Combat Colin

The name or term "Colin" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Colin (disambiguation).

Colin's hopes were prematurely raised like so many fans...

Combat Colin was a comic strip drawn by Lew Stringer and originally published in the Marvel UK Action Force comic (starting in issue #5) but transferring to the Marvel UK Transformers comic when the former title merged into it from issue #153. The strip replaced the Robo-Capers strip, although the two strips would have a special crossover in issue #200.

In Transformers the strip was initially a half-page in colour, with the occasional full page special, but transformed into a full page black and white strip from issue #224, with the occasional colour strip. From issue #300 the strip was in full colour. For the final two issues of the comic the strip was given two pages.

Although Combat Colin began life as an Action Force inspired strip he proved highly popular in Transformers and remained in the comic even when Action Force (later G.I. Joe the Action Force) left the comic on three occasions (between issue #183 & issue #190, issue #213 & issue #219 and permanently from issue #306).

Combat Colin told of the adventures of Colin Doobrey-Smiff, a bumbling would-be war hero living in British suburbia. Together with his sidekick Semi-Automatic Steve he had many adventures. The strip quite often breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging the readers and the wider comic.

"You might have your own comic strip, but it's only a back-up in a toy robot comic, isn't it?!"

"Ouch! That hurt!"Megabrain and Combat Colin face off, "Return to Mars!", issue 276

Combat Colin/Transformers connections

As a British gag strip, Combat Colin had a very flimsy fourth wall with frequent acknowledgement of the readership. It took place in a world where Transformers is as a comic book, but also where actual Transformers exist; strips about the former we're documenting here, while strips about the latter get their own dedicated pages.

During their debut strip in The Transformers, Combat Colin pre-empted the mind-boggling action of a rampaging robot to introduce himself and Semi-Automatic Steve to their new readers. A nonplussed Steve had to tell him that they only take up half a page in Transformers, leading Colin to sheepishly tell the readers that the mind-boggling action would have to wait until the next issue.

Colin and Steve stopped the machinations of the evil genius Professor Madprof, who had used his time machine to mix up Spring and Winter and produce unseasonable weather. According to Col, however, Madprof's worse crime was mixing up the instalments of the Classic Covers Calendar.

Colin's home of Wallytown had an avid Transformers readership: one wall was graffitied with "TRANSFORMERS IS TOPS!", a poster on another simply read "TRANSFORMERS IS TRIFF!", and a sign on the road to the Posh Doughnut caravan advised viewers to reserve a copy of Transformers every fortnight. The official membership card for the Combat Colin Fan Club was valid to prove that members read Colin's brill adventures in the Transformers comic every week.

When the Giggly Sisters took over the strip for a week and turned it into "The Giggly Sisters' Nice Page", Joanne Giggly's advice column received a letter from Mick Einstein, age 47, who asked whether the conflicting storylines between the Transformers comic and TV series was the result of alternative universes or doppelgangers. Joanne replied that she didn't know, as she'd watch Cookery Corner on the other channel instead.

Colin and Steve were looking forward to the party to celebrate both Christmas and the 250th issue of Transformers, but when they arrived, a sign on the door told them the party was for Transformers only and that humans weren't invited – "In other words: clear off, you two!" They instead held their own party in the Combat Shed and invited many heroes and villains from other Marvel comics. Christmas with Combat Colin

On a trip to Mars, Semi-Automatic Steve and the Giggly Sisters extolled the virtues of being a regular reader of the comic, as they would know that the voyage followed on from their previous adventure. The narrative then stopped to say "hard cheese!" to casual readers, as they should have a regular order for Transformers.

On Mars, Colin was confronted by his old enemy, Megabrain, and the two fought using the ancient custom of insults to the death. Telling Col he was only good enough to have a back-up strip in a toy robot comic allowed Megabrain to gain the upper hand. Reminding Colin of his fictionality would prove to be Megabrain's undoing; Colin used the startling sight of tens of thousands of loyal Transformers readers beyond the fourth wall to distract Megabrain long enough for Col to blast him out of the comic's panel borders.

Later, Colin and Steve decided to take the day off to celebrate the 300th issue of Transformers, when almost all of his villains launched a joint attack. After defeating them with a single blast from a boxing-glove gun, Colin was so elated, he suggested he might boot out the Transformers and take over the whole comic. Suddenly, Blaster appeared and picked up Colin to ask him, "Boot out WHO and take over WHAT?" Colin decided it would be best to stick to his own page after all. Combat Colin issue 300

At the outset of a new adventure, Steve consulted his copy of Transformers, and was thankful that the increased page count meant that the Combat Colin strip could run that week.

Megabrain's final gambit was to try and convince Colin that he and Steve had been stuck in a dream world for the previous two-and-a-half years in order to drive them doo-lally. Colin discovered the truth when he deduced the date from that morning's copy of the Solihull News, which ran with the front page headline that Transformers was going monthly. (Oops.)

Notes

One of Marvel UK's most fondly remembered action strips and also Action Force.

• Originally, Lew Stringer proposed to call the character and strip "Dimbo", but Action Force editor (and oftentime Transformers letterer) Richard Starkings suggested "Combat Colin", a name that would not date so quickly. Steve White came up with the new name and ended up as the inspiration for Semi-Automatic Steve, that name from Starkings.
• During his Action Force days, Colin got a Joe-style profile which claimed he'd applied for Action Force. "They refused. He applied again. They refused. He applied again. They nuked his bedroom. He got the message."
• As well as occasionally appearing in the world of the Transformers, Colin had some adventures involving other characters from the mainstream Marvel Universe. Spider-Man makes cameos in a number of strips, whilst Doctor Doom appeared in one two-part story. Another story saw an encounter with the Gwanzulum, a race of shapshifters who appeared in a number of different Marvel UK titles in 1988.
• After The Transformers ended, Marvel UK returned all rights to Colin to Lew Stringer. This has allowed him to sporadically return and for Stringer to reprint his work.
• The strip ended with Colin and Steve apparently killed by a nuclear bomb, but a sequel "The Return of Combat Colin" revealed that they had been sent back in time to Blackpool in the year 1967. A further sequel, "Combat Colin in the 21st Century" saw them turn a candy floss spinner into a time machine and they ended up at the Transforce convention in the year 2000, where they witnessed their enemy Doctor Nasty use a heat ray to meld a fan to his Optimus Prime toy forever.

External links

• Combat Colin at Wikipedia
• Blimey! It's another blog about comics! By Lew Stringer