Back at it again, writing about the comics!
On the stands today from Skybound is Transformers: The Movie #1, a reprint of the marvelous 1986 comic which I am refusing to believe is 40 years old.
A lot of digital ink has been spilled about how generationally traumatic Transformers: The Movie was for people my age. While the (spoiler) death of Optimus Prime was an intense way to kick off the franchise’s first foray to the silver screen, I personally don’t recall being inconsolable upon leaving the theatre. In point of fact, my pal Dave and I were riding pretty high afterwards due to the kick ass soundtrack and plethora of colourful new characters.
Sure, we had just witnessed the wholesale slaughter of the characters from the prior product line we had come to know and love, but there did not appear to be any lasting negative impact on either of us. All told, Prime stayed dead for about a season, died again, then was back for good. I’m not saying that we were media-savvy seven-year-olds, but the positively mythic death and rebirth cycle that played out monthly in the comics we were reading had already steeled us for whatever tricks Hasbro had up their collective sleeves.
This comic lies squarely at the intersection of my two great loves of the day: cartoons and comics. If I wasn’t watching one, I was reading the other, and Marvel had a pretty robust Transformers comic that existed in its own continuity that, dare I say, had quite a bit more substance than the cartoon.
If you’ve not read this comic before, it’s worth picking up just to see what stuff was like back then. If you have read this comic, then it’s worth picking up for nostalgia’s sake. Plus, you’ve got options: you can pick up the monthly issues or the collected edition due out later this summer.
Also, if you’re a hardcore Transformers fan, this comic is a must, since it’s clearly based on an earlier script for the movie. It’s about 80% of what the finished movie ended up being, but stuff like the design of the Matrix of Leadership hadn’t been finalized (it’s kind of a…rock?), and the newer character designs are closer to Floro Dery’s original sketches.
The Look of the 1960s: Barbarella and Pulp Pop Comics
One cannot subsist on comics alone…sometimes they need to read books. About comics.
For the last couple of months, I’ve been deep into The Look of the 1960s: Barbarella and Pulp Pop Comics by Jan Baetens & Hugo Frey. University of Texas Press was kind enough to send me a copy of this scholarly tome, and I’ve been poring over it during my free time.
There’s just something about reading a well-researched piece of work that makes me regret leaving academia (for the record, I ran out of money just in time to get my degree, so it wasn’t so much me “leaving” as it was me getting tossed into the workforce with a sheet of paper stating I had mastered English Literature and nothing else). This is an era of comics and pop culture I regret not getting to experience firsthand, and it’s an absolute technicolour blast getting to learn more about it.
Check out this blurb, then check out the book and expand your mind, square!
As a form of visual art, comic books rely on a distinct and eye-catching aesthetic. This is especially true of the iconic comics, graphic novels, and illustrations of the 1960s and 1970s. The Look of the 1960s explores the sources of inspiration that influenced the world of comics, beginning with the well-known French comics series Barbarella.
Noted comics scholars Jan Baetens and Hugo Frey analyze the impacts of the often-provocative images featured in the comics of the 1960s, which pushed back against French censorship in a politically tense time, and detail how women resisted their objectification in the comic book industry. Barbarella left its mark on the world and gained international attention, inspiring a movie adaptation and changing the look and content of other popular comics. The “Pulp Pop” movement remains relevant today, continuing to influence the art and political world. With new information about artists and an astute analysis of sociopolitical influence, The Look of the 1960s offers deep insights, making it a must-read for comics fans all over the world.
