The House that Wheeljack Built!|#278]] | [[Divide and Conquer!|#279]] | [[The 4,000,000 Year Itch!|#280]] | [[Makin' Tracks!|#281]] | [[Kings of the Wild Frontier.|#282]] | [[Kings of the Wild Frontier.|#283]] | [[Kings of the Wild Frontier.|#284]] | [[Kings of the Wild Frontier.|#285]] | [[Deadly Obsession|#286]] | [[Deadly Obsession|#287]] | [[Deadly Obsession|#288]] | [[Deadly Obsession|#289]] | [[Dark Creation|#290]] | [[Dark Creation|#291]] | [[Dark Creation|#292]] | [[Dark Creation|#293]] | [[All Fall Down (issue)|#294]] | [[All Fall Down (issue)|#295]] | [[All Fall Down (issue)|#296]] | [[All Fall Down (issue)|#297]] | [[Rhythms of Darkness!|#298]] | [[Rhythms of Darkness!|#299]] | [[Rhythms of Darkness!|#300]] | [[Rhythms of Darkness!|#301]] | [[The Human Factor!|#302]] | [[The Human Factor!|#303]] | [[The Human Factor!|#304]] | [[The Human Factor!|#305]] | [[Eye of the Storm|#306]] | [[Eye of the Storm|#307]] | [[Eye of the Storm|#308]] | [[The Pri¢e of Life!|#309]] | [[The Pri¢e of Life!|#310]] | [[Surrender!|#311]] | [[Surrender!|#312]] | [[...All This and Civil War 2|#313]] | [[...All This and Civil War 2|#314]] | [[Out of Time!|#315]] | [[Out of Time!|#316]] | [[The Void! (US)|#317]] | [[The Void! (US)|#318]] | [[On the Edge of Extinction!|#319]] | [[On the Edge of Extinction!|#320]] | [[On the Edge of Extinction!|#321]] | [[On the Edge of Extinction!|#322]] | [[Still Life!|#323]] | [[Still Life!|#324]] | [[Exodus!|#325]] | [[Exodus!|#326]] | [[A Savage Circle|#327]] | [[A Savage Circle|#328]] | [[The Last Autobot?|#329]] | [[The Last Autobot?|#330]] | [[End of the Road! (US)|#331]] | [[End of the Road! (US)|#332]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">Marvel UK issues (2nd story for issues with two non-reprint TF stories):</font>'''
 |- align="center"
 || [[Ring of Hate!|#130]] | [[Ring of Hate!|#131]] | [[Ring of Hate!|#132]] | [[Ring of Hate!|#133]] | [[Broken Glass!|#134]] | [[Broken Glass!|#135]] | [[Broken Glass!|#136]] | [[Broken Glass!|#137]] | [[Love and Steel!|#138]] | [[Love and Steel!|#139]] | [[Love and Steel!|#140]] | [[Love and Steel!|#141]] | [[Brothers in Armor!!|#142]] | [[Brothers in Armor!!|#143]] | [[Brothers in Armor!!|#144]] | [[Brothers in Armor!!|#145]] | ... | [[The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire|#213]] | [[The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire|#214]] | [[Race with the Devil|#215]] | [[Race with the Devil|#216]] | [[Race with the Devil|#217]] | [[Race with the Devil|#218]] | [[Survivors!|#219]] | [[Survivors!|#220]] | ... | [[A Small War!|#232]] | [[A Small War!|#233]] | [[Prime's Rib!|#234]] | [[Deathbringer (issue)|#235]] | [[Deathbringer (issue)|#236]] | [[Way of the Warrior|#237]] | [[Survival Run|#238]] | [[A Savage Place!|#239]] | [[Out to Lunch!|#240]] | [[Rage!|#241]] | [[Assault on the Ark!|#242]] | [[Mind Games|#243]] | [[Two Megatrons!|#244]] | [[Underworld!|#245]] | [[Demons!|#246]] | [[Dawn of Darkness|#247]] | [[Fallen Star!|#248]] | [[Whose Lifeforce Is It Anyway?|#249]] | [[The Greatest Gift of All!|#250]] | [[The Void! (UK)|#251]] | [[Edge of Impact|#252]] | [[Shadow of Evil|#253]] | [[White Fire|#254]] | ... | [[Perchance to Dream|#259]] | [[Perchance to Dream|#260]] | [[Starting Over!|#261]] | [[Two Steps Back!|#262]] | [[Break-Away!|#263]] | [[Desert Island Risks!|#264]] | ... | [[Shut Up!|#282]] | [[Manoeuvres!|#283]] | [[Assassins|#284]] | [[External Forces!|#285]] | [[The Lesser Evil|#286]] | [[Inside Story!|#287]] | [[Front Line!|#288]] | [[End of the Road! (UK)|#289]] 
|}

===Overview===
[[Image:MarvelUK-244.jpg|right|200px|thumb|This is the best Cracker Jack prize ever!]]
Though not without contradiction, the Marvel UK book managed to weave a number of highly complex stories "behind the scenes" of the Marvel U.S. tales. Topics included expanded stories and battles in the early days of the war (before [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave's]] arrival), more intrigue among the [[Decepticon]] commanders on Earth, the [[Autobot]] resistance on Cybertron, and the time-travelling exploits of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], who arrives directly from the future world of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''.

The UK book's weekly schedule and shorter format meant splitting stories into parts, often right in the middle of the action. Like the U.S. book, Marvel UK featured a regular column of letters from readers; however, these were supposedly answered by various Transformers, including [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]], and others. ''See [[Letters page (Marvel UK)]]''.

===Creative team===
[[Image:Megatron-timewars-comparison.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Change of artists? Eh, who'll notice?]]
Most UK-specific stories were written by [[Simon Furman]], who was later assigned to write for the U.S. comic as well. Curiously, it was from this point that the divergences between the UK and U.S. stories became more pronounced.

Regular artists included [[Will Simpson]], [[Robin Smith]], [[Dan Reed]], [[Jeff Anderson]], [[Lee Sullivan]], [[Geoff Senior]], and [[Andrew Wildman]]. The large stable of artists resulted in some extreme contrasts of style throughout the book, such as Reed's highly organic art being followed by the clean, mechanical precision of Sullivan or Senior. Sometimes these changes occurred within the context of a single story.

===Complexity and contradiction in continuity===
[[Image:Goldbugorigins.jpg|right|200px|thumb|In no continuity was his face damaged. Maybe Bumblebee was just really ugly by Transformer standards.]]
Making the new stories align with the U.S. book occasionally involved some bending over backwards in storytelling terms. [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], for example, winds up with partial amnesia at the end of [[Resurrection!|one story]], explaining why he doesn't remember the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] when he encounters them again in a [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|later U.S. story]]. U.S. reprints were sometimes physically edited as well; for example, a UK story has [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] being transported to [[Limbo]] after the events of U.S. #23, necessitating the removal of his occasional background appearances thereafter.

Another major change was the exclusion of the ''[[G.I. Joe and the Transformers]]'' crossover, which featured [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee's]] destruction and subsequent restoration as Goldbug. UK continuity accounted for the reformatting by showing Bumblebee destroyed by [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]] and rebuilt by [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] during "[[Hunters]]". Also, the UK comic continued to feature Megatron and Shockwave after their apparent deaths in the U.S. comic. While Megatron's appearance was eventually [[Two Megatrons!|reconciled]] (sort of, if you squint) with the U.S. continuity, Shockwave's was not.   

The "[[Perchance to Dream]]" story in UK #255-260 began the [[Earthforce]] storyline and heralded a nigh-irreconcilable division between U.S. and UK stories. This was in part a deliberate decision to not try to maintain continuity due to past problems,<ref name="furint1">[http://transfans.co.uk/interviews_furman.php TransFans.co.uk - Interviews: Simon Furman - Part 1 'The Past'].<br />'''Question''' Why do you feel continuity suffered more instead of less, between Marvel UK and US when you took over the US book?<br />"The problem was, we were badly out of synch with the US material reprints by the time I was also writing the US comic. I was trying my hardest to craft semi-crossover stories (like the [[Deathbringer (issue)|Deathbringer two-parter]] with [[Dark Creation|US #65]]) and then the UK comic would run a batch of old UK reprint material and completely throw it out. I realised I was making matters worse (and more confusing) and not better, and pretty much stopped trying to directly tie the two together. </ref><ref name="furint2">[http://transfans.co.uk/interviews_furman.php]; "...because (if I’m brutally honest) I didn't try too hard to make it work in the first place. By that point, I was just trying to tell a bunch of fun UK stories that didn’t necessarily impact on the larger (US) storyline. How was I to know 15 or so years later people would be trying to reconcile it all?"</ref>

===Publication and format===
The Marvel UK book was published fortnightly from #1 to #26, weekly from #27 to #308, and fortnightly again from #309 to its conclusion in #332. These issues used a larger, magazine-sized format, compared to the traditional size for modern U.S. comic books.  They contained 23 pages, numbered inclusive of advertising (unlike the U.S. comic). The color and paper quality was better than that of the U.S. comic, resulting in much whiter whites and, in UK-exclusive stories, no ugly dot artifacts in the colored regions.

Typically, 11 pages would be devoted to a U.S. or UK Transformers story, while the remaining pages were divided between a [[Back-up strips|back-up strip]], a letters page, small humorous comic strips (most notably ''[[Robo-Capers]]'' and ''[[Combat Colin]]''), and advertisements. Between issues #213 and #289 the format was changed to accommodate three five-page strips: the US reprint (published in colour), a new UK story (published in black and white) and a back-up strip. Issue #289 was the last to contain new UK Transformers stories.

In issue #290 there was another format change, with the comic returning to full colour throughout and reprints of classic UK stories taking the place of new black and white material. The three-strip structure was then dropped for good with issue #309, which returned to the traditional format of an 11-page US reprint and a back-up strip, albeit published fortnightly once more.

UK children's comics typically have a weekly or fortnightly publication schedule, and monthly publication is the preserve of more substantial magazines aimed at older readers. The decision to publish fortnightly necessitated the division of the U.S. storylines between two or more UK comics, otherwise the UK comic would run out of material. The back-up strip then bulked out the issue to an acceptable size. When the comic began to be published weekly, this required still more Transformers material, which led to longer runs of original UK stories.

The Marvel UK series ran for about a year longer than its American counterpart and altogether had about twice as many stories.

===Cover dates===
Similarly to the U.S. comic, there is also some confusion over when issues of the UK comic were published. The date on a British weekly during ''Transformers'''s run was normally the ''off''-sale date when it would be replaced by the next issue. For example [[Manoeuvres!|issue #283]] has a cover date of 18th August 1990 but was released on the 11th August 1990. During at least most of the run, the norm was for weekly comics to come out on a Saturday.

Occasionally, an issue was seen arriving on the Friday before it was "due", with such sightings usually during the Christmas/New Year period when distribution can be unsettled and overcompensated for, but it is hard to verify individual sightings.

===Marvel UK Annuals===
'''Marvel UK Annuals''' were published every year, in summer to autumn in time for the Christmas market, for the life of the comic. Each annual was made up of a combination of a comic strip, text stories and editorial content. Some annuals also contained crossover stories with the main weekly comic in an attempt to boost sales. Due to falling sales, later annuals mainly contained reprinted stories from the comic. (Reprinted stories are not listed below.)  These reprints are still of interest, as they present formerly black-and-white works in full colour.

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1986|Marvel UK Annual 1986]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[Hunted!]] | [[Missing in Action]] | [[Plague of the Insecticons!]] | [[And There Shall Come...a Leader!]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1987|Marvel UK Annual 1987]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[In the Beginning...]] | [[The Return of the Transformers]] | [[State Games]] | [[The Mission]] | [[To a Power Unknown!]] |[[Victory!]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1988|Marvel UK Annual 1988]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[Ark Duty]] | [[Doomsday for Nebulos]] | [[Stylor's Story]] | [[The Final Conflict]] |[[Vicious Circle!]] | [[What's in a Name?]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1989|Marvel UK Annual 1989]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[All in the Minds!]] | [[Altered Image!]] | [[Peace]] | [[Prime Bomb!]] | [[The Saga of the Transformers — So Far!]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1990|Marvel UK Annual 1990]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[The Chain Gang!]] | [[Destiny of the Dinobots!]] | [[Dreadwing Down!]] | [[The Quest!]] |[[Trigger-Happy!]] 
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1991|Marvel UK Annual 1991]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[The Magnificent Six!]]
|}

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align=center id=toc
 !align=center bgcolor=#6699CC|'''<font color="white">[[Transformers Annual 1992|Marvel UK Annual 1992]]</font>'''
|- align="center"
 || [[Another Time and Place]] 
|}

==Notes==
[[Image:TransformersGoesMonthly.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Gor strewth kippers chips milk float!]]
* The inside cover infobox in Marvel UK #330 revealed that there were plans for the UK ''Transformers'' comic to continue after #332, albeit with a format change. The book was intended to have become a monthly with issue #333, and would have featured ten pages of recolored Transformers reprints, ten pages of ''[[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]'', and a new five-page story per issue. However, by the publication of issue #332, Marvel UK evidently dropped this plan—although the news did not reach ''[[Combat Colin]]'' in time.
* According to the third issue of ''All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z'''s entries on [[Death's Head (G1)|Death's Head]], the events of the Marvel UK Generation 1 comics take place on Marvel [[Earth-120185]].  The universe is named after the publication date of the first Marvel UK-exclusive story, "[[Man of Iron (story)|Man of Iron]]".
* According to the [http://www.marvunapp.com/master/earthteaz.htm Marvel Universe Appendix], the events of the Marvel US comics take place on Marvel [[Earth-91274]].

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.oneshallstand.com/articles/overview.html Guide to TF UK by Crespo99]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/net.comics/browse_thread/thread/4eeba9a9b0fe0817/1cdaf7df610e0376 May, 1984 net.comics review]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transformers (Marvel Comics), The}}
[[Category:Comics]]
[[Category:Continuities]]
[[Category:Generation 1]]