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Transformers

PHOTOGRAPHiNG TRANSFORMERS UK: MONTH TWO (OCTOBER 1984)

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It’s been a long wait but finally here we are with month two (of 89) of our photographic journey through every single issue of Marvel UK’s Transformers comic. We’ve doubled up for October 1984 with two fortnightly comics filled not only with classic Transformers strip action, but also some of the finest retro goodness. Prepare to take a trip back to the 80s and come away feeling very, very old.

iSSUE TWO – 4th OCTOBER 1984

#2: Marvel UK’s sophomore Transformers release begins with a simply beautiful John Ridgway cover. It’s not linked to the story but then again neither was last issue’s and that’s not the point, it’s just a gorgeous piece of art and shows the toy models off in a great light, all while perfectly summing up children’s wonder at these new playthings. The cover would also be used for a future Collected Comics special where it better suited the story, albeit by coincidence. It would’ve made for a great free gift poster.

Inside, right from the off the nostalgia hits hard! Who else had one of these transforming watches? I did, although I can’t remember wearing it much so maybe it didn’t last too long. Then, in the main story (which is now partly black and white) there’s plenty of wonderful transforming images. In hindsight these could not have been easy to draw and some artists would end up not showing them mid-transformation like this. Lovely stuff.

The Autobots’ introductory spread was edited out of the strip itself to make a great poster in the middle of the comic, replacing some panels with the franchise’s title logo. Given how huge and epic this comic’s tale would become I love the quaint feeling of this, with its awkward poses to make sure everyone can be seen, the toy-accurate Ironhide and Ratchet, and the stilted introductory dialogue for the young readers to learn all of their details.

There are two prose features on robots this issue. The regular Robot Round-up takes a look at some of the most 80s-futuristic inventions imaginable, back when human-like robots were more fun and less terrifying. There’s also a special Doctor Who page on the robot props of the show at the time. Where are the Daleks, I hear you cry? Well, if you’re a fan you’d know why they’re not included. Glad to see the comic got that right. That just about rounds up our look at the second issue.

Cover by John Ridgway
The Transformers: Part Two plot by Bill Mantlo,
script by Ralph Macchio,
pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Kim DeMulder,
lettering by Michael Higgins & Rick Parker,
colours by Nel Yomtov

iSSUE THREE – 18th OCTOBER 1984

#3: Another fortnight, another Transformers UK comic from 42 years ago! Jerry Paris returns as cover artist for issue three and it’s another gorgeous piece of art with a big, chunky Bumblebee complete with toy-accurate limbs. Such a shame Jerry wasn’t a regular contributor, his work was perfect for this comic. He would return in the end much to readers’ delight, but not for another 164 issues!

Inside, we kick things off with our first fact file. Not the A-Z we all remember so fondly, instead it’s a tiny entry on the editorial pages for Autobot Hound using information from the toy box. It would actually take a surprisingly long time for the A-Z format to appear. In the meantime, the main strip happily trundles along with both small and simply gigantic scale scenes. Seamlessly complementing each other, this successful juxtaposition of huge far-fetched sci-fi coupled with human storylines continues in the movies to this day.

There’s a yellow Cliffjumper in the competition! Well, in this promo shot anyway. Speaking of the toys, the next Hasbro advert features more of the first wave of Autobots to hit the UK market. If you had to choose, which one would you go for? I think I’d have picked Hound, he looks the most intricate from the teeny, tiny drawings. Yep, that’s right, no such thing as actual photographs of the toys to choose from back then.

Robot Round-up details a somewhat familiar toy range. Who remembers coveting these in the Argos catalogue, only to be let down by them when you actually got to play with one at a friend’s house? There are also another couple of stills from the TV adverts masquerading as pin ups before the issue is rounded off with the 1985 Christmas annuals, one of which I’ve actually covered on the blog. You can check it out via the link at the bottom of this post along with a link to a post featuring all of Marvel UK’s annuals adverts during the comic’s lifetime.

Cover by Jerry Paris
Power Play: Part One plot by Bill Mantlo,
script by Jim Salicrup, pencils by Frank Springer,
inks by Kim DeMulder,
lettering by Janice Chiang & Rick Parker,
colours by Nel Yomtov

If your memory of the Transformers comic is of a full-colour, 24-page weekly with one main Transformers strip and an Action Force back up, you’re not alone. What do you make of these early issues? They’re a bit different, aren’t they? As always, the blog’s comments section and its social media accounts are ready for you. We’re only at the beginning of our journey, let’s make it an interactive one!

Our next round up on Friday 20th November (one day before my decorations go up at OiNK Blog Towers!) will contain the first American cover, the first battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron, Robby the Robot (yes, him), the comic’s first humour strip and I’ll be wondering who on Earth is Sieve-Head?!

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ALSO ON THE OiNK BLOG:
Kim DeMulder in Havoc
Rick Parker in G.I. Joe
Nel Yomtov in The Sleeze Brothers
Jim Salicrup in Visionaries and Jurassic Park
Janice Chiang in Visionaries

Transformers

PHOTOGRAPHiNG TRANSFORMERS UK: MONTH ONE (SEPTEMBER 1984)

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Rounding these comics up on a calendar-monthly basis means we’ve only the one issue to launch the series with. As we continue through the next several years there’ll be more each month, especially after it goes weekly of course. In fact, there’ll be one month in particular with no less than nine comics to show off! For now, here’s how it all began on this day 42 years ago in newsagents across the UK, and then again ten years ago when I began reading it all in real time…

iSSUE ONE – 20th SEPTEMBER 1984

#1: So off we go, at the start of Marvel UK’s Transformers all over again (again). It begins with this absolutely fabulous (and now rather famous) Jerry Paris cover, which must’ve been exciting to see when it first appeared on shelves! Inside, launch editor Shiela Cranna welcomes readers and it all looks rather different to the comic we’d come to know and love later. Humble beginnings, you could say.

For its first year Transformers was 32 pages and each issue could contain some rather ‘unique’ features, as you’ll see as this series progresses over the next 12 months. For now, we start off with the first part of the imported American origin strip story, simply called The Transformers. We get a look at regular life on Cybertron and our first glimpses at the war and the characters 80s children were about to become very familiar with. I love the imagination on show, it all feels so completely and utterly alien.

Several pages later and the crashed Ark inside Mount St. Hilary looks suitably creepy after four million years. It’s an original, exciting and intriguing start to what would ultimately be a truly epic comic. Elsewhere in the issue our first Hasbro advertisement heralded the arrival of the toys in the UK and here’s the final paragraph of the comic’s regular robot news feature, Robot Round Up. It was a far-fetched thought at the time but today, as I update this post in 2026, it’s a rather terrifying one.

The first back up strip was Jack Kirby’s Machine Man from the late 1970s. Transformers didn’t begin with Aaron Stack’s first story though. Instead, we got a round up of the character’s origins and part one of Byte of the Binary Bug from #11 of his own comic. The story included Senator Miles Brickman, who I remember from the Machine Man of 2020 strip that ran in the comic during its second year, which young me first read when it was reprinted in Transformers’ final months in late 1991. I must say though, he doesn’t look like the kind of man who’d chuck a brick at a bank robber! He does sound like certain modern day politicians though.

All-in-all, we’re off to a helluva good start!

Cover by Jerry Paris
The Transformers: Part One
plot by Bill Mantlo, script by Ralph Macchio,
pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Kim DeMulder,
lettering by Michael Higgins & Rick Parker,
colours by Nel Yomtov
Machine Man – Byte of the Binary Bug: Part One
written by Marv Wolfman, art by Steve Ditko,
lettering by John Costanza,
colours by Michelle Wolfman

That’s basically what you can expect for each issue from here on; a handful of photos taken while I was reading the comic in real time, with the captions from the original Instagram posts rewritten to suit the blog but essentially the same insights I had as a reader between 2016 and 2024, the first time I’d read the whole series. It was quite popular on socials and I’ve a feeling that bringing it here (with the audience the OiNK Blog has built up over the years) will see these classic comics celebrated in a bigger way.

Come back on Tuesday 20th October 2026 for #2 and #3, their gorgeous covers, introductions to the Autobots proper, lots of retro-futuristic 80s tech, more contemporary adverts, pin ups and even a guest appearances from a Time Lord. One month down, only another 88 to go.

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ALSO ON THE OiNK BLOG:
Kim DeMulder in Havoc
Rick Parker in G.I. Joe
Nel Yomtov in The Sleeze Brothers
John Costanza in Jurassic Park and Dracula

Comic Reviews, The Sleeze Brothers

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS: SOME LiKE iT FRESH

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The inept detective brothers El’ Ape and Deadbeat Sleeze are chasing a man with a thumb for a head through the streets of The Big Apple when they literally stumble upon the Cosmos Father’s men killing some air traders who’d hiked their prices up. Running for their lives, the Sleezes end up in the Shuttle Port and (again, accidentally) wind up in the ladies. Five minutes later they’ve nicked wigs and clothes, applied some lippy and are making their escape from the goons. And we’re off!

Oh, how I’ve missed these two. The Sleeze Brothers: Some Like It Fresh was published by Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint in the States rather than the UK, with Transformers colourist Nel Yomtov their new editor. The rest of the regular creative team return for this final edition of their own comic, with co-creators John Carnell and Andy Lanning writing and pencilling respectively, Stephen Baskerville inking, Steve White colouring and Helen Stone lettering. There’s no clear release date online with various sources stating different months of 1991, so I’ve decided to cover it somewhere in the middle of 2026, 35 years after its release.

The title refers to clean air, something of a rare commodity in this future Earth city and a key point in the first issue of their UK monthly two years prior. In fact, the city is so polluted and fresh air so rare it’s traded by nefarious cartels in sniffer bottles like portable SodaStreams, and there are morality groups and politicians calling for its banishment. A complete prohibition is the goal of the PRATS, the Planetary Reform Air Temperance Society, a group of Mary Whitehouse-esque Daily Mail-reading (possibly) women who our two lads happen to be disguised as.

Within a handful of pages the scene switches to a massive space cruiser called the Overlook (a second horror movie hotel location for the series and, alongside the title of the issue, the umpteenth movie reference in general) where the PRATS and the rival gangs are all having meetings. The Sleezes can’t even escape properly! There’s a funny moment when the robotic bellboy elaborates on all of the luxuries the hotel contains, only for the brothers to be told none of this applies to them as the PRATS don’t believe in such things and they end up in a rat-infested hole.

You see, they haven’t only dressed up as women, but as key speakers for the PRATS! Although, given what comes out of their mouths you get the impression they’re not even trying to put on voices, which just makes the whole scenario even more absurd and funny. Also the fact that anyone who has met them before sees through their disguises straight away. Called upon to give his speech El Ape, in complete desperation for something to say and not blow his cover, ends up saying the air suppliers should be nuked, resulting in chants of “burn the supply” and “kill their children” from the supposed do-gooders!

Vanity Case also returns, hired by a PRAT to investigate wigs that disappear at night only to return each morning. Vanity is just one of the brilliantly-named cast members here. The sole male PRAT is called Dr. Masticator, the angry and disgusting police chief Pigheadski’s first name is revealed to be Elmo, the Cosmos Father’s number two is Angelo Tagelitelly, J. Edgar Hairdryer mades a welcome return, as does President Sinartra and Mr Big’s first name is Ronnie, because of course it is!

Accidentally disposing of Pigheadski’s undercover cop, El’ Ape is recruited to take on the role of the never-seen-before Mr Big, meaning the opposing groups are after him for different reasons, what with one side setting up Mr Big to be killed. It’s a classic Sleeze Brothers tale that continues to escalate more and more out of control, and with the strip lasting a lengthy 48 pages this gets more chaotic than any story before it, which is saying something.

Innuendos abound too. I remember reading the first issue in 1989 when I was only 11 and, while I knew it was naughty in places and I kept some of the images hidden from my parents, most of the more adult jokes just went over my head. I could see the same happening here for younger readers. I’d have loved this as a kid and wouldn’t have really thought of anything as unsuitable, although now I can see it was definitely for more mature readers. This page featuring Sinartra and his tank-like lower body being one such example.

There are plenty of running jokes too, such as the miniature ninjas hired to take out Mr Big (El’ Ape in this case). Each one fails spectacularly. It’s not from lack of trying though. It’s certainly not from any outsmarting of them on the part of the brothers either. Rather, each one falls foul of Ape’s complete lack of awareness for anything other than what’s directly in front of him. Seeing each assassination attempt fall apart by accident made me roar every time.

The brothers end up having two cases to solve which only sets things up for twice the amount of failure. They’re not doing it to be altruistic, it’s because if they don’t help Pigheadski he won’t drop the charges they were accused of in their regular comic and El’ Ape wants to date Vanity so they decide to help her too. He dresses up as Mr Big to meet with the Cosmos Father who wishes to make amends (an obvious trap) and Deadbeat dons the wig again to solve the other case.

Of course, this is The Sleeze Brothers so we just know these two separate mysteries are really one and the same. As if the comic wasn’t already hilarious, this is when it really kicks off! Mr Big is released from prison and makes his way to the Overlook. The air dealers are filling the PRATS’ wigs with air to smuggle it to Earth. The head PRAT is in on it and she sneaks off from their meeting to rendezvous with the crooks.

Everything is already set for a brilliant finale when it’s revealed that the cops are listening in on the meeting through an ear piece on El’ Ape. Not only that, they have a trigger phrase he should recite if he gets into trouble and they can burst in and take everyone out, which coincidentally just so happens to be the exact same trigger phrase the gang will use when it’s time to take out Mr Big (or rather, El’ Ape). We know chaos is coming but nothing could prepare me for how this issue ended.

After an air container gets ruptured in the action, the sweet fresh O₂ leaks out and we get an excellent Sleeze Brothers equivalent of the ending of every gangster film ever. It’s not a mass shoot out, it’s a mass love-in instead, with everyone happy and laughing and loving life, high on fresh air. The fact this very reaction is seen as illicit in this future world, as a dangerous out of control drugs high, sums up the perfectly crafted idiocy at the heart of this series.

But despite the large scale of the ending it’s the littler moments that’ll live on in my head long after the comic is returned to my shelves. As with the original series it’s these moments that caught me unawares, the gags that made me grin from ear to ear and chuckle like I was 11 all over again. These made for the most unforgettable panels. Just two such examples are below, the second of which in particular nearly made me choke on my cuppa because I’ve just started a weekly rewatch of the RoboCop TV series again, so this really hit the spot!

Some Like It Fresh can easily be picked it up for a few quid on eBay. If you see it, grab it! Printed on high quality paper the art truly shines, the script is punchy, there are laugh-out-loud moments on every single page and at more than double the length of one of the monthly stories you’ll be laughing a lot. Seriously, a whole lot. We’re still not finished with the brothers Sleeze on the blog, either.

Go and check out the original introductory post to see my whole Sleeze Brothers collection and you should spot three publications I haven’t showed you yet. Since they cover a span of over a decade I’ll not be reviewing them in real time! Instead, watch out for all three next year. Not only that, there’s a special cameo they made that I’ll also be sharing as an extra. So thankfully there’s more mayhem to come from the pair and I for one cannot wait.

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Christmas, Comic Reviews, Transformers

TRANSFORMERS AT CHRiSTMAS: #7

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It doesn’t really jump off the cover that this is the first of Marvel UK’s Christmas issues of Transformers. Then again, the cover image isn’t even a cover image. It’s just a panel from the strip inside blown up to full size, something the comic did a few times in its first year. This is a shame because there are a small handful of gorgeous original covers among those first 26 issues.

Originally a 32-page fortnightly made up of colour and black-and-white pages with its contents spread sporadically through each issue, it’s a far cry from the weekly format it would become known for later. Launch editor Shiela Cranna adds a couple of captions to the cover and a Christmas message in the two-page editorial, which contained a mixture of Transformers news and random items they thought would appeal to readers.

I’m not sure about Shiela having “quite the fight to get the Christmas decorations up” with designer Theresa George, seeing as how it’s a random selection of clip art-like bits and bobs thrown together. As someone who originally came to the comic much later in the run and loved snowy logos, Christmas strips and festive features, it was a bit of a shock just how little of this children’s comic seemed to celebrate the season in 1984.

That’s not to say this isn’t a good issue. Let’s face it, bad issues of this comic could be counted on one hand. In this series I’ll be taking a yearly look at the Christmas editions of Transformers between 1984 and 1990 on their individual 40th anniversaries. I’ve read the whole series in real time on the blog’s Instagram (you can check it all out in a special blog post) but here I’ll have the chance to take a deeper dive into these particular issues. So after an editorial which includes a reader poem that won’t be worrying Stan Bush anytime soon, and a cringey reference to “boys’ toys” (the gift of hindsight), what strip action was to be had?

This is the big event of the issue, the introduction of the Dinobots

The main strip was still telling the origin story of the Transformers’ arrival on Earth, concluding in the next issue. The Last Stand: Part One was written by Jim Salicrup (editor on Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Bram Stoker’s Dracula), pencilled by Frank Springer (Savage She-Hulk, Green Arrow, G.I. Joe), inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey (partnered on ROM, Iron Man, Firestorm) and lettered by John Workman (Jurassic Park, Incredible Hulk, Star Slammers), his work always recognisable with open balloons and captions along panel edges.

As you can see it’s in black and white, with only 5 of the 12 pages in the original colour provided by Nel Yomtov (every issue of the US Transformers, Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher Armory), with Bob Budiansky (Sleepwalker, Ghost Rider, Avengers) editing the story. Bob created many names of the characters and their abilities for Hasbro and would go on to write the comic for a few years.

In this chapter the Autobots find out Spike Witwicky has converted Earth fuel for the Decepticons and even the fact he was under duress doesn’t stop them from threatening him! They’re new to our planet and don’t trust us yet. Fear causes Spike to have a heart attack and during a Vietnam flashback we come to realise he’s poisoned the fuel he gave Megatron, which convinces the Autobots we’re on their side.

However, this is the big event of the issue, the introduction of the Dinobots! It’s a strange page to choose for colour given how it’s a flashback and in muted tones, but it was no less exciting for the young readers. Millions of years previous The Ark had detected more Transformer life and it relays how its surveillance drone had discovered Shockwave and created what it believed to be a disguise for five of the most powerful Autobots on board.

It’s a much better origin tale than the cartoon came up with and it’s even set in the Savage Land, a hidden prehistoric place in the Antarctic that featured prominently in X-Men comics and more recently in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness movie. After Spider-Man had guest starred in the previous issue the comic’s ties to the wider Marvel Universe were a surprise for me. They’re a fun addition.

Speaking of other Marvel comics, here’s an advert for the monthly Captain Britain and below that the big Christmas movie was… Caravan of Courage? I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of this Star Wars spin-off. This page interrupts the strip mid-flow. Much like the US comics these early editions break the strips up into several pieces with adverts and features seemingly randomly throw in here and there.

While in the American comic the adverts are more easily ignored (but no less irritating), having features to read in the middle of the stories results in the comic having a rather bitty feel. But one of those interruptions is the only real Christmas bonus so we’ll forgive it. While the readers’ drawings aren’t festive, Shiela decided to gather 14 of those sent in altogether as a special Christmas treat for those featured.

No ages are given but I think it’s safe to say the comic already had a wide audience, from the very young to at least the teen market if the high quality on display here is anything to go by. The ideas for original Transformers would even give some of the comic’s later attempts a run for their money.

From robotic aliens to a robotic man created here on Earth. Aaron Stack was the last in a line of futuristic robots, the difference being he was raised by his creator as if he was his own son. After his creator was killed in an accident Aaron went out into the world, both as a human and as a new kind of superhero, Machine Man. Unlike Superman with his glasses, Aaron was much more convincing as he disguised himself with a fake face, hands etc.

The character was originally created by Jack Kirby and this is the first page of the second chunk of Xanadu, written by Marv Wolfman (Tomb of Dracula, Spider-Woman, Batman) with art by Steve Ditko (Blue Beetle, Amazing Spider-Man, Secret City Saga) and is lettered by Ira Watanabe (Cyclops, Incredible Hulk, Sub-Mariner).

I really enjoyed Machine Man, even with Marvel UK’s cherry-picking of stories which meant we didn’t get to see his full character arc before the strip disappeared from the comic, replaced by the more contemporary Machine Man of 2020. Aaron was a great character. He felt fully formed, his wish to live a human life was endearing and he had a cracking sense of humour which often shone in the middle of spectacular fight scenes.

Thrown in midway through the strip, Robot Round-Up was the best extra feature from the first year of the comic. An always interesting look at where our technology was at the time and how they perceived it would develop, it’s fun to contrast the future according to the 80s with how things have turned out. Such a shame how writer Johnny Black comes across in that last story though. Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen when we read old 80s publications. Oh well, it’s a reminder of how much better and more enlightened we are today.

Also standing in stark contrast to today were Hasbro’s Transformers toy adverts. While later in the run they’d include actual photographs, originally fans only had illustrations to go on (albeit intricately drawn). Even in the 90s I remember Commodore 64 games being advertised in Commodore Format with nothing more than the box art to tempt us to buy them. So strange to look back on that now.

Thus ends our first Christmas with Transformers. As you can see it was a very different beast to what most people will remember. Next year’s will feel more familiar to you and not only that, there’ll also be the first of seven Transformers Annuals as well! It’s a long time to wait, I know, so don’t forget you can check out the entire Instagram real time read through of the series that took me over seven years to complete. You don’t need an account and there’s a guide on the blog so you can check out all 375(!) posts in whatever order you like.

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