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Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 25

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SATURDAY 14th JANUARY 1989

The first post-holidays issue of The Real Ghostbusters (with cover by Brian Williamson and Dave Harwood) and the first post-200th Transformers and Action Force (with its cover by Dougie Braithwaite and Dave again) were ready to welcome me to Saturday after the first full week of the new school term back in 1989.

The Real Ghostbusters image looks more like a new range of Action Force figures rather than our New York firehouse residents, and for once it refers to a strip inside rather than the prose story. Also inside, Ozbusters isn’t a tale set Down Under, it’s about Egon’s haunted dream in which he’s the tin man, Winston’s the scarecrow and Ray’s the cowardly lion. Can’t fault the imagination in that comic.

Part Three of Transformers’ epic Time Wars may have some printing errors across its pages resulting in some strange colours but that doesn’t blunt its impact one iota, although it’s almost upstaged by Larry Hama’s incredible Hush Job strip in the back up spot, which may have no dialogue but has plenty of drama! Both of my comics were absolute winners this week but what else did Marvel UK have to offer us? Let’s check the checklist.

Thundercats sounds like a regular issue, the likes of which fans enjoyed for most of its run, until that “games and fun” bit at least. The comic’s relaunch for a younger audience was probably inspired by the success of The Real Ghostbusters, even if Marvel’s top-seller didn’t have to rely on such gimmicks. Some of the best issues of Death’s Head and Dragon’s Claws were covered last week, leaving only our ‘Don’t Miss’ comic.

Action Force Monthly lasted 16 issues, so technically longer than the weekly time-wise, and it and its weekly always sounded great. Especially now that I’m reading the G.I. Joe originals I must make it my mission to get caught up with all of the UK stories too. Finally, our only new comic advertisement this week can’t make its mind up whether it even is a comic!

I was never a fan of the Betty Boop cartoons growing up, but many were and I remember she was always on the telly, her merchandise seemed popular and of course she popped up in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. It’s strange to find out there were only two new cartoon specials in the 80s and the rest were reruns. She’s even had a Broadway musical which only closed in 2025!

I don’t remember this comic/card combo at all, I didn’t even recall the adverts when reading these comics again all these years later. Do you remember Betty’s Valentine special? Did you perhaps receive it from a secret admirer? Or send it to one? As usual, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or on socials, the links to which are just below.

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Bluesky
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TRANSFORMERS 201 (Instagram)

DEATH’S HEAD 3

DRAGON’S CLAWS 8

WEEK 24 < > WEEK 26

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Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 24

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SATURDAY 7th JANUARY 1989

It didn’t really matter what was on the cover of The Real Ghostbusters this week, did it? Your attentions were always going to be drawn to Transformers, which has lost the “The” permanently and Action Force temporarily for the week to make way for the celebrations.

Lee Sullivan’s gorgeous wraparound cover poster deserves a photo all of its own and you can check it out at the link at the bottom of this post as per usual. This was my first milestone issue as a kid and boy did it make an impact! Time Wars really picked up the pace and looked incredible thanks to Robin Smith’s art, the extras were great fun and the highlight in that free booklet surprisingly wasn’t the info on the Transformers for new readers, it was the self portraits of the comic’s artists. Definitely check them out below too!

What a way to start 1989, eh? Not that the Ghostbusters team were resting on their laurels. Phil Elliott and none other than Cam Smith provided the cover of another all matte paper finish for a lovely weighty feel in the hands, Spengler’s Spirit Guide to monsters included The Big Gurgler, The Wigglesbro’ Wyrm and The Not-really-quite-nasty-enough-monster of Chatham, and in a story set on Wall Street the team met a ghost who was the embodiment of greed. The prose story was a Winston’s Diary entry, not ‘Jaws of the Beast‘ (below) which was the name of Nick Abadzis’ story in the recent annual.

Of course Transformers was always going to be the must-buy comic of the week and it more than deserved the accolade. Captain Britain was hanging on in there too and I’ve had so many people sing its praises to me on socials these past few months I might track a copy down someday. Almost as exciting as the 200th edition of one of their comics, the first week of the month (and of the year) brought brand new issues of two certain Marvel UK monthlies too.

The dystopian nature of the shared Death’s Head/Dragon’s Claws future came to the fore in our Freelance Peacekeeping Agent’s third issue with some great depictions of the Los Angeles of the year 8162. This was also one of the funniest issues in his whole run and in Dragon’s Claws little did we know we were two months from the end. The scope of the story was so big, the pace so frantic and the shocks so… shocking, that with hindsight it’s obvious, but at the time readers must’ve been left breathless.

Just the one advert and it’s for another change to Thundercats, albeit a bit late. First the comic was fortnightly, then weekly for the majority of its run, then Galaxy Rangers temporarily merged into it. Upon their departure the comic became fortnightly again with #84 on Saturday 15th October 1988, and that week’s checklist told us the comic was now full of games, puzzles and posters. Sounds like a comic refocusing to aim for a younger audience, doesn’t it? Yet this is the first advert I’ve seen for it in either of these comics.

Well folks, that’s us one checklist into 1989 and you can expect another checklist post every single Wednesday all the way through to Christmas 2026! In fact, the festive checklist of ’89 would end up being the last of the series. Before that we’ve a full year of reminiscing and of feeling old to look forward to. We’re off to a flying start, but what other memorable moments will there be? Let’s find out together. See you in seven.

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Bluesky
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TRANSFORMERS 200 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS 200 GiFT (Instagram)

DEATH’S HEAD 3

DRAGON’S CLAWS 8

WEEK 23 < > WEEK 25

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Christmas, Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 23

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NEW YEAR’S EVE 1988

It feels fitting that this is our last comics post of the year. I’ll have a New Year’s message later with news of the blog and more in 2026, but as for comics the final issues of The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers and Action Force are it, their official release date being this day way back in 1988.

Brian Williamson and Dave Harwood’s Slimer fronted a celebratory issue, New Years being something none of my other non-humour comics celebrated. But the Ghostbusters were based in New York where the ball drops, they couldn’t miss out on this. Best of all though, the results of a readers’ poll was presented in strip form with the team attending a dinner alongside the Marvel UK writers and artists in attendance. It’s genius stuff!

But it’s Art Wetherell and Dave’s Galvatron cover that’ll have fans reminiscing the most. The Time Wars had begun! This was my first big epic as a kid and it enthralled me for weeks; no one was safe from being killed off, and I do mean anyone. This would also be the last time we’d see that logo before the big change in seven days. More on that below, but first up what else did Marvel UK wrap up the year with?

Action Force Monthly #8 and Death’s Head #2 continued to entertain through the school holidays. What, you mean you only read your comics once and not multiple times between issues? I’m surprised The Real Ghostbusters isn’t the ‘Don’t Miss’ title, what with it being the only one celebrating what day it was, but instead Thundercats #90 takes that honour in what seems a rather random choice.

This week’s advert is actually the Next Issue promo from the back inside cover of Transformers, but one glance and you’ll understand why I just had to include it. I always loved it when my comics got a new look and this was a big one. I was still a newbie to the world of Transformers comics and looking at that new logo, coupled with that image and all of the contents to come the following week, I remember this page being a real thrill. I’d jumped on at just the right time!

I would eventually stay with the comic all the way to its conclusion with #332 so this logo became the de facto one for me and the issue was an incredible way to start the new year. Was it “The Ultimate Comic”? Pretty much. Even Lew Stringer’s strips were getting a crossover and hyped on the page.

With that, both 1988 and 2025 come to a close. As I said I’ll be back later on today to sign off for the year properly, then the blog’s first post for 2026 will be the next checklist. There’ll be new issues of the monthlies to find out about and no guesses for which comic would be the hot one to see in 1989.

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TRANSFORMERS 199 (Instagram)

DEATH’S HEAD 2

WEEK 22 < > WEEK 24

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Christmas, Comic Promos, Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 22

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CHRiSTMAS EVE 1988

I know, these comics and thus this checklist would’ve been released a few days earlier due to Christmas publishing deadlines and shops actually giving staff time off back then. But we’ve no way of knowing the exact date The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers and Action Force would’ve hit the shelves so I’m sticking with the official date. It’s Christmas Eve!

I always loved snow on the logo of my comics, didn’t you? This was my first Christmas issue of Transformers and as luck would have it the only one with a snowy logo. As an added bonus Slapdash is on Andrew Wildman’s cover; the blue and yellow F1 car was amongst my first Transformers toys that season. After discovering the comic for myself with the festive Winter Special, getting the classic Cold Comfort and Joy tale so soon into my collection was a thrill. As was the news of what was to begin next week! (You’ll find out soon.)

The Real Ghostbusters always went all-out for the season (they’d have a celebratory New Year’s issue every year too) and this was the first of four such years. Behind Martin Griffiths’ cover Peter goes all ‘Fred Claus’ after busting Santa, Spengler’s Spirit Guide is a transcribed dictaphone recording because Egon was too busy with festivities to write it, so it contains loads of funny interactions and things going on in the background the recording picked up, and Stay Puft finally got his own fact-file. Were there other comics worthy of gift wrapping?

Death’s Head 2 and Dragon’s Claws 7 had already been out a few weeks and weren’t themed but they’re two of the best issues of their respective runs, so still special. Action Force may also have been monthly by now but it did mark the occasion with its main story, the return of fan favourite features and, yes, snow on a chilly, blue-coloured logo. Can’t deny Marvel UK had quite the selection for the holidays. Any child would’ve been happy with all of these in their stocking.

There are no new comic adverts per se this week, but I do have something rather unique for you, even if it was technically very late to be running a Christmas competition (the prizes wouldn’t arrive until the new year and most of the readers who’d want Marvel UK annuals would most likely have asked Santa for them). But that didn’t stop Transformers from running a contest to win a set of the three books their readers would have coveted the most.

Both the Transformers and Visionaries annuals from 1988 were superb and I have no doubt in my mind the Action Force one would’ve followed suit, so as a prize I can’t fault this. It’s the question which I find simply hilarious, dressing up characters as Santa and asking readers to identify them. Very simple to regular readers and as a new reader at the time I appreciated the fact they used characters from The Transformers: The Movie, probably so as everyone could enter.

Christmas editions of our favourite comics always helped build the hype so I hope this little glimpse back has you equally excited for what may come for you tomorrow. The Mighty Marvel Checklist will return on New Year’s Day with the biggest news imaginable for one of our comics above.

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TRANSFORMERS 198 (Instagram)

THE TRANSFORMERS AT CHRISTMAS

DRAGON’S CLAWS 7

DEATH’S HEAD 2

TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 4 (Instagram)

ViSiONARiES ANNUAL

WEEK 21 < > WEEK 23

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CHRiSTMAS 2025

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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Bluesky
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TRANSFORMERS 197 (Instagram)

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS RETROSPECTiVE

THE TRANSFORMERS AT CHRISTMAS

WEEK 20 < > WEEK 22

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