Category Archives: Transformers

Comic Reviews, Transformers

TRANSFORMERS G1 iN REAL TiME (iNSTAGRAM READ THROUGH)

1 Comment

This site may be named after OiNK but my complete collection of Marvel UK’s epic Transformers is my pride and joy. Back in 2017 I wanted to do something with the comic for the original blog but two things stopped me. Firstly, reviewing a weekly comic for seven years was too daunting at the time (I was just starting out) and secondly, the stories had already been covered in depth all over the internet.

I landed upon the idea of a photographic journey through the series instead, as a way for former UK readers to reminisce and relive treasured memories, and to show the physical comics to those in the UK and elsewhere who had read the stories in book form but had never seen the original covers, the back up strips, fact-files, letters pages, special features, competitions and even the contemporary adverts.

The perfect place for such a journey was Instagram. So for seven years I read Transformers in real time, taking a handful of photographs of each issue and posting them up on the original release dates. When it all ended in January 2024 I realised that if I gave blog readers links to the posts, Instagram doesn’t let users navigate between them when accessed from an external link like that. Damn.

No one was going to scroll back over seven years of social media posts just to check them out, and the more time passed the more out of reach that mammoth project would become.

Well, to mark the comic’s 40th anniversary I’ve come up with a solution.

TRANSFORMERS G1

I’ve gone back over all 375 Instagram posts I made during that read through and added two hashtags to each and every one so that you can locate any issue you want, in any order. You can check out your favourites or go right back to the beginning and see the whole lot in order. It’s taken me over a month to do this and they’re now ready for you to check out any time you wish.

When I began the read through the blog didn’t have its own social media accounts so it started on my personal one. I also only owned a handful of issues from the first year of fortnightly comics. However, by Transformers’ 35th anniversary I’d been able to buy all of that first year and finally covered all those issues. Confused? You don’t need to be, just use the hashtags below and you’ll get them all in their proper reading order from issue 1 to issue 332.

The early posts on my own account have a few photos and a write up with some basic details. As the series progressed on to the OiNK Blog’s account however (issue 71 onwards), I was taking more photos and writing more and more information in the captions, including full art credits.

HOW IT WORKS

Every single post contains the hashtag #OiNKTransformers and Instagram will throw them up in random order when you search it. However, I’ve also included an individual identifying hashtag to each and every post, eg. #OiNKTransformers192. Listed below are the groups of hashtags you can use, beginning with the regular issues and then all of the special editions released during the run.

If you’d like to read the entire collection in the correct order, with each of the special editions and personal posts slotted into the correct reading order amongst the regular comics, further below you’ll see the full ‘Reading Order’ to follow.

(Please note all hashtags work with all lower or upper case too, they’re presented here as they are for ease of reading.)

REGULAR iSSUES (332)
#OiNKTransformers1
to #OiNKTransformers332
Issue 192 has two additional posts:
#OiNKTransformers192a
and #OiNKTransformers192b

ANNUALS (7)
#OiNKTransformersAnn1
to #OiNKTransformersAnn7
The fifth annual has an additional post:
#OiNKTransformersAnn5Answers

COLLECTED COMICS (19)
#OiNKTransformersCC1
to #OiNKTransformersCC19
Collection Comics 11 has two additional posts:
#OiNKTransformersCC11a
and #OiNKTransformersCC11b

COMPLETE WORKS HARDBACK BOOKS (2)
#OiNKTransformersCW1
and #OiNKTransformersCW2

TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (2)
#OiNKTransformersMovie1
and #OiNKTransformersMovie2

FREE GIFTS (2 additional posts)
#OiNKTransformers54gift
and #OiNKTransformers200gift

ACTION FORCE CROSSOVER EVENT (4)
#OiNKTransformersAF1
to #OiNKTransformersAF4

INSECTICONS SPECIAL
#OiNKTransformersInsecticons

TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE
#OiNKTransformersUni

MARVEL BOX ANIMATION
#OiNKTransformersBoxes

FINAL COVERS
#OiNKTransformersFinalCovers 

READING ORDER

To read the entire collection in the correct order, alongside each of the following issues you should read the accompanying issue/post:

Alongside #OiNKTransformers22
read #OiNKTransformersCC1

Alongside #OiNKTransformers35
read #OiNKTransformersCC2

Alongside #OiNKTransformers41
read #OiNKTransformersAnn1

Alongside #OiNKTransformers54
read #OiNKTransformers54gift

Alongside #OiNKTransformers56
read #OiNKTransformersCC3

Alongside #OiNKTransformers62
read #OiNKTransformersCW1

Alongside #OiNKTransformers66
read #OiNKTransformersCC4

Alongside #OiNKTransformers90
read #OiNKTransformersMovie1

Alongside #OiNKTransformers93
read #OiNKTransformersAnn2

Alongside #OiNKTransformersAnn2
read #OiNKTransformersInsecticons

Alongside #OiNKTransformers94
read #OiNKTransformersMovie2

Alongside #OiNKTransformers108
read #OiNKTransformersCC5

Alongside #OiNKTransformers108
read #OiNKTransformersCW2

Alongside #OiNKTransformers116
read #OiNKTransformersCC6

Alongside #OiNKTransformers126
read #OiNKTransformersAF1

Alongside #OiNKTransformers127
read #OiNKTransformersAF2

Alongside #OiNKTransformers128
read #OiNKTransformersAF3

Alongside #OiNKTransformers129
read #OiNKTransformersAF4

Alongside #OiNKTransformers136
read #OiNKTransformersCC7

Alongside #OiNKTransformers145
read #OiNKTransformersAnn3

Alongside #OiNKTransformers160
read #OiNKTransformersCC8

Alongside #OiNKTransformers169
read #OiNKTransformersCC9

Alongside #OiNKTransformers176
read #OiNKTransformersCC10

Alongside #OiNKTransformers189
read #OiNKTransformersCC11

After #OiNKTransformers192 read:
#OiNKTransformersCC11a/192a (same post),
#OiNKTransformersCC11b
and #OiNKTransformers192b 

Alongside #OiNKTransformers198
read #OiNKTransformersUni

Also alongside #OiNKTransformers198
read #OiNKTransformersAnn4

Alongside #OiNKTransformers200
read #OiNKTransformers200gift

Alongside #OiNKTransformers220
read #OiNKTransformersCC12

Alongside #OiNKTransformers227
read #OiNKTransformersCC13

Alongside #OiNKTransformers241
read #OiNKTransformersCC14

Alongside #OiNKTransformers250
read #OiNKTransformersAnn5

Alongside #OiNKTransformersAnn5
read #OiNKTransformersAnn5Answers

Alongside #OiNKTransformers256
read #OiNKTransformersCC15

Alongside #OiNKTransformers271
read #OiNKTransformersCC16

Alongside #OiNKTransformers279
read #OiNKTransformersCC17

Alongside #OiNKTransformers285
read #OiNKTransformersBoxes

Alongside #OiNKTransformers302
read #OiNKTransformersAnn6

Alongside #OiNKTransformers313
read #OiNKTransformersCC18

Alongside #OiNKTransformers327
read #OiNKTransformersCC19

Alongside #OiNKTransformers331
read #OiNKTransformersAnn7

Alongside #OiNKTransformers332
read #OiNKTransformersFinalCovers

I hope you enjoy reliving (or even discovering for the first time) this incredible Transformers series from Marvel UK. Currently elsewhere on the blog the US Transformers Generation 2 series is enjoying its own real time read through and from this Christmas there’ll be a new yearly series of posts about this original G1 series. There’ll be much more from the Robots in Disguise over the years to come, so keep it tuned to the OiNK Blog.

EXTRA POST

After reading the entire G1 series in real time I gathered
my thoughts and looked to the future in this post

MAiN TRANSFORMERS MENU

Transformers

TRANSFORMERS: WHAT’S NEXT? LOTS!

Leave a comment

I’ve just completed an epic real time read through of a mammoth comic series over on the blog’s Instagram, so what’s next?

First, let me tell you a story from about 12 years ago. I discovered hit television show NCIS through a crossover episode between Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: Los Angeles. I was immediately hooked and wanted to go back to the beginning, the very beginning of the show NCIS itself spun off from originally, Jag, about Navy lawyers. I remembered watching some of it with my parents in the 90s and, created by Airwolf’s Donald P. Bellisario I’d enjoyed it. So I started there.

One season of Jag ended with a helluva cliffhanger when a main character stood on a landmine and had their leg blown off! I had the next season on DVD already and immediately binged all 22 episodes in two weeks. In that fortnight the character had gone through physical and mental anguish, rehabilitation and was walking on a prosthetic. That was quick, I thought! It felt anti-climactic. But that wasn’t Jag’s fault, it was mine.

That storyline was meant to last about nine months, not half of one. I’d completely ruined the drama of this character’s arc. I swore I’d never binge to that level again. Several years later, having started the original OiNK blog site and already reading that comic in real time, I decided I wanted to do something with Marvel UK’s Transformers, a comic I’d binged all of in about six months around ten years previous (before the Jag incident). Knowing how that Jag arc had felt, how would reading Transformers in real time over seven-and-a-half years differ to bingeing? 

Reading OiNK in real time is one thing, but here was a comic with great character arcs, epic storylines and its fair share of cliffhangers, and I relished the challenge of using all my will power to not jump ahead in what was a massive read through! The UK version of Transformers had a whopping 332 issues and (during its run) 19 specials, seven annuals and a variety of other books. The word “epic” can be overused in comics, but it’s the right one to use here and reading it one issue per week just heightened that to a completely new level. Every Thursday I became a kid again, eagerly anticipating the next issue.

Why did I do this on Instagram instead of the blog? When I began I thought the stories were so well known that I wouldn’t be bringing much new to the table. However, showing off every UK issue, including covers, back up stories, letters pages, Lew Stringer strips, features, adverts and more could be a unique angle not covered before, especially for international fans. Instagram was the perfect outlet for doing a photographic journey through my collection rather than in-depth reviews.

My decision proved successful and my Transformers posts became the blog’s most popular on Instagram for seven years, and you can now check it all out in whatever order you wish via a special blog post. But what’s next for the Cybertronians on the OiNK Blog? I’ve adored every single second of this read through and the thought of not covering them doesn’t bear thinking about. First up though is Transformers: Generation 2, the short sequel series also written by Simon Furman. I’ve never read it but recently completed the collection. This is the American original I’m talking about, a first for the blog.

In the UK it was actually Fleetway (OiNK’s second publisher) who acquired the rights for Generation 2 but their monthly only lasted five months. (For me at the time it only lasted one!) They’re very hard to come by for a decent price these days so I’m going to cover the full story in its original form first and do the UK version later. In the US it also began life in G.I. Joe so for this fan of the Joes it’s going to be exciting getting reacquainted with their original comic after it was unceremoniously dumped from later issues of the UK’s Transformers.

Watch out for that in a few months here on the blog, but what about Generation 1? I could say it’s been covered already and it’s time to move on, but a key design flaw with Instagram has me thinking otherwise. My original plan for this post had been to reminisce over the past seven years and give you links to key issues so you could work your way through it all if you so desired. But when I link to an individual Instagram post there isn’t any way to navigate beyond it, which is a strange thing indeed. So unless you wanted to scroll back over seven years’ worth of Instagram posts you’d only see the issues I linked to.

As a result, and given the nature of social media, in a few months anyone visiting the account wouldn’t even know I’d covered the comic! So yes, I do want to review the collection I’m most proud of in a more in-depth, permanent fashion here on the blog. But not yet. For two reasons. The first being that I’ve just finished it. I want to have a lengthy break again so that it feels fresh and it can surprise me once more; my ageing memory and the sheer amount of them will both help.

The other reason is it’ll require a huge amount of my time and over the next four or five years there are a range of other comics I wish to cover first. Yes, I do plan very far ahead! If I was to start many years’ worth of in-depth weekly Transformers reviews before then I’d have to cut back on the others. That’s not something I want to do just yet. But all is not lost. To bridge the gap between now and being able to dedicate the time needed to one of the greatest comics ever created, I’ll be doing something special every Christmas.

You all know I love my Christmas comics and the annuals we received from Santa Claus as kids, and Transformers did a particularly great job of both every year. From 2024 onwards each of these festive issues and hardback books will be celebrating their 40th anniversaries and it felt like a waste not to do something on the blog. So I’ll be celebrating those festive editions and books every holiday season for the next eight years! More on that much, much later in the year.

Plenty to come from the Robots in Disguise for the foreseeable future then (and hopefully beyond). I’m always receiving comments from people who are shocked when I reach the end of a read through, no matter its length, telling me the time has flown in, so be patient and you’ll not see the time go in either for more Transformers content. Yep, I’m promising much more OiNK Blog content for many years to come. As long as people keep reading it then it’s not going anywhere! I hope you’ll stick around too.

BACK TO THE READ THROUGH

MAiN TRANSFORMERS MENU

Christmas, OiNK Crossovers, Transformers

OiNK/TRANSFORMERS CROSSOVERS?

Leave a comment

“What?!”, I hear you exclaim. “Why didn’t I hear of this before now?” Indeed, a crossover between two comics is always a big deal, but between an action and a humour comic belonging to two different publishers? That’s unheard of. However, this did actually happened. Twice! Well, sort of. Both times were thanks to the same person, Tom Thug’s creator Lew Stringer.

#94 cover by Lee Sullivan
#228 cover by Jeff Anderson

Back in the 80s it seemed like nearly every comic I picked up had a Lew humour strip inside. Whether in funny comics themselves or in the likes of Transformers, Action Force (G.I. Joe), Marvel Secret Wars or early issues of The Real Ghostbusters. In Transformers, Lew’s work first appeared in #15 in April 1995 and he’d end up contributing to every single issue until the very end, #332 in January 1992!

First up was Robo Capers and, while there were some regular characters, for the most part it was made up of random little gags about the future of automation and robotics, a hot topic in the 80s. (Early issues of The Transformers even had news articles about the topic.) While pig pals were enjoying OiNK’s first Hogmanay issue from IPC Magazines at the end of ’86 (#18), Marvel UK‘s The Transformers #94 was hitting shelves. In this issue a suitably New Year-themed strip quite literally rang in 1987 to finish off the issue. Here it is to enjoy, but take your time and savour the little details.

Did you spot him? In the last panel below the big reveal, on top of the letterbox. Have a look. Yep, that’s Satan the Cat, none other than Tom Thug’s little kitty! So does this mean the strip was set in OiNKtown to keep it canon? No, it’s just a daft comic strip, you silly person. You didn’t really expect a full blown crossover with the Robots in Disguise, did you? This is OiNK. You should know better by now.

Lew has shared this post on his own blog and adds, “Making an unofficial guest appearance in the strip is Tom Thug’s cat Satan from IPC’s OiNK comic (sitting on the postbox) and in the corner, it’s Loose Brayne, Brickman himself holding the sign. All part of the Lewniverse! The shop sign refers to Marvel editors Richard Starkings and John Tomlinson who sometimes did the colour separations for the strip. (All of my Marvel strips were coloured by the staff.) I’ve forgotten who ‘Hindmarsh’ was, so apologies for that.”

No less than two OiNK guest stars hidden away within the pages of another publisher’s comic

When Action Force was cancelled after 50 weekly issues it merged into Transformers and brought Combat Colin with it, where he stayed right to the finale. In recent years Lew has started to publish collected editions of Colin’s misadventures (look out for reviews of them soon) and they’re just as funny as they ever were, and in a later edition of Transformers and Action Force (#228) there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo from a certain member of Satan’s family.

I must’ve missed him in that second panel at the time (I began collecting Transformers from #192 originally so I never saw Satan) because it was only while reading this epic comic for the blog’s Instagram in real time over more than seven years that I spotted him. I don’t know how I didn’t see him as a kid but as an adult I jumped and pointed at him, laughing at how Lew likes to link together all of his characters with cameos like this.

Well there you go, no less than two OiNK guest stars hidden away within the pages of another publisher’s action comic. I think that would make Uncle Pigg very happy indeed, OiNK’s influence reaching out beyond its own boundaries even after it was gone in the case of Tom, who of course was a regular in Buster by that stage. (Although, our esteemed editor will probably be looking to collect fees for these appearances!)

OiNK COMiC CROSSOVERS MENU

THE ‘MORE OiNK’ MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

CHRiSTMAS 2022

Christmas, Transformers

CHRiSTMAS ON CYBERTRON: TRANSFORMERS

Leave a comment

So you’ve opened all your presents, eaten your own weight in food and want to relax on the sofa with a good book this Christmas season. The holidays aren’t over yet and this week, which some refer to as ‘Void Week’ when we lose track of what day it even is, was always the time I’d start getting stuck into my annuals when I was a kid. You can carry on this fine tradition, not only here on the blog itself with the review of The OiNK! Book 1988 but also on Instagram where the real time read through of Marvel UK‘s Transformers has reached its seventh (yes, seventh) Christmas!

Cover by Stewart Johnson

This post is just to let everyone know of that other read through, one that’s been carrying on since the days of the original blog. For over six years I’ve been reading this wonderful comic in real time, never reading ahead, always waiting for each Thursday to roll around (the dates corresponding to Saturdays at the time) to read the next chapter in the ongoing saga of the Autobots and the Decepticons, now at over 300 issues! As you’d expect, the issues are a bit extra special this time of the year and sit alongside the hardback book Santa would’ve brought us.

Cover by Geoff Senior

At this stage in its life the comic really is the best its ever been in my honest opinion, and from memory this final year (the read through will come to an end in January 2024) has some of the best stories, the most incredible art, the greatest characters and the biggest epics imaginable. It goes fortnightly soon which will make the wait between issues even more of a test of will power but each one will be worth the wait, I’m positive of that.

Cover by Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell

So come on over to the OiNK Blog‘s Instagram and follow along for some of the very best comics, licenced or otherwise, I’ve ever read! The Christmas and New Year issues and the annual from 1990 are the latest additions. The covers alone these next 12 months are worth the price of admission (which is nothing). The profile is public so if you don’t have an Instagram account and don’t want to sign up you won’t have to, just bookmark this page: https://www.instagram.com/oink_blog/

CHRiSTMAS 2022 POSTS