Transformers Regeneration 1 #81 Geoff Senior Retailer Incentive Cover

I like this piece of artwork - now, how much would I buy a copy if the cover numbering said "333" as I suspect it might?

heh. thatd be neat but i dont know if thatd be something we'll see happen

I tried to coax a late G1-style logo out of 'em for this cover but I dont think we'll see that happen [just to remain consistent with the other RG1 stuff i think]


But hey! Its Geoff-frakkin-Senior!

That's a pity - the late G1 style logo would go so very well with the cover art and really complement the piece. Hope you can win that argument

My pants. They are exploded. You cannot conceive.

I never did like the UK comics...they were just so...ugly.

Lets hope we do see 333 on one of the covers.

Hmm, why can't this be the primary cover, not a damn incentive! Do Want.

Oh and, Galvatron?! Awesome!

Reminds me of Transformer Animated.

It's awesome. Fantastic!

I do not usually drop the money on incentive covers... but I think I will make an exception here.

SO GOOD. I may have to buy extra copies of the normal cover to get this, but I don't care!

I grew up with the Marvel UK- run of this. considered me SOLD! And oh, Josh- I is JELLY!

:3

^ I thought personally that the UK- Transformers design were unique in a nice way. Can't wait to buy these! :3

Absolutely fantastic. If I can't find the RI cover, I'll be damn sure to pick up the trade.

...as if I wasn't already planning to get the trade!

Agreed. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. Its a pity TF comics have gone so wrong in the last year. First IDW's main series, now this. All Hail Megatron was great! Why cant we go back to that?!?

You're sure in minority on this one.

I think it means much to those of us who collected these back in the day. It reminds us of our roots in this franchise.

I for, one am happy to see this. It's the dynamic polar opposite of modern IDW and Bayformers, and that's nothing but epic win.

Except that the dark tone of this fits very much in with the current flavour of IDW comics, and Furman was the architect of IDW's G1 line. I would say that this is far from being the "polar opposite" of IDW. It's more like returning to the source of it all (being apocalyptic UK-style Transformers).

By today's standards, the art has a primitive quality to it (part of the appeal), but it's good to remember that this level of life and edge and stylistic expression was HUGE back in the day, when all we were seeing in the Marvel line was Frank Springer and Jose Delbo's mechanically cranked-out doldrums.

Geoff Senior's distinctive "ugly" style made Transformers feel like a REAL comic, not just a half-assed licensed kiddie property with bland, lifeless art.

zmog

I love the line work and colours!

Ah yes. By that point Optimus Prime has the reputation of being an Unkillable Autobot. Because he won't stay dead. Easy to Identify all the Decepticon Leaders by their weapons.

Woo! Bludgeon!

Love it! As a retailer I MUCH prefer incentive covers like this with new (and COOL) art rather than just the B&W pencils versions.

Easy pass. Glad this is not the main cover, though it's a nice touch for those who liked Senior's work on G1

I far preferred Geoff Senior's work over Wildman's at the end of the Marvel run. I'm a fan of Senior's Transformers, but I'm not too keen on this cover. I find the goofy pose and distorted proportions to be off-putting.

Hey Josh, is this the 1 in 10 cover? because Diamond is showing it as the 1 in 50 incentive.

Magnificent!

Oh, man, 1 in 50?

I just like that Bludgeon's made equivalent with Shockwave and Galvatron.

The picture on Diamond's site shows the image of this cover as the 1 in 50 incentive but the description sounds like it's a Dan Khanna sketch cover.

Don't get me wrong, I love the old 1980s G1 comics -some are even amongst my absolute favorite parts of the TF universe...but those are the US comics. Where just like you say they feel like real comics.

Compared to those, the UK comics just seem ugly.

This confuses me... the UK team basically took over the US run. What parts of the US run are you referring to?

Also, even aside from generally having better stories (especially as Budiansky started to lose speed), the UK comics tended to look better than the US stuff on the art side, with more expressive renderings of the characters and incontrovertibly superior colours (which turned to crap in the US run, where the colours were alternately lazy or hideous). I'm just a bit uncertain what you're comparing things too here.

zmog

Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier... one thing I love about this cover is that way that there's actual smoke pouring out of Optimus' little shoulder stacks... he must be PISSED!

zmog

Oh, I'm talking early runs here - I think 1-4 is in a category of its own, but the style I prefer is the one in #5 on and up until the headmasters. That to me is just beautiful artwork. Compare this cover with that of #5 for example, It's just on a whole different level.

Geoff Senior doing anything = bought.

Prime all "LEEEEEROOOOYY JENKINS" on that cover.

Great work, Josh! I love how you used the slightly different gradients along with the shading to really give depth to this image.

That's the U.K. cover.
The American version will have the smoke-stacks drawn shorter...

yes! I like this style a lot

I love how Prime can get away with the stupid proportions and ridiculous anatomy because he's all boxy and nostalgic here, but you try the same thing with the movie forms or IDW's models and there's nothing but whinging and moaning about how the modern stuff sucks.

Perhaps simplicity is better than needlessly complicated.

I remember when Simon Furman said they would return the Marvel comic style and make 20 more issues, and with more news of it finally, I feel like Megatron in Dark of the Moon just saying satisfyingly: "At last."

Seriously? You're using one of the most exceptional, unique, iconic painted covers in Transformers history to exemplify the whole early Marvel run, despite the fact that NONE of the interior art ever came close to looking that good? Are you kidding? At the time, my friends and I were ranting about how THIS was how TF comics "should look". Trust me, if they actually did look like that, I wouldn't be dissing early Marvel artwork.

Much as I love them for nostalgic reasons, issues 1-4 of Marvel's Transformers had objectively TERRIBLE art. In general the early Marvel art ranged from mediocre to poor, with only the occasional bright spot. Issues #7-#8 were probably some of the best drawn in that stretch of the series. William Johnson drew TFs with an attention to detail, while never losing the sense of fluid gesture and personality. He would never work on the book again after that, sadly.

For the most part, Marvel's art was just bland... this was something that was painfully obvious to me as a child at the time. I only had to pick up any other mainstream comic of the time and compare them... TF comics had weak art, usually because the artists had little idea how to draw dynamic robots with any amount of style.

Which is not to say that all the UK stuff was universally great... but overall, I'd say it had a lot more style and panache than the US stuff.



I'm not quite sure what you're saying? That people complain when people draw TF's with exaggerated proportions? Aren't you complaining about this RIGHT NOW?

I don't think anyone can really say anything about IDW's models, because they look RADICALLY different with pretty much every artist who works on the books... which is a big part of what fans have been complaining about. It's better than it was a year or so ago, but IDW was nothing but inconsistent with their designs, and it had nothing to do with weird proportions, and more to do with editorial control.

zmog

Well, we were comparing covers and like you said #5 is the most iconic which is why that sprung to mind - and just to clarify: no, I'm not saying that the entire early marvel run looked like that. but ok - better example: #12 - one of my favorite covers, where the cover actually look like what is in the comic. And it's the content design that is so awesome to me, I just love that design and compared to that, yes I do find the UK stuff ugly.

They are more proportionate, they don't have those freaky liquidy faceplates and they just look more intricate (yes, there are always exceptions, ofc) and...impressive.

By comparison the later comics stories feel alot darker, but it's drawn in a more "simplistic" way (by that I mean that they don't pay as much attention to detail) which to me made it feel aimed for a younger audience than the earlier issues, and that never did sit right with me.

Just my personal taste.

But you gotta admit - it would have been awesome if this cover held the same standard as #5...I know I would have loved that nod to continuing the comics, given that #5 was also a continuation of what was to be a canceled transformers comic.

BLEH I never could stomach this guys work

Looks great Josh!

And I've always been a fan of Geoff's work. Granted as a kid, when I saw his work on the TF comic for the first time it looked a little weird, in the sense that it had matured beyond the conventional José Delbo stuff that I'd had gotten so used to.

And Delbo himself is a very good artist. So is Don Perlin - it's just that they both weren't exactly suited to do Transformers.

The art was 'marginal' ish / not perfect..but never too terrible, IMHO. Oh dat Power Master Prime Hi-Q.

G1 UK my sine function!
Are you telling me Geoff Senior was also responsible for the G2 art style (which took me away from Floro Dery and Andrew Wildman's goodness?)

lol ... "stomach", followed by your signature image. (which stomach?)

I like it. It brings me my nostalgic love feeling....

BUT ... the arms really bother me... The one in the foreground would look better if the shoulder was behind his chest... and if there were a connection of that arm to the chest it would be almost half way down his body! Which is weird. Also the one in the BG is a bit too smushed into his chest. Also the head tilt could be tweaked a degree or two counterclockwise. It's just bad construction really.

And I agree- the choice to NOT use the late Transformer logo on this is a very poor one. It's for the original fans for primus sake- just do it! It makes perfect sense. It would look cool even in a sort of retro way for non- older fans.

Geoff Senior!!!. His full page art of Galvatron riding Ultra Magnus in the EPIC fight from Target 2006 is what I always, always remember. Lets face it, that issue was one of the BEST!! Fandom be Damned!!

Eh.

Couldn't stand those arms and figured some of you might wanna see it with the old logo on it since they don't seem to wanna do that... Even though it would be super incredibly awsome and I'm infuriated that they aren't. It's a no brainer. Why not IDW? Ugh. (Also the more I looked at his tilted head the more I wanted to punch someone... So I tweaked that a little bit too.)

That said- it's a lot easier to tweak someones finished art than it is to draw the entire thing... So... just putting that out there.

IDW if you need a vectorized verson of the logo I don't mind making you one... For free too. It just NEEDS this damn logo. Seriously.