How did you discover TF comics in the 80s?

[roller]

How did people in Australia in the 80s find out about Tf comics? did you just walk into a newsagent one day and just decide to buy it?

were they released here before the cartoon?

If so, then how did kids know what tfs were?

[Paulbot]

Roller this is an interesting topic and not really a simple question so I've moved it here. I've got my story to type up and would be interested in what others recall too. It's a bit hazy for me.

[MV75]

How did people in Australia in the 80s find out about Tf comics? did you just walk into a newsagent one day and just decide to buy it?

were they released here before the cartoon?

If so, then how did kids know what tfs were?

Yes.

Not that I know of.

[Paulbot]

According to issue 78 of the UK comic, that was the first issue on sale in Australia. The Transmission page intro had a "g'day" in it. However other collectors remember buying earlier issues.

I was given UK issues 79 and 80 as a Christmas present which is what got me started and from then on kept checking out newsagents for more. The earliest US issue I personally recall seeing is #30 (and I started buying with #35) but earlier ones were probably here too.

There was also a special Australian only reprint of issues 1 to 4 of the US series (with some pages edited out) also on sale in the newsagents.

The progresssion to comics for me came after the colouring books and story books (and my increasing reading skills).

[TheDirtyDigger]

I'd seen some at Minotaur, which I've been going to since I was about 12, but I think it must have been the early 90's when I started reading it. I got on around issue 70 or 71 (from the newsagents) and just about as soon as I was on to it I was crushed to read in the back of one that it was winding up.
Apart from that crushing disappointment I was also a little miffed that for one issue of my short run they switched to another (and inferior) artist for the battle with Unicron.

[STL]

I discovered them first at a Sunday trash n treasure. For $1 I picked up two Gen2 and 2 Headmaster comics. It was not till many autumns later that I discovered TFarchive's listing of them online. That partially kept me interested in TFs. I then read Dreamwaves and loved the artwork/colour/modern sensibilities and that kept my interest in the TF franchise. Well, at least until I had disposable income. Then it all went down hill from there. :D

[GoktimusPrime]

How did people in Australia in the 80s find out about Tf comics? did you just walk into a newsagent one day and just decide to buy it?
Yup.


were they released here before the cartoon?
Pretty much, yeah.


If so, then how did kids know what tfs were?
Transformers were already quite popular before the cartoon came out (although admittedly the cartoon did increase the popularity a lot). The toys came first, then the comics, then the cartoon. My fandom pretty much worked in that order... I got a few TF toys in 1984, then started reading my friends' comics (didn't start collecting for myself until late 1985/early 1986), then the cartoon aired on TV. By 1990 I had a standing order at my local comic store. :)


Apart from that crushing disappointment I was also a little miffed that for one issue of my short run they switched to another (and inferior) artist for the battle with Unicron.
That's a rather... um... bold and controversial statement. Geoff Senior is widely considered to be the best G1 artist alongside Andrew Wildman according to fan votes in the now defunct annual Trannies awards.

IMO Senior has a really good sense of 'animation' in his artwork - evoking vivid movement and bringing a sense of motion to what is really a series of still images. He also pencils and inks all of his own stuff. The artwork in the US comics was consistently let down by shoddy colouring by Nelson Yomtov, who was just terrible... but you can see Senior's (and Wildman's) art a lot better in the UK comics. Senior's art looks better in black and white than in Yomtov-colour IMO.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/transformers/images/thumb/0/09/Bludgeonasavageplace.jpg/250px-Bludgeonasavageplace.jpghttp://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/transformers/images/thumb/b/b6/Thunderwing_with_matrix.jpg/200px-Thunderwing_with_matrix.jpghttp://www.geocities.com/planetsabretron/bludgeon.jpg

[STL]

Yup.
That's a rather... um... bold and controversial statement. Geoff Senior is widely considered to be the best G1 artist alongside Andrew Wildman according to fan votes in the now defunct annual Trannies awards.


Not really. Andrew Wildman nor Geoff Senior rate much in my book. The TF fandom has expanded since and while the stories from that era are celebrated by fans, I think that there are modern sensibilities at play now and many of the returned fans of the last few years are more inclined to Don Figueroa style than a Senior one. There's been an evolution in Transformers art and I think it would be naive to ignore that. Senior was a product of his times but if he drew modern stuff, that would severely put many like myself off. Maybe its the older fans who will like him but I certainly feel they are creatures of the past.



IMO Senior has a really good sense of 'animation' in his artwork - evoking vivid movement and bringing a sense of motion to what is really a series of still images. He also pencils and inks all of his own stuff. The artwork in the US comics was consistently let down by shoddy colouring by Nelson Yomtov, who was just terrible... but you can see Senior's (and Wildman's) art a lot better in the UK comics. Senior's art looks better in black and white than in Yomtov-colour IMO.


Can't stand black and white. I like b&w to look at the artists raw details but generally I do not like buying a B&W unless it fits the book. Transformers needs to explode off the page. They're machines and futuristic. That's part of the appeal. Drab ol' B&W steal the life out of them.

[jacksplatt11]

To be honest, I didn't even know there were Transformers comics until the mid 90s when I got the first issue of Generation 2 from somewhere.. but then again, I was only born in 87 :D

[STL]

To be honest, I didn't even know there were Transformers comics until the mid 90s when I got the first issue of Generation 2 from somewhere.. but then again, I was only born in 87 :D

Maybe you're parents used TF comics for your diaper? :p If I recall correctly, we were having another recession around that time so you know they had to make ends meet. :p

[jacksplatt11]

Maybe you're parents used TF comics for your diaper? :p If I recall correctly, we were having another recession around that time so you know they had to make ends meet. :p

Haha I don't think my parentals even know what comics are, let alone use them as nappies :p

[heroic_decepticon]

That's a rather... um... bold and controversial statement. Geoff Senior is widely considered to be the best G1 artist alongside Andrew Wildman according to fan votes in the now defunct annual Trannies awards.

IMO Senior has a really good sense of 'animation' in his artwork - evoking vivid movement and bringing a sense of motion to what is really a series of still images.


DD, pretty bold statement, yeah.
I still regard Senior as one of the best TF artists around. In many aspects, Senior (and Wildman's) art was the highlight of the 80s TF series. I'm actually a little disappointed that Wildman 'sold out' to the 'modern style' of drawing TFs when he did War Within. The style he used in the 80s had so much more feel.


Not really. Andrew Wildman nor Geoff Senior rate much in my book. The TF fandom has expanded since and while the stories from that era are celebrated by fans, I think that there are modern sensibilities at play now and many of the returned fans of the last few years are more inclined to Don Figueroa style than a Senior one. There's been an evolution in Transformers art and I think it would be naive to ignore that. Senior was a product of his times but if he drew modern stuff, that would severely put many like myself off. Maybe its the older fans who will like him but I certainly feel they are creatures of the past.

Nobody said Senior is or was the best TF artist around, but I think he certainly is one of the best. Modern sensibilities, whatever that may mean, does not overtake the intrinsic beauty of well done art. Sure Figuroa (and Milne and Guidi and etc) are undeniably good, and do art that is really detailed, but their Transformers sorely lack one thing- life. Their Transformers are stiff and lack a lot of the life, energy and potency of Senior's or Wildman's (in the 80s) Transformers. Gok, I'm not sure if you're with me, but to me that is the distinction.

At least to me, modern day TF art while really detailed, had very little life until EJ Su came along.

[liegeprime]

I discovered Tfs comics when I was walking into a local bookstore ( back in Phils, though, not here of course) and strolled into the comics section. First issue I saw was that of cover where Shockwave was beating the crap out of Megsy while a helicopter passes by, since then Ive been trying to get my hands on any issues I didnt have, sometimes I just read off the shelves coz I didnt have money to buy it hehehe.:D:p

[TheDirtyDigger]

That's a rather... um... bold and controversial statement


DD, pretty bold statement, yeah.

Haha....not really guys. A bold and controversial statement would be something like, "Australia should isolate itself from the rest of the world so we can become an insular, backwater filled with dole-bludging, redneck hicks".

We're talking kids comics here and to back up my statement I give you two covers from the era in question...


First one has realism, curves, life! :)
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7039/tf1fh5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Second one is stylised, less realistic and wooden.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7379/tf2yt0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[liegeprime]

First one is Wildman's art - which I preferred during those times, still do. It's what got me hooked to buying the monthly issues. Although I would scout for older issues, Im mainly in it for the stories, the art, meh. Until Mr. Wildman started I thought most of the drawings while they evoke action are for me like stickmen drawings given box shapes pieced together to make the body bulky. I hated it when someone gets zapped by a lazer that the drawing is always that of a TF backing up and almost arching in half with agony. I mean there had to be another way to draw a TF being blasted :rolleyes:.

Mr. Senior's art does have that motion that Gok has been saying but indeed it has been marred by bad coloring. BUt I did prefer Mr. Wildman's more. Having Said that, I was a tinge dissapointed when they used Mr. Senior to draw the battle scene of the combined TF race with unicron. While his ( Senior's) art is very much suited to make Unicron's features , massive, menacing, edgy, evil, all pointy and craggy I didnt like his art for the other common variety TFs. Unfortunately you couldnt ask them to combine their art, Senior doing Unicron ( I love his rendition of Starsceam possessed Warworld in G2) and the backgrounds while Wildman for all the rest of TFs.

One thing I didnt like much of Wildman's art is that his TF's face were too "liquid" and drooly. Sure they have to evoke a certain emotion but giving them cheekbones and all well, they kinda look like humans with painted faces and battle armour on. He started fine but as the series went more on and on it kinda gotten more Fleshy. It suits Bludgeon though

[Bartrim]

My first introduction to the comics was on a christmas day. I received an issue as part of a present. Unfortunately it was that stupid issue where Skullgrin is a movie star. I avoided TF comics preferring my cartoons until I was much older(26:p), more mature and had better resources (the internet) to read about and source old TF comics.

[Paulbot]

Man did this really have to go back to Senior rules/sucks again. Come on that arguement's been had a dozen times. Stay on topic please.

[TheDirtyDigger]

Man did this really have to go back to Senior rules/sucks again. Come on that arguement's been had a dozen times. Stay on topic please.
My fault. Apologies.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've made a more relevant thread here (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=2593) regarding G1 (1984-1992) art and artists.

[roller]

i forgot about this :o

anywhoozle

one day many many decade ago my dad came home one day and brought 2 old G2 comics, from some secondhand shop.

I was very impressed.

Then one day while shoppping with the mother organism, i saw a comic 3 pack, 1 of those comics was a G1 comic with the Throttlebots.

Then for a long time nothing happened.

Then years later, by chance, i strode into a comic shop and DW #2 was there. Now if that doesn't scream divine intervention, i dont know what does.

[loophole]

I didnt know about TF comics in the 80's :(

however my first TF comic reading was of the G2 comics in the late 90's i found about 6 or 7 of them in the back issue section and grabbed the lot.
I very much liked the styling of the G2 comics and even made a 13th issue cover for one my YR.11 art projects :D

[Tiby]

I found them in my local newsagent and then played hit and miss as they would not get them all in.

[heroic_decepticon]

I found them in my local newsagent and then played hit and miss as they would not get them all in.

Same. Except it was newagents in Singapore.
I remember they being very big on the UK issues though. I still have a complete run of Space Pirates and Time Wars in the UK large format from the 80s. yay!

I spent some time thinking which was the first TF comic I ever picked up and I can't quite remember. Not sure if you guys remember your first ever.

[TheDirtyDigger]

I found them in my local newsagent and then played hit and miss as they would not get them all in.

I used to ride to different towns on the Peninsula to hunt for comics the way we hunt for Tf's nowadays. Wasn't just newsagents back then either. Had to check all the milk bars and general stores.
Great times, great times. :)





F#@% I'm old.:(

[Tabias Prime]

I first discovered transformers comics at the local news agency down the road, then later on a friend introduced me to Quality Comics in Perth.:D:D

[Tabias Prime]

F#@% I'm old.:([/QUOTE] Aren't we all, but were all adults and who is going to tell us off now for buying toys.....

[snaketales]

My first issue was US #23 with the Battlechargers vandalising American monuments.
The issue immediately afterwards was a bit of a downer.....

[heroic_decepticon]

My first issue was US #23 with the Battlechargers vandalising American monuments.
The issue immediately afterwards was a bit of a downer.....

ahhhh, one of my all-time favourite issues

[gamblor916]

A friend of mine gave me the Skids and Charlene issue.
The internal conflict was interesting and I liked the idea of pacifist autobots being forced to fight when they all they wanted to do was blend in.

[kup]

Street corner kiosks or newsagencies - Anywhere where they sold newspapers.

Back then comics were much more acceccible - Now its a little to exclusive and you need to go to a specialist shop to find one making it lame as not everyone will travel to the far away Comic shop to get one.