Category Archives: Mighty Marvel Checklists

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 15

SATURDAY 5th NOVEMBER 1988

I always enjoyed stories with Janine Melnitz at the centre of them in Marvel UK’s The Real Ghostbusters, but as much as Brian Williamson’s and Cam Smith’s cover excited me when I picked it up from the newsagent as a kid, right now that Art Wetherell and Stephen Baskerville cover to The Transformers and Action Force is the business!

Skullgrin battling his outer Pretender shell? What’s not to enjoy here? A much maligned story by fans took things up a notch and even included the return of my favourite human character (as in, the one I loved to hate), Circuit Breaker. This was also the final issue before I originally became a reader. What an issue to miss out on. Well, that’s been rectified now, that’s what counts. But it wasn’t like The Real Ghostbusters were slacking for ten-year-old me this week.

For the only time in all of Ghostbusters mythos we got the origin story of Slimer thanks to some time travelling on Peter’s part. It seems the green spud was a food-loving (surprise, surprise) King who beheaded jesters who didn’t make him laugh. Although, Egon does say this is only one of his past incarnations, just in case the cartoon ever had their own version (they never did). There’s also a very Fleetway-like strip that sees a baby ghost transmogrifying the team into toddlers, drawn by John Geering no less.

But the big news this week was clear for all to see. The first of many yellow boxes pointing out the big comic for the week was given to the premiere issue of Death’s Head, of course. It was a superb debut, full of action and plenty of comedy. I have a distinct memory of this issue and reading it in bed while off sick from school, such was the impact it made even my greying memory cells remember that. But he wasn’t the only highlight this week 37 years ago.

Action Force had returned to The Transformers and #6 of their own comic was “still on sale” (a space to fill on the checklist?) and I never knew the UK comic had their own exclusive prequel to the cartoon movie. I must check that out sometime. There was also plenty of drama in Dragon’s Claws #6 for Tanya (Dragon’s wife) and Mercy, so it’s unforgivable neither of these brilliant female characters got any mention in the checklist.

As you can see Death’s Head had certainly arrived! The front cover to his first issue made for the perfect advert across much of the publisher’s range and Transformers even ran a little extra half-page featurette. However, judging by the introduction the advert was probably meant to have been the strip version, a brilliant one-page tale you’ll see soon in this series.

Finally, celebrating 25 years of Doctor Who? The series I watched the 60th anniversary specials of a couple of years ago? Oh man, talk about feeling old! I do love writing this blog. I know it’s dedicated to classic comics, but ho boy there can be times when it suddenly hits me just how much time has passed. The fact it’s a Doctor Who advert that’s the culprit this time is not lost on me. I think I need a lie down. See you next week!

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TRANSFORMERS 191 (Instagram)

DEATH’S HEAD 1

DRAGON’S CLAWS 6

WEEK 14 < > WEEK 16

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 14

SATURDAY 29th OCTOBER 1988

Neither The Transformers and Visionaries nor The Real Ghostbusters marked the spooky season in 1988. Well, the Ghostbusters no more than every other week. Martin Griffiths’ cover for the latter sees the introduction of that rare thing for that comic, a returning villain. While Stephen Baskerville’s cover to Transformers marks the arrival of a story often mocked by fans online, unfairly in my eyes.

Giant sentient robotic aliens from outer space that can transform into Earth vehicles and weaponry. And now, some could also wrap themselves up inside a monstrous outer shell for… disguise? Some fans saw a story where a Decepticon Pretender monster became a Hollywood star (taking the place of a special effect) as silly. Really? Have you read the premise of the comic and the Pretenders? Lighten up and stop taking things so seriously, it’s actually a fun story and I became somewhat fond of the lumbering Skullgrin.

Elsewhere in the issue Visionaries comes to an emotional (for me) end on a cliffhanger, which you can check out in the full review at the link at the bottom of this post. But topping that is the cliffhanger to Combat Colin: “Next week: Mrs. Frumpy vs. The Robot Penguin!!” Meanwhile in The Real Ghostbusters, that aforementioned villain is Ponquadragor, a being that’s been hunting Egon ever since he was a child. A demonic force who’d eventually become a semi-regular visitor and a pal of the team!

What else did comic fans have to choose from this week?

Not much apparently, with Dragon’s Claws #5 from week 11 making a reappearance on the checklist, although it was an important issue with a certain new comic set to be launched any time now. You can check out this fantastic issue in its own OiNK Blog review, link below. Then, the entry for the now-fortnightly Thundercats reminded us that the hyped merge between it and Galaxy Rangers was already over.

On to our adverts and Fred Flintstone et all were very happy about their new larger comic. In reality it had been printed on smaller paper up to this point and was now going to be the same size as the rest of Marvel UK’s output, probably to save on pricing costs rather than anything else. It was kind of like the comics version of “Better Recipe” on confectionary; better for the company’s bottom line.

I’ll admit I’ve never read Captain Britain. Growing up in Northern Ireland in the 80s and 90s, by the time I was a teenager and the target audience the UK’s flag had other connotations that some friends of mine saw as the opposite of heroic. They never said anything against Captain Britain, but my own mind seemed to want to stay away from it for that reason when I’d see his graphic novels advertised in the 90s.

As an adult though, reading this advert it sounds like a fun premise, and one that I clearly and unfairly got the wrong impression of all those decades ago. It’s certainly got a great creative team. On that note we come to the end of this week’s trip back in time with Marvel UK. It’s great to see so many of you enjoying these on socials, long may that continue (because the series is going to continue for a long time whether you like it or not).

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TRANSFORMERS 190 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

DRAGON’S CLAWS 5

WEEK 13 < > WEEK 15

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 13

SATURDAY 22nd OCTOBER 1988

The Real Ghostbusters tied themselves in with the free drinks offer most Marvel UK comics ran this month in 1988, the cover drawn by Martin Griffiths and in The Transformers and Visionaries Jeff Anderson’s cover foretold of dark stories to come. Exciting times! Welcome to the next Mighty Marvel UK Checklist!

Inside this edition of The Real Ghostbusters is the only place (comics or cartoon) you’ll find any kind of official origin story for their pet ghost, Slimer as we find out who he was in life. As we approach spooky season Spengler’s Spirit Guide tries to explain the origins of Halloween and how it’s when the separation between dimensions is at its weakest. While it’s very funny it completely ignores the recurring villain from the cartoon, Samhain the Spirit of Halloween. Missed a trick (and treat) there!

In The Transformers the Winter Special Collected Comics 11 is mentioned in the editorial. It was the edition of the comic that would ultimately turn me into a fan and ignite my love of these characters. This is also the issue when Megatron kills the time-travelling Cyclonus 20 years before he’s created, setting in motion the events leading to the epic Time Wars. We even see the very fabric of space begin to tear right at the end of the story here. Oh, and no, you couldn’t win a box of Ready Brek, the prize was a clock radio.

Just the four comics this week, with the latest monthly edition of Action Force tying itself in with the newly released home video of Action Force: The Movie, which famously changed the death of a character to a deep coma after the reaction of kids to Optimus Prime being killed off in The Transformers: The Movie. Also, does the Flintstones and Friends comic have any actual comic content? Judging from the checklists it’s hard to tell.

Last week I mentioned how I might just have to add the Marvel Bumper Comic to the blog’s list of real time read throughs after I found out Count Duckula had joined its ranks. In this week’s comics he also stars in an advert for his own Winter Special. Even though Duckula was a British cartoon it was Marvel US’ imprint Star Comics that produced a strip instead. In his natural home there was no regular comic with original UK content, just imports of the American strips into specials and the Bumper Comic. Surely a missed opportunity, especially given how funny the UK writing team for the Ghostbusters could be.

This blog series really seems to have fired the ol’ memory cells of readers out there because there’s been a great reaction on social media. I post the checklists and adverts there to get the conversations going, but of course you can follow along here instead where you also have access to all of the previous entries in one place. (Just click on the link below to the menu screen.) I’ll be back in seven days with even more. There’s plenty to come!

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TRANSFORMERS 189 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS WiNTER SPECiAL (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

WEEK 12 < > WEEK 14

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 12

SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER 1988

Were you thirsty on the morning of Saturday 15th October 1988? You could’ve grabbed a free can of Tango with your copy of Marvel UK’s The Transformers and Visionaries #188! You could’ve used it to cool yourself off from Jeff Anderson’s hot cover, or after lumping the hefty 19th issue of the publisher’s The Real Ghostbusters all the way home.

There were no extra pages behind Brian Williamson and Dave Elliott’s cover but the whole issue was printed on matte paper that had a lovely look (giving the false impression of the paper really soaking up the solid black inks) and heavier feel to it. Inside, there was a musical strip starring The Ghostie Boys backed up with a look at spiritual musical instruments in Spengler’s Spirit Guide, such as the Nullify Flute which could cancel out all music but offered “no protection against Tiffany”.

Jeff’s cover depicted a scene from Firebug, a one-off story needed for scheduling reasons but which (like most such tales in Transformers) was great. It had an original and honest-to-gosh happy ending that raised a smile, accompanied by a reader on the letters page saying such UK strips were intelligent while the American ones were stupid! Dreadwind scolds him for being harsh, “After all, we do see fit to showcase their stories in our Transformers comic.” How kind. So, what else was up for grabs?

Thundercats (already minus the Galaxy Rangers) changed up a bit, with an emphasis on appealing to younger readers with the extras first, strip second, and the beginning of what seemed like endless frequency changes. So Count Duckula joined the Marvel Bumper Comic? Now that’s yet another reason to add it to the (long) list of potential real time read throughs on the OiNK Blog.

Having now started watching Doctor Who from the (very) beginning I can better appreciate the magazine’s focus on classic tales such as Keys of Marinus here, complete with its scuba gear-wearing ‘aliens’, although an interview with my first ever Doctor would’ve sealed the deal for me anyway. I never realised Alf’s monthly lasted even this long and below is the advert of his I mentioned last week that made us giggle while not actually featuring the titular star.

This was typical of a few of the adverts for his comic which told us nothing about it but did include a surreal joke showcasing the humour we could find inside (I assume). It may sound strange nowadays, but there was no regular Marvel UK comic starring the classic Super Heroes at the time. After Spider-Man and Zoids and before The Incredible Hulk Presents fans had to make do with specials and annuals, such as the one advertised here.

Next week a new addition to the Marvel fold mentioned above gets their own winter special, and I’m aghast I never picked it up! You can find out who I missed out on when their advert appears here in seven days alongside another checklist. Until then, why don’t you let me know if you remember reading any of the issues above by leaving a comment here or on the socials below? G’wan!

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TRANSFORMERS 188 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

WEEK 11 < > WEEK 13

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 11

SATURDAY 8th OCTOBER 1988

It feels like no time at all between each part of this series. The weeks are really flying in. It’s reminding me of how much I loved getting new comics every single week and this week 37 years ago was no exception, with The Real Ghostbusters #18 (cover by Brian Williamson and Dave Hine) waiting patiently at my newsagent’s. For my friends the 187th edition of The Transformers and Visionaries (cover by Andrew Wildman) provided all the entertainment they’d need that morning.

The Ghostbusters met Mother Nature this week in a nice ecological tale before three ghosts appeared in their fire station HQ to play cards with Peter. This strip included a memorable moment when the Grim Reaper said he’d go blind with this next hand… and proceeded to pick his eyes out of his sockets! Meanwhile the gigantic Metroplex made Godzilla look more like that rooster from the Kellogg’s advert as he went on a rampage after being woken up from beneath Autobot City.

There’s also a famous page in Transformers history where a conversation between Ultra Magnus and Soundwave is laid out on the page as a homage to a Batman/Joker scene from The Killing Joke. Batman fans can check it out at the link below. Also, the Visionaries began another excellent story that would be their final new comic strip, ever. An excellent week already for Marvel UK but what else was available? To begin with, Transformers fans would definitely have been making a return visit to the newsagent for what was surely an unmissable issue of Dragon’s Claws.

It was one of the very best of their run and because they were up against that Transformers comics creation, Death’s Head! The full review of that one is in both the Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head real time read throughs on the blog. The Galaxy Rangers story sounds completely bizarre this week, even more bizarre than the millennia-spanning crossover in the pages of Flintstones and Friends, and was the content of the Alf Autumn Special originally intended as a hardback book?

In weeks four and five we saw one-page comic strip adverts for Marvel UK titles, an idea by editor Richard Starkings. The idea was that they could be reused over and over and act as a sample of the kind of strips and art prospective readers would find in their comics. While the Doctor Who Magazine advert below is enjoyable, Richard told me he felt it missed the point of the brief by producing a comical take instead of an example of the magazine’s art. Written by friend of the blog and DWM editor at the time , John Freeman and drawn by Nick Miller, it actually reminds me of a scene in OiNK’s time travel issue when Uncle Pigg comes up against the ‘Butcherleks’ as he introduces the comic to Earth’s inhabitants of the future!

The other advert was a one-off page created by the Transformers comic to promote not only the Cybertronians’ own superb annual but also those of the two cancelled comics that shared the back up strip space (not at the same time). Although, if readers had read the Visionaries comic as stated here they’d have been disappointed with the news the strip was a reprint, especially since it was only a handful of months since its original publication. Despite that, it’s still a favourite annual of mine and a jewel in my collection.

Next week that Alf special gets an advert that made us laugh even though it didn’t involve the titular alien and Thundercats would begin its confusing period of not knowing how often it wanted to appear! Do you remember any of these specific issues released this week way back in time? Did this issue of Dragon’s Claws introduce you to the freelance peace-keeping agent? Did anyone actually build Bedrock?

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TRANSFORMERS 187 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

DRAGON’S CLAWS 5

DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE POSTS #135 & #147

TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL #4 (Instagram)

ViSiONARiES ANNUAL

WEEK TEN < > WEEK TWELVE

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

Oh, and just to be clear, I love that Kellogg’s advert.

THE MiGHTY MARVEL UK CHECKLiST: WEEK TEN

SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER 1988

Welcome back to the tenth week (already?) of The Mighty Marvel Checklist series here on the OiNK Blog. This week’s checklist is taken from The Real Ghostbusters, whose cover by Phil Elliott and Dave Hine doesn’t do justice to the stories inside, especially the strip drawn by Phil! Meanwhile, Andrew Wildman’s image for The Transformers and Visionaries hyped up the main story, only to have this moment reserved for the cliffhanger for next week.

Inside Ghostbusters, the first story isn’t even on the cover and that’s a shame because it’s brilliant. Remember that Looney Tunes cartoon where Daffy is at the mercy of the artist (who turns out to be Bugs)? In this story a ghost begins draining colour from the strip in a similar way in a wonderfully meta story. Then Hell Razor sees Peter chased around the firehouse by his electric razor in one of the comic’s funniest strips of its whole run.

The Transformers comic would’ve been sealed inside a plastic bag this week, what with another Panini sticker album being given away as a free gift. Just three weeks ago the ‘busting team gave theirs away and stickers for it have been popping up in various comics ever since. This time it’s the turn of the currently-MIA Action Force (G.I. Joe). It was definitely the season for playground swaps! What else did we have available to us this week?

Thomas the Tank Engine may have filled the gap of a fifth comic last week, but this time around we’ve just been given a little more information than usual about each title instead. Given how much I loved The Real Ghostbusters it’s a shame I was never a fan of Thundercats because their comic has a great creative team, it’s nearly identical in fact. If only I’d even picked up the issues with the Galaxy Rangers! Oh well.

There’s a smorgasbord of connect in the second Marvel Bumper Comic, yet more stickers and another new story for what many saw as the main stars of this apparently all-reprint title. Although, judging by the description here I think this appeared later in their own comic but was never billed as a reprint. Sneaky.

No new Marvel UK adverts this week but there’ll be two next time and a packed six-comic checklist (so glasses at the ready for a smaller font). In the meantime, as always I’d love to hear from you about your memories of the comics featured every week and if you remember any of these specific issues or stories. Join in the fun on the blog’s Instagram and Facebook and my own Bluesky anytime.

TRANSFORMERS 186 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART ONE

WEEK NiNE < > WEEK ELEVEN

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK NiNE

SATURDAY 24th SEPTEMBER 1988

Another Wednesday in 2025 becomes another Saturday morning in 1988 with Brian Williamson and Dave Harwood’s cover to #16 of The Real Ghostbusters and Andrew Wildman’s cover for #185 of The Transformers and Visionaries for our latest look at Marvel UK’s wares in The Mighty Marvel Checklist.

The Ghostbusters comic would sometimes group stories together into themes and that was true of this edition that really raised the temperature, with Peter and Egon off on a hot bust in Hawaii Fire-Ho! and Ray up against some haunted ice cream. Then Tobin’s spirit, of Tobin’s Spirit Guide fame from the movie and cartoon visits Egon in his Spengler’s Spirit Guide to test readers on everything they’ve learned so far.

In Transformers, Soundwave was leading the Decepticons into battle in Space Pirates so if, like me, you heard the cartoon or movie voices in your head when reading these, his vast amount of speech might’ve taken a while to read! In Visionaries, their magical animal selves provide some great spy drama and humorous moments in equal measure, and the biggest toy ever (to my young eyes when I saw it anyway) was up for grabs for free. Now, last week I said there was a surprise entry in the checklist this week, can you guess which one I meant?

You probably didn’t expect to see Thomas pop up here. While I was ten-years-old at the time I was obsessed with the original books and TV show and, despite this technically being a nursery comic, I still collected it for a couple of years. So it was fun to see it sharing space with these other comics, although I do get the feeling now that the inhabitants of Sodor were being used to fill what might’ve been a bit of blank space this week.

Elsewhere, if I’d realised at the time so many of Marvel’s comics were giving away Real Ghostbusters stickers for my Panini album I’d have been buying more of them. Stickers and something new to read? Yes, please. Although, my parents were probably glad I didn’t know. Who knows what else I’d have wanted to add to my reservation list! Finally for the checklist, it was cartoon crossover time with two properties from the complete opposite ends of time coming together.

This week one new advert for Marvel UK’s publications popped up and it’s yet another for their range of annuals. The Real Ghostbusters’ penchant for short comedy strips saw its book grouped together with more of the light-hearted fare. Count Duckula and Inspector Gadget had Marvel annuals? If I’d paid closer attention at the time I think Santa’s sleigh could’ve been weighed down that year, judging by last week’s and this week’s adverts.

That’s you all caught up for another week. Do you remember any of these specific issues? Did you collect any of the series mentioned? Did you own those Duckula or Gadget annuals? Let me know on the blog’s socials on Bluesky, Instagram or Facebook and I’ll see you back here in seven days.

TRANSFORMERS 185 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART ONE

THOMAS THE TANK ENGiNE & FRiENDS
RETROSPECTiVE

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS ANNUAL 1

WEEK EiGHT < > WEEK TEN

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK EiGHT

SATURDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 1988

On this day back in 1988 the newest issues of The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers and Visionaries sat on newsagent shelves across the UK waiting for excited children like me to run in and grab them. Inside sat the latest Mighty Marvel Checklist, ready to drain parents’ wallets across the land.

Humour comics legend John Geering supplied the cover for the ‘Busters alongside Dave Hine, while the other was provided by the artist responsible to the epic cover to #1 of Transformers, Jerry Paris. Two big competitions this week! We could’ve won a bicycle courtesy of those Frosties reflectors we ALL had on our bike wheels back then (this was also run in Transformers #182, as seen on its cover two week ago) and, possibly even bigger than that, new Optimus Prime toys! It was this second, Power Master version of Prime that I would eventually own.

Dreadwind took over the Transformers letters page too and quickly established himself as the most brilliant, sarcastic responder comics ever had, which lightened things up after the main strip ended this week with a bunch of fan-favourite Autobots strung up, dead or dying! As you can see below, Janine also thought she was receiving equally bad news but the title of the story kind of gives it away before even reading it. It was still a fun tale though. Strangely, there’s no word on the cover or the checklist that this issue had four extra pages, something Marvel UK usually hyped.

The previously advertised Marvel Bumper Comic Holiday Special was now a fortnightly and the checklist makes it clear it was mainly a reprint title, although Marvel did go one better than Fleetway’s Big Comic Fortnightly and provided the occasional new strip, like here in the premiere issue to entice the Ghostbusters fans.

The Flintstones would also appear in it now and again, and in their own comic the cut-out figures and buildings of Build Bedrock was something I bet absolutely no one actually made. Elsewhere, a Geoff Senior cover is always a big deal and I see I’m not alone in thinking that as it gets top billing for the latest issue of Action Force Monthly, while in Thundercats and Galaxy Rangers the name “Shane Gooseman” sounds more like a character from Count Duckula.

Annuals season was in full swing too. Although most of us never got to actually read them until Christmas Day, the months-long advertising just made them all the more coveted. The Real Ghostbusters Annual was the latest to get the full-page treatment and even seeing these few sample pages brings back all the Christmassy feels of receiving it myself that year, reading it wrapped up in bed during that void week between Christmas and New Year.

The selection of action titles was particularly brilliant in 1988, wasn’t it? Personally I received the Transformers and Visionaries books and absolutely loved them! That Visionaries Annual was certainly popular when it appeared on the blog, especially with all you American readers. I’d love to have a nosey at the Galaxy Rangers and Action Force ones. Now that I think about it, I was a big fan of the Action Force back up strips in Transformers so I’ve no idea why I never asked for their annuals and specials!

There’s a surprise guest appearance in the checklist next week, the only time this particular fortnightly appeared in it. I was so happy to see it included at the time but with hindsight I’m thinking they were desperate to fill a gap for the week! What was it? You’ll find out in seven days.

TRANSFORMERS 184 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART ONE

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS ANNUAL 1

TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 4 (Instagram)

ViSiONARiES ANNUAL

WEEK SEVEN < > WEEK NiNE

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK SEVEN

SATURDAY 10th SEPTEMBER 1988

It was all change this week across Marvel UK’s best-sellers as The Real Ghostbusters changed to a weekly format and Transformers and Action Force became… Transformers and Visionaries! It was about time too, seeing as how Visionaries fans had been waiting since July for their adventures to continue.

Andy Wildman’s cover may present what was meant to be a shocking moment in Space Pirates but it was the inclusion of the Knights of the Magical Light and a brand new look to the comic which excited me the most when I read this for its real time read through a few years back. The Real Ghostbusters never changed its look at all over the course of its run, although this issue did stray from the typical multi-story formula.

Instead, an epic (for this comic anyway) tale took over the whole issue with a two-part, 11-page strip drawn by cover artists Andy Lanning and Dave Hine who brought us a superb set of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Even the prose story, Spengler’s Spirit Guide and Lew Stringer’s Blimey It’s Slimer tied into the same story. Unfortunately my Panini sticker album is long gone but I did have fond memories of trying (and ultimately failing) to complete it. There’s also a competition to win a Commodore 64 computer, a machine I’d become obsessed with over three years later!

In Doctor Who Magazine John Freeman hit on a story title that might seem familiar to fans of the show today, Dragon’s Claws had one of their most entertaining adventures from their whole run when they find themselves between warring factions in France and the comic slowly begins to unveil its background story. Then, were we really meant to believe anyone would think Alf was the sexiest alien alive when we’d just had V on TV a few years previous? Come on!

As you can see there was a trilogy of changes on the checklist completed with the merging of the short-lived The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers into the hit Thundercats comic. I don’t think it remained merged for long though before running out of already completed stories for the ranger. The merge was advertised across their range for quite a few weeks with this rather simple advert.

I’m surprised the Galaxy Rangers didn’t merge into Transformers if I’m honest. Space-faring adventures chasing down aliens and mechanoid outlaws with four of the coolest robotic horses sounds like a perfect fit! I’d have lapped them up if that had been the case, but with Visionaries needing a new home too there was only so much back up space to go around. 

Did you collect Thundercats or The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers? What did you make of the merge? Can you remember one of the very best issues of The Real Ghostbusters from its whole 193-issue run? More importantly, did you finish the album? Join in the conversation over on the socials on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook, and I’ll see you back here next week for another checklist and two classic ads.

TRANSFORMERS 183 (Instagram)

TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART ONE

DRAGON’S CLAWS 4

WEEK SiX < > WEEK EiGHT

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU

THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK SiX

This post was due yesterday but
was delayed due to a health issue

SATURDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER 1988

For the last time (for a while anyway) we’ve only one physical comic to pull from this week. This is all set to change in seven days and the reason was advertised in this week’s Transformers and Action Force. But first, what’s behind this ominous Lee Sullivan cover for #182 of Marvel UK’s top seller?

Part one of the epic Space Pirates strip saw the end of the planet Quintesson and Simon Furman neatly tied it in with the abysmal cartoon episode adaptation from a few weeks ago, and the reason Wreck Gar told the fabricated tale (fabricated for the UK story arc anyway) in the first place. There’s also great news for Lew Stringer fans as Combat Colin took up six full pages in this issue! The comic had finished one Action Force story but the next US import wasn’t quite ready yet so a multi-issue strip of Colin and Semi-Automatic Steve from Action Force’s weekly was reprinted.

For the last time for quite a while we’ve no actual checklist. However, for anyone who was collecting both Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters page 23 of this comic contained some amazing news. To reiterate, as a kid I hadn’t started reading Transformers yet, so I never saw the advert below before picking up #14 of Slimer et all’s comic the following week.

Unbelievably, Marvel UK hadn’t hyped this happening in the previous issue of The Real Ghostbusters! We only found out when we went to pick up our latest issue and it proclaimed it was the first weekly issue on the cover, so Transformers readers found out first a whole seven days earlier. At the time, when I eventually saw the advert through a friend’s collection, I thought “ectoplasmic activity” referred to a cut-out Ghostbusters membership card in #1 and the promise of more such stuff which never materialised. Although #14 would contain a cut-out Doomsday Mask there’d be nothing for months after that. Now, I’m thinking it just means the general ghostly vibes.

Okay, so from next week expect Mighty Marvel Checklists in every post and a liberal sprinkling of classic comic ads to boot! If you thought your grey memory cells had been given a workout so far you ain’t seen nothin’ yet (or some other clichéd 80s’ hype slogan if you wish). I’ll be back this day next week, see you then.

TRANSFORMERS 182 (Instagram)

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS RETROSPECTiVE

WEEK FiVE < > WEEK SEVEN

MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST MENU