Marvel UK’s The Real Ghostbusters comic appeared to be celebrating a week late on Brian Williamson’s and Nick Abadzis’ colourful cover on this day back in 1989. Rather simpler in design but probably more eye-catching was Jeff Anderson’s rather shocking cover to Transformers and Action Force (yup, G.I. Joe were back).
The story that stood out the most to me in the former was Culture Shock. Its main set up was Ray inventing something instead of Egon, even though Ray had done so before. But the strip stood out for a couple of other bizarre reasons. The first was the fact the invention was a blatant Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man) rip-off and Ray fights a random terror dog, the beasts from the original movie, with no explanation as to why one just pops up out of nowhere. Odd to say the least.
The UK strip in Transformers is again drawn by Dan Reed and I just love how his art looks in black and white, and this was before he knew they wouldn’t be coloured; when he does the level of detail he produces is second-to-none. The Classic Cover calendar is for May even though the month was about to end, the June one having been printed in error last month. Never fear, Lew Stringer’sCombat Colin was on the case and you can read it at the link at the bottom of this post.
On to the checklist details and Action Force (G.I. Joe) was back in Transformers after we said goodbye to the Visionaries for the final time last week. The Joes would remain with the comic beyond #300. The opening line to The Real Ghostbusters’ description will have that song stuck in your head all day, but other than that it’s an unremarkable checklist, the other three comics being repeats of last week’s entries.
It’s here that I actually take issue with things. Has interest in doing the checklist waned? Was it being phoned in? I said last week how I was surprised the special 50th issue of The Real Ghostbusters wasn’t the ‘Don’t Miss’ title when Action Force Monthly (which had been given the top spot) would be here for four weeks and could’ve been awarded it another time. To add insult to injury, it’s been given the spot again so there was no excuse last time.
Anyway, on with the latest contemporary comics ad.
I never realised there was a Marvel UK Popeye comic, but then again I was never the biggest fan of the cartoons. As a kid I felt the humour was outdated so it just didn’t appeal to me. (OiNK has a lot to answer for.) This advert isn’t exactly the most elaborate they’ve produced, is it? It looks like it’s been thrown together in rather a hurry, in fact. The comic itself wasn’t that popular either, lasting for only eight issues and one winter special before disappearing.
Next week there’s another odd choice made on the checklist as a big event issue of one of their biggest titles doesn’t get the attention it deserves and one of Marvel UK’s top-sellers gets the horrible “another chance to read” treatment. There’s another ad though, and it’s one that I may not remember from my comics but it does take me back to my childhood nonetheless. See you in seven.
Ponquadragor returns on Anthony Williams and Dave Harwood’s cover! If you never collected The Real Ghostbusters this will be lost on you, and let’s face it if you never collected it you were already missing out big time.
In a turn up for the books it’s Transformers and Visionaries that brings us a light-hearted cover this week, courtesy of Jeff Anderson. Inside, the UK strip was now black and white. This saved money obviously, and having two shorter Transformers stories instead of one long one gave the comic the ability to run reprints that wouldn’t take up the whole comic. Together, these enabled Marvel UK to reduce the budget in a harsh comics environment. The story still wasn’t written for the new five-page format yet, but between this and the US strip we got a double dose of Dreadwind and Darkwing to soften the blow, the UK strip a prequel to the American one running at the same time, which was a neat idea.
Did I mind the black and white? Not at all. On the contrary, reading Fleetway’s comics I was used to the same length of strips and a mixture of colour and monochrome. Plus, once they started to be drawn for this new format the details really began to shine in the art! Across the way in the New York firehouse Peter and Egon found themselves in another dimension fighting side-by-side with our returning villain in a story which feels epic, even if it is only six pages long. It ends with a funny visual gag of the defeated demon on a trike being chased by Ponquadragor, the story then spilling over into Spengler’s Spirit Guide and the prose story, making it a rather special issue.
It’s presented on the checklist in a way that very much makes fun of the overly complicated names in fantasy novels and films of the day.
Hasbro had released a G.I. Joe action figure kids could only get by mail order after collecting tokens from the packaging of other figures. Nothing but a mishmash of parts from previously released toys, the Supertrooper never made it into the US comic but Marvel UK brought him to life in Action Force Monthly. I wonder if his story was a series of rehashed plot lines too? The excellent Death’s Head #6 was still on sale and the latest monthly Thundercats took the top spot yet again, with one of the new stories written by friend of the blog John Freeman, no less.
Both Action Force and Thundercats presenting “classic” tales should’ve been a sign of things to come for readers of the two main comics, both of which would “re-present” classic stories before the year was out. While Transformers had a long history to pull from, it was particularly galling to suddenly “have another chance to read” content in the much younger Real Ghostbusters. However, it was a sign of the times across the whole industry.
Now officially past the halfway point, there’ll be another checklist next week, and the week after, all the way until the festive season. See you in seven.
Now that the three months-long month of January is finally over we head back to 1989 and welcome the latest issues of The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers and Action Force with covers by Brian Williamson and Tim Perkins, and Jeff Anderson and Dave Harwood respectively.
The New York team’s Skeleton in the Closet story takes us to a dark and foreboding take on the land of Narnia with some funny references back to the source material for its fans and there’s a particularly fun Winston’s Diary (well, they all were) this week too. Amongst all the comedy there’s also an advert for Thundercats toothbrushes that (with hindsight) were so basic they weren’t going to be much use against the sugar content of 80s sweets.
In Transformers the penultimate chapter of Time Wars ends with what should’ve been a fantastic reveal for its cliffhanger but it’s given away by that cover instead. It’s still a nice mirror image of the moment when Hot Rod tried to come to the aid of Optimus Prime in the animated movie (to dire results), and Lee Sullivan’s incredible strip artwork contains many panels that became iconic, often reprinted as highlights of the comic’s whole run. The Next Issue panel is also replaced with a full page image of next week’s cover. When you see it in seven days you’ll understand. (Or check it out at the link further below.)
With the same issues of Action Force Monthly and Thundercats as last time and brand new editions of Death’s Head and Dragon’s Claws, it’s the exact opposite of our previous checklist. Death’s Head gets the prime real estate and deserves it but for a reason not mentioned here; it’s one of the funniest issues of the run right from the off. You can check out some of its hilarious highlights via the link at the bottom of this post.
For me personally, the epic finale of sister title Dragon’s Claws is even more deserving of the ‘Don’t Miss…’ treatment. “The finale? But surely there’s one more issue to go, Phil.” That’s right, but writer Simon Furman left that final issue for the conclusion of the main character’s family arc instead, so this month it’s all about the action and it’s a belter. It’s a step up on all of the previous issues and in this excellent series that’s really saying something.
No new comics adverts this week, folks. Next week there’ll be one which confused me at the time, and which had me scouring the TV Times maniacally. I’ll tell all in seven days.
This post is coming to you during the afternoon of Christmas Day 2025, so with all of the turkey, ham, roasties, stuffing, sprouts and chorizo, maple carrots, roasted parsnips, bacon wrapped cocktail sausages, mushy peas, apple sauce, cranberry sauce and gravy in your stomachs (just me?) you’re not going to be able to move for a while. That means it’s the perfect time to lie down with our latest Christmas annual and it’s the first in a new series. In 1985 there was something of a momentous book sliding down chimneys across the country with the rotund fella, all wrapped up in a simply gorgeous piece of John Higgins art.
Well, it would become momentous with the gift of hindsight at least. This is the first ever Transformers Annual from Marvel UK, co-produced by Grandreams. Basically, Marvel provided the editorial content while Grandreams handled the publishing side of things. Their offices were in the same building and after a few years Marvel would handle everything themselves. This first Transformers Annual was released in the autumn of 1985 for the Christmas market. Ian Rimmer had taken over as editor of the comic a few months before its release but this book had already been completed and edited by the comic’s launch editor, Sheila Cranna.
While it contains some silly fillers the likes of which we’ve seen in other licenced annuals it’s the stories that really stand out. They are superb! In fact, this series of annuals became known for having some of the best stories Marvel UK produced. The strips packed a lot into their smaller page counts and the prose stories were often the best parts of the books, even establishing key parts of Transformers lore. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, does this first annual ease us into the greatness to come?
Nope, it goes full throttle right from the off with some lovely atmospheric scenes of the army meeting the Autobots for the first time, and even the appearance of Ronald Reagan doesn’t dampen proceedings. Plague of the Insecticons is written by Transformers mainstay Simon Furman (Death’s Head, Dragon’s Claws, To the Death) with art by Mike Collins (Doctor Who, Darkstars, American Gothic) and Jeff Anderson (Judge Dredd, Swiftsure, Zoids), and the gorgeous colours are by Gina Hart (Rogue Trooper, Rupert Bear, Doctor Who).
In much the same way as the live-action movies have integrated the governments of the world into the Transformers universe, here their involvement also makes sense. However, the Insecticons have infiltrated proceedings due to their diminutive size in insect form (prepare for ludicrous mass shifting into huge robot modes). Optimus Prime thinks back to how the secret could’ve gotten out and it boils down to human error, one unscrambled call while Soundwave was monitoring. As they emerge they scream that they’re Autobots and attack the troops, who then turn against Prime.
This was the debut of the Insecticons here in the UK before they appeared in the American comic. They make quite the impact, announcing how they’ll obey their great leader Optimus and destroy the neighbouring city! But as the otherr Autobots chase after them, Prime heads off in another direction. His gut tells him the Insecticons feel restrained (half destroying a city is restraint?), guessing that as new warriors they must be being controlled by a third-party until they master their abilities.
This doesn’t stop him from joining the fight. For the only time in the comic he sends Roller (the small vehicle that resided inside his trailer in the toy) to help out even if it means he has to split his concentration (here Roller is a remote device, not an autonomous vehicle). He finds Ravage with a remote device and ends up tricking one of the Insecticons, Bombshell into planting a cerebral shell on Ravage’s body. These devices made it possible for Bombshell to control the mind of whoever he wished, but here his own mind was being controlled by Ravage, and thus a vicious cycle plays out in the final pages. Wonderful stuff.
The second, shorter strip is And There Shall Come… a Leader! with writer and colourist remaining, joined by John Stokes (Fishboy, L.E.G.I.O.N., The Invisibles) on art and Richard Starkings (The Sleeze Brothers, The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers: Generation 2) lettering. This tale takes us back millions of years and across space to Cybertron and Prime’s first battle as Autobot Commander. Most of the story is taken up with him awaiting the nod from the grand council of Autobot elders, led by Emirate Xaaron (an original UK comic creation who would eventually become a toy), to okay a strike against Megatron.
Up until this point it would seem the Autobots had been holding a defending position, their dedication to peace forbidding them from leading an attack. They’ve engaged in battles but only in response to the Decepticons and under the auspices of the outdated, elderly council. I love how it all comes down to politics in a kid’s book. It’s initially strange to see the toys so accurately drawn instead of the modified comic/cartoon versions but in the end it makes it feel lovingly quaint. With lots of the readers no doubt receiving Transformers for Christmas in 1985 I’m sure it made them happy to see their toys in action this way.
As the Transformers annuals continued, the prose stories would soon become the stand outs, giving us more in-depth characterisations; taking their time to delve into each with their inner thoughts, more intricate or dare I say intimate/personal storylines and even important new pieces of Transformers character lore that would become canon throughout the various incarnations of the franchise for decades to come. This book’s stories may be smaller in scope but they’re no less fun and produce some great images in the mind as you read. Most likely written by Simon, the art is by John Ridgway and coloured by Gina, their illustrations used to highlight key moments. They’re gorgeous and add a great deal to each tale.
Missing in Action sees Tracks incapacitated and left for dead in his car mode, only to be stolen by two small-time bank robbers who see this abandoned Corvette Stingray as the perfect getaway car. The story culminates in a small alien robot-obsessed boy stumbling upon him and getting entangled in a bank robbery that goes horribly wrong, the building exploding in flames and partially collapsing. The rescue scene with Inferno (who looks even better when drawn toy-accurate like this), Grapple and Hoist is a thrill to read.
Hunted! starts off well with one of my favourite Deceptions, Ravage stalking a human expedition leader in the jungles of South America (gloriously illustrated by John, too) and there’s some nice chemistry between Prowl and Bumblebee, as well as some genuine comic timing in the narration. In the end though, it all comes to a sudden end with a resolution that’s far too easy, almost like the writer had suddenly realised they were running out of their word count. But it’s still fun.
There are some corners of the internet that take these tales of transforming sentient alien robots far too seriously, who complain about where the annual stories fit into the overall story arcs. Given how each comic tale could last a month or two in real life but in the fictional world take place over a couple of days, that leaves an awful lot of time in-between in which anything could happen with the characters before returning to the status quo for the next exciting instalment. So I say just go with the flow and you’ll really enjoy this book.
Stories aside, this first of seven annuals also includes the usual kind of filler material we’d find in most other Grandreams annual. There are basic profiles, mazes, word searches and the obligatory dice board game. Given the quality of the strips and prose these basic pages seem out of place. The stories have depth and didn’t talk down to the young readers, so don’t let the fillers put you off.
Then, just to add one more surprise to this children’s comic book, it has a downbeat ending. The Insecticons story has an Epilogue right at the back of the annual in which it’s clear Optimus Prime and the President are on the same side, but have misunderstood each other. The resulting endgame could have dire consequences. If anything, all those silly filler pages only make moments like this all the more powerful.
There’s something special about reading a comics annual at Christmas and I’m thrilled at the prospect of reliving these every December for the next six years. While the toy-like images and the puzzle pages do age it, it’s storytelling and gorgeous art belie the fact it was 40 visits from Santa ago that this slid down the chimney to eager children across the UK. It’s a superb start. It’s a cliché to say it, but there’s definitely more to this book than meets the eye.
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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