Customer Reviews

Classic Transformers, Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I for one am all for reprints of classic material, especially when it comes to the Transformers. However, this book is a bit lacking. The 1st 16 issues of the original Marvel series is reprinted EXCEPT for issues 3 and 9. These are only presented as summaries of the story within. Due to legal issues with Marvel, they would not allow these issues to be reprinted. Issue #3 features Spider-Man and issue #9 features Circuit-Breaker. Since these are offical Marvel properties, Marvel's legal department would not let them go. If you are a completist (like me), you're better off trying to find the Titan TPBs or the individual issues in your local comic shop's back issue boxes.

Classic Transformers is an awsome book but it's missing 2 important Marvel Transformers comics! It's missing issue #3 and issue #9! The reason for this is because IDW publishing does not have the legal rights to reprint stories featuring Marvel comics characters like Spiderman and Circuit Breaker! I like that the book reprints Classic Marvel Transformers stories from the 1980s but I do not like the fact #3 and #9 are missing. I hope that this doesn't happen to the other volumes as well. If Classic Transformer volume 2 does the same thing I think you should look for Titan Graphic novels instead. B

...legal issues force IDW to leave out issues #3 and #9 due to copyrights. Also, the production quality is seriously lacking any sort restoration whatsoever. The pages look like glossy photocopies of the original issues, making them look to be faded and sun-bleached. Seriously! You can still see the very outdated dot-matrix coloring! Good attempt, but not quite the success I was hoping for.

Even though issue 3 & 9 were not printed in their entirely due to copyright issues of the Marvel characters, I personally thought the book was excellent. Having the older comics reprinted on photo type paper is an awesome ideal. Better than the way Marvel has released their Marvel Essential book series(where the books are printed in black and white on newspaper type paper(same as an old comic book from over 20 years ago). With IDW you do get your money's worth. And the art doesn't look color faded either like another person claimed!!!!

I became a Transformers fan a little to late, I was ten when I discovered this amazing universe of stories and that was back in 1992 when the G1 Transformers franchise where really on it's way out so while I did go through second hand comic shops looking for these comics I was never able to read the complete story. I am very happy about these reprints, the glossy paper it is printed on make these old comics look better than ever, and buying these reprint collections is allot cheaper than collecting individual volumes. I also think this book which give you 300 or so pages of Transformers comic would be a great place to start for newer fans of the franchise or fans of the live action movies who might be wondering where the whole thing got started. Classic Transformers Volume 1 is cheap, convenient and it looks amazing. In this book you will find the start of the G1 Transformers comic continuity and it is a story that is well worth reading.

Now I should mention that after reading some of the newer IDW comic books and having been spoiled by the great art in those newer comics this collection do feel dated, this however is not a flaw, the books this collection is a reprint of are from the early 1980's when comics usually did not get the production value that big companies like IDW can give them today. These reprints in no way lack quality in the stoytelling, but if you are used to modern comic books then the drawings can look a little crude.

Now the only real problem with Classic Transformers Vol 1 is that it is incomplete. When Marvel first started publishing Transformers comics they considered whatever or not they would place the stories in their regular Marvel universe, so at the start of the series there are several crossovers with other Marvel characters like for example Spiderman. Other times characters who had their start in Transformers when on to become superheroes of their own right and mingled with the rest of the Marvel bunch like Circuit Breaker and IDW have not been allowed to reprint anything with these characters in it leaving huge gaping holes in the story. Now IDW have written good summaries of what happened during the missing comics but it is still not the same as reading it yourself. Now that being said it is still cheaper to buy these reprints and then go on ebay and find the few individual comics not contained in this collection than it is to buy all the individual comics this volume contains so I still say this book is a great buy.

If you are a completist or you want to read the comic books just the way they where when first published then this book is not for you then you should go buy the individual vintage comic books of the G1 Transformers line. If however you are like me a fan of the series who never had the chance to read these stories in your childhood and who like how practical it is to have all of it, or well mostly all of it, collected in this line of reprint books then this book is for you. I am happy with Classic Transformers Vol 1 and I will definitely get the next volume in the series as well.

great collection of comics to relieve the original series for all those who missed out on it the first time around!