See you at TFNation this weekend!

Many years ago I was a regular contributor to The Transformers comic, back when it was published by Marvel UK. Not on the lead strip itself, but creating humour relief strips. Robo-Capers ran for 150 issues or so, and was then replaced by Combat Colin for several years. 

Anyway, this weekend I've been invited as one of the guests to TFNation at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole (next to the NEC and Birmingham International airport). The Transformers are still as popular as ever, although I've never really followed the franchise so come along and ask me about Combat Colin! 

It should be good fun, and a change from the usual comic cons I've attended. I hope to see some of you there! 

Other comics guests include Mike Collins, John-Paul Bove, Jack Lawrence and more. Here's the info:
https://tfnation.com/2018/

Hachette launch Transformers comics partwork in UK newsagents

Marvel UK's The Transformers comic was good to me, or, to be more accurate, its editors were. Shiela Cranna accepted my Robo-Capers strip (starting in issue 15 I think) and then other editors such as Richard Starkings, Simon Furman, etc kept me busy producing more Robo-Capers and Combat Colin strips for the comic so that I was in almost every issue of its 300 plus run. However, the main draw of course was the title strip itself, reprinting the U.S. Transformers strip but also producing brand-new material for the UK market featuring the robots in disguise. 

At its peak, The Transformers was selling over 200,000 copies an issue to readers in Britain during the 1980s. It helped establish Marvel UK as a major publisher in the British comics industry and gave work to many creators at the time. Now, Hachette has just released the first edition in a new partwork series of hardback books; Transformers The Definitive G1 Collection, setting out to reprint the entire run of Generation One Tranformers stories from the UK and USA. It will not only include the old Marvel stories but also the more recent ones that were published by IDW. 

The first book, in newsagents now, is at the special price of £1.99. Issue 2 will be £6.99, and then the series settles at a regular price of £9.99, which is still a good price for a hardback graphic novel. 

The first book reprints Target:2006 from UK Transformers Nos.78 to 88, written by Simon Furman with art by Jeff Anderson, Geoff Senior, Ron Smith, and Will Simpson. 

The book also reprints stories from the U.S. Transformers Nos.21 to 23, written by Bob Budiansky and drawn by Don Perlin. Unfortunately, for some reason, the reproduction of the linework isn't too good on these American strips and the finer lines have dropped out (see photo below). I hope things like this can be rectified in future issues.

As with other Hachette graphic novels, the volumes aren't being released in chronological order. The first one is volume 6, the second will be volume 35, the third volume 16. They probably think it's better to start off with strong stories but it must be a bit frustrating to readers wanting to follow the continuity. Nevertheless, Transformers The Definitive G1 Collection is bound to be a popular series amongst the many fans young and old alike who either remember the classic stories or are discovering them for the first time. 

You can subscribe to the series at the Hachette website (which also shows the TV ad for the books):
http://www.transformerscollection.com

Sharks! Robots!

Just a quick plug for my eBay sales this week. I currently have a couple of pieces on there, - original art for a complete Pathetic Sharks strip from Viz and a Robo-Capers from The Transformers. Black ink on Bristol Board.

Bidding ends on Sunday and all bids are much appreciated. Click here to go to my eBay page. Thanks for looking!

Original artwork auction

Once again I've put a few of my old pages up for bidding on eBay. Sales went well on previous artwork (thanks to all of you who bid/bought pages) so I hope some of you will also be interested in the three pieces currently for sale. 

These are my original pages, which were returned to me by the publisher after they were printed in the comics. This week there's a Robo-Capers strip from Transformers from the late 1980s, a full colour Tom Thug page (complete with Jack Potter's lettering on an overlay) from Buster, and a Sucidal Syd page from Viz. 

Bidding ends on Sunday afternoon. Click HERE to go to my eBay page. Good luck! 

Christmas Comics: TRANSFORMERS (1990)

By special request here's the 1990 Christmas edition of Marvel UK's Transformers comic. Sadly, apart from the excellent Christmas Carol inspired cover by Staz Johnson (coloured by John Burns) there's very little in the comic related to the season. None of the two Transformers strips or the G.I. Joe reprint have a Christmas connection, but there was a special short text story relating to the cover...


I made sure there was a festive element or six to my regular Combat Colin page. The Christmas episode took place in the middle of a three part story. I took the opportunity to mock the way that Christmas suddenly descended on some comic serials (as it had in Lion's 1971 strips, as seen here).

Rather than show the Christmas episode out of context I thought you'd like to see all three parts that I did from Transformers Nos.301 to 303. Part of the fun of doing Combat Colin was creating new villains and supporting characters. In this instance, here's the debut of Doctor Peculiar, Master of the Un-Normal! A mystic who's so mystical that he has a crop circle in his beard...




Issue 303 also contained a full page ad for the annuals that Marvel UK published that year. All license-based plus two Marvel annuals...

Another random Quantum Leap styled dip into the past soon!