Transformation 9: Cool Britannia.

13/7/2012

The Transformers invade the UK as the core of the British comic kicks off with a very atypical story that sees Jazz continuing his mission of being the most evil character in the book.

All in Man of Iron Part 1.

7 Comments

donnyfinkleberg

15/7/2012 05:05:56 pm

The info on the Doctor Who story is really interesting, not being a Who fan i hadn't known any of that. I've got a lot of love for this story; it does rather seem like it's an interesting direction doomed to never, ever, properly be explored. I'm inclined not to be too harsh to Costa regarding that comment; what might have been possible at the franchise's inception simply isn't now, at least not in a flagship ongoing series. There's just been too great an accretion of history.

I'm curious; how do you feel about Ridgeway's art here, regarding style rather than technical competence? I started reading as a wee nipper around the start of "The Enemy Within" so, for me, Ridgeway's art really defined how TF's were supposed to look in comics, and the eventual introduction of the animation models jarred with me as a kid - to this day, toy-accurate art still sets off the happy nostalgia receptors at the back of my brain to this day.

Stuart

16/7/2012 10:13:29 am

I'll talk about Ridgeway this week ("I'll talk about X when I get to Y" is getting to be a recurring catchphrase, some canny sod in years to come will have to go through this and see if I kept my word on them) but, in short, me likes. And is very, for want of a better word, British, in a way the subsequent years wouldn't be.

If you enjoy Man of Iron I'd really recommend the Tides of Time Doctor Who collection from Panini, very much a stylistic sibling of this story.

Felicity

26/7/2016 07:21:25 am

I like Ridgway’s art in this issue. As you probably know, this story was rerun over here in North America as issues #33–34 of the US comic. The story was indeed alien and alienating…when we get back to the regular storyline, it’s like waking up from an unsettling dream.

I would have liked to have seen a scan of the contest entries! :-)

Stuart

26/7/2016 07:39:43 am

As getting a new reader is always exciting, here's a link to the competition page: https://twitter.com/InflatableDalek/status/757827077781401604

Felicity

30/10/2019 07:12:12 am

A belated “Thanks!” :-)

Steve Bax link

3/4/2020 07:15:39 pm

Yes, I also found the DW info fascinating, not just because 5th is my favourite Doctor. And this line is hilarious: "Even the Jazz who was cheerfully giving Sparkplug a heart attack with his flame thrower seemed more friendly than this." Great review.

Jeremiah Ecks

13/9/2021 10:25:14 am

I totally agree with the comparisons between The Tides of Time Doctor Who story, and Man of Iron.

Of course the two universes are linked by Death's Head - he starts off in the Transformers 2006 future before being zapped into the time stream by some bombs planted to blow up Unicron. But the first person he 'meets' in the multiversal nexus is the Doctor (Seventh) and it is that Doctor, who strands Death's Head in Marvel's 616 universe. Although Death's Head does do some dimension hopping from time to time because he keeps bumping into the Doctor (or the Doctor crosses to 616... not his usual modus operandi though as the TARDIS doesn't find it easy to jump dimensions).

The irony of this is IIRC the TV Show Doctor Who appears in the UK story To a Power Unknown. So in TF UK continuity Doctor Who is a TV show... then Death's Head crosses to a universe where it's real!

As one last 'twist' the Eleventh Doctor visits a reality where the TV show Doctor Who is a fiction in IDWs Who comics. Maybe the 11th Doc was visiting TFUK when he did that! Duh duh duuuuuhhhh

(I'm not even touching on whether the Marvel comic book Doctor is the same as the IDW one, or either are the same as the TV show! I've got enough headaches with this twisted conundrum already)

Transformation 9: Cool Britannia.

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