Back-up strips: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
m fixed grammar |
||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
Bitten by a radioactive spider, geeky high school student Peter Parker acquires the proportionate strength and agility of a spider, becoming The Amazing [[Spider-Man]] | Bitten by a radioactive spider, geeky high school student Peter Parker acquires the proportionate strength and agility of a spider, becoming The Amazing [[Spider-Man]] | ||
Appeared as | Appeared as a four page insert on "stranger danger" in issue [[Kup's Story!|132]]. | ||
====''Robo-Capers''==== | ====''Robo-Capers''==== | ||
Revision as of 15:57, 29 February 2024
You are the editor of Marvel UK's brand new Transformers comic. You need to run the U.S. issues in smaller chunks, in order to keep a fortnightly (later weekly) frequency without running out of stuff. But... what are you going to run in the rest of the comic? Features alone won't grab the kiddies! You need more strip! You need...
Back-up strips!
Marvel UK back-up strips
A great way of padding out the comic while not taking the mick, back-up strips ran throughout the entire Marvel UK run. These would almost always be reprints of other Marvel titles.
| “ | ...anything, in truth, that featured a robot or someone in an iron suit | ” |
—Editorial in Titan Books "The Legacy of Unicron" trade | ||
In-house strips
The Chromobots
A light-hearted action strip by Matt and the Cat's Mychailo "Mike" Kazybrid, The Chromobots ran from issue 12 to issue 26. It told the story of Dudley, a young comic book reader just like you whose dreams of adventuring like his heroes came unexpectedly true when he fell in with a trio of alien Chromobots who were pursuing a criminal that had escaped from their homeworld.
Combat Colin
Ran from issue 153 all the way through to issue 332
A humor strip by Lew Stringer; for more information, see the Combat Colin article.
Matt and the Cat
An in-house humor topic created by Mychailo "Mike" Kazybrid, featuring a man named Matt and a cat. Based on Kazybrid's characters in newspaper strips for the Bradford Telegraph & Argus and The Manchester Evening News.
Spider-Man
Bitten by a radioactive spider, geeky high school student Peter Parker acquires the proportionate strength and agility of a spider, becoming The Amazing Spider-Man
Appeared as a four page insert on "stranger danger" in issue 132.
Robo-Capers
Ran from issue 15 to issue 152
A humor strip by Lew Stringer; for more information, see the Robo-Capers article.
Reprints
Action Force
Action Force was the European equivalent of G.I. Joe. Initially, there was a separate Action Force comic but it was cancelled after fifty issues. As was standard in UK comics, it was merged with the more successful Transformers and the title was changed to Transformers and Action Force when Action Force strips were run. From 249 it was rebranded as G.I. Joe - The Action Force and the comic was rebranded as Transformers and G.I. Joe - The Action Force.
Treated as main stories (no backup strips), the Ancient Relics! UK cross over story ran in #125 continuing in Action Force #24–27 and the U.S. cross over series G.I. Joe and the Transformers ran in issues #265 to #281
Hercules
Hercules is a Demi-God. He is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, and eventually a member of the pantheon of Olympus.
| Issues | Story | Hercules at Marvel Database |
| #70 - #73 | "What Fools These Immortals Be!" | Hercules Vol 1 1 |
| #74 - #77 | "For the Love of Gods" | Hercules Vol 1 2 |
| #78 - #81 | "Whom the God Would Destroy!" | Hercules Vol 1 3 |
| #82 - #85 | "...Not Just Another Galactus Story!" | Hercules Vol 1 4 |
Inhumanoids
Another Hasbro property with an obligatory Marvel Comics series, in this case just four issues reprinted in chunks in the UK. The Inhumanoids were a group of subterranean monsters who were sealed beneath the Earth until accidentally released by humans, and were opposed by the Earth Corps and a race of good mutants known as the Mutores. The series was cancelled after only four issues, ending on a cliffhanger.
| Issues | Story | Inhumanoids at Marvel Database |
| #103 - #106 | "The Coming of the Inhumanoids, Part 1" | Inhumanoids Vol 1 1 |
| #107 - #110 | "I Left My Monsters in San Francisco" | Inhumanoids Vol 1 2 |
| #111 - #114 | "The Battle Down Below!" | Inhumanoids Vol 1 3 |
| #115 - #118 | "Metlar Unleashed!" | Inhumanoids Vol 1 4 |
Iron Man
Tony Stark is an industrialist playboy who fights crime in a powered suit as Iron Man.
"Man of the Year" was a Spider-Man story set in 2020; however it was rebranded as The Iron Man of 2020 after the more prominent guest star.
| Issues | Story | Iron Man at Marvel Database |
| #43 - #46 | "Night of the Octopus" | Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 22 |
| #47 - #50 | "From the Ashes" | Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 23 |
| #119 - #125 | "Man of the Year" | Amazing Spider-Man Annual Vol 1 20 |
| #126 - #129 | "Deep Trouble!" | Iron Man Vol 1 218 |
| #146 - #152 | "Stratosfire" | Iron Man Annual Vol 1 9 |
Machine Man
X-51 was born on an assembly line but raised like a son as an experiment by Dr Abel Stack. Forced to leave his father's care early, Aaron Stack now seeks to live among Johnny Average while contending with anti-robot persecution as his superhero alter ego, Machine Man.
The reprints from Machine Man vol 2 are set in the year 2020 and also featured Iron Man of 2020. The impact of this seemingly innocent reprint was huge for Marvel UK: first seeing the Spider-Man appearance of Iron Man 2020 put in, then getting Death's Head moved to 2020 in his solo strip for a third Iron Man appearance, which led to the '90s Marvel UK using the 2020 storyline as a recurring setting for comic after comic!
| Issues | Story | Machine Man at Marvel Database |
| #1 | "Introducing Machine Man" | 3 select pages from Machine Man Vol 1 10, recounting the character's origin and powers to introduce him to readers. |
| #1 - #3 | "Byte of the Binary Bug" | Machine Man Vol 1 11 |
| #4 - #5 | "Where Walks the Gods" | Machine Man Vol 1 12 |
| #6 - #7 | "Xanadu" | Machine Man Vol 1 13 |
| #8 - #9 | "The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls" | Machine Man Vol 1 14 |
| #10 - #11 | "Kill Me or Cure Me"" | Machine Man Vol 1 15 |
| #12 - #14 | "Baron Brimstone and His Sinister Satan Squad"" | Machine Man Vol 1 16 |
| #15 - #17 | "Arms and the Robot" | Machine Man Vol 1 17 |
| #18 - #21 | "Alone Against Alpha Flight" | Machine Man Vol 1 18 |
| #22 - #25 | "Jolted By Jack O'Lantern!" | Machine Man Vol 1 19 |
| #27 - #29 and #309 - #312 | "He Lives Again!" | Machine Man Vol 2 1 |
| #31 - #34 and #318 - #321 | "If This Be Sanctuary?!" | Machine Man Vol 2 2 |
| #35 - #38 and #322 - #325 | "Rime of the Ancient Wrecker!" | Machine Man Vol 2 3 |
| #39 - #42 and #326 - #329 | "Victory" | Machine Man Vol 2 4 |
Planet Terry
Often regarded as the worst of the UK back-up strips, Planet Terry was pitched at younger readers and starred the eponymous Terry, who is searching for his parents after being accidentally jettisoned off their ship.
| Issues | Story | Planet Terry at Marvel Database |
| #16 - #19 | "The Search" | Planet Terry Vol 1 1 |
| #20 - #25 | "The Saga of Princess Ugly" | Planet Terry Vol 1 2 and 3 |
Robotix
Robotix was a Hasbro toyline about two warring robotic races which had a tie in cartoon by Sunbow Productions and a single comic issue by Marvel Comics. As this is a completely ludicrous idea that could never catch on, it was short-lived.
| Issues | Story | Robotix at Marvel Database |
| #51 - #54 | "A World In Chaos" | Robotix Vol 1 1 |
Rocket Raccoon
Ranger Rocket Raccoon is a genetically-engineered raccoon who is a law enforcement officer on Halfworld.
| Issues | Story | Rocket Raccoon at Marvel Database |
| #55 - #57 | "Animal Crackers" | Rocket Raccoon Vol 1 1 |
| #58 - #61 | "The Masque of the Red Breath" | Rocket Raccoon Vol 1 2 |
| #62 - #65 | "The Book of Revelations!" | Rocket Raccoon Vol 1 3 |
| #66 - #69 | "The Age of Enlightenment" | Rocket Raccoon Vol 1 4 |
Spitfire and the Troubleshooters!
One of Marvel Comics' New Universe titles. Professor Jenny Swenson dons the Man-Assisted eXperimental armor, she takes the codename Spitfire and a group of her college students did the same, becoming The Troubleshooters. They fought crime.
| Issues | Story | Spitfire and the Troubleshooters at Marvel Database |
| #86 - #90 | "Beginnings" | Spitfire and the Troubleshooters Vol 1 1 |
| #91 - #94 | "Behemoth" | Spitfire and the Troubleshooters Vol 1 2 |
| #95 - #98 | "Counterattack" | Spitfire and the Troubleshooters Vol 1 3 |
Visionaries
Set on the planet Prysmos, Visionaries depicted the struggle between the heroic Spectral Knights and the villainous Darkling Lords at the dawn of a quasi-feudal age of magic.
Visionaries was another Hasbro property, with a colorful hologram gimmick used on the figures chests and weaponry. A preview copy in #158 printed the first two and a half pages of the first story. When the comic was cancelled it merged into Transformers (changing the name to Transformers and Visionaries) and printed the remainder of the stories. Later Transformers reprinted the first issue in full.
| Issues | Story | Visionaries at Marvel Database |
| #183 - #186 | "Quest of the Four Talismans Part 1" | Visionaries Vol 1 5 |
| #187 - #190 | "Wings: Quest of the Four Talismans Part 2" | Visionaries Vol 1 6 |
| #213 - #219 | "The End -- -- The Beginning!" | Visionaries Vol 1 1 |
Other Series
Panini's Armada and Titan's movie series comic have both used the same tactic, Panini with original Transformer strips, and Titan with IDW reprints and unused Transformers Animated strips (and one new one).
