How did you discover TF comics in the 80s?

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

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

[jacksplatt11]

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

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

[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.

[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!



Second one is stylised, less realistic and wooden.