I Guess the Point of Getting Out is Never Saying Goodbye.
Issue 5: Creature of Chaos. 18th December 2014*.
*With no issue to replace it, but assuming it was still treated as a bimonthly title, it would have sat on shelves till February 2015.
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
Just over thirty years (and three other publishers) after the first Marvel issue landed on UK shelves, we arrive at the last British Transformers comic that counts. I’ll talk more about the ones that don’t count (in the arbitrary way that lets this blog not descend into full madness) further along, but even more than when I closed out on issue 332, this really is the end of an era. Both for the comic and my own eight year journey going through it in retrospect. This has taken up two (and three from when I had to start scanning the issues myself) days a week, every week, of my life for the better part of a decade. It’s hard not to approach this as a very solemn moment for my ego.
Which is a solemnity not really matched by the strip, which only really has one hint right at the end that they might have realised this really was the end. Instead, though there is an attempt at a bit of drama in the middle, it’s another fun romp of a prequel.
Amusingly for a story that has some similarities to it beyond the title, Creature of Chaos started pretty much simultaneously with IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye: Elegant Chaos storyarc.
*With no issue to replace it, but assuming it was still treated as a bimonthly title, it would have sat on shelves till February 2015.
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
Just over thirty years (and three other publishers) after the first Marvel issue landed on UK shelves, we arrive at the last British Transformers comic that counts. I’ll talk more about the ones that don’t count (in the arbitrary way that lets this blog not descend into full madness) further along, but even more than when I closed out on issue 332, this really is the end of an era. Both for the comic and my own eight year journey going through it in retrospect. This has taken up two (and three from when I had to start scanning the issues myself) days a week, every week, of my life for the better part of a decade. It’s hard not to approach this as a very solemn moment for my ego.
Which is a solemnity not really matched by the strip, which only really has one hint right at the end that they might have realised this really was the end. Instead, though there is an attempt at a bit of drama in the middle, it’s another fun romp of a prequel.
Amusingly for a story that has some similarities to it beyond the title, Creature of Chaos started pretty much simultaneously with IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye: Elegant Chaos storyarc.
The ultimate foe.
Prime and Crosshairs are apparently just out for a drive when they overhear a radio broadcast from a passing truck talking about a giant metal killer dog roaming the streets of the nearby town of Cullum (which feels like it might have been called Cullen in the first draft) that might possibly be related to the Transformers menace.
Which is a surprising amount of benefit of the doubt, but does do the job of a prequel of seeding an idea for the film itself by emphasising the worsening human/robot relationships.
Prime knows they need to deal with any potential Cybertronian threat and brings Crosshairs to investigate a trail of massive energon soaked footprints. Which proves the identity of what will be the final ever UK Transformers villain...
A Turbofox! But not the tally-ho British hunting inspired version implied by G1 Mirage’s original profile. This big salivating beast that devours your energon until you’re dead is very much inspired by the IDW version that debuted a couple of years earlier in the Robots in Disguise comic and which would play a small but important part in the aforementioned Elegant Chaos, where they would be mutated through a freak series of events into an even more fearsome Sparkeater.
Prime gives the turbofox a good punch, but is surprised to see Crosshairs run away very fast. Following, he hears the green Autobot explain he and turbofoxes have some bad history.
Which is a surprising amount of benefit of the doubt, but does do the job of a prequel of seeding an idea for the film itself by emphasising the worsening human/robot relationships.
Prime knows they need to deal with any potential Cybertronian threat and brings Crosshairs to investigate a trail of massive energon soaked footprints. Which proves the identity of what will be the final ever UK Transformers villain...
A Turbofox! But not the tally-ho British hunting inspired version implied by G1 Mirage’s original profile. This big salivating beast that devours your energon until you’re dead is very much inspired by the IDW version that debuted a couple of years earlier in the Robots in Disguise comic and which would play a small but important part in the aforementioned Elegant Chaos, where they would be mutated through a freak series of events into an even more fearsome Sparkeater.
Prime gives the turbofox a good punch, but is surprised to see Crosshairs run away very fast. Following, he hears the green Autobot explain he and turbofoxes have some bad history.
Prime must be dog tired.
Which is where this turns out to be repeating the format of issue one, a framing device for a flashback explaining some trauma on a past mission the featured Autobot experienced. Which is one of a couple of hints in this story that suggests to me that this was the story Martin Fisher wrote first, using Etherington’s opening story as a template before becoming more confident in doing his own thing.
“Many years ago”, but not on Cybertron by the look of it, Crosshairs is preparing a team of characters inexplicably all in his colours for battle with the Decepticons. But turbofoxes attack, killing everyone as he watches. With, again amusingly for More Than Meets the Eye readers, one victim looking very like Minimus Ambus.
There’s something of an art failure here (or possibly a missing “Some time later” or “Nearby” caption) as Crosshairs claims to have been too late to help his team, but as the attacks begin he was right there with them in the panel before.
In the present, Optimus assures “Comrade” Crosshairs (again, creating the feeling of an earlier written strip, the dialogue isn’t quite right) that the past cannot be helped and its time to put those feelings into action.
Said action being trying to dig the turbofox out of a hole. Which goes badly as Prime winds up pinned to the floor, his life force being drained.
“Many years ago”, but not on Cybertron by the look of it, Crosshairs is preparing a team of characters inexplicably all in his colours for battle with the Decepticons. But turbofoxes attack, killing everyone as he watches. With, again amusingly for More Than Meets the Eye readers, one victim looking very like Minimus Ambus.
There’s something of an art failure here (or possibly a missing “Some time later” or “Nearby” caption) as Crosshairs claims to have been too late to help his team, but as the attacks begin he was right there with them in the panel before.
In the present, Optimus assures “Comrade” Crosshairs (again, creating the feeling of an earlier written strip, the dialogue isn’t quite right) that the past cannot be helped and its time to put those feelings into action.
Said action being trying to dig the turbofox out of a hole. Which goes badly as Prime winds up pinned to the floor, his life force being drained.
He has the power.
Which is where we get another oddly realised moment, this time thanks to the lettering. As Crosshairs sees history repeating, he’s supposed to be tormented by imagining hearing the screams of his dead friends. But this is realised by thought bubbles (in what must be the last instance of them being used in a Transformers comic. Indeed, it may be the only time in Titan) coming out of his head, making it look like he is thinking “Heelllpp meeeeee!!!” and “ARRRGGGHHH!! NOOOOOO!!!!” himself.
Luckily, within a panel he’s out of it, cooing the turbofox over with a “Here kitty, kitty, kitty!” before bouncing Prime’s broken sword off the beast’s head.
That’s the sword Prime doesn’t get till the end of the film set after this.
He then declares “Every dog has its day” before unleashing both barrels at it.
Which seems a bit of an easy kill considering how formidable a foe the turbofox is supposed to be. Apparently no one has tried to just shoot one before. Plus it’s confusing now if it’s a cat or a dog.
Which brings us to the very last page. Which opens by mirroring the first, with the Autobots overhearing a radio report, this time saying the turbofox’s body is going to be investigated by a team of experts. Probably with a cheerful name like Cemetery Wind.
Luckily, within a panel he’s out of it, cooing the turbofox over with a “Here kitty, kitty, kitty!” before bouncing Prime’s broken sword off the beast’s head.
That’s the sword Prime doesn’t get till the end of the film set after this.
He then declares “Every dog has its day” before unleashing both barrels at it.
Which seems a bit of an easy kill considering how formidable a foe the turbofox is supposed to be. Apparently no one has tried to just shoot one before. Plus it’s confusing now if it’s a cat or a dog.
Which brings us to the very last page. Which opens by mirroring the first, with the Autobots overhearing a radio report, this time saying the turbofox’s body is going to be investigated by a team of experts. Probably with a cheerful name like Cemetery Wind.
"And then my brave warriors... we can go home"
Leaving Prime to say that facing a fear is the only way to beat it, and he hopes the humans won’t let their fears bind them from their shared with the Autobots cause.
Prime being beaten with the irony stick there.
But the very final panel, the end of this 30 year era, is Crosshairs talking about shaggy dog stories and how he’s not one to let sleeping dogs lie. Making Prime wish he’d shut up.
They are driving off into the sunset though, which suggests someone realised this was the end. Or it was just supposed to be the end of the prequel, or even the film, strips before issue 6 did something new. For now, we don’t know.
This has some nice fun moments in it, but, for whatever reason, Fisher’s script isn’t as sharp as the last two issues and Horacio Domingues’ art is oddly rushed and at times not entirely clear.
But you can’t go completely wrong with a giant killer dog chasing things, it’s just a shame that the previous issue would have made a better endpoint.
It’s also a shame we get two Crosshairs focus issues, but not one for Hound.
Prime being beaten with the irony stick there.
But the very final panel, the end of this 30 year era, is Crosshairs talking about shaggy dog stories and how he’s not one to let sleeping dogs lie. Making Prime wish he’d shut up.
They are driving off into the sunset though, which suggests someone realised this was the end. Or it was just supposed to be the end of the prequel, or even the film, strips before issue 6 did something new. For now, we don’t know.
This has some nice fun moments in it, but, for whatever reason, Fisher’s script isn’t as sharp as the last two issues and Horacio Domingues’ art is oddly rushed and at times not entirely clear.
But you can’t go completely wrong with a giant killer dog chasing things, it’s just a shame that the previous issue would have made a better endpoint.
It’s also a shame we get two Crosshairs focus issues, but not one for Hound.
The last Transformation page effectively!
The comic gives no indication till the very last page this is the end (though subscribers got a note saying so and that they’d automatically be switched to Adventure Time), but does open with a fine gag of Bumblebee introducing the comic, in full “Beep, meep beep, beep meep” style. Which Crosshairs translates for us as being all about how much ’Bee loves humanity and we have to blast the Decepticons into another dimension.
Primed For Action! discusses the highlights of Prime’s new look, boldly stating “Optimus Prime would not be Optimus Prime without these awesome power pecs!”
Take that, Matrix of Leadership.
The Lowdown on Bumblebee sums up our favourite yellow ‘bot, including highlights from the previous films, like the time he had a “Boogie”.
Double Turbo sees Drift ask you to spot the difference between two pictures of the turbofox. Whilst the last ever competition is for a Dinofire Grimlock Constructbots toy and the last ever poster is of a moody looking Optimus.
The Trans Files looks at Transformium, but because there’s not really enough to cover two pages, it also sums up Galvatron and Stinger as well.
The Ultimate Smackdown!: Slog Vs Slug is pretty much equally insulting to both of them, emphasising that Slog is really, really stupid and comparing Slug to Scrappy Doo.
Primed For Action! discusses the highlights of Prime’s new look, boldly stating “Optimus Prime would not be Optimus Prime without these awesome power pecs!”
Take that, Matrix of Leadership.
The Lowdown on Bumblebee sums up our favourite yellow ‘bot, including highlights from the previous films, like the time he had a “Boogie”.
Double Turbo sees Drift ask you to spot the difference between two pictures of the turbofox. Whilst the last ever competition is for a Dinofire Grimlock Constructbots toy and the last ever poster is of a moody looking Optimus.
The Trans Files looks at Transformium, but because there’s not really enough to cover two pages, it also sums up Galvatron and Stinger as well.
The Ultimate Smackdown!: Slog Vs Slug is pretty much equally insulting to both of them, emphasising that Slog is really, really stupid and comparing Slug to Scrappy Doo.
PECS
Crosshairs’ Conundrums asks you to decipher an ancient message (“Prepare for the Creators”); recognise the correct Autobot logo; recognise the Autobot whose picture has been pixelated (I hope they don’t use that software that turns pictures of Obama into a white guy) and recognise the close ups of the Dinobots.
The final ever letters page thankfully seems to be all new art (though an Animated Optimus from Cillian Ward (14, Limerick) feels like it could be a few years old). With the highlight being from Lewis Smith (6, Portland. Probably not Oregon sadly), of movie Grimlock and Prime Arcee just chilling. With the declaration “I love Arcee”. Even Lockdown manages to be nice about it.
But it’s down to Pancho Leiva (6, Petersfield) to have the honour of having the last letter. With his art of Optimus and Bumblebee facing off against what I think are the Dinobots. Which impresses Lockdown because they look nice and evil and he likes evil.
Though sadly we end on the rather damp squib of Stinger’s Wordsearch.
However, at least what would traditionally be the NEXT page is given over to some nicely arranged stock art of the four main film Autobots and Grimlock, under the heading “ROLL OUT!”. Which the book did. To cancellation.
Why things ended here is hard to say. I suspect it’s not so much sales, but material. They’d effectively exhausted prequel possibilities (Hound is the only character who could be featured but wasn’t) and it seems that, as with Dark of the Moon, there was no desire to follow up on the film.
The final ever letters page thankfully seems to be all new art (though an Animated Optimus from Cillian Ward (14, Limerick) feels like it could be a few years old). With the highlight being from Lewis Smith (6, Portland. Probably not Oregon sadly), of movie Grimlock and Prime Arcee just chilling. With the declaration “I love Arcee”. Even Lockdown manages to be nice about it.
But it’s down to Pancho Leiva (6, Petersfield) to have the honour of having the last letter. With his art of Optimus and Bumblebee facing off against what I think are the Dinobots. Which impresses Lockdown because they look nice and evil and he likes evil.
Though sadly we end on the rather damp squib of Stinger’s Wordsearch.
However, at least what would traditionally be the NEXT page is given over to some nicely arranged stock art of the four main film Autobots and Grimlock, under the heading “ROLL OUT!”. Which the book did. To cancellation.
Why things ended here is hard to say. I suspect it’s not so much sales, but material. They’d effectively exhausted prequel possibilities (Hound is the only character who could be featured but wasn’t) and it seems that, as with Dark of the Moon, there was no desire to follow up on the film.
The last poster.
And unlike last time, the dates don’t quite work to turn it into a book focused on the new cartoon. I’m sure Titan would probably have been quite happy to keep the book bopping along to cash in on the fifth film if they could, but with another long gap a certainty anyway, it was probably seen as the best time to let things end.
And it was an impressive run, the same number of years as Marvel UK and only five less issues than the American Marvel book managed (with another three for Animated with it). At 75 issues, that still makes it the third longest running Transformers comic ever, even with name, numbering and even continuity changes along the way.
Though the peak of the book remains that period from the introduction of the parallel Universe through to the end of Revenge of the Fallen, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in the three years that followed and a lot of entertaining stories, all a worthy addition to the legacy of British Transformers.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t look likely to ever be properly collected. IDW have not managed to put out a definitive collection of the Marvel UK stuff, and have passed two films where a cheerfully cheap money for old rope trade of the Bay material would have made sense, but done nothing. And if that can’t find a home in book form, it feels even less likely the Prime stuff will. Meaning it joins Armada in the forgotten pile.
But, the original trade of the early issues IDW did and the little digest volumes Titan themselves put out of most of the first volume are well worth tracking down. As are back issues. If you can.
Which, bar two piece of housekeeping, brings me to the end of this project. For real this time. For over 8 years, once a week. There have been a few that have had to go up early because of holidays or other events, but I think only about three have ever been posted a day late for things like illness. Hell, I think one was for Christmas.
And it was an impressive run, the same number of years as Marvel UK and only five less issues than the American Marvel book managed (with another three for Animated with it). At 75 issues, that still makes it the third longest running Transformers comic ever, even with name, numbering and even continuity changes along the way.
Though the peak of the book remains that period from the introduction of the parallel Universe through to the end of Revenge of the Fallen, there’s still a lot of fun to be had in the three years that followed and a lot of entertaining stories, all a worthy addition to the legacy of British Transformers.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t look likely to ever be properly collected. IDW have not managed to put out a definitive collection of the Marvel UK stuff, and have passed two films where a cheerfully cheap money for old rope trade of the Bay material would have made sense, but done nothing. And if that can’t find a home in book form, it feels even less likely the Prime stuff will. Meaning it joins Armada in the forgotten pile.
But, the original trade of the early issues IDW did and the little digest volumes Titan themselves put out of most of the first volume are well worth tracking down. As are back issues. If you can.
Which, bar two piece of housekeeping, brings me to the end of this project. For real this time. For over 8 years, once a week. There have been a few that have had to go up early because of holidays or other events, but I think only about three have ever been posted a day late for things like illness. Hell, I think one was for Christmas.
Turns out, it does end.
It’s been a long journey, especially these last couple of three days a week years. But equally, my stubbornness to complete the whole thing and meet those self-imposed deadlines has kept me going at some low ebbs.
I hope its informed, entertained and created some debates along the way. I have enjoyed every minute of it.
Except when trying to scan oversized bloody covers.
For the future, now I’ve gotten this extra time freed up, books three and four should come fairly quickly. I’ll otherwise be taking a bit of a break before deciding on any future long term project.
But one thing I am going to do is go back to the start and reread the whole series again. Partly to get my monies worth from having bought it, partly because I didn’t do Twitter threads for the first 150 odd issues and mainly to make sure people don’t forget me whilst I work on the books. So, if you’re on Twitter, do follow me @InflatableDalek for that, which will probably still be on Fridays.
But before the final, final end, the aforementioned housekeeping.
Starting with, the final Annual...
ISSUE 4
2014
COMMENT
KO-FI
I hope its informed, entertained and created some debates along the way. I have enjoyed every minute of it.
Except when trying to scan oversized bloody covers.
For the future, now I’ve gotten this extra time freed up, books three and four should come fairly quickly. I’ll otherwise be taking a bit of a break before deciding on any future long term project.
But one thing I am going to do is go back to the start and reread the whole series again. Partly to get my monies worth from having bought it, partly because I didn’t do Twitter threads for the first 150 odd issues and mainly to make sure people don’t forget me whilst I work on the books. So, if you’re on Twitter, do follow me @InflatableDalek for that, which will probably still be on Fridays.
But before the final, final end, the aforementioned housekeeping.
Starting with, the final Annual...
ISSUE 4
2014
COMMENT
KO-FI
