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Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 21

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SATURDAY 17th DECEMBER 1988

As I mentioned last time there wasn’t an actual checklist in The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers and Action Force this week, but we’ll try to make up for that with two things.

The first of those is this Martin Griffiths cover to the former which I remember made me laugh when I picked it up from the shop as a kid. With stock images of Winston, Egon and Peter there’s not much here by Martin. It’s a bit pants but that feels deliberate and the gall of having this as the cover to their top-selling comic is what made it really funny to me. On the other hand, The Transformers has something all the more dramatic.

Anthony Williams’ and Stephen Baskerville’s cover refers to an incident in the continuing story set millions of years ago, so regular readers wouldn’t have been too perturbed by this image. It’s still eye-catching but then again Stephen’s inks always were. But the most exciting thing in this comic today is the Next Issue promo. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great issue, but with me covering the Transformers festive issues and annuals every year on the blog I was extra excited to see the promo for what was my first Christmas issue.

Here’s that special advert I promised you last week. It’s yet another of those one-page strip stories and eagle-eyed readers will notice it says “fortnightly” when the comic was weekly by now. I’ll admit, I’ve had to cheat this week. There was no checklist and no comics ads I hadn’t showed you already so I trawled my collection to find this in the pages of an earlier comic from before the checklists began. It also turned up in the first annual which I just so happen to have written about already this Christmas, where you can check it out as an individual strip with its credits intact.

The first time I saw it was in #3 of the Ghostbusters’ comic when it was drawn by a comics fan who had been the recipient of a “Surprise, Surprise” by Cilla Black and Bob Carolgees. (Ask your parents if you don’t know.) Using the commercial from the film with the characters from the cartoon was a clever way of summing the comic’s humour up and remains memorable for fans to this day. Certainly this fan anyway.

That’s us for this checklist-lite edition but join me again in seven days for the Christmas Eve special! Expect details on all the seasonal editions of your favourite comics, a couple of snowy covers and a ridiculous annuals competition page!

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Annuals, Christmas, Comic Promos, Transformers

COMiNG UP: CHRiSTMAS TRANSFORMERS YEAR TWO

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It’s been a long time coming but finally it’s time for the next instalment of Transformers at Christmas, my yearly look at the Yuletide issues of Marvel UK’s epic G1 comic on their 40th anniversaries. Well, it’s almost time. There are still seven days to go but first let’s take a look at how 1985’s special issue was promoted in the previous issue. In fact, this issue includes its own holiday highlights on the editorial page too.

Jeff Anderson’s exciting cover leads to a bit of a damp squib inside, the build up over the weeks to this confrontation led to an anti-climactic one-page fight where Optimus Prime simply tosses Shockwave into a deep swamp. There’s a neat double meaning on the cover though; for a few weeks Shockwave had had Prime’s head separated from his body, so the headline made me chuckle. The Christmas fun kicks off with an early celebratory Robo-Capers by Lew Stringer and a quick Hasbro Q&A for the kids before Santa brought them their latest (or first) Robots in Disguise.

There’s nothing else marking the season until we get to the final pages and that all-important Next Issue Promo with a very jolly-looking, fully costumed Optimus promoting the very first Transformers Christmas strip. Plus the return of Circuit Breaker! PLUS the Iron Man of 2020! Then there’s Prime dressed up as Santa Claus! What’s not to look forward to?

When I read this as part of the blog’s real time read through over on Instagram this promo really had me hyped as it took me right back to discovering the comic myself as a kid via this story, albeit a few years later in a Winter Special reprint. Even Prime’s choice of costume, while seemingly silly to begin with, adds a surprising amount of depth to the character. I’ll explain all next week.

But that’s not all this year. There’s something else coming this Christmas as part of these special anniversary reviews, namely the first Transformers Annual. Not appearing until the comic’s second festive season, the exciting arrival of the comic’s first annual was met with zero advertisements and only one mention in #37’s editorial at the end of November.

Soundwave was the letter answerer at the time and he’d written the announcement for the book, sounding suitably unimpressed. For fans though, the introduction of the Insecticons and just the news of the book existing would’ve been more than enough! Although I’m sure they’d have known about it long before then. With the way our newsagents would’ve had tables or shelves crammed with annuals every year, the lack of promos wouldn’t have had much of an impact on such a hit property. You can actually check out the adverts for all of the Transformers annuals in a special post from earlier this holiday season.

That’s us ready for Christmas 1985 in the world of The Transformers. So #41 will be right here in just seven days on Sunday 21st December 2025, my 48th birthday! (It originally went on sale on my 8th. Eek!) Then just four days later on Christmas Day itself the first in-depth review of a classic Transformers Annual. Don’t miss either. They’re both fantastic!

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Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 20

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SATURDAY 10th DECEMBER 1988

Bambos Georgiou brought us his first full cover for this week’s The Real Ghostbusters. He’d taken over from Lew Stringer on the Blimey! It’s Slimer strip but I’d forgotten all about his other contributions to the comic. Across the way Art Wetherell and Stephen Baskerville brought us the latest Transformers and Action Force cover with the trademark Marvel UK stippled background they used so much across their range at the time.

Inside, Bambos’ humour strip had grown to a full page as the green glob’s popularity continued to soar. Through this comic, Marvel Bumper Comic, It’s Wicked and his own monthly he soon became something of a mascot for the publisher, despite not being their property. This is one of those unique issues when the strips and prose story form part of a larger tale. Despite the somewhat simplistic cover, it’s also one of the better issues from the early days of the run.

There’s more travelling back to an adventure from a millennia ago to add previously unknown backstory to Optimus Prime and Megatron in their main strip this week, and ol’ Megs finally gets his own A-Z page to mark the occasion. Elsewhere, a Transformers torch is advertised. It doesn’t actually transform, unless you count it alternating between being lit up and not being lit up as a transformation! What else was on the menu this week?

Apart from what we’ve already covered above and in last week’s checklist the only other entry is the latest issue of the now-fortnightly Thundercats. The previously epic-sounding storylines we’d read about in the checklists seem to have been permanently replaced by ones with somewhat lesser stakes for the characters.

Last week the Marvel Bumper Comic advert hinted at content relating to two recent cinema releases, namely Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Willow. Fans of the latter had more to celebrate this week with the news of a full comics adaptation of the new movie starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis and the brilliant Jean Marsh.

Believe it or not I’ve never seen the film! It’s one of those childhood fantasy movies I always felt I’d missed out on and in recent years I’ve been correcting that (I saw Labyrinth fully for the first time just two years ago) and having seen enough clips of Willow when I was a child, and with such a stellar cast, it’s about time I added it to my Christmastime movie marathons. No, it’s not a festive film but it’s the perfect time of year for such childhood movies, isn’t it?

There’s no checklist next week but don’t fret, it’ll be back just in time for us to reminisce about those special Christmas issues we always looked forward to so much. But first, next week there’ll be another fun one-page strip advert, this time for one of the main comics from this checklist series and it’s a good one. So be here for that in seven days. That’s just enough time for you to get through your third packet of mince pies.

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WEEK 19 < > WEEK 21

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THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 19

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SATURDAY 3rd DECEMBER 1988

As more and more houses on our streets put their decorations up and the ice over the railway bridge made walking to school an adventure, Marvel UK kept my friends and I warm with the latest issues of The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers and Action Force, with covers drawn by Dougie Braithwaite with Dave Hine, and Stephen Baskerville respectively.

In #195 of Transformers it comes to light that centuries ago two Autobot cassettes (how 80s) crash landed on Earth with important data about an incoming threat. They were found by a pirate ship’s crew which later sank and that’s why the Decepticons have now built their tropical island (their disguised space craft) in this area as they hunt for the cassettes. This feels like a live-action movie plot, flashing back in time to add a previously unknown plot line. It’s great fun!

A reader also asks is he’s too old to read Transformers, Action Force, Death’s Head and Dragon’s Claws. Little could that 18-year-old have known how these comics would remain treasured for decades. The Real Ghostbusters’ readers are asked to help them save the world with a toy product recall (too much lead in a Ghost Pen Light) and Spengler’s Spirit Guide details lesser known vampires such as Dracula’s gullible brother who was killed with Perrier. How could Marvel top that? Let’s check the checklist.

Dragon’s Claws #7 is probably my favourite issue. It definitely highlights my favourite character. Mercy had the most interesting background of all the Claws with a determination to end corruption and bring down those who think they’re above the law (very ‘Knight Rider‘). Having a copycat on the loose is a great way of getting to know Mercy’s character, and this issue more than any makes me mourn the premature cancellation of the comic; there’s so much potential in Mercy and this only scratches the surface.

Action Force Monthly #7 is the same issue as last week and the Claws needn’t have felt too put out not being the ‘Don’t Miss’ comic, they’re the stars of that one too! After a certain mechanoid guest starred in Dragon’s Claws two months previous it was time for them to return the favour (and hopefully bring across more readers) for Death’s Head’s sophomore release. It’s a brilliant issue and reads like a funny buddy cop movie from the 80s. So yes, it deserved its position on the checklist.

The only new comics advert this week is rather basic but the cover to the latest fortnightly Marvel Bumper Comic was enough to whet the appetite. Did these movies have strips inside or written articles? Maybe we’ll find out at a later stage on the blog? Hopefully, because I’d love to collect this series eventually. I do remember owning a Bros. special from Marvel UK (for some reason) and it contained comic strips. Bad comic strips, mind you.

Did you collect The Marvel Bumper Comic? I think I only ever had the Holiday Special which started it all off. Do you think it’s worth collecting? For now though, it is but a pipe dream. However, we’re now well and truly into this year’s seasonal posts on the blog so there’s plenty to keep me busy and my wandering hands away from overpriced eBay auctions. More checklist fun next week including an advert for a movie adaptation to one of the above. More in seven days as per usual.

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WEEK 18 < > WEEK 20

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THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 18

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SATURDAY 26th NOVEMBER 1988

The decorations are up and Christmas on the OiNK Blog has well and truly begun, and part of the season’s line up is no less than half a dozen Mighty Marvel UK Checklists, including one full of seasonal joy. First up though, fun stories and a… um, summer holiday.

In The Transformers and Action Force, Club Con begins. It’s another much-mocked storyline but again I found it fun and imaginative. The Decepticons have built a tropical island on top of their submerged base and they end up blasting into space with Buster Witwicky on board. This was the first time I’d seen the Seacons on this Bob Budiansky and Kevin Nowlan US cover and as a lover of everything aquatic I thought they were brilliant, even if the squid one did look daft in hindsight.

Anthony Williams and Dave Harwood provide the cover to The Real Ghostbusters and, talking of imaginative, the stories include Janine and Egon on a date and Janine’s pissed off voice shouting in frustration at a ghost actually busts it, and then we find out Slimer pretends to haunt somewhere for his friends when jobs and income are rare! What else did Marvel UK conjur up for us this week 37 years ago?

The Captain Britain trade paperback may have been on sale for a couple of weeks already but that didn’t stop it from taking the big spot. A bit of a blow to the new comics released this week? Not really, there was a promotional signing coming up at, you guessed it, Nostalgia & Comics. I’ll also assume the new Action Force Monthly would’ve been the one not to miss last week if we’d had a checklist, especially with that collection of talent producing it.

The new-look fortnightly Thundercats seems to have taken a leaf out of The Real Ghostbusters’ book if this issue’s contents is anything to go by. Speaking of comics aimed at slightly younger readers, I’ve commented before about the lack of strip information in the checklists for Flintstones and Friends and the annual’s advert seems to highlight that further. Less a comic book and more an activity book? Well, maybe it kept its readers in bed with their stockings a while longer.

I have to say the adverts for the Action Force annuals always made them look just as exciting as those in the Transformers’ series. Why I never asked for any of these books when I was enjoying the back up strip in Transformers is beyond me. Maybe it’s something I should look into for the blog in the future? I’m really loving the Skybound box set and I’ve wanted to see more of the UK content since reading the few issues of their weekly when they crossed over with the robots. Who knows. This advert definitely has me thinking about it.

We move into December itself next week and there’ll be details of some of Marvel UK’s monthly offerings for the festive season. They may not have had snow on their logos but that didn’t mean they weren’t just as special. See you then.

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WEEK 17 < > WEEK 19

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