Comic guide

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:39 pm

Firstly. Tom, both thumbs up. This seems (sorry my language) ****ing exhaustive even to read. I'll propably start with more obscure stories and move on to my favourites and stories I know I'll disagree with you.

More later.

Secondly, I'm glad I didn't have to decide how the pages look. Seems logical, and haven't run into problems yet. My quess, Denyer's work?

First wrong link.

http://tfarchive.com/comics/guide/index.php?s=gi_joe_tf
Later Reprinted In:...GI Joe and the Transformers [Worldwide]
link points to Titan Books trades.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:04 pm

Fixed. Keep 'em coming—yeah, any problems with navigation links and wotnot are very likely my fault...

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri May 20, 2005 1:42 pm

I'm so happy to see this finished... I have to say that I have a printed off copy of the previous version (which only went as far as issue 230 if I recall correctly) which is incredibly well thumbed. The definitive guide to the comic.

Zisteau · Post by **Zisteau** » Fri May 20, 2005 2:08 pm

Thats a damn impressive bit of work there, Tom. Now if I can just manage to get my hands on 400 or so TF comics....

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:00 pm

Cheers guys... and a big thanks to Denyer, who's gone through and done lots of the dull hyperlinking stuff which I was never going to do... without him doing this, and Warp offering to host the whole thing, I doubt it'd have ever seen the light of day. Probably took towards a year or so, maybe more when you consider some of it was based on the really old reviews back when my site had comic scans... there are still some bits that need fine-tuning, and I'm working on a big list of things I need help with [ranging from IDs to summaries of US letters pages and the like], but hopefully not too many inaccuracies seeped in... though I do remember totally giving up on "Roadhandler"/"Road Handler", and just going for the one I liked best.

As ever, my attitude is that if anyone who's not me enjoys it, that'sa bonus

A general thought is that I really surprised myself with some of the reviews... it's astonishing what can read so much better or worse after not being read for a couple of years [some of the Budiansky stuff I hadn't read since downloading], and how different it is reading everything in order.

Fireflight · Post by **Fireflight** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:58 pm

Just want to add to the praise, a super read and I'm looking forward to the rest of the site returning.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat May 21, 2005 1:29 am

Originally posted by Fireflight
Just want to add to the praise, a super read and I'm looking forward to the rest of the site returning.

Yeh, dunno what's happening with that... I'm having a long thought about whether I'm ever likely to complete the update, or whether to simply turn the files over to TFA and see if they want any of it. Time and motivation are proving difficult to find at the same time right now...

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:36 am

Of course, he's completely wrong about Prime's Rib, buit no one's perfect...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:48 am

It's rubbish.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:57 am

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
It's rubbish.

Nope, it takes my mother (who is so closely quoted in the femanist speech that it's scary) and puts her in a comic! therefore it's brilliant

MyWords · Post by **MyWords** » Sun May 22, 2005 8:44 pm

I hope I'm posting in the right place. Denyer was kind enough to answer a question I had posted over at Allspark or somewhere (I can't keep all these TF websites straight). Anyway, he pointed me to this really impressive comic guide, and I just wanted to add my praise. Well done! Seriously.

One question I had. Where did you get the info that Bill Sienkewicz did the cover for Transformers #1? I've wondered who the cover artist is for years, even trying to decipher the signature on Prime's foot to no avail. I don't know why I never considered Sienkewicz. I think you're right. But I'm just curious where you got the info.

Keep up the great work! Great site!

And thanks again, Denyer.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun May 22, 2005 11:48 pm

God, I honestly can't remember... might have been Rob Jung's site, or even Steve-o's FAQ. Seeing as the styles and everything else tallied [Bill would have been working at marvel at the time, and it would be about the time he'd be one of the more famous artists, likely to get a "launch" cover chucked his way] I didn't really the possibility of it not being him...

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:00 am

Mr Jung does mention it:

http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/tf/com ... l-US1.html

The shape of the on-cover signature is a pretty good indicator, I'd think. I've just never seen a copy close up.

MyWords · Post by **MyWords** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:01 am

Huh. Well, I think you're probably right. At this point, I can't imagine it not being Bill S.

Couple corrections for you:

1. The name of Marvel's art director at the time spells his name John Romita. You pretty consistently forget the 'h'.

2. And in the FAQ you leave off Staz's last name, which is Johnson.

Great resource, though. I've already wasted much too much time in there.

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:07 am

1. Fixed in uk_001_010, us_intro, universe.

2. He was often credited just as Staz, to the extent I think it was his preference.

MyWords · Post by **MyWords** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:26 am

1. Great!

2. I don't have his TF UK work, but it seems like he's gone by Staz Johnson since then. (His real first name is Stewart.) See the GCDP, Marvel.com, and 2000AD Online. He's even referred to as "Staz Johnson" in Titan's press release about the new digest-sized UK collections.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 23, 2005 1:44 am

Yeh, the "Staz" thing is pretty much a sign of how far apart some of the stuff was written... IIRC, he's often credited as "Stewart Johnson" for cover work, and "Staz" for script-work... as the stuff from his era is so well credited, it wasn't something I put a lot of work into [unlike the research for the US covers, some of which took a lot of research], and it wasn't until the hardback of "Treason" came out I realised they were one and the same... ideally, 'Staz' credits would be credited as 'Staz [pseudonym for Stewart Johnson]', and the Stewart Johnson credits left as is, but I don't think I ever really went back and sorted that out.*

Ultimately, if time, motivation and my skills were up to it, each credit would be hyperlinked to a bio of that person, listing both their TF and non-TF credits, but that got junked pretty early on for a number of reasons, not least of which was I'd never get round to it.

One thing I'd have loved to clear up was the UK comic editorship - the first 41 issues were edited by Sheila Cranna, and then at some point Ian Rimmer took over, then Furman under his pseudonym Chris Francis, then presumably someone else when he went Stateside, but besides that I don't know much - not even issue numbers for changeovers. I did briefly contemplate phoning Titan or Panini to request any documentation they might have, but didn't really know where to start. The other one I wouldn't mind knowing is when Furman stopped writing "Dread Tidings", and handed it over to whoever did "Darn and Blast" [presumably the post-Furman editor/s]. I did initally think that this would be down to spotting a change in the answering style, but "Dread Tidings" is generally so half-arsed and brattish [my opinions of the letters page at this stage may well have seeped across in the reviews

] it's impossibleto detect any shift.

* = Which reminds me Denyer, if you do use my guide for DW G1, could you update the "Brad Mick" credits to "Brad Mick [psuedonym for James McDonough]" as you go along?

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:43 am

Linking would be easy enough to automate if you feel up to the bios.

Think I've gotten the Staz credits appropriately edited.

Yup, I'll have a think about rounding off the DW section this week, hopefully.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:13 am

The bios be the problem... it comes down to:

A) Doing everybody... it's all fun and games for writers and pencillers, after that it's very difficult for letterers and colourists. As ever, I outright refuse to do anything by halves, that way you end up with a mess. The whole comic guide wouldn't have seen the light of day unless you'd offered to tidy up the end. I'd rather stuff rotted on my hard-drive than saw the light of day in an incomplete form.

B) Name changes... I have no idea whether Glib and Glop always worked under those names. Annie Halfacree, for one, married in the early-1990s, and used her married name [it's in a KotP letters page, but that's not the point

].

C) You've got guys like Nel or Bob, who edited thirty thousand Marvel titles. Each.

D) Information is rather hard to find for anyone who doesn't have their own site - and most of those that do tend to be the "biggies" like Sienkiwicz or Jim Lee whos' involvement in TFs was minimal...

E) My bios for the likes of Yomtov, Blaylock, McDonough etc. would result in litigation.

The bios as they stand consist of a handful of text files noting either non-TF credits which are well known, or which I noted from my own comic collection. I'm up for doing a "****ing Hell, Doesn't Bryan Hitch Rock?" page though

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Mon May 23, 2005 7:03 am

The guide is superb, but I just knew it would be.

When first issue of Transformers was released in Poland in 1991 people mentioned that Bill Sienkiewicz, "one of those great artists" did its cover, so I guess it's somehow a "common knowledge".

What's that with Rapture/Rhapsody? Did she have her pseudonym changed for UK issues?

And while I'm at it, in US #73 Hook was killed by Xaaron possessed by Primus, not Galvatron. You could also debate who killed Line...

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