The Solar Pool
Follow Me For Updates On:
  • Blog
  • Revisitation
  • Transformation
  • Book Shop
    • Heart of the Pool
    • Disclaimer
    • Links

Transformation 98: The Literal Head of State.

27/3/2014

18 Comments

 
Picture
This week, Megatron gets to have a nice relaxed vacation- even if his host isn't greeting him with open arms- whilst Optimus Prime meets his biggest fan and a Dragon's Claws reject gets the point.

All in my look at: ...The Harder They Die!

18 Comments
Tim Roll-Pickering link
27/3/2014 01:15:37 pm

Quite a dark and focused issue that really emphasises the despair of Prime's grief and lonelieness.

And you've got it in one about the Next Issue box using the original cover. It can be see on Joepedia at: http://gijoe.wikia.com/wiki/Improvisation_on_a_Theme

I guess there's a LOT that can be said about where Marvel UK's Action Force failed to become the next Transformers and no doubt theories will fly around here over the next few years. At this point the Bitish toyline had been going for about five years and had been transformed from a spin-off of Action Man into an import of G.I. Joe in all but name. There had been a popular comic strip in IPC's "Battle" that had dominated the title and managed the toyline changeover quite well. Then at the end of 1986 IPC lost the licence and Marvel picked it up. There's more detail at http://gijoe.wikia.com/wiki/Action_Force I suspect not many of the IPC readership made it over to Marvel and the tone approach was very different, more an adventure series than a war comic, so a new readership had to be assembled almost from scratch for a longstanding toyline. And then came problems with the series itself...

Reply
Simon Tilley link
22/11/2020 09:52:14 am

For me I found GIJoe very late in the game at 1993, the awful crossover in the late 200s of the UK comic made me think the storytelling and art were crap and put me off the brand as a whole.

However in summer 1993 I had just come out of seeing Jurassic Park at the cinema and was walking by the only comic shop in my town, a very weird functional little shop on a street in town with ever changing leases and shops, I often browsed in there, never finding a comic I liked. I knew of GIJoe but never cared for them until on a carousel I saw issue 139 with Megatron and a Transformers Generation 2 logo. I seem to recall not having enough money to buy it there and then and had to wait till the next weekend for my pocket money as popcorn and sweets had cleaned me out at the movies.

I got the comic and realised this quite cleverly fitted into an existing GIJoe plot and actually found Scarlett and Cobra Commander interesting characters so wanted to read more, I ended up reading the whole series backwards not actually getting issue 135/136 until 2001.

Reading them then gave me quite an interest in GIJoe and lead to me picking up the reboot back in September 2001 and looking back at the whole back up strip in a totally different light.

Reply
Stuart
27/3/2014 01:37:10 pm

Aye, I know the basics of the Action Man/Force/Joe development, and did think of doing an Addendum covering the pre-Marvel history before next week's one, but it really would be very basic so summing it up in the main piece with a link to one of the more detailed websites will probably be my lot. It is hands down the most convoluted development of a toy franchise ever though.

Reply
SpifeLark
27/3/2014 02:43:09 pm

If I recall correctly, the blacked out words in Spitfire were "that's a plus". There was a whole extra page that was dropped that listed the minuses.

For some reason I was very taken with Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, and made the jump from UK comics to US ones just to carry on reading it. Poor old Troubleshooters didn't get a happy ending...

Reply
Stuart
27/3/2014 02:57:18 pm

That would fit the space, what a weird thing to blank out as it would have worked as a final line even with the last page. Thanks for the info!

Reply
Harry
28/3/2014 04:02:10 am

Homoerotic? Dr. Mindbender reminds me more of Tony Levin, of King Crimson fame.

Reply
Chris Chapman
28/3/2014 04:51:09 am

For my money, 'The Harder They Die' is Senior's best work on the comic (alongside 'Victory' for the Annuals) - it's a beautiful issue. I know it's not as frenetic as his Target 2006, but I like this more controlled and moody Senior.

Did he also do the first page of the next issue? It looks VERY much like his style...

Reply
Ralph Burns link
29/3/2014 07:57:00 am

Jeff Anderson drew all of next issue. I actually own the original art for the first page (Outback in vehicle mode) and it's definitely Anderson.

The foam backed badge was very exciting back in the day. I bet today's kids don't get as excited about foam backed badges, if they still get made!

Reply
Chris Chapman
29/3/2014 10:22:57 am

I'm very jealous of your original artwork!

Reply
Ralph Burns link
29/3/2014 10:56:18 am

Cost me a tenner. This was back before the live action movies and a limited amount of these takes back in the print. TF comic artwork was worth very little, usually between £10-30 a page. Pages now go for funny money. Glad I managed to get a few when they were cheap.

The opening page of art for #99 is very nice. Loads of detail that was obscured by the printing of the day.

Reply
Stuart
29/3/2014 01:03:28 pm

Well, not to show off, but my little art collection (Space Pirates, Enemy Action and More Than Meets the Eye 6):


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151706720899219&l=e8505e479c

Cost me more than a tenner each though.

Reply
chris chapman
30/3/2014 05:51:48 am

So where is the best place to spend lots of money on original TF pages these days? ME WANT.

Reply
Ralph Burns link
30/3/2014 05:54:33 am

Well when I used to buy them Ebay was the place to get them cheap. Pages still pop up there but can be pricey. Andy Wildman used to sell pages from his website. I got a couple from him there.

Other pages came direct from artists at conventions.

Nick Roche occassionally does commissions.

Reply
Ralph Burns
30/3/2014 05:56:24 am

Forgot link to Wildman's site.

http://www.andrewwildmanart.com/shop.html

Reply
chris chapman
30/3/2014 11:55:33 am

Thanks Ralph!

Reply
Stuart
30/3/2014 01:29:08 pm

Stewart Johnson was selling Marvel UK art at the AA he attended as well, some lovely B&W era stuff I wish I'd picked up now (but then, I'm running out of wall space so this might be a good thing).

I believe Geoff Senior sold on all his Marvel stuff years ago (and now regrets it) but you very infrequently see someone move a piece on.

Reply
Simon Hall
3/4/2014 11:00:49 pm

I remember this story in its attendant Collected Comics issue was my first exposure to Senior's work (I'd missed CC7 with Crisis Of Command) and I remember thinking it was such a contrast to the 'clean' linework of Kitson and Anderson that I wasn't actually sure I liked it! It was a bit like when I first laid eyes on Kev O'Neil's artwork - it seemed quite ugly and abrasive. The more I studied it, the more I appreciated the angles and dynamism in Senior's work. I love how you the pages seem alive as he's very good at conveying movement in a static art form - something very few comic book artists are actually any good at.

It really stands out against the more sunnier Earth based part of this story which helps really sell the mess Cybertron is in. This chapter also feels like a bit of a 'break' from the Prey storyline in an odd way. Despite filling in how Optimus and Megatron ended up on Cybertron it feels like a completely separate story altogether - like we've somehow missed something.

Reminds me of when Beast Wars Season 3 got released on VHS but without the opening episode 'The Optimal Situation' (I wasn't aware TRU had released this as an exclusive until reading an article in a toy magazine a few months later, by which time that ship had long since sailed) and it seemed like there was a load of stuff I'd missed between the end of Season 2 and 'Deep Metal'.

All that from just a different artist.

Reply
Stuart
4/4/2014 10:45:12 am

I had a similar "Out of Order" first exposure to part of this storyline as well, which I'll be talking about in just a short while...

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stuart Webb. Who knows everything about nothing and not a lot about that.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abnett
    Action Force/G.I. Joe
    Animated
    Announcement
    Armada
    Audio
    Avengers
    Baker
    Bay
    Beast Wars
    Big Finish
    Brosnan
    Cannon
    Capaldi
    Carpenter
    Carte Blanche
    Cartoon
    Combat Colin
    Comedy
    Comics
    Computer Games
    Costa
    Cullen
    Davison
    Death
    Dille
    Discworld
    Doctor Who
    Dragon's Claws
    Dreamwave
    Dynamite
    Eccleston
    Ellis
    Fantasy
    Film
    Fleetway
    Frost
    Furman
    Generation 2
    Generation One
    Generation One
    Holmes
    Horror
    IDW
    James Bond
    James Roberts
    Jeffrey Deaver
    John Barber
    Ladybird
    Lanning
    Machine Man
    Marvel
    McCarthy
    Mccoy
    Mcgann
    Mosaic
    Nick Roche
    Nimoy
    Nintendo
    Panini
    Pegg
    Pratchett
    Prime
    Rescue Bots
    Revisitation
    RID
    Rincewind
    Science Fiction
    Science Fiction
    Shatner
    Signature
    Smith
    Sponsored
    Spy
    Star Trek
    Su
    Tennant
    Tipton
    Titan
    Torchwood
    Transformation
    Transformers
    Tv
    Visionaries
    Weatherwax
    Witches
    Wizards
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.