Transformers 22 Marvel UK

After the success of the initial wave of Werebears, a group of enemies were released for the Werebears to battle. These Terror Teds did not share the ability to transform from normal teddy to werebear but were instead very unique looking monster teddy bears. Named Grunt, Snapper, Munch and Chomp, the story goes that they were created by a wicked witch to get revenge on the Werebears and their creator, Baron Egon Baconburger.
The Terror Teds are very hard to find now and rarely turn up on ebay.

 

 Interestingly, Munch seems to have two variants. One that featured in photographs in the comics and promotional material which had an open mouth and arms lower down the body. However the released version had a closed mouth and arms further up the body coming out of the side of Munch’s head.

Terminator Comics UK

The first Terminator comic to be released in the UK was in 1991 by Trident Publishing to tie in with the then newly released Terminator 2. reprinting the US Dark Horse comics, this series lasted 17 issues with the last 5 being published by Dark Horse International who took over the license when Trident went out of business. The last four issues began incorporating Robocop into the comic much in the same way the UK Aliens comic included Predator.

In 2009, a second UK Terminator comic was released, this time by Titan to cash in on the latest movie in the franchise coming out in cinemas, Terminator Salvation. Lasting a mere four issues and reprinting the comic strips from the American IDW prequel series to the movie.

Flash UK Comic

For the first time since the 60s, The Flash has his own ongoing UK comic published by Titan. They tested the waters in June 2015 by releasing a 100 page one shot souvenir issue of the Flash. This must have sold well as in November an ongoing 76 page Flash series began titled DC Superheroes: The Flash. Perhaps so that they can alternate the lead hero if Flash's popularity dies down. Harley Quinn also features in a back up strip in each issue. Titan have never had much luck with titles not containing Batman. Their four long running comics being Batman, Gotham Central, Batman & Superman and Justice League Trinity all of which feature Batman. Around the same time The Flash ongoing comic debuted, Green Arrow and Supergirl also had a comic each begin. Neither of which lasted more than a few issues. So far the Flash has outrun sharing their cancellation fate.

Transformers Armada UK

 In 2003 a third UK Transformers comic published by Panini hit the shelves based on the then current cartoon series, Transformers Armada. Writer Simon Furman who had gained fame as a comic book writer from his days on the UK and US Marvel Transformers comics returned for this series. Though the stories were very simple and kiddiefied with art work to match. This poor quality did not attract an audience and the comic was cancelled abruptly with issue 9 even though a tenth issue had been advertised.
One positive of the comics was the news section which would advertise new toys, cartoons and games related to Transformers. This was where I first learned of a Unicron toy being released, much to my excitement!

Transformers Generation 2 UK Comic

Published by Fleetway in 1994-95, this sequel to the highly successful Marvel UK Transformers comic only lasted 5 issues before cancellation.
The comic boasted of had the ability to transform, with pages that would fold out to extend the comic strip or reveal fact files and posters.
The first two issues featured UK original comic strips, but from issue 3 onward the title reprinted Marvel US G2 stories.

Werebears

 Werebears was a line of cuddly toys created by George Nicholas in 1983 to give boys a more masculine alternative to Carebears. Each had the ability to transform from regular looking teddy bear to a monster by flipping the face and paws over. The line initially had four characters. Howler, Grizzler, Fang and Gums. Ear bear came with an audio cassette featuring a story about the character it came with. A few years later a fifth Werebear was released called Growler. This Werebear was larger to accommodate the electronics which gave it the ability to growl.

Four more characters were added to the line, this time as enemies of the Werebears. Called the Terrorteds, these bears did not have the transforming ability of the Werebears but were still monstrous looking. They were named Chomp, Munch, Snapper and Grunt.
A comic was also created by Nicholas and lasted 7 issues. Originally published by Clearmark for the first two issues, then London Editions for the last 5. It told the origins of the Werebears and Terrorteds.

In 2012 Werebears made a short lived come back, with new toys being sold exclusively in Farm Food stores The line consisted of Grizzler, Growler, Howler and Fang. All could not only transform but howl with flashing light up eyes. Gums was absent from the new line, probably due to being the worst selling character in the original line as kids didn't seem to like a Werebear with no teeth.

Jurassic Park Comics UK

In 1993 a Jurassic Park comic was published in the UK by Dark Horse International to tie in with the release of the original movie. Reprinting the Topps comic strips from the US which began with an adaptation of the movie and continued with original stories set before and after the events of the film. Xenozoic Tales and Age of Reptiles were also included, making it more of an over all dinosaur comic rather than purely Jurassic Park. The comic lasted 16 issues, the last three of which being distributed by Manga Comics rather than Dark Horse.

In 1997, to tie with Lost World hitting the cinemas, a second Jurassic Park comic appeared on UK shelves published by Titan. Once again reprinting US Topps comic strips. This time a comic book adaptation of the Lost World film. This title only lasted four issues.

The Transformers Are All Dead

Marvel UK Transformers issues 22 and 305, Marvel US Transformers issue 5 and Reign of Starscream issue 1. One of the most memorable Transformers comic book covers to date, Transformers issue 5 has had it's cover re-used and paid homage to a number of times now. 

Aliens UK Comic

 Aliens UK comic volumes 1 and 2 from the early 90s. Volume 1 was published by Trident Comics until issue 16. Dark Horse International gained the license and published issue 17, then began volume 2 which lasted 22 issues. A three part mini series adapting Alien 3 into comic book form was also published under Dark Horse International. Volume 1 included Predator and Alien Vs Predator stories. Volume 2 dropped the Predator strips and focused on reprinting the American Aliens comic books.

Tales From the Crypt issue 35

Tales From the Crypt issue 35 by EC comics. Later reprinted in issue 2 of the Gladstone series.
The main story featured on the cover ‘By the fright of the silvery moon’ is a werewolf tale which was also loosely adapted for the Tales from the Crypt audio series. Being a fan of Werewolves, this has always been my favorite EC cover.
The second story features vampires and was adapted on screen for the Amicus Vault of Horror film in the 70s.
After a text story called ‘The Rack’ and another comic strip titled ‘Busted Marriage’ the last tale, ‘This Wraps It Up’ centers on a group of archaeologists encountering a Mummy. It was fun to have an issue featuring three classic monsters all in good stories.

Batman UK 50th Issue

This week see's the 50th issue of the current Titan UK Batman comic hit store shelves. The title is in essence, volume 3 of the Batman Legends comic that began back in 2003 under Panini publishing. Volume 1 lasted 41 issues before Titan took the license and began volume 2 which ended with issue 57. Volume 3 was re-titled to simply 'Batman' to coincide with the release of Dark Knight Rises at the cinema. So you could class the latest issue as 148 which is quite impressive for a UK comic in this day and age.

DC Universe Classics

                    My DC Universe Classics collection of Batman, Superman and Flash characters.

X-Men Marvel UK

Marvel UKs 90s X-men comic, released to tie in with the animated series. It featured a comic book adaptation of the episodes as well as reprints of the current US comics of the time. After 34 issues it was replaced with The Amazing X-men. This title continued to reprint the US comics but replaced the animated adaptations with Generation X. At the same time Amazing was out Essential X-men by Panini had also begun, leaving Amazing a little superfluous. The title lasted 17 issues before being cancelled.

Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future

Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future comic from the mid 90s. This title came out to tie in with the Stallone movie and used the designs from the film. However it didn’t seem to be particularly set in the movie universe. They wisely never had Dredd remove his helmet and no reference was made to the events of the movie. It lasted 23 issues and ended with an Action Special which contained an index of every issue released and the stories in them. The covers had some nice art work and some of the stories were illustrated by Geoff Senior who is a personal fave from his days on Marvel UK’s Transformers comic.

Transformers UK Annuals

1986-1994. These annuals would comprise of reprinted material mixed with a new comic strip and text stories. 1986-1992 were published by Marvel UK. The 1994 Generation 2 annual was produced by Grandreams and was of far lesser quality with it’s stories and art work. After this there was a ten year gap between Transformer annuals released in the UK.

2004-2015. In 2004 and 05 Pedigree books released Transformers annuals in the UK for the first time in ten years. Both contained straight up reprints of the Dreamwave Armada and Energon comics that were current at the time in America. Three years later to coincide with the release of the live action movie, Harper Collins released the first of five annuals based on the movies and one on Transformers Animated. These ‘annuals’ tended to be nothing more than simple puzzle books. Long gone are the days of Marvel UK and their high quality of comic book content. The Harper Collins annuals came to an end in 2012. Pedigree then regained the rights to make Transformer annuals and released one for 2015 centering around the Age of Extinction movie. Unfortunately this was once again another puzzle book for the most part though it did contain some text based stories though these were just simple adaptations of the movies.

Transformers Comics UK

So far there have been five Transformers titles released in the UK since the early 80s. The original Marvel UK comic that lasted 332 issues from 1994-1992. This was a much beloved and high quality comic that gave fame to writer Simon Furman along with artists Geoff Senior and  Andrew Wildman. As well as reprinting the American comic strips it also had original UK material that was of a higher quality, eventually leading to the UK creative team moving on the the US title. After the Marvel UK comic ended there was a short lived Generation 2 comic published by Fleetway that lasted a mere 5 issues in 1994/95. Almost a decade later Panini comics released a Transformers Armada comic that managed to last 9 issues in 2003. Though Simon Furman had returned, the stories felt simplistic and far too ‘kiddie’ as well as the art work being poor.
In 2007 to tie in with the first live action movie a fourth Transformers comic was printed by Titan comics UK. This lasted 75 issues in total and spanned 7 years from 2007-2014. After the first 25 issues the title was re-branded as volume 2, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen to once again tie in with the currant movie at the time. Vol 2 lasted 21 issues before becoming volume 3 and re-titled Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Volume 3 was short lived as after just four issues it then became Volume 4, Transformers Prime. It stayed this way for 20 issues, limping along with low sales and longer gaps of time between each issues release until Transformers Age of Extinction came out. In one last ditch effort to stay afloat the title became volume 5 and tied in to the new movie. 5 issues later the comic was finally cancelled.
It had started off strong with original UK material set in the movie universe as well as reprints of various US titles such as Beast Wars and All Hail Megatron. However the US reprints were dropped and the UK strips became more simplistic and lacking in much continuity as well as suffering with poor artwork.
During the Titan UK comic run, a spin off comic entitled Transformers Animated was released. This was the first time two Transformers titles had ran concurrently in the UK. (Not including the Collected Comics which were just reprints of the main Marvel UK title). Animated was swiftly cancelled after three issues.

 In October 2015 a 6th UK Transformers comic came out from Signature Publishing. Based on the Robots in Disguise cartoon and toy line, it reprints the American IDW strips, thought the first issue did feature a UK original story.

Bane

The front cover of issue 9 of Fleetway Editions UK Batman & Superman comic. 20 years later the cover of issue 6 of the Titan UK Batman the Dark Knight comic pays homage.

Batman Annuals UK

Batman Annuals from the UK. 1981, 82, 83, 85, 89, 91, 92 and 93. Published by London Editions who at the time also produced the UK Batman comics.

Batman annuals in the UK had been constant for several decades until 1998. It was then 8 years till the UK saw another Batman annual in 2006. This could be seen as the fault of the terrible Batman and Robin movie with a new annual not appearing till the Nolan Batman Begins movie came out. Between 2006 and 2014 only one other Batman annual was produced to tie in with the Dark Knight. This however was basically just a puzzle book and not what I consider a ‘real’ annual.
Titan Magazines who publish the UK Batman comics produced two annuals for 2014 and 2015 but unfortunately a 2016 book was not released.

Batman Comics UK

 

 A brief look at the history of Batman comics in the UK. The Batman magazine from London Editions which ran through the 80s ended in 1993 after 56 issues. This was followed by Fleetway Editions Batman volume 2 which began by printing the Batman Year One and Two story lines. The comic also printed the under rated Dark Knight, Dark City story line which is in my opinion the best Riddler story the comics have seen. This comic ran a mere 11 issues only to be replaced with the Batman & Superman comic which was marketed as the fall of the superheroes. Reprinting the now classic Knightfall and Doomsday story lines showing the breaking of the Batman and the Death of Superman. Batman & Superman ran 11 issues before being cancelled. It would be almost ten years before the UK saw a proper Batman comic again.

 In the early 00s, almost ten years after the last Batman comic ended in the UK, Panini picked up the license and gave us Batman Legends. The comic was styled like the popular Marvel collectors edition comics Panaini have published in the UK since the mid 90s, collecting three issues of the American comics in each issue. It started with the popular Hush story line. The comic lasted 41 issues till Panini lost the license to Titan Magazines. Titan relaunched the title as Batman Legends volume 2, keeping the same format as Panini had used. 57 issues later the title was relaunched yet again as volume 3. Simply called ‘Batman’ the comic was relaunched to tie in with the release of Dark Knight Rises in cinemas. It primarily reprints the US Batman and Batman and Robin comics.

At the same time as this, another Batman title was added to the Titan UK range. Batman: Dark Knight was a larger format comic to differentiate it from the main Batman comic. This comic reprinted the US Dark Knight and Detective Comics. After 19 issues it was transformed into Batman Arkham to tie in with the popular game. This new volume was reduced to the same size format as the main Batman title which pleased collectors. After issue 26 the title was relaunched a third time as Batman: Gotham Central to tie in with the popular Gotham TV show.
During Batman Arkhams run, a third Batman title was released called Batman Superman featuring cross over stories between the two characters as well as individual stories. This replaced the Superman comic which was unable to hold enough sales on it’s own without Batmans inclusion.

 Titan UKs larger format DC titles. The Dark Knight reprints the UK Dark Knight and Detective Comics and ran 19 issues before being replaced with Batman Arkham in the smaller US comic size. Superman came out to tie in with the Man of Steel film but ran a mere 5 issues before being cancelled and replaced with the Batman/Superman comic. Arrow did not last long either though a new collectors edition style Green Arrow comic has recently begun to cash in on the TV show along with Flash, Supergirl and Wonder Woman.