Graphic Novel Review - Transformers - the Marvel U.K. Years

Back in the bygone days before the Internet, gaining access to comic material published in the United Kingdom or any other foreign country was the equivalent of seeking the Holy Grail. This was especially true when said material was rumored to be superior to its U.S. equivalent. Top premiums could and would be paid if and when foreign material was found.

Titan Books remedied the situation by carving quite a niche for itself with their reprints of elusive titles of times past, including Judge Dredd from 2000 A.D. and TRANSFORMERS, which can still be found through your favorite used book dealer or comic shop.

Even though their reprints of the U.S. run of TRANSFORMERS are a welcome addition, it is their oversized reprints of the U.K. run that readers should take notice of. Overall, they were a looser, free flowing format with a faster pace storyline that became more then filler material between U.S. reprints. Whereas the U.S. run was under the Hasbro microscope more, and forced to incorporate 'new characters' (read as: new toys) as often as possible, the U.K. run, being a weekly comic, took the concept and ran with it, having a lot more fun in the process.

Though the U.K. run of TRANSFORMERS has some great ideas and concepts in the space opera sense, it doesn't deliver quite the punch one may have expected after all those years of rumors of how powerful the storylines were. Several volumes (Target:2006 and Time Wars come to mind) are quite good, using the Transformers movie as a springboard to weave a Back to the Future-ish style of story involving Decepticon leader Megatron and his altered future self Galvatron with their attempts at power, war, and changing the future. At worst (i.e. Space Pirates), the present/future conflict becomes bogged down with far too may offshoot storylines and secondary characters.

Simon Furman is still the premier writer of Transformers. His later series from Dreamwave and now IDW still prove he loves these characters and wants to write them well. These U.K. issues are what he cut his teeth on, so even though they have weak moments, they are a lot of fun and exciting, the 'popcorn movie matinee' version of comics. The artistry on the U.K. run was done by several artists, including Geoff Senior, Andrew Wildman and Jeff Anderson. Even though every artist is unique, there is a consistency to the art that doesn't leave the reader perplexed by too many differing art styles. All are very good and add a lot of depth to the Transformers universe, though newer fans of Dreamwave's or IDW's series will be taken aback by the very 1980s style to the whole thing.

For the Transformer fan these trades are indispensable and some of the best Transformer material ever written. For the average comic reader, these volumes are little more then another sci-fi attempt at licensed material and won't necessarily make an indelible impression. Yet with renewed interest in the franchise thanks to Michael Bay and IDW stepping up to the plate and keeping these U.K. stories in print in their own editions now, even average fans will find a lot to enjoy!