The Transformers (Marvel comic)

The heroic Autobots fight to crush Earth's highways.

The Transformers was a monthly comic book published by Marvel Comics, and was the very first original fiction to feature the Transformers, as well as the longest-running. The series ran from the fall of 1984 until spring of 1991, and established the Marvel Comics continuity.

The Transformers started life as a four-issue, bimonthly limited series, but proved so popular that it continued publication as an ongoing monthly. The series ultimately reached 80 issues and spun off several miniseries.

Nearly all of the US stories were later published by Marvel UK, along with new stories that fit between the gaps of the US tales. See Marvel UK below.

Marvel US

Related mini-series

• G.I. Joe and the Transformers
• Headmasters
• Transformers Universe

Overview

Transformers was the very first fiction to feature the titular robots in disguise, and as such was breaking completely new ground. Its 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 Creation Matrix is a good example of the former group; "naturally occurring gears and levers" comes to mind for the latter.

The story begins with a brief history of Cybertron's civil war, which eventually causes the planet to become lost in space. Battling aboard the 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 fuel become their initial goal, driving the first several issues.

The book soon built its own elaborate and wide-reaching universe, including hundreds of characters—Transformers, humans, aliens—on Earth, Cybertron, and beyond. Several subsequent series would build upon its stories (see Marvel Comics continuity for more.)

Because it was a book intended to sell toys, it featured an ever-rotating cast. New Transformers were often hastily brought in to meet the demands of Hasbro, and older "product" were often swept aside, or killed off in climactic epic battles.

Creative Team

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 canceled at issue #80.

A number of artists worked on Transformers, but the most frequent pencilers include Frank Springer, Don Perlin, Jose Delbo, Geoff Senior, and Andrew Wildman. Also of particular note is colorist Nel Yomtov, who colored every single issue of the book, as well as all of the related mini-series.

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.

Overview

Though not without contradiction, the Marvel UK book managed to weave a number of highly complex stories "behind the scenes" of the Marvel US tales. Topics included expanded stories and battles in the early days of the war (before Shockwave's arrival), more intrigue among the Decepticon commanders on Earth, the Autobot resistance on Cybertron, and the time-traveling exploits of 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 US book, Marvel UK featured a regular column of letters from readers; however, these were supposedly answered by various Transformers, including Grimlock, Dreadwind, and others. See Letters page (Marvel UK).

Creative team

Most UK-specific stories were written by Simon Furman, who was later assigned to write for the US comic as well. Curiously, it was from this point that the divergences between the UK and US 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 through 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

Making the new stories align with the US book occasionally involved some bending over backwards in storytelling terms. Megatron, for example, winds up with amnesia at the end of one story, explaining why he doesn't remember the Predacons when he encounters them again in a later US story. US reprints were sometimes physically edited as well; for example, a UK story has Skids being transported to Limbo after the events of US #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's destruction and subsequent restoration as Goldbug. UK continuity accounted for the reformatting by showing Bumblebee destroyed by Death's Head and rebuilt by Wreck-Gar during Target: 2006. Also, the UK comic continued to feature Megatron and Shockwave after their apparent deaths in the US comic. While Megatron's appearance was eventually reconciled with the US 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 US and UK stories.

Publication and format

The Marvel UK book was published fortnightly from #1 to #26, and weekly from #27 onwards. These issues used a larger, magazine-sized format, compared to the traditional size for modern US comic books. They contained 23 pages, numbered inclusive of advertising (unlike the US comic).

Typically, 11 pages would be devoted to a US or UK Transformers story, while the remaining pages were divided between a back-up strip, a letters page, small humorous comic strips (most notably Robo-Capers and Combat Colin), and advertisements. From issue 213 onwards, the central section of the comic was printed in black and white, and contained a shorter UK story. The US strip remained in color but was divided between four issues. This was the format for the majority of the issues published between #215 and #289. Issue #289 was the last to contain new UK Transformers stories.

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 US storylines between two or more UK comics, since 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.

Marvel UK Annuals

Marvel UK Annuals were published every year just before Christmas for the life of the comic. Each annual was made up of a combination of 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.

Marvel UK Annual 1990
The Magnificent Six!

Marvel UK Annual 1991
Another Time and Place

Trivia

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 supposed to have become a monthly with issue #333, and would have featured ten pages of recolored Transformers reprints, ten pages of 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, 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!".
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.