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Classic Transformers Volume One

1 rating: 4.0

Comic Book collection by IDW

The Transformers comic by Marvel was the first and arguably the best known Transformers comic. Although it was originally intended to be a 4-issue limited series, it expanded into an ongoing series, which ran for 80 issues before being cancelled.[1] … see full wiki

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Make no mistake, it's a totally different animal from the TV series of the 80's.

Aug 16, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

On the metallic planet of Cybertron a race of intelligent robots exist. The planet was at peace for a time until an army was formed called the Decepticons. Lead by a powerful robot named Megatron, they began a war with another faction called the Autobots, who were lead by another powerful robot named Optimus Prime. The two armies battled in a very brutal war using advanced weaponry, but their greatest asset was their ability to change into vehicles and weapons. They would soon call themselves Transformers.

The war had become so fierce that the planet was knocked out of its orbit, and it was heading for an asteroid belt which would spell doom for its inhabitants. Optimus Prime lead a team of his best warriors on the ship called the Ark, to clear the asteroid belt for Cybertron to pass through. Megatron learns of their plan, and realized it was the perfect time to strike and destroy Optimus Prime, thus, breaking the morale of the Autobots. The Decepticons attacked their ship and it crash landed on Earth. The two armies remained dormant for four million years. Now, they have awakened to continue their war with the planet being the prize.-summary

I use to find it amazing when I spoke to supposed die hard Transformer fans only for the sake of casual conversation, and they would always mention how much they loved it. Many claimed to be the biggest fans alive, but I use to notice during the conversation that they would only mention events from the original 1984 TV series. I would then ask them about the comic, and I was astonished to learn that many never read a single issue, and some of them who were familiar with the book only a little, claimed not to like it at all. I understood exactly where they were coming from though. The TV series and the comic are two separate entities. The TV series was very campy, and it was definitely aimed more towards kids with the simple plots and the lack of serious graphic violence. It never really took itself serious until the movie was released in 1986. The movie featured several character deaths which caught a lot of people by complete surprise. Those who saw the movie know what I'm talking about. Now try to imagine watching a different episode of Transformers The Movie almost everyday, where the robots are destroying each other in graphic detail. That's kind of what you get when reading the comic.

The Transformers comic was originally released in 1984 by Marvel Comics. This paper back by IDW (Ideas + Design Works) titled Classic Transformers reprints those issues, and volume one includes the first 16 issues. Unfortunately, thanks to copyrights, issues # 3 and # 9 are only summaries of the stories, due to them featuring characters who were created by Marvel; Spider-Man and Circuit Breaker respectively. Personally, I never really cared for those stories much, because in the case Spider-Man, I never liked the idea of mixing the Transformers Universe with Marvel, but the graphic novel is still very good without the stories.

Now, it was never a secret that the Autobots and Decepticons were trying to kill each other, but the cartoon depicted their war in a not so serious way at first. The Autobots seemed like they only wanted to stop the Decepticons from whatever it was they were doing. Here, both armies are determined to kill each other, and it actually feels like a war. Both sides fight to destroy, and when someone is damaged, they are visibly in trouble. One panel in issue # 5 is quite disturbing and the reader will see that this war is for real.

The comic has far better writing than the TV show (but then again it always does for just about everything). Several characters have a lot more depth, with their personalities being a little more fleshed out. One issue has an Autobot jeopardize a mission because of his homesickness, while another robot questioned his allegiance. I also enjoyed that the power struggle amongst the Decepticon ranks was taken up to a very high tempo. The series also has a gripping plot with several sub plots that runs for a few issues; in the form of the Autobots searching for their leader, schemes, and betrayals. The first 12 issues are by far the best, but when the main plots are finally resolved, the stand alone stories kick in for the remainder, and with the exception of introducing new characters, the book ends weak mainly because of uninteresting filler.

The artwork has a dated feel and it has a few rough moments. The action panels can be good displaying the robots bodily wreckage at times. The character designs are fairly good, but in the very beginning they use the actual designs of the original toys for some of the characters. Those who are use to the TV series will be thinking, "what the hell is this?". The artwork later shows progress and gets a lot better by issue # 16. Here, characters begin to look a little bit more like their cartoon counterparts and there is good detail.

The only real issue besides the dated look happens to be the inconsistent artwork at times, that feels reminiscent to the errors of the cartoon. The dialogue can be very cheesy, especially in the very beginning when the robots are introducing themselves. I will give it this though, the writers make sure to mention their names quite often so the reader can learn them.

I was always a bigger fan of the comic, and I was happy to see it get the reprint treatment it deserved. I am kind of upset about the two stories being reduced to summaries, because I prefer to own everything in its original form, but I'm still grateful for this. I highly recommend this series to die hard fans. These are the chapters:

# 1 The Transformers

# 2 Power Play

# 3 Prisoner of War

# 4 The Last Stand

# 5 The New Order

# 6 The Worse of Two Evils

# 7 Warrior School

# 8 Repeat Performance

# 9 Dis-Integrated Circuits

# 10 The Next Best Thing to Being There

# 11 Brainstorm

# 12 Prime Time

# 13 Shooting Star

# 14 Rock and Roll - Out

# 15 I, Robot Master

# 16 Plight of the Bumblebee

Transformers TV Series:

Transformers Season One

Pros:
-Story and plot development, action, characters

Cons:
-Dated artwork, two stories are reduced to summaries

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