Nutting (and bolting) it out
It's early days, of course, but we may already have a candidate for the best purchase of 2012: Transformers Classics UK volume one. A long time has passed since a comic last brought me such sheer joy. There's been moments of glee (even squee) in the DCnU, but nothing can top the heady mix of nostalgia, rich character development, world-building and daft madness that characterised the early days of TF. It's quite honestly bliss - especially when compared with more "modern" viewpoints.
Frighteningly, with enjoyment comes side-effects... like the ravenous hunger for more bot-n-con goodness. But where to secure such nourishment? The next volume of Classics UK won't be out until March and Simon Furman's return comes two months after that. A long time between drinks, to be certain. Should I, in the interim, give in to temptation and try the latest re-working of IDW's much-maligned canon, as I have before? Can you go back to the well?
Times like these you need a specialist and so - with the promise of details about the Classics UK trade paperback - I engaged librarian_bot in digital conversation...
----------
librarian_bot
Ah, there is sanity and poetry in the universe after all. I have yet to see a copy (of Classics UK) first-hand but I can imagine how glorious it must be. I'm not sure I can justify it, given that I own most of TFUK in Titan soft cover form already...
I give it a couple of months before I cave.
dragontail
While not wanting to cost you any money, I truly believe you should cave. The Titan reprints (of which I only own "Target: 2006") get the nod size-wise, being proper format-conscious reprints. What puts the IDW releases over the top, however, is the wealth of supplementary materials. These volumes include all the Marvel-produced toy advertisements from the era, the UK-only bio pages, all the text stories from the annuals (heck, all the annual stories!) and (2D) reproductions of the badges, posters and other free gifts. Each individual story, meanwhile, is prefaced by an interview with its creative team, and it's utterly fascinating. Oh, oh: Geoff Senior's original "try-out" piece is reprinted, too. There's such a delicious DVD collector's edition/prestige "the vault" book kind of treatment to it all.
As a result, the flavour of the UK book comes through. How truly unique and special it was, how it made the readers feel like they belonged to the coolest, most exclusive club in the universe. How the staff went out of their way to create more than a "toy book"; how their internal goal was to match, then beat, 2000AD as Britain's best and top-selling boys' comic title. We were a very lucky generation, and these reprints are a reminder of that.
librarian_bot
Seriously though, have they been beaten yet? I'm not sure there's been another series since that has contributed so much to making Transformers more than just a load of robots kicking the ball bearings out of each other. It managed to have all the action you could want but actually took the time to give us interesting characters as well. If only the latest installments in the multiverse followed suit. I've been reading up on Fall of Cybertron and I am afflicted with the despair of one who not only won't get to turn into a T-Rex at will but who finds the only TF comic on the shelves is one in which Optimus Prime sacrifices everything to save the universe from a massive evil horror that Galvatron has unleashed - and it's not Time War!
dragontail
The answer to your question is between the lines of the above, but no: they never have, and never will, be beaten. As good as writers like Roberts can be (more on that in a moment), they seem to only get TFUK on a surface level ("ooh, there was violence, and guns, and angst, and robots died and stuff!") as evidenced by "Last Stand of the Wreckers" and other works. The background material, meanwhile, makes it clear Hasbro UK let Furman et al write what and how they wanted, "interfering" only to the point of ensuring the material matched up thematically and PR-wise with the toy line. You won't see the likes of that any time soon in this world of "intellectual property". The same goes, sadly, for masterpieces like "Kraven's Last Hunt" - there'll never again be a Spider-Man story of that calibre under the stewardship of the Mouse.
So no, the era of exceptionally strong, inventive and downright good TF comics is done. There'll be stand-outs, there'll be fun, there'll be arcs we adore for all sorts of reasons, but those heights shall never again be scaled. I draw comfort from the fact we, unlike so many other fandoms (*cough* He-Man *cough*) actually reached those lofty altitudes, and have them forever saved in original issues/trades for our enjoyment.
Now: Mr Roberts. I'll admit I read The Death of Optimus Prime off the shelf in the comic shop last week and wasn't completely repulsed by it. Seemed a decent effort to move away from the stench of the post-Furman IDWverse back toward something the Old Master would appreciate/do himself. Then consider More than Meets the Eye: a space-faring, high sci-fi concept TF ongoing starring Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Swerve, Cyclonus and others. In short I'm very, very tempted to give the book a go. My distaste for "Last Stand" leaves me hesitant, as does my overall dissatisfaction with the IDWverse. Also, I worry I'm simply looking for a fix - a methadone source - to tide me over until Furman's continuation of the Marvel G1 book comes out later in the year...
... but...
... Furman's book will only be a limited series. As stated above, we'll never again see a TF book that meets the standard set by the UK run. If I'm to ever read a TF book again, I need to take a punt on something new and, Primus help me, this book seems geared (maybe even targeted) toward a fan such as myself. Misgivings aside, I think I'm going to try it out.
May Vector Sigma have mercy on my Spark.
----------
Good or bad, right or wrong, madness or genius, there's room in our comic budget for another title. And hey: opening my mind to the DCnU turned out to be an excellent decision. Could this be a repeat? Stay tuned...
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF
Frighteningly, with enjoyment comes side-effects... like the ravenous hunger for more bot-n-con goodness. But where to secure such nourishment? The next volume of Classics UK won't be out until March and Simon Furman's return comes two months after that. A long time between drinks, to be certain. Should I, in the interim, give in to temptation and try the latest re-working of IDW's much-maligned canon, as I have before? Can you go back to the well?
Times like these you need a specialist and so - with the promise of details about the Classics UK trade paperback - I engaged librarian_bot in digital conversation...
----------
librarian_bot
Ah, there is sanity and poetry in the universe after all. I have yet to see a copy (of Classics UK) first-hand but I can imagine how glorious it must be. I'm not sure I can justify it, given that I own most of TFUK in Titan soft cover form already...
I give it a couple of months before I cave.
dragontail
While not wanting to cost you any money, I truly believe you should cave. The Titan reprints (of which I only own "Target: 2006") get the nod size-wise, being proper format-conscious reprints. What puts the IDW releases over the top, however, is the wealth of supplementary materials. These volumes include all the Marvel-produced toy advertisements from the era, the UK-only bio pages, all the text stories from the annuals (heck, all the annual stories!) and (2D) reproductions of the badges, posters and other free gifts. Each individual story, meanwhile, is prefaced by an interview with its creative team, and it's utterly fascinating. Oh, oh: Geoff Senior's original "try-out" piece is reprinted, too. There's such a delicious DVD collector's edition/prestige "the vault" book kind of treatment to it all.
As a result, the flavour of the UK book comes through. How truly unique and special it was, how it made the readers feel like they belonged to the coolest, most exclusive club in the universe. How the staff went out of their way to create more than a "toy book"; how their internal goal was to match, then beat, 2000AD as Britain's best and top-selling boys' comic title. We were a very lucky generation, and these reprints are a reminder of that.
librarian_bot
Seriously though, have they been beaten yet? I'm not sure there's been another series since that has contributed so much to making Transformers more than just a load of robots kicking the ball bearings out of each other. It managed to have all the action you could want but actually took the time to give us interesting characters as well. If only the latest installments in the multiverse followed suit. I've been reading up on Fall of Cybertron and I am afflicted with the despair of one who not only won't get to turn into a T-Rex at will but who finds the only TF comic on the shelves is one in which Optimus Prime sacrifices everything to save the universe from a massive evil horror that Galvatron has unleashed - and it's not Time War!
dragontail
The answer to your question is between the lines of the above, but no: they never have, and never will, be beaten. As good as writers like Roberts can be (more on that in a moment), they seem to only get TFUK on a surface level ("ooh, there was violence, and guns, and angst, and robots died and stuff!") as evidenced by "Last Stand of the Wreckers" and other works. The background material, meanwhile, makes it clear Hasbro UK let Furman et al write what and how they wanted, "interfering" only to the point of ensuring the material matched up thematically and PR-wise with the toy line. You won't see the likes of that any time soon in this world of "intellectual property". The same goes, sadly, for masterpieces like "Kraven's Last Hunt" - there'll never again be a Spider-Man story of that calibre under the stewardship of the Mouse.
So no, the era of exceptionally strong, inventive and downright good TF comics is done. There'll be stand-outs, there'll be fun, there'll be arcs we adore for all sorts of reasons, but those heights shall never again be scaled. I draw comfort from the fact we, unlike so many other fandoms (*cough* He-Man *cough*) actually reached those lofty altitudes, and have them forever saved in original issues/trades for our enjoyment.
Now: Mr Roberts. I'll admit I read The Death of Optimus Prime off the shelf in the comic shop last week and wasn't completely repulsed by it. Seemed a decent effort to move away from the stench of the post-Furman IDWverse back toward something the Old Master would appreciate/do himself. Then consider More than Meets the Eye: a space-faring, high sci-fi concept TF ongoing starring Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Swerve, Cyclonus and others. In short I'm very, very tempted to give the book a go. My distaste for "Last Stand" leaves me hesitant, as does my overall dissatisfaction with the IDWverse. Also, I worry I'm simply looking for a fix - a methadone source - to tide me over until Furman's continuation of the Marvel G1 book comes out later in the year...
... but...
... Furman's book will only be a limited series. As stated above, we'll never again see a TF book that meets the standard set by the UK run. If I'm to ever read a TF book again, I need to take a punt on something new and, Primus help me, this book seems geared (maybe even targeted) toward a fan such as myself. Misgivings aside, I think I'm going to try it out.
May Vector Sigma have mercy on my Spark.
----------
Good or bad, right or wrong, madness or genius, there's room in our comic budget for another title. And hey: opening my mind to the DCnU turned out to be an excellent decision. Could this be a repeat? Stay tuned...
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF