By Joshua H. Stulman

In celebration of the new Transformers Movie: The Last Knight. I thought I would take a look at the comic history of this iconic 80’s toyline.

Many of us first encountered Transformers from either the toys or the cartoon series on TV. However the comic books, and Marvel creators Bob Budiansky and editor Dennis O’Neil fleshed out much of the original story.

The original Transformer toys were a collection of other Japanese toylines that Hasbro bought the rights to release in the United States under the brand, Transformers. So who were these giant vehicle and dinosaur transforming robots?

Marvel was hired by Hasbro to flesh out the backstory to the toyline to help develop the cartoon series. Jim Shooter laid out the basic premise of the warring alien robots and assigned Dennis O’Neil to create the character bios. O’Neil served as editor of the comic book series and is the one who named Optimus Prime. However much of the bio and direction of Transformers was done by writer Bob Budiansky.

Budiansky is credited with creating much of the Transformers original mythos. He named many of the characters including Megatron as well as creating the profiles found on the packaging of the original toys.

The Transformers comic was released by Marvel as four part mini-series in September 1984 to coincide with the release of the cartoon series and toyline. While the cartoon had its own stoyline, the comic series was based in the Marvel Universe. Transformers # 3 even featured a team up with the Venom Costumed Spider-Man! Bob Budiansky continued to serve as writer for much of the comic book series, while veteran Hulk artist Herb Trimpe (1939-2015) created much of the initial artwork. Jose Delbo and Dave Hunt were brought in to take over the art duties after Trimpe left to continue his artwork on GI Joe. The original Transformers comic ran from 1984 to 1991 and concluded with issue # 80.

The Transformer series was later revived in the 1990’s as “Generation II” and featured redesigned costumes. A crossover with the popular GI Joe comic series in issues 138-143 served as a springboard for their second short-lived comic series.

The BrooklynComicShop.com is happy to offer some great Transformer collectible comics including the very first issue of the series as well as Exclusive Autographed comics signed by Bob Budiansky, Herb Trimpe, and Dave Hunt!

We will also have a wide selection of Vintage Transformer Marvel Comics at our stand for only $5.00!

Check Out our Transformers comics: CLICK HERE

Joshua H. Stulman

Owner, Brooklyncomicshop.com