Transformation 60: Lots of Dots.

5/7/2013

Let me tell you this my fine friend, as I continue to use the services of Kidderminster library to edit this site I have learnt that Weebly and Internet Explorer just don't get on. If Firefoxx want to send me lots of money to advertise how much better they are to the really narrow demographic of Weebly users with Transformers comics blogs (basically me and Ryan F) I'll be more than happy to do so.

Back in the world of the comic though, a brave new experiment in colouring goes badly tits up and Shockwave goes from being Leonard Nimoy Spock to being SHOUTY new Star Trek Spock. All in:

Robot Buster! Part 2.

5 Comments

snowkatt

5/7/2013 09:59:59 am

the thing that for me actually diminishes this issues is not the poor coloring ( it looks fine to me to be honest ) but the way shockwave is drawn
his head is as wide as his body
and he is short and stocky
he looks laughable instead of terrifying ( herb trimpe's shockwave looks terrifying kitsons's looks silly )

other thent hat this is a great issue
even though i like the devastation derby two parter more
untill it leads in to a rather poor three parter but we will see that when we get there

and i still plan to translate the sticker album

Tim Roll-Pickering link

5/7/2013 03:43:17 pm

For a long time into the Noughties this was the earliest original issue in my collection, discovered at a school fair c1990. (Oh the horror stories that could be told about what happened to old comics in those days.) Consequently I never realised at the time that the colouring was unusual for its time and probably assumed Target 2006 was given special treatment.

I hadn't realised it until now but Shockwave's portrayal here is probably what made him one of my all time favourite characters. When done badly (*cough* the cartoon *cough*) he can seem a dull computer, but when given depth he is a truly fascinating character.

Stuart

5/7/2013 04:24:34 pm

@Snowkatt I can certainly see why the Shockwave's giant head thing would put people off the art... But I kind of like it.

@Tim: My expertise in colouring is so poor, even now, I wouldn't have been able to spell out what was off with the colours without James Roberts explaining it in the second Classics UK book.

Speaking of oldest encountered issue, I think we're coming upto the issue that was in the wet breaktime box at my first school. It was an issue entirely about the Dinobots with Grimlock as the letters page host, which pretty much must be an In the National Interest issue. I'm hoping that being so excited by something that felt such an ancient bit of the history of the comic I loved (in reality it was at the most two years old) will have burnt some details into the brain when I reread the whole issue.

Simon Hall

7/7/2013 06:01:25 am

Even now, the difference in colouring largely goes unnoticed by me. i can tell its different, but i think it adds something to the alomst 'night and day' nature of this story. As you say in review and Tim says, its the characterization that sells the rather slight story. These sorts of little character pieces I really enjoy in Transformers when we get them. i think this is why i like Beast Wars so much. It does the same thing, taking well worn stock children's TV tropes (the heroes under attack from their own base - something Death's Head also did..!- for example) and turning them into something magic with some deft strokes of characterisation.

I don't actually mind the slightly 'flatter' colouring that Marvel UK would end up running with later in the books run - it still looks great and is still streets ahead of most contemporary comic books of the time. This is proper sad, but i would like to know how the different colouring was achieved - was it rudimentary computer colouring or markers?

The wet play comics box...I remember that! At my primary school, there were old Beanos (printed on that weird furry grey paper stock at the time and everyone had white faces), Dandy's and Hoot's (remember that? its where Cuddles & Dimples started out, you know...), along with MASK, Spider-Man & ZOIDS (what an odd comic pairing that was) and old Transformers issues. I was naughty when in Sixth Form I went back to my old Primary School to do some Classroom Assistanting and nicked Collected Comics 14 (Galvatron punching the Seacons mostly, whilst Shockwave has a panic attack - another favourite story of mine) and Collected Comics 6 (or possibly 5 - the Wrath Of Guardian/ Grimlock one).

Stuart

7/7/2013 12:11:48 pm

Oh yes, those boxes were pure archeology. The Classics book with this story has a handy box explaining how this and the post Target 2006 colouring was done that goes into more detail than I'm capable of (and may be in the look inside sample on Amazon).

Transformation 60: Lots of Dots.

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