Friday, 21 June 2013

1984: THE TRANSFORMERS US LAUNCH AD (Marvel Comics)

Here's where it all began: This is a Marvel trade advert (which I've spotted in THE COMICS READER and COMICS INTERVIEW and probably appeared elsewhere too) hyping the launch of the 1984 THE TRANSFORMERS limited series.

I doubt anyone anticipated quite what a cultural milestone (and money-making - ahem - machine) the franchise would become.  For Marvel, this was a punt on an unproven toy line (which is why they bunged Spider-man into the third issue) being bankrolled by toymaker Hasbro (who they'd already partnered with on G.I. JOE).

The four issue run formed the basis of the first eight issues of the Marvel UK fortnightly, which they subsequently reprinted (in colour) in the first two Collected Comics specials and in the - misleadingly named - THE TRANSFORMERS: THE COMPLETE WORKS, a two volume hardback set.



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7 comments:

  1. ed24 June 2013 at 10:43

    another request..can you put up scans from marvel age 12 and 20...just the pages on secret wars...

    ed

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    1. SLOW ROBOT24 June 2013 at 20:26

      Hi Ed

      I don't think I've posted the SECRET WARS material from MARVEL AGE 12 (mental note made to do so) but I posted MA 20 last year. Follow this link:http://starlogged.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/secret-wars-extra-3.html

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  2. Jon Carpenter24 June 2013 at 20:22

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. ed26 June 2013 at 10:59

    thanks for the link..any reason why you havent put anything new on the site since last week..?

    ed

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  4. ed27 June 2013 at 10:55

    I dont suppose you have any copies of WARLOCK, the fighting fantasy magazine from the 1980's..?

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    1. SLOW ROBOT27 June 2013 at 23:07

      Hi Ed

      How about this for amazing timing... the currently on-sale (released this week and on-sale for a fortnight) edition of the hardback MARVEL ULTIMATE GRAPHIC NOVELS collection (from Hachette Partworks reprints MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS 6-12 and includes - as supplementary material - the article from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE 12 (but not 20). Because I don't want to duplicate anything that's currently in print, I won't run it here.

      I barely remember - if at all - WARLOCK and I don't have any copies.

      I've been away from the blog this week as I've had a week away from work and that's broken my usual routine. But fear not, I have used the time to accumulate more ancient geek relics for future posts.

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  5. Anonymous28 June 2013 at 18:59

    I've just discovered your blog while searching for the Avengers and the Savage Sword of Conan, thanks for showing all those old covers-I could hardly remember any of them even though I got the comic every week.

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