143-415: There have been four main publishers of the comic book series bearing the name Transformers based on the toy lines of the same name . The first series was produced by Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1991, which ran for 80 issues and produced four spin-off miniseries. This was followed by a second volume titled Transformers: Generation 2 , which ran for 12 issues starting in 1993. The second major series
286-719: A Doctor Who audio adventure for Big Finish . The Axis of Insanity features the Fifth Doctor, and was published in 2004. He also contributed a number of stories starring Judge Dredd to the DC title Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future , as well as one-off stories to Dredd's home title 2000 AD . Furman wrote a new continuity of "Generation 1" Transformers comic books for IDW Publishing . Furman likes to tell his stories realistically with maps helping out his locations. Furman often focuses his stories on responsibility. He also wrote
429-580: A Maximum Dinobots mini-series in 2008. Furman is also widely known as the co-creator and chief writer of Death's Head . Originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK Transformers series, the character instead received his own series of stories in various comics, becoming a staple of Marvel UK comics in the 1980s and early 1990s. Furman also wrote Dragon's Claws for Marvel UK, and this title crossed over with Death's Head . Furman's other work at Marvel Comics includes
572-646: A Transformers: Energon tale written by Simon Furman and drawn by James Raiz. The tale focused on Slugslinger , Sharkticon and Snow Cat , who had been defeated in an assault by Omega Supreme , telling lies to Megatron in order to excuse their failure. Megatron eventually appoints Slugslinger as his lieutenant, as his lie was the most impressive. The other two, both written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk, focused around Beast Wars and Transformers: Robots in Disguise . The RiD tale, drawn by Rob Ruffolo, focused on Scourge and Sky-Byte stealing
715-675: A tabloid form. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also appeared in the UK, notably Oz and Escape Magazine . The content of Action , another title aimed at children and launched in the mid-1970s, became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons . Although on a smaller scale than similar investigations in the US, such concerns led to a moderation of content published within British comics. Such moderation never became formalized to
858-548: A 2-year run on original Alpha Flight comic book series (where he served as the final writer on the series), a concurrent Northstar mini-series featuring the Alpha Flight team member, a run on Marvel's RoboCop ongoing series in 1991, and the 2006 Annihilation: Ronan mini-series which tied into the Annihilation crossover. In 2006, he returned to writing Death's Head , after a Marvel.com poll contest helped revive
1001-409: A 4 issue limited series". Issues #5–15, 17–32, 35–42 and 44–56 were written by Bob Budiansky , with Marvel UK writer Simon Furman taking over for the remainder of the comic. The comic did not attempt to follow the show and some elements and characters were completely absent, including Ultra Magnus , Springer , Arcee , and Metroplex . The comic started much the same as the show; a crew crash landing
1144-636: A black artist or writer allowed in a major comics company." Asian characters within comic books encountered similar prejudiced treatment as black characters did. They were subjected to dehumanizing depictions, with narratives often portraying them as "incompetent and subhuman." In a 1944 edition of the publication United States Marines , there was a story titled The Smell of the Monkeymen . This narrative portrayed Japanese soldiers as brutish simians, and it depicted their concealed positions being betrayed by their repugnant body odor. Chinese characters received
1287-579: A bridge between the Armada and Energon series, detailing Unicron's defeat and Megatron's disappearance. The story to Transformers: Energon picks up ten years after events in Armada. The Energon title was written by Simon Furman and drawn by Guido Guidi and Joe Ng. The first issue was #19 since Armada was not cancelled but rather retitled. The series was discontinued at issue #30 due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy. Launched in December 2003 Energon would retain
1430-538: A collected trade paperback from 2006 to 2007. Issues were also reprinted in The Transformers Magazine , that ran four issues in 2007, while other collections were published in 2008 and 2009. IDW began publishing another new series of reprints called Transformers Classics . This six volume series started getting published in June 2011. Meanwhile, a 100 Penny Press: Transformers Classics #1 mini edition
1573-473: A company named Comics Guaranty (CGC) initiated the practice of "slabbing" comics, which involves encasing them within thick plastic cases and assigning them a numerical grade. This approach inspired the emergence of Comic Book Certification Service . Given the significance of condition in determining the value of rare comics, the concept of grading by an impartial company, one that does not engage in buying or selling comics, seemed promising. Nevertheless, there
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#17327824030031716-614: A confrontation between Megatron and Scorponok—but the bankruptcy of Dreamwave prevented this story from being finished. In 2004 Dreamwave released a three-issue version of the More Than Meets The Eye series featuring all the Transformers: Armada characters released as toys in the United States. Written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk with art by many Dreamwave artists (including
1859-538: A deal with the British comic company Fleetway to handle the series in the English market for them. The series only lasted 5 issues as well as one annual in 1995. A crossover with the original holders of the Transformers license, Marvel Comics , this series takes place in both Marvel's ongoing continuity, (pre- Civil War ), and IDW's G1 continuity, set in between Infiltration and Escalation . The 4-issue series
2002-458: A famous example of the British comic annual. DC Thomson also repackages The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4-size books for the holiday season. On 19 March 2012, the British postal service, the Royal Mail , released a set of stamps depicting British comic book characters and series. The collection featured The Beano , The Dandy , Eagle , The Topper , Roy of
2145-586: A five chapter spy genre tale written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Carreno. It is readable online in the Digital Comic Museum . The magazine never reached a second issue. In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized , adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust , a 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" ( Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller ), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin , touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover. "It Rhymes with Lust"
2288-628: A government ran program, the Writers' War Board, became heavily involved in what would be published in comics. "The Writers' War Board used comic books to shape popular perceptions of race and ethnicity..." Not only were they using comic books as a means of recruiting all Americans, they were also using it as propaganda to "[construct] a justification for race-based hatred of America's foreign enemies." The Writers' War Board created comics books that were meant to "[promote] domestic racial harmony". However, "these pro-tolerance narratives struggled to overcome
2431-481: A highly successful return of Transformers to the comic world. They started with a limited series focusing on the Generation 1 characters and a monthly series dedicated to Transformers: Armada . The G1 stories were not bound by the previous Marvel stories nor the animated series. Dreamwave produced a large amount of material, but would go bankrupt and lose the Transformers license in early 2005. When they acquired
2574-427: A less superior race and cannot believe they bested his men."The Tuskegee Airmen, and images of black aviators appear in just three of the fifty three panels... the pilots of the 99th Squadron have no dialogue and interact with neither Hop Harrigan nor his Nazi captive." During this time, they also used black characters in comic books as a means to invalidate the militant black groups that were fighting for equality within
2717-412: A lifelong passion for the stories within comics, often focusing on specific superheroes and striving to gather a complete collection of a particular series. Comics are assigned sequential numbers, and the initial issue of a long-lasting comic book series tends to be both the scarcest and the most coveted among collectors. The introduction of a new character might occur within an existing title. For instance,
2860-567: A military commander, longs to find peace by leaving Cybertron's civil war altogether. To that end, he gathers a large crew of followers, and they rocket off to the planet Nebulos, which has not seen war in over 10,000 years. Unfortunately, the Autobots' first encounters with the Nebulans are misinterpreted. Intimidated by the robots' size, the Nebulans initiate aggressions against the Autobots. To end hostilities and show his willingness to protect
3003-570: A nuclear reactor, while Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus learn the value of teamwork to stop them. The Beast Wars tale, drawn by Don Figueroa , focused on Rattrap reminiscing on a time when he was attacked by Dinobot 2, only to be saved by a trio of mysterious Maximals . The comic shows us a what if there is a Dinobot combiner and the comic can only obtained in Transformers G1 DVDs set split into two comics Comic book A comic book , comic-magazine or simply ' comic' ,
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#17327824030033146-419: A six issue prequel set on Cybertron before the Autobots and Decepticons took their battle to Earth. It spawned two sequels – "TWW: The Dark Ages" and "TWW: The Age Of Wrath" (uncompleted). His work on the Armada and Energon titles were also received better than the anime series from which they were based on. Furman was to have continued on with Dreamwave, but its contentious closure resulted in the premature end of
3289-497: A surge of creativity emerged in what became known as underground comix . Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Underground comix "reflected and commented on the social divisions and tensions of American society". Many had an uninhibited, often irreverent style; their frank depictions of nudity, sex, profanity, and politics had no parallel outside their precursors,
3432-536: A vote by fans, and the winner ( Beast Wars ) was to be the next Transformers comic series (see Beast Wars (Unreleased) and Beast Wars (IDW Publishing) Background for more information). The Summer Special was to be an annual mini-series, but due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy only one issue was published. The Generation 1 segment, written by the main G1 creative team of Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk and drawn by Pat Lee and Joe Ng, focused on Megatron and
3575-495: Is Japan. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥ 586.4 billion ( $ 6–7 billion ), with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books ( tankōbon volumes and manga magazines ) in Japan, equivalent to 15 issues per person. In 2020 the manga market in Japan reached a new record value of ¥612.5 billion due to a fast growth of digital manga sales as well as an increase in print sales. The comic book market in
3718-410: Is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually dialogue contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Comic Cuts was a British comic published from 1890 to 1953. It was preceded by Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884), which
3861-502: Is also available to read online in the Digital Comic Museum. In 1971, writer-artist Gil Kane and collaborators applied a paperback format to their "comics novel" Blackmark . Will Eisner popularized the term "graphic novel" when he used it on the cover of the paperback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories in 1978 and, subsequently, the usage of the term began to increase. In 2017,
4004-458: Is an ongoing debate regarding whether the relatively high cost of this grading service is justified and whether it serves the interests of collectors or mainly caters to speculators seeking rapid profits, akin to trading in stocks or fine art. Comic grading has played a role in establishing standards for valuation, which online price guides such as GoCollect and GPAnalysis utilize to provide real-time market value information. Collectors also seek out
4147-467: Is coming from, and who is accessing it, which was a prequel story to the Beast Wars television series. The series proved to be popular, and a subsequent More Than Meets The Eye miniseries debuted the next year, this time covering Transformers: Armada . This comic series was based on the new Transformers toyline of that year, Transformers: Armada . The continuity, while following elements from
4290-662: Is generally considered the beginning of the modern comic book as it is known today. The Silver Age of Comic Books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form, with the debut of the Flash in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956). The Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby 's Fantastic Four and Lee and Steve Ditko 's Spider-Man . The demarcation between
4433-625: Is largely set in Britain and starring the magician John Constantine , paved the way for British writers such as Jamie Delano . The English musician Peter Gabriel issued in 2000 The Story of OVO which was released in a CD-booklet-shaped comic book as part of the CD edition with the title " OVO The Millennium Show ". The 2000 Millennium Dome Show based on it. At Christmas, publishers repackage and commission material for comic annuals , printed and bound as hardcover A4 -size books; "Rupert" supplies
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4576-416: Is notable for its use of sequential cartoons to unfold narrative. These British comics existed alongside the popular lurid " penny dreadfuls " (such as Spring-heeled Jack ), boys' " story papers " and the humorous Punch magazine, which was the first to use the term "cartoon" in its modern sense of a humorous drawing. The first modern American-style comic book , Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics ,
4719-597: Is used in South Korea to refer to both comics and cartooning in general. Outside South Korea, the term usually refers to comics originally published in the country. Manhwa is greatly influenced by Japanese Manga comics though it differs from manga and manhua with its own distinct features. Webtoons have become popular in South Korea as a new way to read comics. Thanks in part to different censorship rules, color and unique visual effects, and optimization for easier reading on smartphones and computers. More manhwa have made
4862-594: Is written by Stuart Moore and drawn by Tyler Kirkman. Captain America , Iron Man , Wolverine , and Spider-Man all appear, as well as many of the Transformers cast of Escalation . The series was collected as a trade paperback in January 2008. The Marvel Comics character Death's Head , a character created by Simon Furman, appeared in certain Marvel UK Transformers stories. In the third issue of
5005-664: The Generation 1 minifranchise. Furman was born in Carshalton , Surrey , and had no tertiary education. Furman is best known for his work on the Transformers comic by Marvel Comics . Furman took over as the writer of the Marvel US Transformers comic after its earlier writer Bob Budiansky decided he had had enough of the comic. Marvel UK, Furman's employer at the time, invited Budiansky over to
5148-654: The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A–Z (released on March 22, 2006), the entry for Death's Head's describes his encounters with the Transformers to have taken place in an alternate reality , referred to as Earth-120185 , thus separating these stories from existence in standard Marvel Universe continuity. This raises the question of whether or not any of the Marvel Comics Transformers stories take place in
5291-498: The Energon Universe . In addition to these four main publishers, there have also been several other smaller publishers with varying degrees of success. 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. The final cover read "80 in
5434-590: The Marvel Universe "proper" ( Earth-616 ), despite such tie-ins as Spider-Man 's guest-starring appearance in the original Marvel limited series and Circuit Breaker, a character that originated in the Transformers comics, having a cameo appearance in Marvel's Secret Wars II limited series, which featured nearly every character then existing in the continuity of Earth-616. A case can be made that only
5577-609: The Predacons . The Predacons were once warlords on Cybertron who were cast into exile in space. Settling on Planet Beest, (a homage to the Battle Beasts toy line), the Predacons sank into a feral state, and lived as inhabitants of that world for untold years, until Megatron arrived. Having been jettisoned into space by Starscream and restored from the brink of death by Wreck-Gar, Megatron now had his sights set on reclaiming
5720-578: The United States and Canada was valued at $ 1.09 billion in 2016. As of 2017 , the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media , followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics featuring superhero comics franchises such as Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Spider-Man , the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men . The best-selling comic book categories in
5863-586: The archetype of the superhero . According to historian Michael A. Amundson , appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power. Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras. The Golden Age of Comic Books began in 1938, with the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, published by Detective Comics (predecessor of DC Comics), which
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6006-554: The 1930s – and through really to the 1950s and 60s – these comics were almost the only entertainment available to children." Dennis the Menace was created in the 1950s, which saw sales for The Beano soar. He features in the cover of The Beano , with the BBC referring to him as the "definitive naughty boy of the comic world." In 1954, Tiger comics introduced Roy of the Rovers ,
6149-422: The 1940s there was a change in portrayal of black characters. "A cursory glance...might give the impression that situations had improved for African Americans in comics." In many comics being produced in this time there was a major push for tolerance between races. "These equality minded heroes began to spring to action just as African Americans were being asked to participate in the war effort." During this time,
6292-560: The 1990s, changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press. Small publishers regularly releasing titles include Avatar Press , Hyperwerks , Raytoons, and Terminal Press , buoyed by such advances in printing technology as digital print-on-demand . In 1964, Richard Kyle coined
6435-399: The 20th century, with the first comic standard-sized comic being Funnies on Parade . Funnies on Parades was the first book that established the size, duration, and format of the modern comic book. Following this was, Dell Publishing 's 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics as the first true newsstand American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of
6578-459: The 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film . Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. While their content generally remained less explicit, others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists. A few (notably RAW ) represented experimental attempts to bring comics closer to
6721-493: The Ark on Earth in the distant past. They are befriended by Buster Witwicky. His brother Spike eventually joins the cause as Autobot leader when he became the head of commander Fortress Maximus. There occurs a considerable amount of fractioning and in-fighting in both the Autobots and Decepticons. However, the series climax occurs when both sides, Autobots and Decepticons, form an uneasy peace to defend Cybertron from Unicron . A few of
6864-513: The Autobots and the war they left behind and used this information to contact Cybertron. Zarak's message was received by Fortress Maximus's Decepticon equal, Scorponok. After lying to Zarak about the intentions of the Autobots, Scorponok led an invasion force to the planet. Armed only with weapons that had not seen use in millennia, the Nebulan defense were no match for the intentionally aggressive Decepticons. With little options left, Galen, leader of
7007-529: The Autobots who aid them in stopping both Cobra and the Decepticons. Since Dreamwave's demise, the mini-series has been reprinted in trade paperback form by IDW Publishing. A second volume, Divided Front , was produced. It was written by the writing team of James McDonough and Adam Patyk (who also worked to develop the story treatment for the first volume) and drawn by Pat Lee. Despite strong initial sales of over 44 thousand copies and positive reviews stating
7150-688: The Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year, which required all comic books to go through a process of approval. It was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. The Code was made formally defunct in November 2011. In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
7293-481: The Cybertronian Empire, a race of later generation Transformers that evolved while the earthbound Autobots and Decepticons were deactivated. The events of this series were actually set in motion with a crossover from the G.I. Joe comic books #138–142, in 1993. Megatron returns in his new tank body to reclaim his leadership from Bludgeon and by the end of the series joins with Optimus Prime to fight against
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#17327824030037436-547: The Decepticon leadership, and required the Predacons to bolster his army. Abandoning his personal weaponry, Megatron pursued Razorclaw through the jungle and soundly defeated him in hand-to-hand combat. Subsequently, he re-engineered the Predacons to give them the ability to combine into Predaking. This would later impact the ongoing Generation 1 comic when Megatron brought them to Cybertron to help defeat Shockwave and later to Earth. There were three other stories, including
7579-528: The Dreamwave artists, it featured bios of all the Transformers released as toys in the United States (with the exception of several of the Action Masters). The character entries were done in the same style as the 1986 Marvel limited series, Transformers Universe , with page long bios and art of the characters in both their robot and alternate forms. The character bios included expanded information from
7722-484: The Earth's core, which would destroy the planet in the process. The story was hampered by continuity issues (though the storyline was only referred to in the pages of the Transformers comics, as G.I. Joe writer Larry Hama opted to ignore the mini-series), and the absence of several key characters from both franchises, including Cobra Commander , Optimus Prime , and Megatron , as the three characters were presumed dead at
7865-599: The Energon and The War Within titles. Furman has released a novella/comic serial, The Omega Point , which was available only at conventions. Furman collaborates with regular Marvel UK Transformers artist, Andrew Wildman , as WildFur Productions. Their most recent collaboration was on the Macromedia Flash online, interactive comic The Engine: Industrial Strength , which they produced with UK New Media expert Adam Jennings . Away from Transformers, Furman wrote
8008-703: The G2 Decepticons and their genetic offshoot, the Swarm . The series ended with an epic battle between the "Generation 1" Transformers, the Cybertronians and the Swarm. It also introduces the Liege Maximo. However, the series was cancelled with issue #12 due to low sales, forcing a quick conclusion to the series' various plot threads. Outside of the 12 issue series, Marvel published a free 8 page comic that
8151-565: The Innocent (1954). This critique led to the involvement of the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency , which launched an investigation into comic books. Wertham argued that comic books were accountable for a surge in juvenile delinquency and posed a potential impact on a child's sexuality and moral values. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the US comic book industry set up
8294-661: The Magician , and the Phantom . Several reprint companies became involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter . Marvel Comics established a UK office in 1972. DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opened offices in the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has occurred less frequently, although The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix serials have been successfully translated and repackaged in softcover books. The number of European comics available in
8437-506: The Marvel series and reprinted a lot of the issues. From 2001 to 2003, Titan Books reprinted numerous Marvel issues in a series of 14 trade paperbacks. Years later they were able to do more reprints but only in the U.K. market. IDW Publishing (the current rights holders to the Transformers comic property) reprinted numerous Marvel issues as well, as part of the Transformers: Generations series that ran 12 issues and
8580-426: The Marvel series. In August 2013, IDW published the hardcover Transformers: 30th Anniversary Collection . This deluxe book celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Transformers franchise, and as such, many of the original Marvel books were reprinted. The sister title in the UK, this series ran for 332 issues, as well as spawning 7 annuals and 28 specials. It was a weekly publication that spliced original stories into
8723-500: The Mini-Cons on a base on the moon, leading the Decepticons to attempt a full-scale assault to capture them all. Issues 12–13 would see Megatron construct a superweapon, a powerful laser focusing satellite, in an attempt to destroy the Autobots, as well as capturing enough Mini-Cons to overload Cyclonus 's power. With the series coming to a close and Energon due to take over as the active franchise comic, issues 14–18 were dedicated to
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#17327824030038866-526: The Nebulan world council, made arrangements for himself and others to become Autobot Headmasters. Although the Headmaster process made them able to drive off the Decepticons, all Galen had succeeded in doing was re-igniting the Transformers' war on Nebulos. After Scorponok and now-captive Lord Zarak developed a way to duplicate the process (as well as a later Targetmaster Process), the Nebulos theatre of
9009-452: The Rovers , Bunty , Buster , Valiant , Twinkle and 2000 AD . Simon Furman Simon Christopher Francis Furman (born 22 March 1961 ) is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro 's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel Comics 's initial comic book to promote the toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on
9152-597: The Silver Age and the following era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books , is less well-defined, with the Bronze Age running from the very early 1970s through the mid-1980s. The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day. A significant event in the timeline of American comic books occurred when psychiatrist Fredric Wertham voiced his criticisms of the medium through his book Seduction of
9295-429: The Transformers licence from Hasbro , Dreamwave Productions initially produced a six-issue mini-series, written by Chris Sarracini and drawn by company President Pat Lee , titled Prime Directive . Despite mixed critical reaction and the late shipping of several issues, the series was a huge sales success. Encouraged by this, Dreamwave produced a second series, this time written by Brad Mick, called War and Peace . When
9438-555: The Transformers' war escalated. After casualties and collateral damage mounted, Galen eventually convinced Zarak to take their conflict off-world, with nearly all Transformers from both factions following a distress beacon sent by Goldbug from Earth. Because the series was bi-monthly, very little time passed after its end before a smaller group returned to Nebulos, using resources there and the Powermaster Process to rebuild and empower Optimus Prime . The entire miniseries
9581-426: The U.S. "Spider-Man 'made it clear that militant black power was not the remedy for racial injustice'." "The Falcon openly criticized black behavior stating' maybe it's important fo [ sic ] us to cool things down-so we can protect the rights we been fightin' for'." This portrayal and character development of black characters can be partially blamed on the fact that, during this time, "there had rarely been
9724-635: The UK comic and continued within issues #24-#27 of Action Force , (the name given to the G.I. Joe comic series in the UK). A four-issue mini-series introducing new characters that were incorporated into the ongoing series (issue #38) at the conclusion of the mini-series. The series introduces the Headmasters , Targetmasters , some of the movie Transformers, Monsterbots, Horrorcons , Technobots and Terrorcons . The plot of this series focuses on Cybertronian Autobot Fortress Maximus, who despite his success as
9867-507: The UK has increased in the last two decades. The British company Cinebook , founded in 2005, has released English translated versions of many European series. In the 1980s, a resurgence of British writers and artists gained prominence in mainstream comic books, which was dubbed the " British Invasion " in comic book history. These writers and artists brought with them their own mature themes and philosophy such as anarchy, controversy and politics common in British media. These elements would pave
10010-563: The UK, and Furman was chosen as Budiansky's successor over a lunch at Covent Garden in London . Furman started his run in the US comic cautiously at first, but later invented an origin story for the Transformers that involved an ancient struggle between the colossal godlike creator, Primus , and his counterpart, the colossal godlike destroyer, Unicron . The latter was borrowed from the Transformers movie, where he appeared with no given backstory (a conflicting origin for Unicron later came in
10153-460: The US as of 2019 are juvenile children's fiction at 41%, manga at 28% and superhero comics at 10% of the market. Another major comic book market is France , where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market, followed by American comics at 10% market share. Comic books heavily rely on their organization and visual presentation. Authors dedicate significant attention to aspects like page layout, size, orientation, and
10296-443: The United States. They were the ones painted as intolerant and disrespectful of the dominant concerns of white America". Manga (漫画) are comic books or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, though the art form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art . The term manga is used in Japan to refer to both comics and cartooning in general. Outside Japan,
10439-420: The arc would introduce the three main human characters (Rad, Alexis and Carlos) and see both sides battle and gain Mini-Cons for the first time. Issues 6–7 would see Furman take over the scripting, with Pat Lee on art, detailing the discovery of several more Mini-Con teams on Earth. Issues 8–11, with Guido Guidi taking over on art, would see the discovery of a mysterious Mini-Con monolith that would assemble all
10582-466: The cartoon series of the same name, was wholly its own continuity. Differences included the Mini-Cons ' ability to talk in a normal way rather than the beeps and boops from the cartoon series. Also, the resolution to the Armada saga was quite different and involved cross-dimensional travel and several Generation 1 characters. The series ended at issue #18 and was retitled as Transformers: Energon with
10725-596: The character (now branded Death's Head 3.0) and was thus given a 5-issue storyarc in the Amazing Fantasy anthology series. In June 2007, he began writing Terminator 2: Infinity , based on Dynamite Entertainment 's Terminator 2: Judgment Day license; he produced a sequel, Terminator: Revolution . In the United Kingdom, he did original strips for the first two volumes of Titan Magazines ' Transformers Comic UK title, as well as contributing to
10868-687: The comic book market size for North America was just over $ 1 billion with digital sales being flat, book stores having a 1 percent decline, and comic book stores having a 10 percent decline over 2016. The global comic book market saw a substantial 12% growth in 2020, reaching a total worth of US$ 8.49 billion. This positive trajectory continued in 2021, with the market's annual valuation surging to US$ 9.21 billion. The rising popularity of comic books can be attributed to heightened global interest, driven significantly by collaborative efforts among diverse brands. These collaborations are geared towards producing more engaging and appealing comic content, contributing to
11011-463: The comic book market. The rarest modern comic books include the original press run of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, which DC executive Paul Levitz recalled and pulped due to the appearance of a vintage Victorian era advertisement for "Marvel Douche ", which the publisher considered offensive; only 100 copies exist, most of which have been CGC graded. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled, and erroneous comics.) In 2000,
11154-545: The comics all together. There was a comic created about the 99th Squadron, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen , an all-black air force unit. Instead of making the comic about their story, the comic was about Hop Harrigan. A white pilot who captures a Nazi, shows him videos of the 99th Squadron defeating his men and then reveals to the Nazi that his men were defeated by African Americans which infuriated him as he sees them as
11297-568: The coming of Unicron , with cameo appearances by several G1 characters. With Don Figueroa on art, it detailed the coming of the Heralds of Unicron into the Armada dimension to secure the Mini-Con Matrix and kill all of Unicron's enemies. The arc introduced Jetfire and the concept of Powerlinking, as well as having a battle between Armada Megatron and G1 Galvatron , Unicron's chief Herald. The final issue, again drawn by Guidi, served as
11440-559: The continuity of the reprinted US issues, and was mostly written by Simon Furman . At the start, it had a more serious science fiction approach. Because of the weekly approach, the UK comic was able to flesh out characters and ideas more; in the US comic, the Aerialbots and Stunticons are first shown having just been built and being given life by the Creation Matrix program, whereas the UK comic fleshed it out more and showed
11583-433: The coon stereotype but had some subtle differences. They are both a derogatory way of portraying black characters. "The name itself, an abbreviation of raccoon, is dehumanizing. As with Sambo, the coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon." This portrayal "was of course another attempt to solidify the intellectual inferiority of the black race through popular culture." However, in
11726-518: The creation myth, mythological underpinnings can be found in several of his stories such as the Matrix Quest storyline, where the Autobots and Decepticons search for the Creation Matrix , a powerful object constructed by Primus. Furman's Transformers: Generation 2 plot-line in 1993 introduced the characters Jhiaxus and Liege Maximo , one of the first Transformers. Liege Maximo had killed
11869-529: The debut appearances of iconic characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman , the Flash , Captain Marvel , Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk , Iron Man , Captain America and the Mighty Thor are regarded as priceless treasures within the comic book world. Many early iterations of black characters in comics "became variations on the 'single stereotypical image of Sambo'." Sambo was closely related to
12012-584: The disappearance of the Ark , the series focused on the history of the titular Micromasters and the discovery of a mysterious Golden Disk with links to the origins of the Transformers. Despite some vocal readers' complaints regarding the series and its art, it also received its share of praise and sold well to the direct market. An eight-issue limited series from 2003 written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk (the shapers of Dreamwave's G1 title and its overall Transformers continuity) with art by most of
12155-489: The early issues were reprinted by Marvel in a digest sized magazine called The Transformers Comics Magazine that ran 10 issues from 1987 to 1988. Marvel had also reprinted some of these early issues in 1985, as the Transformers Collected Comics which ran 2 issues. In latter years, when various other companies were able to obtain the license for the Transformers , they were able to gain access to
12298-420: The eradication of Asian invaders." There was "a constant relay race in which one Asian culture merely handed off the baton of hatred to another with no perceptible changes in the manner in which the characters would be portrayed." "The only specific depiction of a Hispanic superhero did not end well. In 1975, Marvel gave us Hector Ayala (a.k.a. The White Tiger)." "Although he fought for several years alongside
12441-413: The extent of promulgating a code, nor did it last long. The UK has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originating in the US. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black-and-white reprints, including Marvel's monster comics of the 1950s, Fawcett's Captain Marvel , and other characters such as Sheena , Mandrake
12584-466: The feature film , with no continuity ties to the regular comic series. Differences to the animated feature include the original designs for the Autobot Matrix of Leadership and Ultra Magnus' original death at the hand of Scourge and his Sweeps. A four-issue limited series in the style of Marvel Universe and G.I. Joe: Order of Battle , featuring lengthy bios of nearly all of the Transformers of
12727-472: The first Prime to steal the Matrix and claimed that the Decepticons descended from him. Since Transformers Generation 2 was cancelled after 12 issues, the Liege Maximo storyline was concluded in the convention exclusive novella Alignment . Over ten years later, Furman was brought in by the now-defunct independent comics publisher Dreamwave to write some of its Transformers comics, including " The War Within ",
12870-501: The first appearance of Spider-Man took place in Amazing Fantasy #15. New characters were frequently introduced in this manner, waiting for an established audience before launching their own titles. Consequently, comics featuring the debut appearance of a significant character can sometimes be even more challenging to locate than the inaugural issue of that character's standalone series. Some rare comic books include copies of
13013-508: The first appearance of Superman , both sold privately through online dealer ComicConnect.com in 2010, and Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman , via public auction. Updating the above price obtained for Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman , the highest sale on record for this book is $ 3.2 million, for a 9.0 copy. Misprints, promotional comic-dealer incentive printings, and issues with exceptionally low distribution tend to possess scarcity value in
13156-439: The following issue. Originally written by Sarracini, Simon Furman came on board to do a 2-part filler story and ended up as the ongoing writer as a result. Issues 1–5, written by Chris Saccarini and drawn by James Raiz, would give some background to the original war on Cybertron, detailing how Megatron 's campaign started on Cybertron and how the Mini-Cons originally came to Earth, escaping Megatron's grasp. One million years later
13299-590: The hugely popular football based strip recounting the life of Roy Race and the team he played for, Melchester Rovers . The stock media phrase "real 'Roy of the Rovers' stuff" is often used by football writers, commentators and fans when describing displays of great skill, or surprising results that go against the odds, in reference to the dramatic storylines that were the strip's trademark. Other comic books such as Eagle , Valiant , Warrior , Viz and 2000 AD also flourished. Some comics, such as Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles, have been published in
13442-426: The industry's continued growth. The 1970s saw the advent of specialty comic book stores . Initially, comic books were marketed by publishers to children because comic books were perceived as children's entertainment. However, with increasing recognition of comics as an art form and the growing pop culture presence of comic book conventions , they are now embraced by many adults. Comic book collectors often exhibit
13585-471: The influence of the Francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics but have their own distinct style. Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884) was aimed at an adult market, publishers quickly targeted a younger demographic, which has led to most publications being for children and has created an association in the public's mind of comics as somewhat juvenile. The Guardian refers to Ally Sloper as "one of
13728-587: The interlocking covers by Joe Ng ), the layout was similar to the Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye mini-series released in 2003, and included separate character bios for the Minicons as well as for the other Transformers. The first pages of issue one and the last pages of issue three feature a mini-comic of the human character Alexis studying the history of the Transformers. The comic
13871-591: The licence to the property, they published various reprints in the hardcover book The Best Of Simon Furman and in the Best of UK Omnibus . Other reprints were featured in mini-series collections such as Target 2006 (#1–5), Dinobots (#1–6), Space Pirates (#1–5), Time Wars (#1–5), City of Fear (#1–5), and Prey (#1–5). A new 8 volume reprint collection called Transformers Classics: UK started getting released in October 2011. A three-issue mini-series adaptation of
14014-437: The likes of much more popular heroes such as Spider-Man and Daredevil, he only lasted six years before sales of comics featuring him got so bad that Marvel had him retire. The most famous Hispanic character is Bane, a villain from Batman." The Native American representation in comic books "can be summed up in the noble savage stereotype" " a recurring theme...urged American indians to abandon their traditional hostility towards
14157-501: The most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". In 1905 G.W. Dillingham Company published 24 select strips by the cartoonist Gustave Verbeek in an anthology book called 'The Incredible Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo'. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 's Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry and ushered in the Golden Age of Comic Books . The Golden Age originated
14300-556: The name Foolbert Sturgeon, has been credited as the first underground comix; while R. Crumb and the crew of cartoonists who worked on Zap Comix popularized the form. The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created and paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or " alternative comics " in the US. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach , published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar 's American Splendor , which continued sporadic publication into
14443-514: The numbering system from Armada, as well as the creative team of Furman and Guidi. Issue 19 would pick up where Armada left off, reintroducing the main cast – as well as Unicron and the new threat of the Terrorcons . Issues 20–23 (drawn by Guidi and Joe Ng) saw the introduction of Unicron's Four Horsemen and most of the relevant cast (Prime, Hot Shot , etc.) receiving their Energon Powerlinking bodies, as well as establishing that Megatron's Spark
14586-408: The original artwork pages from comic books, which are perhaps the most rarefied items in the realm of comic book collecting. These pages hold unparalleled scarcity due to the fact that there exists only one unique page of artwork for every page that was printed and published. The creation of these original artwork pages involves a collaborative effort: a writer crafts the story, a pencil artist designs
14729-515: The original thirteen Transformers. A third volume, called The Age of Wrath , written by Furman and drawn by Joe Ng, was released up through issue #3, but due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy it was never completed. The first two series were re-released in trade paperback form by IDW Publishing in March and May 2007. Micromasters was a four-issue mini-series written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk and drawn by Rob Ruffolo. Set on Cybertron after
14872-484: The original toys' tech specs, as well as new character development from the Dreamwave Transformers continuity. Issues one through seven contain the character bios, while issue number eight contains entries for key Transformer locations, ideas and technology. The first pages of issue one and the last pages of issue eight feature a mini-comic about where all the information presented in the limited series
15015-424: The other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, including Dave Gibbons , Frank Quitely , John Romita Jr. , Jock , Doug Braithwaite , Ian Churchill , Olivier Coipel , Duncan Fegredo , David Lafuente , John McCrea , Sean Phillips and Liam Sharp , who all drew a panel each, with regular Superior artist Leinil Yu creating the book's front cover. The book
15158-421: The period. Most of the text was the same as the tech specs found on the toy boxes, only much more expanded. The first three issues (as well as the first portion of the fourth) contained all of the first, second and third year Transformers. The latter half of the fourth issue dealt with characters new to The Transformers: The Movie (1986), including characters that were not made as toys at the time. The series
15301-410: The planet's fragile peace, Fortress Maximus and a few of his followers discard their weapons in front of the Nebulan capital. When that failed to dissuade them, he made the ultimate sacrifice by offering them his head. Four more Autobots did the same, while the remainder returned to their camp unarmed. Intending to use the situation to his advantage, corrupt Nebulan politician Lord Zarak learned more about
15444-499: The popular and widely understood negative tropes used for decades in American mass culture...". However, they were not accomplishing this agenda within all of their comics. In the comic series Captain Marvel Adventures , there was a character named Steamboat who embodied a collection of highly negative stereotypes prevalent during that period. The Writers' War Board did not request any alterations to this character despite
15587-428: The pornographic and even more obscure " Tijuana bibles ". Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, as well as by mail order . The underground comics encouraged creators to publish their work independently so that they would have full ownership rights to their characters. Frank Stack 's The Adventures of Jesus , published under
15730-736: The positioning of panels. These characteristics are crucial for effectively conveying the content and messages within the comic book. Key components of comic books encompass panels, speech bubbles (also known as balloons), text lines, and characters. Speech balloons generally take the form of convex containers that hold character dialogue and are connected to the character via a tail element. The tail comprises an origin, path, tip, and directional point. The creation of comic books involves several essential steps: writing, drawing, and coloring. Various technological tools and methods are employed to craft comic books, incorporating concepts such as directions, axes, data, and metrics. Following these formatting guidelines,
15873-422: The previous efforts of Marvel Comics, had the story set in an alternate continuity, and was written by John Ney Rieber and drawn by Jae Lee . Here, Cobra had discovered and awakened the Decepticons, reformatting their vehicle modes into 1940s era war vehicles and weapons. The two evil forces conquered much of Europe in an alternative version of World War II . G.I. Joe, here a group of American infantry men, find
16016-617: The problematic portrayal. The removal of Steamboat from the series only came about due to the persistent advocacy of a black youth group based in New York City." Originally their request was refused by individuals working on the comic stating, " Captain Marvel Adventures included many kinds of caricatures 'for the sake of humor'." The black youth group responded with "this is not the Negro race, but your one-and-a-half millions readers will think it so." Afterwards, Steamboat disappeared from
16159-488: The process unfolds with writing, drawing, and coloring. In the United States, the term "comic book", is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks while " graphic novel " is the term used for standalone books. Comics as a print medium have existed in the United States since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book. Proto-comics periodicals began appearing early in
16302-452: The same for Asian people. However, "Japanese and Filipino characters were visually indistinguishable. Both groups have grotesque buckteeth, tattered clothing, and bright yellow skin." "Publishers depicted America's Asian allies through derogatory images and language honed over the preceding decades." Asian characters were previously portrayed as, "ghastly yellow demons". During WWII, "[every] major superhero worth his spandex devoted himself to
16445-455: The same treatment. "By the time the United States entered WWII, negative perceptions of Chinese were an established part of mass culture...." However, concerned that the Japanese could use America's anti-Chinese material as propaganda they began "to present a more positive image of America's Chinese allies..." Just as they tried to show better representation for Black people in comics they did
16588-563: The second series emulated the sales of the first, Dreamwave decided to upgrade the Generation One to an ongoing series focusing on the Earthbound Autobots and Decepticons, written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk, and drawn by Don Figueroa (although Lee and Joe Ng helped draw the preview issue, and issue #4 featured a back-up story drawn by James Raiz). However, Dreamwave's eventual bankruptcy meant that
16731-551: The sequential panels on the page, an ink artist goes over the pencil with pen and ink, a letterer provides the dialogue and narration through hand-lettering, and finally, a colorist adds color as the final touch before the pages are sent to the printer. When the printer returns the original artwork pages, they are typically returned to the artists themselves. These artists sometimes opt to sell these pages at comic book conventions, in galleries, and at art shows centered around comic book art. The original pages from DC and Marvel, featuring
16874-500: The series "exceeded expectations," Dreamwave released only one issue before their financial troubles put a halt to their operations. The story followed Transformers/G.I. Joe , but took place 40 years later in 1985, and was intended to have explained the connection to the first volume's story. The Transformers Summer Special was a one-shot produced in the summer of 2004 that featured stories from Generation 1 , Energon , Robots in Disguise , and Beast Wars . The latter two were put to
17017-440: The series would never be concluded past issue #10. This was the first piece of Transformers fiction to use the term Generation One in the title. After Dreamwave's bankruptcy, the first two miniseries were redistributed in trade paperback form through IDW Publishing . Of note: there is a magazine that published a 10-page preview in b/w of what was to have been the 11th issue of the series had Dreamwave not gone into bankruptcy, but
17160-452: The status of fine art . During the 1970s the " small press " culture grew and diversified. By the 1980s, several independent publishers – such as Pacific , Eclipse , First , Comico , and Fantagraphics – had started releasing a wide range of styles and formats—from color-superhero, detective , and science-fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism . A number of small publishers in
17303-452: The stories that featured Death's Head are separate from standard Marvel continuity, since the character's adventures often involved travel across time and dimensions, not to mention genres; Death's Head also encountered the British science fiction icon the Doctor from Doctor Who once. In early 2002, Dreamwave Productions acquired the Transformers comics license and went on to produce
17446-681: The strips for Titan's Torchwood magazine. On 9 April 2011 Furman was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set two Guinness World Records , the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book. With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Mark Millar began work at 9am scripting a 20-page black and white Superior comic book, with Furman and
17589-750: The switch from traditional print manhwa to online webtoons thanks to better pay and more freedom than traditional print manhwa. The webtoon format has also expanded to other countries outside of Korea like China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Western countries. Major webtoon distributors include Lezhin , Naver , and Kakao . France and Belgium have a long tradition in comics and comic books, often called BDs (an abbreviation of bandes dessinées , meaning literally "drawn strips") in French, and strips in Dutch or Flemish . Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch show
17732-406: The term " graphic novel ". Precursors of the form existed by the 1920s, which saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition by Belgian Frans Masereel , American Lynd Ward and others, including Stan Lee. In 1947, Fawcett Publications published "Comics Novel No. 1", as the first in an intended series of these "comics novels". The story in the first issue was "Anarcho, Dictator of Death",
17875-426: The third season of the original Transformers cartoon series). According to Furman's origin story, The Transformers were a creation of Primus as a warrior race who were to be the last line of defence against Unicron. This origin differs from the third season of the cartoon series, where the Transformers were originally created to be robot servants of the alien Quintessons , who often sold them to other races. Aside from
18018-511: The time of the mini-series' publication. The story featured Bumblebee being destroyed by G.I. Joe forces and rebuilt as Goldbug. This plot point was ignored in the UK comic, where the story was not reprinted until much later in the comic's run, and resulted in an alternate story being conceived to change the character into his "Goldbug" persona. Marvel UK also featured a crossover between these two properties. 'Ancient Relics' began in Issue 125 of
18161-440: The two teams as being created out of new technology created by Shockwave after scanning Buster Witwicky while he had the Matrix downloaded into his brain. Furman also tried to maintain continuity with The Transformers: The Movie , and wrote several stories set in the future after the movie's ending, as well as bringing characters from the future (i.e. Galvatron ) into the present day. Due to his epic and mythological approach, he
18304-496: The unreleased Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 from 1939. Eight copies, plus one without a cover, emerged in the estate of the deceased publisher in 1974. The "Pay Copy" of this book sold for $ 43,125 in a 2005 Heritage auction. The most valuable American comics have combined rarity and quality with the first appearances of popular and enduring characters. Four comic books have sold for over US$ 1 million as of December 2010 , including two examples of Action Comics #1,
18447-584: The way for mature and "darker and edgier" comic books and jump start the Modern Age of Comics . Writers included Alan Moore , famous for his V for Vendetta , From Hell , Watchmen , Marvelman , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ; Neil Gaiman with The Sandman mythos and Books of Magic ; Warren Ellis , creator of Transmetropolitan and Planetary ; and others such as Mark Millar , creator of Wanted and Kick-Ass . The comic book series John Constantine, Hellblazer , which
18590-417: The word is typically used to refer to comics originally published in the country. Dōjinshi ( 同人誌 , fan magazine ) , fan-made Japanese comics, operate in a far larger market in Japan than the American "underground comix" market; the largest dōjinshi fair, Comiket , attracts 500,000 visitors twice a year. Manhwa (만화) are comic books or graphic novels originating from South Korea . The term manhwa
18733-609: The world's first iconic cartoon characters", and "as famous in Victorian Britain as Dennis the Menace would be a century later." British comics in the early 20th century typically evolved from illustrated penny dreadfuls of the Victorian era (featuring Sweeney Todd , Dick Turpin and Varney the Vampire ). First published in the 1830s, penny dreadfuls were "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for
18876-457: The young." The two most popular British comic books, The Beano and The Dandy , were first published by DC Thomson in the 1930s. By 1950 the weekly circulation of both reached two million. Explaining the enormous popularity of comics in the UK during this period, Anita O'Brien, director curator at London's Cartoon Museum, states: "When comics like the Beano and Dandy were invented back in
19019-537: Was also published in June 2011. Some issues were also reprinted in the hardcover book Transformers: The Best Of Simon Furman in July 2007. In March 2014, the first issue of the series was reprinted as 100 Penny Press: Transformers #1 In July 2012, to prepare the new series Transformers: Regeneration One (which continued the Marvel series after 21 years), IDW Publishing released Transformers: Regeneration One 100-Page Spectacular . This one-shot reprinted issues 76–80 of
19162-477: Was collected as a trade paperback in July 1987. A four-issue limited series written by Michael Higgins, G.I. Joe and the Transformers teamed-up the Transformers with the other popular Hasbro property of the 1980s, G.I. Joe . The Joes, the Autobots , and Cobra (after being betrayed by the Decepticons) must join forces to stop the Decepticons from activating an energy drill device to suck up energy from
19305-547: Was completed in 11 hours, 19 minutes, and 38 seconds, and was published through Icon on 23 November 2011, with all royalties being donated to Yorkhill Children's Foundation. In 2019 Furman and Geoff Senior started their own company, Forged By Fire Productions, for the purpose of publishing their own comic, To the Death . In 2020, his comic Brute Force became the subject of an episode of Marvel 616 on Disney+ . Actor and comedian Paul Scheer sets out to have it adapted into
19448-613: Was given away at various stores selling the G2 toyline called The Transformers Generation 2: Halloween Special Edition in 1993. The series was reprinted as 2 trade paperbacks courtesy of Titan Books in 2003. As well some stories were reprinted in the hardcover book Transformers: The Best Of Simon Furman in July 2007. As they had done with the Generation 1 series, Marvel published a series based on Generation 2 in England. Because their Marvel UK imprint had folded at this point, Marvel struck
19591-760: Was highly praised and succeeded Bob Budiansky on the US title at issue 56. The mythic tone continued to influence Furman's work on the Dreamwave and IDW comics. Numerous issues and stories from this series would eventually be reprinted. Marvel UK themselves would reprint some stories in Transformers-The Complete Works Part 1 and Part 2, Plague of the Insecticons and The Transformers Universe Vol. One . In latter years reprints were done courtesy of Titan Books who published reprints in 14 volumes. When IDW Publishing acquired
19734-544: Was of a very low print run. After the success of their Generation One series, Dreamwave decided to do a series focusing on the war on Cybertron before the Transformers came to Earth, and recruited Marvel Transformers writer Simon Furman and former fan artist Don Figueroa for a six-issue series focusing on the rise of Optimus Prime. Later, a second volume appeared titled The Dark Ages , again written by Furman and drawn by regular Marvel Transformers artist Andrew Wildman . The second volume introduced The Fallen, an outcast member of
19877-622: Was produced by Dreamwave Productions from 2002 to 2004 with multiple limited series as well, and within multiple story continuities, until the company became bankrupt in 2005. The third and fourth series have been published by IDW Publishing with the third series starting with an issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 to November 2018. The fourth series started in March 2019 with issue #1 and concluded in June 2022. There are also several limited series being produced by IDW as well. Skybound Entertainment began publishing Transformers comics starting in June 2023, kicking off
20020-422: Was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips , which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone. The largest comic book market
20163-502: Was reprinted by Titan Books as part of their series of trade paperback collections based on the Marvel series. This reprint occurred in Vol.7 ( Trial by Fire ) which was published in 2005. A 12-issue series, the series expanded the original G1 mythos from the small war on Earth and Cybertron to enclose the whole of the Galaxy that was fast being altered into a likeness of Cybertron itself by
20306-493: Was set sometime between the events of the Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon Dreamwave comics. Before Dreamwave's bankruptcy, an Energon edition of More Than Meets The Eye was also planned but not released. Dreamwave Productions and Devil's Due, owner of the G.I. Joe license, each produced their own six-issue mini-series and with separate continuities. Dreamwave's approach, rather than follow
20449-674: Was trapped within Unicron. It also saw the Terrorcons journey to Earth and saw the return of the principal human cast, as well as the introduction of Kicker . Issue #24, drawn by James Raiz, focused on the past relationship between Ironhide and Tidal Wave . Issue #25, again drawn by Ng, introduced the Omnicons and Snow Cat . Issues 26–29, drawn by Alex Milne, saw a full-scale Terrorcon attack on Earth, Prime aiding Megatron's rebirth and Starscream 's return in his Energon form. Issue 30 saw
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