Since appearing on Stephen Kent’s Bounding Into Comics program “Skytalker” I’ve been attempting to excavate my childhood memories of my favorite fictional franchises. The one that I have the most fondness for are The Transformers, and quite honestly I don’t think I’d have started drawing comics if it weren’t for the those ‘robots in disguise.’
Growing up, my dad frequently would travel for work and usually he’d pick up something for my sisters and I when he’d get back. I still remember coming home and seeing the G2 Bumblebee toy on my bed; it was immediate obsession.
Later, it was my Grandpa who would get me my first Transformers comics. He was a draftsman and enjoyed comics (more Bill Mauldin than Ditko however) so he must have braved the Bloomfield, NJ comic book shop and procured some back issues (one of them being Marvel’s Transformers #1). It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for me.
At the time, the cartoon was in re-runs but I think they were only played early in the morning so — not being an early riser — I very rarely caught them. Fortunately, my mom worked at the local VideoTowne (a local video store that eventually would be bought out and turned into a Blockbuster) and I would rent out the various VHS collections.
I eventually made my way to the movie which, in spite of it’s brutal killing of almost all the Transformers that I had become familiar with, was a huge hit with me. I rented that tape out so frequently they just gave it to my mom.
I really can’t say that I had any kind of deep emotional resonance with the Transformers, they were just cool; the designs, the action. It is perfectly designed for a boy of age 5, which is how old I was when the Transformers Generation 2 comic came out.
Now that… that is what left a lasting impression on me. I have to assume that I got the first issue by happenstance. I must have been with my Grandpa, and we went to that comic shop in Bloomfield, where that gatefold cover of a battle damaged Optimus Prime just had to be sitting on the racks.
I have no idea how it was that at the tender age of 5 I was reading this comic, but I was. Though I wouldn’t know this information until much later, Derek Yaniger’s art in that issue was peak ’90s. Each Transformer in the book is loaded down with every kind of weapon; knives strapped to their legs, grenades on bandoliers, etc.
Sideswipe, for example, is seen using a giant gun that’s also a grenade launcher. Much akin to what we see in the movie, Optimus Prime is also seen racking up body counts — even Grimlock gets his fair share, ripping a dude’s head off! The comic was pure cool; barely a human in sight, and the toy exposition nonsense that was required for the early Marvel run is nowhere to be found.
Some people had Jim Lee’s X-Men #1. For me, though, the grail was Transformers: Generation 2 #1. Pretty early on Yaniger got put on the “Tales from Earth” segments of the book, since I have to assume he couldn’t keep pace with deadlines, and Manny Galan would take over as the lead series artist.
Galan does a decent enough job, but his work is much cartoonier than the gritty and grimy work of Yaniger. Later in the run Geoff Senior would join, bringing some continuity with the previous Marvel Comics series – and his artwork in the book is nothing short of spectacular. The textures of his inks, and the blocky geometry he uses for the Transformers themselves is so satisfying.
Sadly, the series wasn’t meant for long term success. I have a vivid memory of me sitting next to my mom and reading the Simon Furman’s sign-off in the letters column of that final issue. I’m not sure why she was there reading it with me, but maybe I decided the letters column from my now-ended favorite comic was exactly the sad bedtime reading I needed at the time. I pulled out those old cover-less back issues to re-read in advance of writing this column, and this time I paid a little more attention to the letters column than I did when I was 5.
Transformers: Generation 2 came out just as the comics market was collapsing from the ’90s boom. At the time I had no idea about this, but the writing was on the wall since issue 8. The letters column tells the story of a shrinking direct market and a dwindling readership. That was October of 1994.
Later on, I’d find myself on a Transformers message board making some very poor fan art, imagining pages from what may have happened after Generation 2, thinking I could do comics. The year is 2002. DreamWave comics begins publishing Transformers: The War Within, my first online purchase, with art by Don Figueroa, who would post at the previously mentioned message board.
Comics felt achievable and active. It’s 2005 now, and Dreamwave goes bankrupt; IDW acquired the license and quickly launched far too many titles for me to keep up with and afford, not to mention something else was missing. The books felt empty, even Furman’s Regeneration One — where he continued on from the end of his original Marvel run — failed to reach me.
Andrew Wildman’s art simply didn’t look right with the glossy digital coloring and he didn’t stick around to finish the book for reasons I’m unaware of, I never finished reading it. This is to say that childhood passion soon gave way to complete apathy.
The original Marvel run had some meat to it but it’s impossible for me to read it without nostalgia lenses on, so I’m not sure if it would hold up for an adult now. Because, in hindsight, the Generation 2 run was overwhelmingly propelled by a cool factor and the novelty of seeing Prime and Megatron team up against the new generation.
It’s 2024 and the direct comics market feels to be in the same place as it was back in 1993 — there seems to be a lack of excitement about anything going on in the so-called ‘mainstream’ US market. It’s announced Image and Skybound now have the Transformers license, and Daniel Warren Johnson is going to be writing and drawing it.
Having followed Warren since his old Space Mullet webcomic days (which will be released in trade from Image soon), I’ve enjoyed just about everything he has done.
I eagerly waited the release date, feeling the same excitement of that 5-year-old kid discovering that battle-scarred Optimus Prime cover back in ’93 and, for the first time in a very long time, I’m reminded of the thrill of monthly comics again.
I hope it lasts.
Stay tuned for a more in-depth review of the new Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton Transformers series. Where I will touch upon how I think DWJ has updated the title to give it a little more meaning and relevance for its presumably overwhelmingly ‘adult’ audience.
NEXT: Battaglia’s Drawing Board: Zack Snyder’s ‘Rebel Moon’ Is Sadly Half Of A Half Of A Cover Movie