TRANSFORMERS: THE BASICS on THE MARVEL COMIC 

"Offlined by cosmically-powerd-starscream","offlined by decepticon clone of optimus prime",one of the most memorable catchphrases ever

One of my art teachers, Kim DeMulder, was the first artist to ink the marvel comics. He only inked the first 3 issues because he thought it was way too hard to consistently shade the metal on the characters. He told me he regretted it immediately because he actually got payed way more than any other comic he's ever worked on.

I loved the final cover saying "Issue 80 in a 4 issue limited series".

The comics are MY G1. I liked the cartoon, but obsessed over the comics and read them over and over. To this day I am astounded at what Hasbro let Bob Budiansky get away with. In 1985, when Transformers were at arguably the peak of their mainstream popularity (during G1 at least), Budiansky spent months telling a story where all but one Autobot was dead and Megatron was reduced to Shockwave's lackey. It's bold as hell for a comic whose ostensible purpose was to sell toys.

Let us all thank Bob Budianski and Simon Furman for their skill, inspiration and creativity which gave us the foundation on which so much more has been built.

The Marvel series has always been my preferred version of Transformers. It swung from Saturday morning cartoon wackiness to epic adventures, and I love all of it.

That Shockwave cover is one of the hardest pieces of comic art ever.

The cover of #5 is one of the best comic covers of all time. Not just TF comics, ANY comics. That cover was my first exposure to Transformers: I'd never heard of them before I saw that issue in a grocery store newsstand when I was 8, and I was immediately pulled in: Who are the Transformers, why are they all dead, and who killed them? Suffice to say I was hooked after reading it, and when the cartoon came along later I went full-on superfan. The Marvel versions of so many characters are my favorite versions of all time: Ratchet, Blaster, Shockwave, Ratbat, Scorponok, Fortress Maximus, (Powermaster) Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Thunderwing, Galvatron...all of these characters, the versions I think of first are the Marvel versions. Especially Blaster...in the cartoon he was just The Other Jazz. To me the Marvel comic is the definitive G1 experience: It's written better than the cartoon, it came before the cartoon, and most of the lore we take for granted in the franchise began there (Primus, Unicron's origin, etc.). And if you factor in the UK stories, it gets even better. That it kept going for years after the cartoon ended is a plus. The cartoon may be better known, but to me the Marvel book is THE G1 continuity. Plus Black Helmet Yellow Eyes Megatron and Marvel UK colors Galvatron > their Sunbow colors. Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville's art was very formative to my own early art: I loved how damage a character had in one issue would be consistently drawn even several issues later, and Geoff Senior could convey movement and momentum better than anyone. Those two remain my favorite TF comic artists even to this day, though I love most of the modern artists as well (Alex Milne and Casey Coller especially).

the fact that most of the characters profilres that written by bob budiansky was ignored by the g1 cartoon,make it even funnier

The Unicron arc was amazing and DeathsHead quickly became my favourite character. I still hope he gets his own show or movie one day, such an amazing character and just the way he speaks haha

The marvel comics have always been intriguing to me because for at first glance it seems the cartoon is what later media based everything off of yet a lot of elements (shockwave, matrix, primus, war games, ect.) actually come from the comics

Simon furman deserves a basics episode of his own along side Peter cullen and Frank welker

Man the Marvel comics were like a massive epic. I feel like the comics had the better stories while the cartoon had the better characterisations (probably because of the voices). So many moving parts, characters, worlds, it felt huge and like an actual war with different fronts like earth, the headmasters, the future era characters, earthforce, the cybertron war, constantly changing leaders, the wreckers etc. There were a few periods where it dragged and felt weird, but everything from Underbase onwards was incredible. It just got darker and darker as things went on too. The matrix quest and Unicron sagas, just amazing. And wow, dont even start with the UK stories, so many sidestories and twists, the concepts from the movie being played with heavily (you can tell Furman loved it) and really fleshing out the 2006 cast. Target 2006 was the GOAT This feels like the real G1, and in a way the '86 movie feels more connected to the comics in tone and story than the cartoon. Cartoon had so much going for it, but ultimately it has more lows than highs. Plus the comics were one of the only pieces of media that actually did the "robots in disguise" gimmick, not even the toon did that, and having tension between humans and transformers, it just felt so real Its such a damn shame people focus less on it, it deserves some kind of animated adaptation or something

When I was a boy Simon Furman's comics were the first I ever read for myself (instead of my parents reading Super Friends to me) and not only did it make me fall in love with comics but also science fiction and serialised storytelling in general. Many years later I got to meet Simon Furman and I told him he's the reason I read books.

I was at free comic book day today and had the honor of meeting Jim Shooter. he basically gave me a Basics episode of his own, but was so cool to hear the story of how he created the basic fundamental story ideas for the comics

Something I've noticed about geewunners who love to go off about the seniority of the cartoon; they're incredibly quick to write off these comics, even though they're literally the very first piece of Transformers media.

Man, the Unicron saga in the comics was proper epic stuff as a kid. Felt huge and the following issues were such a memorable conclusion. Did set me up with the expectation that comics do have endings though which good lord modern comics could do with from time to time.

I honestly had no idea the UK Transformers comics were so influential, not only to Transformers but to UK comic writers as well. Really eye opening.

The G1 Marvel comics are honestly my favorite piece of fiction in Transformers. I just love the storytelling

Marvel Blaster is my favorite version of Blaster. dude is the only Autobot who had balls to tell Grimlock that his leadership kinda sucks lol.

Still have all my complete original series, including G2. My name is in issue 62, I think. I was first on the Canadian list of people whom named all Autobots correctly from a earlier comic in a big Panel splash, with all Earth Autobots.... Sadly, didn't win any prizes, only to USA residents.... PS, Geoff Senior was my very favorite artist ever !

As the cartoon never aired on non-cable TV here, the comic was my main touchstone to the franchise narrative. I still have a good bit of the run tucked away somewhere and they were a major part of my childhood.

Simon Furman's win on the main line series was amazing. I think the last 20 issues of the first series were remarkable. The lead-up to the coming of Unicron was better than anything the cartoon series came up with.

Titan Books’ republication of Target: 2006 was my first, real introduction into Transformers, and has been my favourite storyline since! It’s great to see the influential story referenced on such an influential channel!

Love the Wreckers! Gotta appreciate the Marvel stories for making them happen.

The series on the Scraplets was always my favorite from the US Marvel. Great piece of TFs Marvels comics.

When Marvel decided the Transformers comic would not be part of Earth-616 it was given the designation Earth-91274 after the birthday of Marvel staff artist Nelson Ribeiro, who is a Transformers SUPER-Fan (and who also happens to be me!) Now you know, and knowing is half the … Ooh, sorry. Wrong franchise.

The Marvel comic was a huge influence on me, and remains so to this day. Marvel Scorponok is my all-time favorite Decepticon, and the Marvel versions of Grimlock, Ratchet, Shockwave, and Thunderwing remain the definitive versions to me.

Ah the happy memories of reading the old Marvel UK comics, such epic storyline and perhaps Ultra Magnus's most epic baddass moment ever (fire on the mountain) . Simon Furman & Andrew Wildman deserve a spotlight all of their own

I found really hilarious the comic where Megatron was stuck in gun form, it showed how useless it was an alternate form that required others to work, the only useful thing he could do with it was to travel in the cabin of one the Decepticon jets.

It also had a cameo by Nick Fury and a vague reference to the events of Marvel's Godzilla comics.

The first two years of Marvel Comics are amazing. Transformers in their pure form, with a lot of plot points. Shockwave behind the scenes, the human interactions, Autobots and Decepticons trying to use the Earth technology. And, different from the cartoons, the Autubots were always in the brink of defeat, having a hard time every issue.

The Transformers were a large part of my childhood, and continued well into my teen years. There were some wonderful stories in the series. "Return to Cybertron" is my all time favourite 2-parter, and I feel it had a certain magic to it, showing visions of a dystopian Cybertron, as well as the follow up in which Omega Supreme is introduced. I'd even go as far as the say the 85 - 86 period was a Golden Age of sorts. I also liked Skids spotlight issue where he is alive and well, and spending time with the girl that liked westerns. I also liked the one where Skids, Tracks and the others were introduced, and they foiled a Decepticon plot at a "Brick Springhorn" concert.

Honestly, this is one of the most helpful basics to date for me, I’ve been looking forward to it ever since it was announced. Even as someone who’s been a die-hard fan a couple of years now, I still didn’t fully understand what was going on with the UK-original stuff and Earthforce- a lot of longer-time fans talk about it as though everyone already gets it, or they over-exaggerate how confusing it is, so I was kind of scared to even look. This series is always incredibly good but every so often it just inarguably knocks it out of the park, and this is one of those times. Thank u mr mcfeel

Ah, my entry point into the franchise! A little later on than some, of course, but I do recall my earliest exposure to the Transformers was the comics and annuals. Have distinct memories of the early Time War stuff, in particular being freaked out by Megatron tearing off Cyclonus's head via his bunny ears.

meanwhile in an alternate timeline we have the Autobots and the G.I.Joes joining the fight against Thanos in the Avengers movies, lol.

Oh my this is the epic story telling i mention when speaking about transformers lore, I mean Time Wars, Space Pirates and my personal favourite Target 2006, which is where i began my appreciation of Ultra Mangus. I mean these run of comics were amazing, Grimlock's tyrannical leadership of he autobots, The many changing of leadership of the decepticons (i mean who else could make Ratbat look like a leader....come on, but it worked). my favouraite combiner The Predacons were from this very comic, Razorclaw being my personal favourite. So much here......ahhhhh, good job with the video

as grateful as I am that Transformers moved over to dreamwave and idw, I'd still be really interested to know what the world would be like where the Transformers stayed in the Marvel Universe

I liked the final issue saying #80 in a four issue limited series.

My childhood! Australia got both the US and UK comic! Good times

Really need to get back to finishing these comics. It's interesting to see more of the nuances between how a franchise was exposed between the US & UK.

It's hard to believe it's been 38 years. But 8 year old me remembers that first Marvel Comic TV commercial like it was yesterday. " Hey look they copied Go Bots" 😂. And while I've always preferred the animated series to the comics, I'll never forget that first commercial.

The comics are what I grew up with. I didn't watch the entire cartoon until many years later. The comics have much more mature storylines but a few of them are still ridiculous.

Used to get the comics as a kid, and reading Space Pirates and Time Wars for the first time stood out for me - one of the few Transformers covers I remembered when thinking back to them much later on was Galvatron standing on the pile of Autobots and Decepticons. When I re-read one of the annuals recently, the story of the death of the last Decepticon was a good one too!

I was a bit of a late bloomer coming into the TF fandom (I really got my start with the first live action film when I was 17). When looking for foundational TF media, I happened upon an ebay auction for the complete set of Titan paperbacks reprinting the US Marvel series. It was sometimes extremely hokey, but I fell in love. I later read the UK series through… means…. And enjoyed that so much that I eventually embarked on a quest to collect every UK issue and annual, and have them custom hard bound. Those books are now the crown jewel of my collection.

As someone who moved from the United States to England for two years in 1985, I got to see how the British comic developed firsthand. IIRC, in the biweekly issues some of the pages were in black and white, which also threw me for a loop.

Geez - reading the letters to the editor in the US comic you'd think the Primus origin story in the US version was a new idea. We really had no idea and were a totally segmented and captive audience, hey? ... I think I learned the word "geez" from TF comics ...

I remember getting issue 1 of the Uk comic It came with free rub on transfers soon after I was getting the comic delivered to my door, my favourite stories have always been the the UK originals Like Target 2006 and The cover Image with Galvatron Astride Ultra Magnus is one of my favourite Covers ever.

Thinking on it I wonder if my enthusiasm for Transformers would have been sustained through my teens without the Marvel UK comic. The continuous excitement for the next issue maintained my enthusiasm and I still make time to regularly re-read the series.

Ah Cosmically Powered Starscream, above all else I'll be thankful to the Marvel comics for introducing that recurring beat for various Starscreams to hit. I also absolutely love fuel auditor Ratbat as leader of the Decepticons that's great fun

The marvel comic was absolutely essential to me as a young fan, and the stories went from pretty standard to absolutely epic in short order. I was particularly excited about the generation 2 series, as I feel it was a high water mark in both story telling and artwork. This was a solid overview, but the comics should really be read in their entirety to savor the magic.

As a kid in the early 2000s the Titan reprints were my first exposure to Marvel Generation 1. While not my favorite iteration of the franchise, there's no denying it's significance and I've enjoyed some of the modern stories set in the universe like Regeneration 1 and '84 (that sweet, sweet Guido Guidi art man). Another great episode as always!

Transformers #30 was the first comic I ever got. I was 10 yo and sick, stuck in bed. I read it a million times and still have it. I became a regular reader at issue # 37. A couple years later, I ordered #1-4 from some U.S. back issue reseller that advertised in the pages of the comic itself. #1 is the newsstand edition and is in great shape and remains one of my most treasured comics. (I bought the first 15 issues of Batman Adventures when it came out because I liked the cartoon and #12 is the most valuable book I've got.)

I've just started getting into some of the IDW comics, but it's cool to learn the history of where it all began

My cousin gave me issue one of the UK comic although I didn't start collecting until issue 45. It not only got me into Transformers but also comics, writing and drawing. It will always be my favourite Transformers continuity.

Ah, I remember the Marvel run. Not as it came out, but in boxes of second-hand comics, mixed in with Excalibur and all four issues of Rocket Raccoon. I also remember when I attempted to subscribe to the Generation 2 line, only to receive the first issue of Generation X! Which as a fan of the X-men at the time, wasn't a *BAD* thing, but being pre-internet days it took me a few months to realize that I had missed the Gen 2 run completely. ¡_¡

Excited to see the history behind the deadly “cosmically-powered Starscream”

The relationship between the US and UK comics kinda reminds me of how filler arcs in anime adaptations are made when they run out of manga to adapt. Especially the part where the anime can become its own thing when they have enough original material.

The Marvel comics were always the "true" Transformers stories for me. They were the ones I came into contact with first, and had the most reliable access to. And today, I definitely feel those stories hold up better than the cartoon. The cartoon's stories feel less developed and a lot less mature - understandable, as it was targeted at a younger audience. The comic got pretty dark and serious at times, and I loved that. It's just too bad current reprints are so horribly bad. Especially for the earlier issues, where it seems they've used some sort of really bad AI filter or something, that completely eliminates a lot of the detail of the original comic. I strongly recommend looking up the Titan Books reprints for anyone who wants good reproductions of the old issues; they were much more careful in preserving details etc.

I grew up reading the UK comic, starting around issue 200 or so, thus missing around two thirds of the stories, but the stuff I did get to read by Furman was amazing and still holds up to this day as an adult. Plus all my issues are sat in the attic still!

I was a little kid my dad gave me an old beat of comic and it was the one that showed Optimus Prime’s body exploding. I absolutely loved it and it was my first introduction to many generation one characters such as Bombshell and Rat Bat.

A thing I would've added is with the Marvel run stuff. You touched on G2 after the end of the Marvel G1 runs, you did bring up the GI Joe Crossover earlier. But no mention of the small few issues that DIRECTLY lead in to events of the Transformers G2 comic?? Like namely Megatron getting rebuilt in to his Tank form Incarnation with Cobra tech. A couple of Autobots dying trying to fight him ect.

Distant Thunder. Superb bit of writing that really cemented Prime's character and nobility for me as a kid. Can't remember the name of the story, but the one where a Decepticon scientist winds up creating a zombie army always springs to mind. The artists (particularly in the UK comics) *really* took advantage of the Transformers not being "flesh and blood". Those zombies got brutalised. 😅

11:38 Just a job for Budiansky, but he's the one who gave us the basic character and characterisations of Optimus Prime, Megatron and others, no? 12:04 Today's most wha-? I wish I could keep up!

Back in the days when having 50p felt like you could buy up most the newsagents.

Thanks for this one!! Made me legitimately smile. The very first comic book I ever owned was Transformers issue #3. My Dad got it for me one Saturday afternoon. Walking down Jamaica Avenue we walked into Woolworth and when I saw that cover of Spiderman fighting Megatron, fell in love and have been ever since. Great episode!!

I got into transformers thanks to beast wars but my dad grew up watching the '80s cartoon and reading the marvel comic book and would often tell me about the toys and the stories from both which prompt me when I was older to look at the comic issues that he had collected when he was young. I thought it was so cool to see Spider-Man in an issue of transformers

In here we got US version translated and I loved reading those stories back as kid. I still have fond memories about reading Marvel run even if I have been soured to Simon Furman and his writing.

As a kid I would be given random comics from time to time so my first issue was the Skullgrin spotlight issue Monster on from Mars. I didn't actually get interested in comics for a few more years so the first issue I got myself was #74 and that fullpage Unicron blew me away. I had to get the next one and #75 was probably the most apocalypticly beautiful things I had ever read. I went on to get Generation 2 as well. I have all 100 Marvel US comics (including minis, tie INS, and crossovers) in a small comics box in my closet to this day.

While I never got into the Marvel Transformers comics, I've always been fascinated by Death's Head as a character ever since I found out about him, and part of me kinda hopes he'll show up on The Basics in the near future. He'd be a shoe-in for his own Obscure Characters Month episode, yes?

For as much attention as the cartoon gets, the comic was arguably more influential on the franchise, as this video makes obvious! I appreciate you spelling out the changes that happened in the UK line towards the end!

I remember reading 'Man of Iron' back when it came out, and I agree - 'Haunting' is the word for it. That particular story always stuck in my memory, although some of the others like 'Dinobot Hunt' were also big favourites of mine.

The Marvel comic (or rather the Swedish translation of it) was my primary entry point into the fandom. Not having cable growing up there were only a few scattered episodes of the cartoon available, so the Marvel continuity is the original one for me. And it made me a devoted Ratchet fan.

I remember when the first Bayformers movie came out and the guys at work were discussing how there could be a sequel without Megatron. I replied by saying "well you can have Shockwave, Starscream, Straxis, Ratbat, Scorponok, Galvatron, Thunderwing, and Bludgeon lead the Decepticons."

Awesome video as always. After seeing someone's complete US comic run recently I'm tempted to embark on the insane task of a complete UK run...

As a kid I found the Marvel comics really inconsistent and strange, but as an adult that’s exactly what I like most about them (it’s very playful and imaginative, not afraid to be silly, surreal… campy! And it even lets the creators be gross and terrifying… there’s a lot of body horror or really terrifying concepts… cosmic horror and that fusion of megaton, etc).

8:18 I read U.S. issue 50, and, though it wasn't the most jaw-dropping experience, it defifinitely delivered a memorable feel of reading pages of non-stopping deaths that included quite a few familiar transformer names all while I was listening to Igor Korneluk's "Woland".

It's always fascinating to see the origins of the franchise. Imagine if Marvel was still at the helm of Transformers...

Personally my favorite part of the Marvel Comics is when everyone was offlined by a cosmically-powered Starscream.

I remember trying to read as many of the original issues back in the 80s as I could, I really enjoyed the one issue that had Rachet the only one left to stand up against Megatron. I've never read any of the UK TF stories, it's time I fixed that!

I still have the majority of the original UK run, missing, as it happens, 32 issues by my reckoning. Sure, some of them are a bit dog-eared (especially the ones which came with free gifts _stuck to the front),_ but for 35+ year old comics, they've done pretty well. 🙂 My prized issue is #135, featuring the clash between Swoop and Divebomb; I got it signed by Jeff Anderson a few years back at a con in Nottingham. He was also working on a sketch of Galvatron at the time, so I bought that off him when he'd finished too. 😁

You know, Chris, I frickin' love this channel and the series. Watching these videos on Saturday morning...or afternoon...really is one of the highlights of my weekend.

There's apart of me that wished they remained in the marvel universe mostly so I can see Optimus as an avenger.

Great video Chris! Right in the feels. I can remember coming back from swimming in Arbroath and my Father had bought me the first issue of the UK comic - it's burned into my neurons. I'd love a Cybertronian Optimus like the first issue, all wonky-ass robot mode and alt-mode that's like a box on wheels (kinda MMC like now I think of it).

Great video! Grew up on this comic. I wanted to make a comment to recommend the Transformers episode of the Toys that Made Us (Netflix) which interviews Shooter and Budiansky - though I’d be surprised if you haven’t seen it. Unfortunately they don’t interview Furman which seems a criminal oversight. Anyone reading this who hasn’t seen the episode, it’s worth a watch!

I'm more of a cartoon guy, but it's nice to learn more about the *other* pillar of the G1 continuity.

Thank you to all the writers that has made the franchise what it is today, without them we prob wouldn’t have the animations and movies we have today and allowed our community to grow exponentially with their story telling and stills to capture the minds of fans alike

I was a young kid in the 2000's, so when I found an annual at a local charity shop, I didn't really get why the Transformers were so different to the ones I was used to. Where were the Mini-Cons? What's a Dinobot? Why do I need to read a Marvel Comic to know the backstory? But I enjoyed that book, and even though I never quite figured out what it was for a few years - the internet was a rare commodity back then - I get why so many children 20 years before me latched onto it as they did

I came to you from STCTP, and I was pleasantly surprised at this more formal, documentary style. Really well written and informative, as a non-fan of Transformers I feel like a genuinely learned a thing or two!

When I first got into transformers in 2015 one of the first comics I read was target 2006 and to this day I have more love for that toy colors galvatron than the cartoon galvatron

A simple, The Basics consumption game. Consume your vice every time a cosmically empowered Starscream is mentioned*. *Warning: Do not play the game while watching multiple episodes*

This was yet another good corner pillar in G1 TF fiction. Maaybe it was best that TF Marvel and Marvel's own universe were set on they own time as it would have been headache to keep every event and character interaction tied together.

Read it back in the day and it remains my fave incarnations of the G1 characters. Saturday mornings was when I used to pick up my reserved copy of Transforners weekly (still have em all) loved Geoff Senior's art so much that I have his rendition of Pretender Stranglehold tattooed an my arm along with the other Deception Pretenders. An awesome comic this is sorely missed

(And I can only imagine that the Marvel Transformers comics can only be recommended for fans that care about the comic. (Believe me, there's no doubt that the fandom cares more about the cartoon than the comic, as even I discover.) And yes, I DO care about the comic, I have some/a few of those comics to back that statement up.)

The Transformers comic is integral to the whole “transformers experience”…and that cover art is a thing of pure beauty… Even G2 was awesome in the comics, it all kinda gets me a little emotional actually.😁

Okay, I can honestly say I was not expecting to see "the basics" on the comics themselves! Makes me wonder if you've gave the cartoon series "the basics" treatment as well :D I'll go snooping through the archives after I've posted this! I wonder if Combat Colin will get a look in? ;)

Nice to see this series covered by the basics!! I think I’d like to actually backread at least the US comics, being as all I had as a kid was the Matrix Quest. Great vid as always!

Love this kinda bits of lore. Always helps me build characters for the Trading Card Game! 🎉🎉🎉

Another amazing but superb video featuring the Basics on Transformers the US/ UK Marvel Comics Chris thank you and keep them coming,also my favorite Transformers story was the Underbase Saga featuring Autobots and Decepticons working together to not only battle but to find a way to defeat a Cosmically Powered Starscream.also thank you for sharing Chris keep up the good work and may the 4th be with you.🙂🤛🇺🇲🦸🏋️🙂👍

Very interesting!! I grew up with a few of the Marvel comics, namely the Blaster on Cybertron arc and the G2 stuff! Glad to have more context on such a vital part of my favorite brand