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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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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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TRANSFORMERS 197 (Instagram)

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS RETROSPECTiVE

THE TRANSFORMERS AT CHRISTMAS

WEEK 20 < > WEEK 22

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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

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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)

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TRANSFORMERS & ViSiONARiES: PART TWO

WEEK 12 < > WEEK 14

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THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK FiVE

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This post was due on Wednesday 27th August
but was delayed due to a health issue

SATURDAY 27th AUGUST 1988

Well this week is a turn up for the (comic) books! For the first time we’re not choosing between a Mighty Marvel Checklist and a classic comic advert because this week we have both. In fact we’ve more than that, we’ve got two adverts. All taken from the pages of these two comics, on sale Saturday 27th August back in 1988.

Lee Sullivan’s cover for The Transformers and Action Force #181 refers to the second part of the story I mentioned last time and, despite the lengths Marvel UK went to in order to explain away the American story, their editorial still contains a plea asking people not to write in complaining! Unfortunately nothing is made of the issue number for The Real Ghostbusters (cover by Martin Griffiths and Dave Hine) which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Inside, the comic teamed up with Sport Aid and had the characters taking part in a sponsored fun run in which Ray comes across a little sprite called The Spirit of Competition.

In the checklist the publisher may have stopped short of the usual “Great News For All Readers” blurb used when our comics merged (and which never convinced us to be happy about it) but it’s obvious what #9 of Galaxy Rangers would mean for its readers. They’d be off to join forces with the Thundercats soon enough, who seem to be welcoming what sounds like a trio of deodorant scents to their ranks.

The Action Force comic here was the later monthly title rather than the original weekly. This smaller format comic was an attempt to sell the British strips back to the US where it was renamed G.I. Joe The European Missions. The addition of the Transformers crossover reprint (originally in the weekly) may have been exciting to American readers but it just meant a third of the comic was reprint for UK fans. Given the talent involved I’m sure the rest made up for it though.

Inside The Real Ghostbusters we have the second of the strip adverts we’ll see during this series, this time for Dragon’s Claws. Written by Simon Furman and drawn by Geoff Senior, this was the final version after a few edits had to be made after a last-minute name change. You can find out more about that in the link at the bottom of this post. There’s also a small cameo for a character who’ll pop up in the checklists soon enough. Or at least, his arm makes a cameo anyway.

It may only be the end of August but it was already the start of the Marvel Annuals hype season on the back cover of Transformers. Strangely, while the annual would be mentioned a couple of times on the editorial and letters pages (and given away in a competition closer to Christmas) this was the only time this advert appeared in the pages of Transformers! It did appear several times in The Real Ghostbusters though. The countdown to the best time of the year had begun!

Okay, so next week there’s no checklist again but that’ll be the last time for a while because Peter, Winston, Egon and Ray would soon be returning every seven days instead of every 14, so between the two comics the checklists will be more consistent. Next week, Transformers announces the good news, so I’ll catch you then.

TRANSFORMERS 181 (Instagram)

DRAGON’S CLAWS: iN REAL TiME

TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL 4 (Instagram)

WEEK FOUR < > WEEK SiX

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