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Guess what I won’t be watching. What they’re planning to do with Alex is probably their worst crime and just made me mad to hear, but there are so many in this wanna-be anime that doesn’t have the guts to be itself or the courtesy to accurately adapt the characters. So basically everything I didn’t like about My Adventures With Superman but with Green Lanterns.
With everything going on around here right now taking much of my focus away from the site, this came out at just the right time.
A few cycles ago, Chris McFeely told us about the Transformers we might have gotten in the form of “Mysterions”. (Not to be confused with Captain Scarlett’s nemeses.) In the video we also heard about a character named Muffy and an alleged show called Car And Cable, all of which eventually led to the “G1” Transformers cartoon we know and love today. However, the Transformers we know and love might have been very different had CBS carried the show instead of syndication.
The Sunbow Marvel Archive is always looking for more informations about the shows co-produced by Marvel Productions, Marvel Comics’ cartoon arm at the time, and Sunbow Productions, owned by Marvel’s advertising company. Events recently lead to the biggest news in Transformers development. Syndicated cartoons were always something of a gamble, though Filmation would lead the way away from network “standards and practices” forced on them by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and parent groups (yep, them again), which sanitized much of Saturday morning programming. While the 1980s and late 1970s found ways to work around those limits, they were still something of a pain, but still had the advantage of a bigger budget and wider distribution since you just had to go to the one network rather than a bunch of local stations to pitch your series. Basically, you choose your poison, put in the required 16 weeks of material (the requirement at the time–easier on a weekend show since you only needed one a week), and your good.
CBS wasn’t the only problem with the first attempt at making a Transformers cartoons. There was also the disagreement between Marvel Productions, some creators still upset about DePatie–Freleng Enterprises being taken over and altered, and Marvel Comics, the guys who took over and altered them. DePatie–Freleng is probably best known for the Pink Panther and The Inspector cartoons, both spinning off from them working on the title sequences for the original Peter Sellers movies. Pink Panther, the name of the jewel, appeared in the intros as an actual panther, leading to cartoons made about them even after the company folded, while the movie’s main character, the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, got his own series of shorts. They hated their new bosses, so internal politics also paved the way from a huge diversion.
However, why should I go on when McFeely has collected all the new information into a new video documentary going over the two failed pitches to CBS, the eventual parting, and get a small look at what might have been.
John Cena plays rough with his model airplanes.
The Peacemaker #2
Charlton Comics Group (May, 1967)
“The Survivors”
“The Ultimatum”
Pat Boyette is the only credit, probably the artist signing the big panel on the first story page. Even then I had to go to the Grand Comics Database to full read it. Boyette is also credited as the letter, with Joe Gill as writer and no colorist according to the GCD, but Charlton really sucked at getting the credits of their creators out there sometimes. I don’t know how accurate this info is, though this source I usually trust.
The Fighting Five: “The Canadian Caper”
Montes & Bache, Bill & Ernie respectively according to the GCD.
The link goes to a corrected scan of the book as one of the story pages was damaged. I don’t know why they have both copies still up there, but this is the fixed one.
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from my comments:
Celebrating Dreamwave while trashing Furman and humanized Transformers? I’m totally onboard with all that. Dreamwave is my favorite as well, but a few clarifications are in order.
For one thing, Dreamwave’s first miniseries wasn’t done by Furman. (He responded by saying that wasn’t what he intended to say and hope that’s not how he came off.) He did The War Within and oddly the two parts of the Unicron Trilogy, Armada and Energon (Cybertron came out after Dreamwave collapsed because Pat Lee screwed over the talent and his company by using the money to buy cars for him and his family instead of paying the talent or the bills). The first miniseries was by Chris Saraccini, and did its own “adult” moments like Megatron squashing a guy as he took a leak. The rest of the DW run was by Brad Mick and Adam Patyk and was good. Actually, outside of Furman sneaking Galvatron into the Unicron Trilogy, one of his pet characters (he would have done Grimlock in if he could), The War Within, Armada, and Energon are not that bad. It’s the only time I’ll say that about Furman Transformers stories, which includes a lot of that “humanization” of Transformers as beings. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been writing my own Transformers lore on my site. That and the whole “forced caste” nonsense that’s gone on since IDW and the Megatron: Origins miniseries.
I’m also of the mind that Transformers is a kids toyline, and thus the media should at least be accessible to kids. Nobody asked Sesame Street to “grow up with the audience”, and that’s why I can’t get into Skybound’s take. That and killing my boy Bumblebee at the start. I’m not saying it should be a “kids comic”, given what that usually means to the kid-hating modern writers, but that it should at least be kid accessible, which Skybound most definitely isn’t. I would have rather something closer to Super Dinosaur than Invincible.
All that said, Dreamwave is my favorite take, followed by the Marvel Budiansky run. Shame he doesn’t get to write more Transformers while we can’t get away from Furman
TL;DR: I agree with pretty much all of this.
Slight change in plans. Due to my current situation I only have time to review the one chapter, just barely making the length count. Not sure how this will screw this up scheduling wise but the next one will definitely be two chapter.
In last time’s two chapters, our only Russian hero thus far tried to get Striker to the train on time while the undercover Strikers tried to get out of Dodge…or rather St. Petersburg. We’re apparently back to the train this chapter.
I’m low on time and lower on ways to pad out the intros for this really long book, so we’re just going to jump back into this.
My money’s on Prototype.
Prototype #9
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (April, 1994)
“Prototype Unplugged”
WRITERS: Tom Mason & Len Strazewski
ARTISTS: Roger Robinson & Jeff Whiting
COLORING: Keith Conroy & Violet Hues
LETTERER: Tim Eldred
EDITOR: Roland Mann
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They lean heavy on the traditional, but that’s basically how it’s done. Unless you’re making a webcomic like I do. Then you find a place to upload the images (if you’re doing it on a webpage or an online reader, depending how that works) or PDF/CBR file (your preference for the digital download) and get your comic out. Personally I never use a script or the thumbnails because the story runs in my head until it’s laid out, but I haven’t done a full length comic in years. Also, the tablet (I use a Parblo A610 currently) is the tool. Clip Studio Paint (which I also use, though other some artists use other programs) is my program of choice since it was Manga Studio 5 before the addition of limited animation tools. Finally, the video seems to put blame on the letterer for blocking the art than the artist leaving room for the word balloons and sound effects. Both are a mistake, but it’s not always the letterer’s fault.
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 