Good Transformers Comics?
- Thread starter Tomato
- Start date
Do you mean to buy? Or to discuss?
I loved the UK comics of the 80s and still have around 200 issues (out of 330 iirc) at my parents house. Might be worth something someday.
I loved the UK comics of the 80s and still have around 200 issues (out of 330 iirc) at my parents house. Might be worth something someday.
there worth something TODAY!
i'd recommend Titan's trades of the Marvel UK stuff; Target 2006, Legacy of Unicron, Space Pirates, Time Wars, Aspects of Evil and Dinobot Hunt for some.
i'd recommend Titan's trades of the Marvel UK stuff; Target 2006, Legacy of Unicron, Space Pirates, Time Wars, Aspects of Evil and Dinobot Hunt for some.
Norrin Radd
Vice Admiral
I'm old school when it comes to Transformers comics. A lot of the old Marvel comics sucked due a lot to toy company interference.
Out of the following list, I recommend the first 25 issues (mostly Budiansky's stuff).
http://www.seibertron.com/comics/list.php?series_id=1
I thought issues 1-12, 17-18, and 24-25 were especially great.
The Simon Furman issues are supposed to be good, but I haven't read many of them. I did read Transformers Generations 2. That wasn't bad.
Out of the following list, I recommend the first 25 issues (mostly Budiansky's stuff).
http://www.seibertron.com/comics/list.php?series_id=1
I thought issues 1-12, 17-18, and 24-25 were especially great.
The Simon Furman issues are supposed to be good, but I haven't read many of them. I did read Transformers Generations 2. That wasn't bad.
Furman is the daddy when it comes to Transformers stories. He wrote most of the UK run, then finished up the US run when Budiansky gave up. I'm more of a fan of Furman than of Bob, but the whole saga is worth reading (apart from a few exceptions, but what series doesn't have its duds?)
Furman has been writing Transformers ever since, and is heavily involved in IDW's current Transformers line. His preference is definitely the more "space opera" side of things and his stories tend to branch out into the universe more than Bob's, G2 is a very good example of this.
I'd avoid the Dreamwave books from a few years ago, because although they were mostly pretty good, the company folded and left a ton of hanging plot threads. Although if you can get hold of Furman's "War Within" for that company its a very good prequel story, which I believe IDW has either reprinted or is reprinting soon.
IDW's currently running effort has been very good. The several linked stories that ran in the main book, "Infiltration, Stormbringer, Escalation, Devastation and Revelation" are all either excellent or worth reading. They (in that order), along with various "Spotlights" (single issues focussing on single characters) tell an intricate story from the coming of the Transformers to Earth through to an exciting space-based climax. Unfortunately Revelation was rather squashed, as the Transformers book has been rather shoehorned into a more Earth-based direction, for reasons I don't really understand, with the current story "All Hail Megatron" - the fans are pissed. Its a shame, I had thought the IDW story might challenge Marvel's crown as the best telling of The Transformers, but currently it seems to have thrown that away a bit.
(I wouldn't bother reading Megatron: Origins, if that's what you meant in your opening post, its not very good, has muddy artwork and might not even be *gasp* canon, for much longer)
Anyway, that's not especially relevant to your question. I agree with the other posters, Marvel is the best place to start, the Titan trades are the best if you can get hold of them, but they are out of print now. IDW are also reprinting some of the best Marvel stories, so although I'm not as keen on their presentation, they are available to read.
If you know the basic story, I'd skip the opening mini-series, its pretty clunky and might sour your impressions of the later stories. Pretty much anything after that is worth reading though, US or UK.
For more modern books, just start with "Infiltration" and keep going, remembering to pick up the "Spotlight" collections as well. Don't be too pessimistic about where I've said it goes downhill, there's a ton of great stuff before that happens, and they might still rescue it.
Yeah they spent three years setting up a universe spanning story written by a fan favourite writer then truncated the pay off into four issues, while starting a 12 issue maxi series, that appears increasingly to be a backdoor reboot by some guy who a)has never written transformers before and b) HASN'T EVEN CONSULTED with the guy (Simon Furman) who wrote most of the previous three years of stories.
Whats even more infuriating is the response from the IDW management to any critiscms, I occaisionally lurk over at their boards and it is UGLY.
All in all the current direction the series is taking is baffling
What's wrong with Dreamwave comics?
I'm reading GiJoe VS Transformers right now, it looks fantastic. And the Spotlight series' are very cool, even though quite non linear.
There was a great alternate timeline called "Evolutions: Hearts of Steel" about a group of select Transformers awakened from the Ark during the Industrial revolution which was very badass. High recommends.
OptimusPete, can you provide a link to those IDW forums of which you speak??
I'm reading GiJoe VS Transformers right now, it looks fantastic. And the Spotlight series' are very cool, even though quite non linear.
There was a great alternate timeline called "Evolutions: Hearts of Steel" about a group of select Transformers awakened from the Ark during the Industrial revolution which was very badass. High recommends.
OptimusPete, can you provide a link to those IDW forums of which you speak??
I thought Evolutions: Heart of Steel had a fantastic concept -- steampunk Transformers! -- but IDW sabotaged that book by having multiple artists, whose work looked nothing alike. What could have been great, thanks to IDW's mismanagement, became merely adequate at best.
What's wrong with Dreamwave comics?
I'm reading GiJoe VS Transformers right now, it looks fantastic. And the Spotlight series' are very cool, even though quite non linear.
There was a great alternate timeline called "Evolutions: Hearts of Steel" about a group of select Transformers awakened from the Ark during the Industrial revolution which was very badass. High recommends.
OptimusPete, can you provide a link to those IDW forums of which you speak??
idwpulishing.com then follow the link to the forums.
L
Lord Garth
Guest
Marvel
Transformers #56-80
Generation 2
UK Transformers
IDW
Infiltration, Escalation, and Devestation (they follow sequentially)
Stormbringer
Spotlight (any of them)
Those are the best. IDW's Revalations is too rushed (due to external factors). I don't really care about All Hail Megatron.
Transformers #56-80
Generation 2
UK Transformers
IDW
Infiltration, Escalation, and Devestation (they follow sequentially)
Stormbringer
Spotlight (any of them)
Those are the best. IDW's Revalations is too rushed (due to external factors). I don't really care about All Hail Megatron.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Dreamwave had some of the best Transformer comics I've read in a while. Too bad they kind of rushed the ending but all in all, some of the best stories.
War Within is a very, very strong story.
War Within is a very, very strong story.
I recently got the trade collections of the first 4 parts of the IDW saga (Infiltration through Devastation). Isn't Stormbringer connected partially to the other three? It's V2 in that set. Also, does anyone know if there will be a similar collection for the Revelation saga? I don't have any of the Spotlight collections at present.
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I'll agree with most of the above suggestions.
While I know you are resistant to DW's stuff, I really do believe the "War Within" series (especially the first) is worth a read. The art is gorgeous and it gives a rare look at the war before Earth ever became a factor.
While I know you are resistant to DW's stuff, I really do believe the "War Within" series (especially the first) is worth a read. The art is gorgeous and it gives a rare look at the war before Earth ever became a factor.
Yeah Stormbringer is totally connected. It isn't about the war on Earth, but it is an important part of the saga, especially when "Revelations" is on the table. The Spotlight collections maybe aren't entirely necessary, but they range from interesting character studies to integral parts of the plot that happen to focus on one character. Furman's story was actually integrated very effectively across the whole universe. It's a shame that the more cosmic part of his story was truncated, but at least the Earth-based stuff is still going on in the current series: MAXIMUM DINOBOTS (that is a title I can't get enough of saying).
One of the issues: "Spotlight: Arcee" is broadly about that. It's probably the issue I dislike the most.
I had been getting everything IDW was putting out, until "All Hail Megatron" started up. I picked up the first couple of issues, but I've given up on it. It is such a vast departure from the great stuff Simon Furman was pumping out. I will still pick up the "Maximum Dinobots" story Simon is writing. But i'm just not impressed with Shane McCarthy at all.
