Books and magazines about retro toys/cartoons/comics

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
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Denyer
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Books and magazines about retro toys/cartoons/comics

Post by Denyer »

Skyquake mentioning the He-Man Art Book in another thread, Dalek having just published a book about TF comics and Ryan F having plans for one got me thinking about a round-up of other tie-in publications. There are getting to be more of them as folk get older, publishing involves fewer barriers, etc etc. But no need to limit it to unofficial stuff.

I'm thinking less of well-served fandoms such as Doctor Who where there are dozens if not hundreds of unofficial books of articles, but again chime in to talk about anything you've found and liked, particularly if people are unlikely to stumble on it otherwise. Documentaries would count too. Long-hoped-for reprints? Why not, if it's about collecting and preserving the history of brand-type media.

General TV and film stuff is probably where I'd think a different thread was justified.

Entries marked with an asterisk are to my knowledge hard to find.

80s cartoons/comics in general

Cereal Geek magazine
http://www.cerealgeek.com/

Doctor Who comics

Vworp Vworp!*
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Vworp_Vworp!

Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

You Are The Hero
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1909679364/

Knightmare

David Rowe's Art of Knightmare
http://www.davidrowe.net/shop.html

Masters of the Universe

Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1616555920/

The Power and The Honor Foundation Catalog Vol 1*
https://www.facebook.com/thepowerandthehonorfoundation

The Unofficial He-Man Cartoon Guide
http://www.bustatoons.com/heman_cartoon_guide/guide.htm

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1616558776/

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Newspaper Comic Strips
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/150670073X

Thundercats

Hear The Roar
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845830385/

Transformers

Generations (toys)
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_Generations

Legacy (box art)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1613779437

Transformation (UK comic)
http://thesolarpool.weebly.com/book-shop.html

Vault (misc)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0810998688

Visionaries

Visionaries Collector's Guide
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/51 ... escription
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I am very excited about this! Deffo going on my Xmas list :) I am really enjoying The Art Of He-Man, and the mini-comics actually look great (although I had a bunch of He-Man figures as a child, the Mini-Comics were quickly lost) and worth a read.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I'm reliably informed one of those is the Greatest Book Ever written.


Well, four and a half star average review rating on Amazon UK anyway. That's basically the same.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

£15.30 on Amazon UK? Another example of Dark Horse bitchslapping Marvel and DC all over the place when it comes to VFM on hardcover stuff.

Shame their trades tend to be comparatively more expensive though.

Anyway, that's bloomin' fantastic value and I must own it.

Tangentially, have the 80s UK MotU comics ever been reprinted or made available online? That was my default continuity for the franchise and I'd like the chance to revisit it and find out it's awful.
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Post by Denyer »

Kickstarter for the first of several volumes about 80s-90s G.I. Joe toys;

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/12 ... can-herotm
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Post by Denyer »

Looks like there'll be a big Visionaries retrospective book at some point, involving the Mapes brothers and crowdfunding:

https://twitter.com/VisionariesInfo

:up::up:

edit:

Also this turned up today from Amazon... the art style is very similar to the UK MOTU comics, although clearly different material and continuity:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Man-Masters ... 150670073X

Dark Horse are doing a lot of fan-driven MOTU stuff, aren't they? This one driven by Danielle "Penny Dreadful" Gelehrter and some other folk. Great stuff, and reading about the recreation process (newsprint being so fragile and strips being broken down into panels for different printing contexts at the time, etc) gives some appreciation of the herculean work to find, layout and sequence things.

If anyone's come (or is further ahead with writing in at least one case for someone here, IIRC) across other books about stuff from this era, do say!
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Re: Books and magazines about retro toys/cartoons/comics

Post by Denyer »

Might interest some -- Gamesmaster: The Oral History now in a general print run after the Kickstarter (which I didn't find out about at the time).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GamesMaster-Or ... 500025916/

Not connected but also recommended, The Gamesmaster: My Life in the '80s Geek Culture Trenches with G.I. Joe, Dungeons & Dragons, and The Transformers being Flint Dille's auto-biography:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gamesmaster-Cu ... 644280124/

There's probably a few other similar things from the last few years I'll add if I remember and think of.

edit: https://www.youtube.com/c/cerealgeekTV
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