TFARCHIVE FORUMS

What follows is Tom's template for the Marvel/Titan TPB reviews. Everything else comics has been tacked onto the end of it for as long as we've had comics after Dreamwave.

http://tfarchive.com/comics/

—Denyer

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At the moment I think we're only after 1 review per TPB, not fussed it it's hardback or not [as long as you state which in the review]. After we've got them all covered, and if people want to, we can have multiple reivews... Okay, example with annotation.

Beginnings TPB Title
Reprinting: The Transformers [limited series] #1-4, The Transformers #5-6 The Comics reprinted
Written by: Bill Mantlo [#1-2], Jim Salicrup [#3-4], Bob Budiansky [#5-6]
Pencils by: Frank Springer [#1-4], Alan Kupperberg [#5-6]
Inks by: Kim deMulder [#1-3], Janet Esposito [#3], Ian Akin & Brian Garvey [#4], Alan Kupperberg [#5-6]
Colours by: Nel Yomtov basic credits - editor etc not essential

In a nutshell: A quick, one sentence summing up, or at least as succinct as possible Reprints of Marvel's first six issues of Transformers, concerning how the heroes and villains arrive on Earth.

The stories: This part of the review should concentrate entirely on the quality of the material, i.e. how good is the story/stories There's one thing which really sums up the first two-thirds of "Beginnings" - the Transformers are aliens. Not cutesy robotic Morks. Aliens. There are strange speech patterns, bizarre actions by both sides and an unworldy feel helped by Frank Springer's pencils, which really convey the scale of the Transformers. It's also something of a mess... The original mini-series was clearly produced as the character models were devised, and for someone new to Transformers, the way characters change from frame to frame must be baffling. The look of the thing's not helped by Nel "Crayola" Yomtov's alleged efforts on the colouring front, and visually it's not very appealing. However, much of the plot redeems this. Unlike in the cartoon, where it's a matter of "hmm, we've crashed on this planet. We're here now, let's just carry on", there's a genuine sense of adjustment to the new surroundings, notably in the Drive-In Movies sequence, where the Autobots grapple with the idea of organic life. On top of that, the Autobots are in trouble from the start, drained of fuel and taking hits from the Decepticons left, right and centre. Think about that - there's an actual sense of war. While Buster and Sparkplug aren't exactly paragons of realism, both are likeable enough [you especially get the impression that Sparkplug's fascination with the mechanics of Bumblebee overrides his disbelief, which means in about a page the comic version is more developed than the cartoon cypher].

Sadly, they probably get about the best of the character work in the first four parts. Most of the Transformers feel rather stilted, and the dialogue's wildly overblown. It does, however, effect another alien mannerism, albeit one that gets a bit grinding. The plot itself isn't superb, but it does manage to be more or less coherent. Spider-Man actually works much better than most people give him credit for - he provides some good comic relief without the stupidity factor of turning Blue Streak into a Saturday Night Live stand-up within a few days on Earth. That said, it's probably best it was a one-off, and with retrospect keeping away from the conventional Marvel Universe did Transformers a power of good.

I did find the mini-series more readable than I expected, though the cliffhanger doesn't pack much of a punch, possibly just through 20 years of hype.

I actually found the remaining third of the book, reprinting #5-6, the first two issues penned by Bob Budiansky, to be less enjoyable. The first of these does a fair job of portraying just how much trouble Ratchet, the remaining Autobot, is in, but lots of the drama is undermined by Alan Kupperberg's unstable pencils, and some pages that would be very impressive [the spread of dead Autobots hanging from the Ark's ceiling], but again Yomtov's work is poor. Still, Shockwave has enough instant prescence to keep the story interesting, and Ratchet grows nicely. The second part's similarly mixed, with a well-scripted Shockwave and a potentially superb fight scene countered by Kupperberg's wooden pencils, and the silly oil-rig sequence that introduces G. B. Blackrock [looking uncommonly like a porn star] and Josie Beller [who looks about the least like a porn star as the poor girl will get].

The package:This concerns the actual TPB itself - extras or the lack of them, the cover, the quality, the stories selected There's a nice, if slightly irrelevant, new cover from Andy [or is it Andrew now Transformers is a creditable nostalgia format?] Wildman, though it's rather bland, and not at all like his work on the title in the 1980s, or even much like his Dark Ages output. It's also on nice glossy paper, and there's a foreword from Jim Salicrup, which explains a bit of background info. There's also Titan's poorly presented cover pages - why do these need to be about 60% size, and offset at about 30 degrees? Why not just print the things full page, and assume that between the number on the cover and the story title printed in the damn strip that even the thickest Transformers fan would be able to piece it together? While four of the covers are below par, the work of Bill Sienkiwicz on #1 and Mark Bright on #5 are really worthy of full-page status.

But for extras, Beginnings is full of missed opportunities, mainly for material freely avaliable. A cover gallery including the UK exclusive covers used for the reprints of the stories would have been great. So would inclusion of the alternate ending for #4. Plus things like the Transformers Bible would have been great. We can find all of this online, but it'd be nice if Titan had taken a stab at making this book definitive. On top of this, would it have been too much trouble to track down the likes of Frank Springer, Bob Budiansky, Jim Shooter and Ralph Macchio to get their input?

The verdict:Sum it all up - is this worth buying? Ironically, Beginnings is not the best place to start reading Transformers comics. You'd be better scanning a few online plot summaries and taking the plunge at All Fall Down, then reading this when you've got a taste for Marvel's work. There is a lot of good work done here, especially considering the task set for Marvel, but it's far from an easy read. For fans, it's good for what it is - a slightly over-priced reprint collection to replace fading 80s back-issues.

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
All others up for grabs - Dark Designs, Rage in Heaven

Here.

Dark Star tbp: Review By Inflatable Dalek.

Reprinting: Transformers US 46-50

Written by: Bob Budansky

Pencils by: Jose Delbo.

Inks by: Danny Bulanadi (46, 48, 50) Dave Hunt (47, 49)

Colours by: Nel Yomotov.

Editor:Don Daley.

Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco.

In a nutshell: Have you ever wondered what The Dark Phoenix saga would be like if Toad had got the Phoenix power? Well Bob Budansky did as well…

The stories: The stories in this collection are a more muted bunch than those in the preceding Maximum Force tpb, there’s still plenty of badly thought out silly ideas, but nothing quite as barking as Monstercon From Mars. You’re left with the impression that one of the editors has briefly woken up and told Bob to tone it down a bit before nodding off again… The end result is a much duller set of issues that tend to become a chore to read as the wackiness in the previous issues was the best thing about them…

First up is Ca$h and Carnage, the only standalone issue in this collection. In this Lord Zarek invents a device that can completely immobilise Transformers. Exactly the sort of machine that could, en mass finally let the Decepticons win the war. So naturally, rather than launching a full scale offensive of Decepticons armed with these jammers, he instead gives them to some Mad Max reject Bounty Hunters. And then offers them money if they hunt down Autobots and Decepticons. And is then surprised when it all backfires on him. Plus, he releases three Autobots he’s already captured because he couldn’t find any on Earth to test the devices on (why not just have the prison guards test them on the Autobots in their cell?). Another annoyance is the blatant toy advertising in featuring six new Autobots even though there’s only enough plot for three of them. And as for the art… Well, as I don’t want to repeat myself to much throughout this review I’ll say it here, just the once: Jose Delbo draws slightly less well than three blind hedgehogs in a sack, whilst Nel Yomotov’s only possible excuse is that he was smacked up to the eyeballs.

Next we have the first part of the alleged epic that is The Underbase Saga!. Club Con (which has a wonderfully camp pink logo) has the Decepticon’s running a holiday resort on their island base for… well for very little good reason except to make sure the Autobots know exactly where they are without having to bother with any of that tedious searching. Which was nice of them. It also gives Bob a good excuse to put Jesse in a bikini, but wouldn’t it have been more entertaining to see Sparkplug in a pair of Speedos?

A major revision to established continuity is the revelation that the Autobots always knew Prime and the others were on Earth, and there was a good chance they were still alive. So naturally, rather than sending a full rescue force, they just send Prime a couple of cassette’s warning him that something bad might happen in four million years. Strategies like that explain why the Autobots so firmly got their behinds handed to them after the Ark vanished. Then again, the Decepticon’s don’t do any better, after seeing Blaster on the island, they don’t think to keep an optic out for any red boom box’s, even though Jesse makes no attempt to hide him whilst in a seeker cockpit. And as if to prove all species are equally stupid, the humans merrily go to a resort ran by the robots they’ve been fearing and hating for nearly fifty issues. All in all, this issue conclusively proved that whatever Nel smoked was handed round the Marvel offices regularly.

Issue 48- The Flames of Boltax!, has a cover which promises The Return of Megatron… The End of Optimus Prime?!?. Sounds exciting don’t it? Well, don’t get worked up, it’s just a flashback, courtesy of the message on the tapes that were so fussed over in the previous issue, recounting Prime’s shocking discovery of the Underbase! (Yes, even though the message was meant for Prime, it contains a lengthy recording of events he was present for, thoughtfully helping any enemies that intercept the cassettes rather more that a shorter “The Underbase is coming!” post it note would).

It’s also worth noting that Bob was obviously a fan of the then newishStar Trek: The Next Generation, first we have Hi-Q bearing a uncanny resemblance to Patrick Stewart, now we have what is a Holodeck in all but name used for playing back the message. Poor old Ratbat and Starscream clearly haven’t watched much Trek though, as they don’t seem to grasp it’s an old recording as they’re constantly surprised at Prime’s survival.

Ultimately this is pure filler that could have been covered in a few lines. Having Prime be responsible for the seeming destruction of Cybertron’s greatest store of knowledge is a interesting bit of character background, but other than that it just seems to be a reminder to readers of Megatron in advance of his forthcoming resurrection (telling one of the “See issue…” boxes refers to Megs as just having “disappeared” rather than killed- Up to now US readers have had no reason to assume the latter wasn’t the case).

The penultimate Underbase story- Cold War, is easily the best in this collection, which isn’t a huge boast to be sure, but there is fun to be had in Starscream’s manipulation of Raty and Skorpy’s troops into fighting so he can scarper away to collect the Underbase whilst no ones looking. We also get a nice dilemma for Buster, does he freeze to death or use the Autobot distress beacon he’s been given to summon them into a trap? We also have a fine display of unarmed combat from Apeface.

Unfortunately there are still negatives, you have to wonder why Screamer just doesn’t kill Buster and set off the alarm himself, and the fact Ratbat trusts Screamer enough to make him second in command in the first place stretches credulity a tad. We also get horrible, horrible dialog in the big fight- Stuff along the lines of “You taste good Soundwave”. Still, it does set things up fairly well for the big conclusion, it’s just such a shame the next issue firmly throws it all down the pan…

Dark Star, it’s the double length conclusion to a four issue epic, kills off even more TF’s than the movie and features Skorponok getting a genuine bit of character development at the end. So it really speaks volumes that the one thing everyone remembers about it is the infamous Ratbat/Fort Max fight. The whole things just so bland, as if Bob’s really just going through the motions at this point. Basically Starscream becomes super powerful, all the pre-1987 toys line up to get zapped (though it’s very hard to tell who’s dead and who’s just injured- Mirage gets ripped apart in the first few pages but shows up again latter for another grizzly death) before Prime uses the age old “trick ‘em into absorbing to much power so they blow up” routine (which every sci-fi franchise does at least once, you can see it in Doctor Who and the Ghosts of N-Space, The Avengers[/I] episode Thingamajig and just about any episode of Star Trek with a super smart computer in it). This should be the crowning achievement of Bob’s run, instead it all falls apart. The only remotely interesting thing is Skorponk’s revelation that Prime was working in their best interests all the time. Though his final “And then this truce will be ended” speech (which would have caused UK reader déjà vu as Furman cheekily used almost the same ending a few weeks earlier in Time Wars) suggests a reset switch will be thrown for the next issue, this become the basis of the Prime/Skorponok friendship that Furman will craft when he takes over the comic. But really, other than that one page, this is all throwaway stuff. The really staggering thing is that Bob somehow managed to produce a worse script for the next issue.

The package:

Oddly the extra features in this collection are at the front rather than the back as with the others (they probably just didn’t want Jose Delbo art to be the first thing you saw when you opened it). They’re completely irrelevant, being Bob’s pencil sketches to the covers for issues 29 and what would eventually become 36 (though at the time it was 34, before the Man of Iron reprint forced it back). That’s correct, two issues that aren’t in this collection. I’m assuming that despite being involved with Titan since they began reprinting his issues it’s only just occurred to them to ask Bob if he’s got any interesting stuff lying about that could be included- hence them having to force it into a collection it doesn’t really belong in. Apart from that, all we get is covers and an advert for the Aspects of Evil collection that’s mildly interesting because it has a different cover to the book as eventually published- Plus it claims the black and white volumes will let you “Complete your collection!”, which is a barefaced lie.

The verdict: Whilst it isn’t quite the worst Transformers stories ever told, it does come awfully close at times. One for the dedicated fan only I’m afraid.

Finally finished after I've been writing it for what feels like years... Ironicaly a couple of very ****y weeks gave me the incentive to focus on it so as to distract me from what was going on in real life. I don't think it's as good as my previous review (I found it insanely hard to find anything worth talking about in this collection), but I hope y'all enjoy anyway.

Sweet. This is so much better than 90% of the rants being by me.

I found it insanely hard to find anything worth talking about in this collection

That's because most of what's left is crap.

I've got a decent bit done for Trial By Fire. Will see if I can catch up on mail and blag out the end of that over this weekend.

Originally posted by Denyer
That's because most of what's left is crap.

Tell me about it... How many different ways of saying "Delbo can't draw, Yomotov can't colour etc" can there be? The real breakthrough in finishing the review was deciding to attack the art just once, and then ignore it.

And 'ta for the compliment.

Last Stand TPB Review

By Inflatable Dalek

Reprinting: The Transformers #51-#55 (Marvel US)
Written by: Bob Budiansky (Also Layouts on pages 1-10 of #55)
Pencils by: Jose Delbo (51-54 [Credited as Pencil Breakdowns on 54]), Jim Fern (55 [Also Layouts Pages 11-22])
Inks by: Dave Hunt (51-53) Danny Bulanadi (54 [Also Finishes]) Mike Gustovich (55)
Colours by: Nel Yomotov
Editor: Don Daley
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco.

In a Nutshell: Bob Budiansky takes his final bow as a Transformers writer, unfortunately he seems to have written these issues whilst on his way out the door…

The Stories: Oh dear oh dear oh dear… I try to come to these reviews with a positive mindset, to look for the best in the work and allow for extenuating circumstances (in this case Bob is clearly desperate to move on after more than five years but the bosses won’t let him…), but sometimes you have to just throw your arms up into the sky and scream at the sheer rubishness of what your reading…

First up is The Man in the Machine!, which has the honour of being the least offensive strip in the collection. Still not very good mind. It’s noticeable for two things; the first is that it’s the last appearance of the original human supporting cast of Sparkplug and Buster, cruelly cast aside in favour of Spike for no better reason than him having a toy. The second is that it’s the first appearance of the “Spike wants a normal life but gradually realises that his destiny is to be Fort Max” plot we’ll see twice more, done almost exactly the same, before the end of Generation 2.
It also suggests some interesting things about the Headmasters. Max is mothballed when Spike quits, which not only implies there are no more spare Nebulons to take his place, but that the Headmaster process is irreversible (else why else would a short staffed Prime let one of their strongest surviving soldiers sit about in a cupboard gathering dust?). Other than that the only redeeming feature of this fairly dull winter survival story is Jose Delbo’s attempts at drawing surreal dream images, something so far beyond his merger talents it’s actually quite funny.

Issue 52, the first of a two part story, is Guess Who The Mechannibals Are Having For Dinner?, signposts a lot of what’s wrong with these issues. The idea of the Mechannibals (as the name implies, robot eating robots), whist not particularly brilliant is ripe for a fun B-Movie spoof something that Delbo seems, surprisingly, to be in on as her draws them like the stars of Attack of the Killer Tomato’s). However, the execution here is so bland and listless there’s no real sense of the creative team having a knowing wink at the reader. Even Dreadwind and Darkwing are muted in comparison to their previous appearance, whilst some resolution to a fairly unmemorable dangling plot thread about Skylinx can’t keep the interest levels up. Having two non-entities like Cloudburst and Landmine as the starts doesn’t help either.

Of course, it might be a lot more bearable if they’d kept it to just one issue, but unfortunately the story is rather artificially padded out into issue 53, Recipe For Disaster”. The padding comes in the shape of a journey by our two (insanely bland) heroes’ to that favourite SF standby, the Planet Ruled by Women! (In fact, as they’re Transformer sized you might say this is about an Attack of the 50 foot women). There’s some fun to be had with Cloudburst being pursued by the female leader (who then gives Landmine head…), but other than that these two issues represent the nadir of Bob’s entire run.

Of course, once you’ve hit bottom the only way to go is back up, and King Con! (surely an example of the title being thought up first and the story coming second) is a moderate improvement in quality. Perhaps because it features a return to ground Bob is more comfortable (human innocents getting caught up in and playing crucial roles in the war), or perhaps because Delbo takes a two month vacation from this point… king Kong is an obvious source to rip-off… I mean homage and the story doesn’t quite go far enough for the parallels to work (it really needs some air-born Autobots swoshing round Iguanus at the end to make it work), but it’s good to have some Decepticon machinations centre stage again. Even if Skorponok is still in his third rate Bond villain phase.
The noticeable thing about this issue is the introduction of the Autobot Micromasters (and readers of the latter Dreamwave series should not the term Guzzler first appears here). The big problem with the Micro's is that if you were to look up “Bland” in a dictionary you’ll find a picture of these characters… They’re such stock “Angry hot-heads” it’s hard to tell one from another (hell, I’m not even sure which one of them is supposed to be on the front of this collection), it’s telling that only Roadhandler stands out for his amazing long distance fisting ability. There’s little help from the human supporting cast- Cecilia Santiago is the very cliché of a female journalist (and for UK readers she’s hard to distinguish from Susan Hoffman), just itching to be described as “doesn’t suffer fools gladly”.
To be honest the absolute highlight of this issue is professional Pat Stewart look-alike Hi-Q going to all the effort of dressing up as a trucker in order to not arouse suspicion, only for Prime to transform to robot mode in the middle of a dinner car park in broad daylight (why have the Micromasters beam down in such a public place anyway?).

And so we come to issue 55, [DEEP BREATH] The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!, not just the last issue in this collection but the last issue by Budiansky- He’ll continue to do the tech-spechs for a while and Simon Furman credits him in the introduction to End of the Road with a unofficial supervisory role on the latter days of the comic but as far as written fiction goes this is it for Bob. I’d love to say the guy who contributed so much to the Transformers goes out on a high, but if you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that’s sadly not the case.
This story blows any chance of credibility out of the water on the very first page- Roadhandler goes on a TV chat show. Now up until this point the American government has been keen to stamp out the evil alien invaders at any opportunity, but now an Autobot can be booked onto TV without anyone seemingly noticing (and Circuit Breaker must be slipping as she managed to hunt down Skullgrin a few issues earlier with a lot less to go on). Yes, latter on Furman will reveal RAAT has been disbanded, but the idea that no government agency would be interested in this is stretching things a tad. As is the idea that in more than five years no one has managed to take a good picture of Optimus Prime, hence Cecilia whipping out a dodgy pencil drawing of him.
As for the plot… Well Roadhandler takes up wrestling because… Well because wrestling was quite popular with the kiddies at the time and someone at Marvel clearly thought it might pep up sales. Other than that there are only two things of interest here:
The first is that the insanely camp gay stereotype interior designer guy from Mannequin seems to have taken up a job ringside since the events of that film (the bloke who gets nearly throttled by Swindler for suggesting Roadhandler might loose… He’s the spiting image).
The second is that, unusually for one of Bob’s silly stories there’s a very downbeat ending. It’s hard not to imagine that Roadhandlers disillusionment and rage are an example of Mary Sueing on the writer’s part. All in all a hugely disappointing last bow.

The Presentation: Right, before I begin I want you to pour yourself a stiff drink and make sure you’re sitting comfortably less you fall down from shock… After several disappointingly barren collections Last Stand not only has a fair amount of bonus material, but it virtually all interesting and very nearly all relevant to the issues in this trade!. There, I said you’d need that drink didn’t I?

First up is the least exciting- A checklist of the US reprint books in chronological order. Though for the more casual buyer this will prove handy to keep track of what order these should go on the shelf I imagine for most of you reading this it’ll be fairly irrelevant.
Then we have a cover gallery of all the hardback-editions art. It’s not essential by any means but speaking as someone who stuck to the cheaper paperbacks I found it an interesting flick through.
Now we come to the good stuff… Bob’s original treatment for the Creation Matrix, not anything to do with the stories contained herein but still a worthwhile read. It’s particularly fun to note that years of “Where do baby Decepticons come from?” arguments are pre-empted with the simple sentence This is only one method of creating new Transformers. There are others.
Following a somewhat crude design sketch for a Mechannibal we come to the real meat of the extra features: The third draft of Bob’s submission to Hasbro for the “New Generation” storyline- In other words the introduction of the Action Masters. It bears no relation to what we’d eventually see, being full of stuff about Black Holes and properly featuring the action master partners… Anyone who’s seen the first Darn’N’Blast letters page from the UK comic will recognise it as the source for the explanation Blaster gives for himself there. What’s really noteworthy is that it’s dated the 29th September 1989, a year and a half before Action Master Gimlock made his debut in the March 1991 cover dated US #76. This not only shows how far plots were being worked out in advance, but I think gives credence to the long standing rumore that Simon Furman’s first few issues were written from a Budiansky synopsis. Certainly this storyline treats Megatron as being active right from the get go (it being his idea to use Nucleon on the Decepticons) suggesting his return was planed before this. All in all it’s a fascinating glimpse into what might have been had Bob stayed on, though all in all the Furman version is vastly superior (sample Megatron dialogue: “Anything the Autobots can do, we can do better. And badder!”).

Rounding of the interesting stuff we get the rough pencil outlines of the pages Bob had a hand in from issue 55. One thing that afflicts these (and the New Generation storyline) is that the originals must not be in existence anymore forcing Titan to resort to using poor quality photocopies. Still, I’d rather have grainy photocopies than a random interview with a cartoon voice actor any day.

Add to that the standard cover gallery (including the famously censored Jim Lee cover to issue 53) and the “It’s the wrong cover Gromit” Aspects of Evil advert and you have Titan ending their US reprints on a high.

The Verdict: What we have here is a trade paperback where the bonus material is vastly more interesting than the actual comics contained therein. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Bob being stuck in a unrewarding job on one of Marvels less regarded titles for far to long, it’s just a shame he couldn’t find the enthusiasm to make even his last issue a winner. Still, the British invasion was just around the corner, and whilst Furman’s initial arc wouldn’t be exactly Earth shattering, it did begin the process of bringing the comic back to the top of its game.

For reasons best known to itself my computer suddenly spat this out again today, so here it is for your consideration. Bear in mind I may have bigged it up a tad in the other thread...

Cheers. I've added it in, and will frontpage it with the other stuff I'm hoping to do today. Like getting a replacement bloody guestbook sorted, finally.

It's worth pestering me via PM for anything to do with the comics section, as I only drop by the Toys forum when I've got some free time (which I'm also hoping to find to format reviews.)

May as well get the Trial By Fire one in too... don't s'pose you're up for doing Treason?

Good grief. ther fisting and giving head jokes stayed in... I half suspected they'd be taken out as sub-Carry On. Looking over it again I'm annoyed my last minuet revision to remove the constant repitition of the word "Disapointing" still managed to miss a few...

And I'd be happy to try and fill any remaining gaps... Though I might try one of the UK collections before doing Treason, as there's only so long you can do in depth analasis of late period Bob without needing somthing of a break...

Second Gen needs doing if you've got it/scans. Would be nice to get that one out of the way, 'cause it's near the top of the page...

I shall give it a go... Incidently, does Cliffy have plans to do a Amarda UK guide in the style of the Marvel/Dreamwave ones? If not, I might have a crack at it... Assuming he doesn't mind me doing a Douglas Adams and shamelessly stealing his format...

Cliffy has actually done one, looking at the bundle of files I have here... I'll stick it on the list of things to get formatted and uploaded...

Cheers for the TBF stuff, I'll add in something to that effect in a bit.

Originally posted by Denyer
Cheers for the TBF stuff, I'll add in something to that effect in a bit.

no worries, doing this sort of stuff is probably more enjoyable than reading the actual comics...

I stole the format off someone else anyway. Thankfully he stole it off someone else too, so it must be just about public domain by now... Of course, I've covered my monopoly by only missing the TF in 3-D series so far...

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
I stole the format off someone else anyway.

It's the Cornell/Topping/Day format is it not? If only they'd thought to copyright it they'd have made a fortune by now...

I've started on Treason (yes, I know I said I'd do Second Generation next, I tend to lie a lot...), and assuming the computer doesn't take great offence at my work again it should appear some time in January.

Oh, and on the main review menu page the cover for Fallen Star needs to be updated. They would up going for one that's actually in the collection, but not one with Starscream on...

Treason TPB Review
By Inflatable Dalek
Reprinting: The Transformers 31, 32, 35-37 (Marvel US)
Written By Bob Budiansky
Pencils By Don Perlin (31, 32 [Credited as Breakdowns on These Issues], 35) Jose Delbo (36-37)
Inks By: Jim Fern (31 [Credited as Finishes]), Ian Akin and Brian Garvey (32-37 [Credited as Finishes on 32])
Colours By: Nel Yomotov
Edited By: Don Daley
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter (31, 32) Tom DeFalco (35-37)

In A Nutshell: The cracks have been showing for a while, but it’s with this collection Budiansky really begins to loose his touch and quality control begins to nose dive… Which oddly coincides with the arrival of Jose Delbo. Fancy That. As for the content of the issues themselves, things take a turn for the truly bizarre as Bob seems to be writing down the first thing that comes into his head…

The Stories: There’s an episode of Star Trek called Spock’s Brain, in which the titular Vulcan has his noggin removed and put back in without even messing up one hair. It’s often held up by Trekies as the very worst episode of that noble franchise ever, despite the fact it’s not even the worst episode in that season. In fact, it’s a wonderfully OTT piece of knowing camp that’s infectiously fun as long as you don’t think about it to hard. Now, I can hear you asking, “Dalek, you handsome chap you, this is meant to be a review of mid to late period Budiansky, so why the devil are you blabbering on about Star Trek? Well my well spoken friend, the very first issue up for our consideration- Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom, is the Transformers equivalent of that episode.
What we have here, is really the last “silly” plot Bob wrote that comes closes to working, and that is down to one factor: Ratbat. The purple cassette is the type of Decepticon leader we haven’t seen before or since- Not a “Bwahahahahahahaing” maniac, he’s a efficient businessman with his eye on the bottom line and a nice sardonic attitude. Frankly every scene with him in sparkles, weather it’s mercilessly taking the piss out of Shockwave or his charming way of calling a retreat (“It’s time we searched for a healthier economic climate!”).
Yes, his plan here (brainwashing humans with a dodgy carwash) is silly B-Movie stuff, but that’s supported by the rest of the comic from the cover onwards, making it feel like a gentle spoof of clichés rather than a story succumbing to them.
It isn’t perfect by any means, Jessie, who you may remember has already appeared in skimpy leotards and bikini’s, is once again used to fulfil Bob’s private fantasy life- Here she finds cars unbelievably sexy and songs Buster like there’s no tomorrow, and the idea of the Decepticons stealing an empty fuel tanker does undermine their credibility a bit. Still, with your brain switched of, this is a lot of harmless fun, and a fine example of a type of story Bob is shortly going to spectacularly loose the ability to write even remotely well… Oh, and as an aside, I believe that, bar flashbacks this is the first time since issue 13 we’ve had no Autobot’s in the comic.

Next up, the strain Bob was under really begins to show as he gives us Used Autobots!. This picks up where issue 30 left of, with Blaster and his whipping boy Goldbug (plus the other Throttlebots) on the run from Grimlock’s increasingly OTT leadership. RAAT, never the most capable of organisations, is here shown to be utterly inept. They have to hang round gas stations on the off chance the Autobots come tootling past, seemingly oblivious to the whopping great battle between Blaster’s Barmy Army and Vortex just down the road. This is compounded when Billy Dee Williams look-alike Walter Barnett refuses point blank to believe the bots and cons aren’t allies even when they’re virtually saying it to his face.
But that’s jumping ahead… First we have to endure the Autobot’s hiding out in a used car lot, which lets Bob embrace every second hand car cliché you’ve ever seen, from knocking the milometer back to marking up prices. As satire it’s about as biting as the average Chuckle Brothers episode, we’re meant to feel the imaginatively named Big Steve has got his comeuppance when his car lot is destroyed at the end, but considering the Autobots use very heavy handed intimidation techniques to get his help in the first place (and demand fuel without offering payment!) it’s hard not to feel sorry for him. Not even a Protectobots/Combaticons smack down helps much as the fighters seem more interested in reminding each other of their names repeatedly, just in case the reader still doesn’t know who’s who at this point. Still, the cliff-hanger, where the Protectobots capture Blaster for immediate execution after his defection is actually very good, and promises great, exciting drama in the next issue…

Oh dear oh dear. We’ll come to why issues 33 and 34 are missing further down the page, but number 35 Child’s Play, is almost the exact moment where it all goes pear shaped for the rest of Bob’s run. He was under a lot of pressure at this time, writing the Headmasters mini simultaneously, but overwork is really is no excuse for such sloppiness… Effectively what we have here is an exercise in treading water- A rather blatant attempt to pad out the climax to the Blaster/Grimlock arc till the Headmasters can join the plot in issue 41.
The plot itself is fairly simple and direct- Blaster brings the Protectobots round to his way of thinking during a fight with Bruticus- It’s the supporting cast of irritating, clichéd children (and their little bear to) that drags the whole thing down. When Blaster, who you may recall opposes Grimlock on his attitude toward the sanctity of human life, takes the kids on a joyride on a captured Blast-off you’re seriously hoping Grimlock will toast his electrons.
A quick note on the art of Don Perlin who here bows out from the comic. Whilst it’s never going to win any awards it suit’s the cartoon style of the last few issue like a glove, and is especially welcome after reviewing several volumes where Delbo is the main artist (more on him shortly). Sadly, as always Nel’s crayons let the side down- the cover to this issue being the low point of his entire TF work. Two large robots both block coloured (one of whom in pink!) on the cover, the thing that’s meant to look great and eye-catching in the shop. No wonder the UK team found it so embarrassing they let Dan Reed of all people draw a near identical replacement.

And so with a heavy heart we come to issue 36 Spacehikers! and the dawn of the Delbo. Things actually start fairly promising with the debut of Sky Lynx, a nice sarky character who a genuine drop out from the war, a relative rarity amongst the Autobots and a refreshing change. Unfortunately Delbo’s trademark random character models (in unusual poses) is evident from the second page where several characters who shouldn’t be there are shown on ancient Cybertron. No wonder the UK team didn’t bother removing Skids from latter in the issue as they had before, his appearance actually fits the art style.
The story itself is deadly, concerning the further wacky adventure of those crazy kids and their space suit wearing bear. Claims that Furman made Grimlock a likable leader are shown to be false as his cavalier attitude to the kids lives here make him my hero.
The Autobots are also incredibly dumb here, Big Grim is breaking all the rules of the Autobot code, treating his troops badly and generally of the deep end but they all meekly go along with it and then pin all their hopes on Blaster, rather than say ganging up on him and chucking him of the Ark. The story ends with another cliff-hanger as Blaster surrenders to protect the children- a cliff-hanger that won’t be resolved till issue 41- but by this point I doubt many reading would have cared enough to get excited.

The final issue in this collection is the marvellously self referential Toy Soldiers (which should have been used as the title of this collection instead of boring old Treason) returns us to the fate of the Throttlebots, captured by RATT back in issue 32. Yes, there seems to be a trend of leaving plotlines dangling long enough for the reader to have stopped caring around this time.
Thankfully, and I suspect it’s to do with the return of Ratbat (who wreaks revenge on Buster for interfering with his carwash of doom), this issue leans more towards good silly than bad silly, though not quite as entertainingly so as the first issue in this collection.
Our hero’s are scheduled for crushing, but luckily don’t have to bother with cleaver ruses or intelligent escape plans as Walter Barnett- who for years now has refused to believe in any difference between Autobots and Decepticons despite all the hard evidence to the contrary- takes about five minuets to come onside after a speech from Goldbug. His cunning plot involves putting the Autobots bodies in his sons toy cars. Which they can talk through. And drive. Utterly absurd but a fun comment on the nature of the title as a big toy advert. It also features my favourite ever (at the moment) piece of comic exposition in the classic “If just one bullet punctures a tank of that liquid nitrogen this plant will go up like the fourth of July!”.
Sadly it’s the last appearance of ‘ol Walt, and the last we see of him is handing all his problems over to poor old Buster.
Actually, lets take a moment to feel sorrow for Sparkplug Witwicky, over the last 36 issues he’s had a heart attack, been brainwashed, kidnapped and generally had a bad time. Here, in the ultimate indignity his auto repair shop is brought own on top of him by a big purple bat. Some people get all the breaks, though it does bring a much welcome element of danger in a comic that’s been heading towards having it’s own laughter track I doubt that’s much consolation for William. Or Irving.
The issue ends with a quick tie in to the Headmasters title that see Goldbug sending a distress signal from the Arks former resting place in Mt. St. Hilary and a cliff-hanger where Ratbat looms over to attack… All in all an entertaining end to a somewhat lacking collection.

The Presentation: Oh my, time for a rant. As the numerically minded amongst you may have realised this collection skips issue 33 and 34. This is due to these issues been reprints of the very first story originated by Marvel UK, The Man of Iron (originally presented in UK 9-12) and presenting them here would interrupt the flow of the story or some such (something Budiansky manages fairly well without help). This wouldn’t be such a huge problem if not for editor Simon Furman’s decision to not do any UK collections predating issue 45, effectively this was our only chance to see this hugely important strip in book form. We do at least get an explanation and the American covers (both absent from the next trade to skip an issue) but it’s a real missed opportunity. One odd note is that the cover to issue 33 is slightly different to the one I have at home- Mine has a gloriously OTT picture of Shakespeare (just to hammer home the point) in the barcode box.
As for other extra’s we got the obligatory cover gallery and a random introduction by Grimlock voice actor Greg Berger. At least his character plays a large role in the issues herein, but unfortunately he clearly hasn’t been given a copy to read (unlike the actors who introduce Titan’s James Bond) so we have to endure the old clichés about how TV casts are like one big happy family.

At this point Wildman’s covers for the trades were in a real rut, and this is indeed one of the poorer ones. Though there is some amusement to be had from the fact it looks as if Defensor should be holding the Big Issue in his outstretched hand…

The Verdict: though toped and tailed by good silly fun this collection is ultimately a very hollow one, and not helped by the meagre extra’s. Sadly this will be par for the course on the remaining Budiansky written collections.

Well, slightly later than promised but once more I deliver. this is slightly more rambling than usual but i hope it's still up to specs.

http://tfarchive.com/comics/marvel/repr ... pb=treason

Absolutely.

Quick query: have you done anything on Second Gen yet, or shall I start on it?

Originally posted by Denyer
http://tfarchive.com/comics/marvel/repr ... pb=treason

Absolutely.

Quick query: have you done anything on Second Gen yet, or shall I start on it?

I've reread it in depth and made some notes (mostly along the lines of "Dear God Will Simpson what were you thinking?!?!?!". there's a classic bit where he draws Buster looking like a shaven monkey...). Now I've unpacked some of my books and have easy access to the blighters it should be fairly easy to do (unlike this one, the first half of which was written before Christmas).

Do you still need a TF/GIJ DD 3 #1 review as well? My initial concern about not having a clue who the Joes were has abated slightly as (in one of the nicer concesions towards peeps who aren't fans of both franchises) everyone seems to be refered to by name at least once.