Back-up strips: Difference between revisions
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====Spider-Man==== | ====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]] | 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 an in-house four page insert on "stranger danger" in issue [[Kup's Story!|132]]. Another Spider-Man story was reprinted from issue [[Fire on High!|119]] through issue [[Ancient Relics!|125]]; however it was rebranded as [[#Iron Man|The Iron Man of 2020]] after the more prominent guest star. | |||
====Spitfire and the Troubleshooters==== | ====Spitfire and the Troubleshooters==== | ||
Revision as of 14:49, 31 January 2015
You are the editor of Marvel UK's brand new Transformers comic. You need to run the US 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 In House 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
Chromobots
An in-house strip created by Mychailo "Mike" Kazybrid.
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 a cat. Based on Kazybrid's characters in newspaper strips for the Bradford Telegraph & Argus and The Manchester Evening News.
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
Ran from issue 99 through to issue 102, then as a special preview in issue 122. It became a permanent fixture from issue 153 through to issue 181. It ran again from issue 191 through to 212. It reappeared as the back-up once again from issues 220 through to 305, albeit rebranded as G.I. Joe - The Action Force from issue 249 until 305.
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/G.I. Joe the Action Force until the strip ended.
Hercules
Hercules is a Demi-God. He is the son of Zeus and a mortal women, 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 - #85 | "Whom the God Would Destroy!" | Hercules Vol 1 3 |
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.
| Issues | Story | Iron Man at Marvel Database |
| #43 - #46 | Iron Man "Night of the Octopus" | Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 22 |
| #47 - #50 | Iron Man "From the Ashes" | Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 23 |
| #119 - #125 | The Iron Man of 2020 "Man of the Year" | Amazing Spider-Man Annual Vol 1 20 |
| #126 - #129 | Iron Man "Deep Trouble!" | Iron Man Vol 1 218 |
| #146 - #152 | Iron Man "Stratosfire " | Iron Man Annual Vol 1 9 |
Machine Man
Machine Man aka 2ZP45-9-X-51, was a robot built from a durable titanium alloy, trying to live as a human and carry on the dream of his creator, Dr. Able Stack.
The reprints from Machine Man vol 2 are set in the year 2020 and also featured Iron Man of 2020.
Probably for good reasons, there was no reprint of Machine Man Vol 1 16 - "Baron Brimstone and His Sinister Satan Squad"
| Issues | Story | Machine Man at Marvel Database |
| #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 - #14 | "Kill Me or Cure Me"" | Machine Man Vol 1 15 |
| #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 |
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 Wikipedia |
| #51 - #54 | "A World In Chaos" | Wikipedia:Robotix |
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 |
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 an in-house four page insert on "stranger danger" in issue 132. Another Spider-Man story was reprinted from issue 119 through issue 125; however it was rebranded as The Iron Man of 2020 after the more prominent guest star.
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 that was cancelled it merged into Transformers (changing the name to Transformers and Visionaries) and the 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 4 |
| #187 - #190 | "Quest of the Four Talismans Part 2" | Visionaries Vol 1 5 |
| #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).
