1988: MARVEL UK'S THUNDERCATS AND THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS MERGE

From September 1988: Merger alert!  The short-lived THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS (nine issues over eighteen weeks) folds into the pages of MARVEL UK's THUNDERCATS.

I assume Marvel had already commissioned some more GR strips and didn't want to write-off the investment (especially if there was a chance that the TV show would still be floating around the ITV schedules).  Once the original strips were exhausted, Thundercats went on to reprint the British-created strips originally seen in the one-and-only GALAXY RANGERS ANNUAL.

1987: MARVEL UK SIGNING FOR THUNDERCATS AND ACTION FORCE AT BIRMINGHAM'S NOSTALGIA AND COMICS

From May 1987: The Annex of Ideas takes a road trip to Birmingham for a signing by the MARVEL UK ACTION FORCE and THUNDERCATS (so also - inevitably - TRANSFORMERS as well) creative teams.

Did you go?  Was it good?  Do you still have your signed weeklies?

1986: THUNDERCATS ANNUAL and THE TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL House Ad (Marvel UK)

From November 1986: A MARVEL UK House Ad for the first (of 6, published 1986 to 1991) THUNDERCATS ANNUAL and the second (of seven, published 1985 to 1991) THE TRANSFORMERS (Generation 1) ANNUAL.  

The Transformers edition featured all-new material.  The Thundercats book reprinted the origin story (an adaptation of the "oh-look-they're-naked" pilot episode of the animated show) from the first issues of the US Star Comics run.

The Thundercats book went on sale ahead of the Marvel UK ongoing comic (which launched the following March) and the TV itself.  BBC ONE aired the first episode on 2 January 1987 at 4.55pm. 

The Thundercats material was subsequently reissued in another M-UK hardback: THUNDERCATS: THE ORIGIN. 

1987: MARVEL UK ANNUALS House Ad

From 1987: a cavalcade of MARVEL UK ANNUALS.

It says a lot that there's no SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL in the bunch... that's how far the mighty had fallen in the second half of the eighties.  The MARVEL SUPERHEROES edition was, however, an excellent alternative and must rank as one of the very best single annuals of the Star Age.

The rest are a motley bunch of licensed titles... and equally good indicator of the direction of travel for the Annex of Ideas... and the state of the annuals business.

The ACTION FORCE edition was the first from Marvel UK... and also the first time the Force had gone solo in a yearbook.  The previous three years had (logically enough) seen them sharing the pages of the BATTLE ANNUAL from Fleetway.  Unlike the previous years, this was (with the exception of a new text story) an all-reprint affair, drawing on the US G.I. JOE strips.  

THE TRANSFORMERS ANNUAL was the third, and the first year that the movie characters had featured.  For some... this marked the end of the golden age of the Robots in Disguise.

THE THUNDERCATS edition was the second, spun-off from the popular weekly, toys and animated series (aired on the BBC). 

The seldom seen DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS book, presumably (like the one-shot special I've covered before), reprinted the Spanish strips based on the Marvel Productions TV show. 

The rest, pitched at younger readers, are all based on toy or animated (or both) characters.  I think the INSPECTOR GADGET (who I'm sure also had a slot in LOOK-IN... although I don't know if the two licenses overlapped) strips also came from Europe.  ACORN GREEN was a toy line that also had it's own Eco-themed comic from the British Bullpen.  POPPLES, CARE BEARS and MADBALLS all had Star Comics in the States.  MY PET MONSTER was another toy tie-in which spawned an animated series (and straight-to-tape movie). 

1988: THUNDERCATS and THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS MERGE (Marvel UK)

From September 1988: Two-become-one when MARVEL UK folds the short-lived THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS into the pages of the (considerably more successful) THUNDERCATS.

The SF Western, based on the superior animated series, mustered only nine fortnightly issues before the axe fell.  I suspect it was down to a combination of poor sales, the higher-than-average costs of origination (each issue featured a brand-new GR strip created by the British Bullpen) and the poor scheduling of the TV series itself (as I recall, ITV tucked it away in their summer holiday schedules... which ensured an episode five days a week... but in a time slot with few viewers).

The Annex of Ideas obviously had a few weeks of inventory already on-file which they burnt-off in the new weekly, followed by several more reprints of the original strips initially commissioned for the GR ANNUAL, published around the same time.  

The Galaxy Rangers license was exclusive to Marvel UK and wasn't picked-up by the US operation.  Whether these British strips were syndicated anywhere else is unknown.  

Both the THUNDERCATS and THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS have been released on DVD.

1987: THUNDERCATS ISSUE 1 (Marvel UK)

THUNDERCATS... HO!

THUNDERCATS is a toys-to-comics/ animation format that probably requires little introduction.  This is the first issue of MARVEL UK's long-running tie-in which ultimately spawned an impressive 129 issues through to 1991.

It followed the established Marvel UK formula of supplementing reprints from the US Marvel title (issued under the Star Comics imprint) with original strips from British creative teams.  The US book clocked-up 24 issues, reprints of which were generally split across two issues of the British edition.

The first British sighting of the strips was in the first annual which reprinted Marvel's adaptation of the opening story of the TV series.  Rather than rerun the same material again, the weekly opened with the three-page summary posted below.

If my memory is correct, that three pager was first distributed as a freebie flyer in British toyshops (the fourth page was - logically - a plug for the toys) with a credit to Marvel but no reference to the upcoming new launch.

With readers brought up-to-speed, the issue then dived into a reprint of (I think) the second issue of the US book.

The cover was by Lee Sullivan.

The tone of the strips, from both sides of the Atlantic, were generally pitched slightly younger than the equivalent strips in THE TRANSFORMERS and ACTION FORCE with little effort to create the sprawling epics which became a trademark of the former.

The back-up strip would have been familiar with long-time readers of RETURN OF THE JEDI: a reprise of the earliest adventures of POWER PACK.  ROTJ had left the strip on a cliffhanger when it bowed out which was never resolved on this side of the Atlantic.

The first issue came with a free cover-mounted sticker (which has long since parted company from my copy).  Issues two and three gave away Panini's tie-in sticker album and stickers which utilised images from the TV show.

The weekly spun-off a succession of Annuals and Specials.  The latter followed the Collected Comics formula of recycling British strips for a second outing.

1992: THE POWER PACK TV PILOT in COMICS SCENE MAGAZINE (Starlog)

Strange... but true: I've always liked Marvel's POWER PACK.  There: I said it.  I thought the book's first couple of years was far better than the concept deserved to be.  Later - of course - it degenerated into a succession of power-swaps, gratuitous (sales-booster) appearances by other Marvel characters and a succession of tie-ins with whatever was Marvel's latest crossover event.  I'd long ago stopped reading but when they announced the book was canned, I was relieved.

Surprisingly, just as the title was waning, Marvel's one-time owner (and still a business partner) tried to sell a PP TV show and actually shot a pilot episode.

This article, from STARLOG spin-off COMICS SCENE issue 20 (cover-dated August 1992), covers the making of that - ultimately unsold - one-shot.  The Canadian shot pilot was originally produced as a perspective series for NBC's Saturday morning schedule (the network was in the process of shifting from animation to tween-friendly live-action) but was then pitched to local stations when the peacock net passed.

According to the usual online sources, the pilot did subsequent air several times on FOX although that looks a little TBC.  Certainly a bootleg copy is in circulation as I acquired a copy several years ago.

It's not a bad little show, best described as a mix of THE RED HAND GANG and MY SECRET IDENTITY (a similar show which might have helped kill the appeal of a second syndicated teen super-power series for local stations).  The producers do play fast-and-loose with the formula but to no great detriment.  The relatively small budget meant a New York City locale was out-of-the-question and the kids powers were also made more budget-friendly.  Also jettisoned were the matching costumes but - honestly - that's no bad thing.  Not only would they have looked daft but I don't think we really want to see kids running around in lycra costumes!

One other change was making the Power parents aware of their offspring's powers (their origins are explained - via voiceover - at the top of the show) whereas - in the comic - keeping them secret was a major plot-point.  I assume the producers were skittish of the idea of kids keeping secrets from their parents in a show primarily pitched at a young audience.

The performances were all reasonable and the young cast do what they can with the thin material.  The haunted house plot seemed a little off-message for what was being pitched as a superhero show and I found myself wondering whether perspective buyers were confused as to whether they would be buying a superhero show or a supernatural show.  The scares are - predictably - virtually non-existant but at least the whole thing is played straight.

The pilot - unsurprisingly - never reached British TV although the comic strip will be familiar to anyone who read Marvel UK's RETURN OF THE JEDI weekly (serialised reprints filled 90-odd issues and only ended when the title was cancelled) and THUNDERCATS (where the reprints - beginning again at the beginning - appeared from the first issue until being ousted by the merger of THE ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS).

1987: MARVEL UK WINTER SPECIALS HOUSE AD

This advert for MARVEL UK's 1987 WINTER SPECIALS highlights how dependent the company had become on toy franchises.  THE TRANSFORMERS and THUNDERCATS were Collected Comics compendiums of previously published British strips whilst ACTION FORCE was a hitherto unseen in the UK G.I. JOE reprint.

1988: ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS (Marvel UK)

Here's one of Marvel UK's less-successful efforts, although it should be of great interest to collectors and animation fans, ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS.

It was based on the 65-episode animated series of the same name: a Western-in-space with shades of BRAVESTAR and even FIREFLY/ SERENITY. The show, now available on R1 DVD, is actually jolly good thanks to superior animation, high production standards and some good (for the genre) writing.  Unfortunately, the syndicated show didn't make much of an impression in the heavily-satuated US animation market, crowded-out by toy-based rivals.

Marvel UK clearly had high hopes for this comic.  The majority of the contents were UK-originated (collectors take note) but it was scuppered, I suspect, by some unsympathetic scheduling of the TV show.  As I recall, it appeared daily on Children's ITV in a holiday morning slot with little promotion.  That meant a deluge of episodes... and then nothing.

Marvel UK pulled the plug on this fortnightly after a mere 9 issues.  They presumably started making arrangements to roll it into the pages of THUNDERCATS as soon as the sales figures for issue one arrived.  The original strips (possibly on-the-shelf inventory already commissioned for the fortnightly) continued there for a while longer. 

THUNDERCATS ANNUALS

THUNDERCATS has returned to Britain's newsagents, for the first time in decades, in Panini's new TV tie-in.  So, to mark the moment, here's a cover gallery of the six TC hardback annuals from the late eighties/ early nineties, published by Marvel UK.

It's testament to the staying power of the property that it lasted for six years, especially as the BBC didn't even air the second season of the animated series.

1986

Published September 1995.

This reprinted the first two issues of the US comic, adapting the first episode of the TV series.

The annual appeared before the UK comic itself.

1987

Published September 1986

1988

Published September 1987

1989

Published September 1988

1990

Published September 1989

1991

Published September 1990

THUNDERCATS: THE ORIGIN

Reprints the US material from the first annual.