Just got TF classics volume one and I really enjoyed it.
While the lines were somewhat overexplanatory of what was happening and was full of typos, the storyline was much better than the cartoons and while it may have a very different origin of the Transformers race (which was understandable as Furman hadn't come yet) it was a very good collection of comics with appearences of Marvel characters which IDW had finally obtained the liscence to reprint.

As an overall story i give it :4/5
I will do reviews for each individual story later

 

It is a great reprint, much nicer than IDW's first go at it.

 

It onlys has 13 issues this time. The last edition had 16 stories and only two were omitted from it.

 

Yes but that book was probably thicker. The thicker the book the easier it is for the binding to break

 

So? That ultimately means it's only ONE less issue (13 as opposed to 14). Plus the presentation is much nicer, neat little issue-by-issue intros etc.

Let's face it, the inclusion of #3 and #9 far outweighs a slightly fewer page count.

 

Questions from the peanut gallery:
Are the continuous issue collected? Including Spiderman and Circuit Breaker issues licensed to Marvel.
Are the 4 colour separations fixed? Is the art production quality high?
Does it look neat on a bookshelf?

Thanks!

 

What do you mean? This book has thicker pages than the first edition. My guess is that IDW wanted to make a thicker book so that the fans who already have vol. 1 don't feel like they're cheated out of a 14 issue trade.

 

I have many reprints of the Marvel comics and this version is the nicest I own.

I'm curious to see how IDW distinguishes the volumes once it gets in the #47ish range. The last three volumes of the most recent Marvel reprints from IDW have all the issues without copyright problems and are generally the best stories. Plus the last vol has the Headmasters series and the TFTM adaption.

If it's color, paper, and reprint quality, I'm in.

 

Well one thing would be to put the "Headmasters" mini-series where it should be chronologically (like Titan did) which would shuffle the order a bit. Also, including the GI Joe crossover at all - let alone chronologically - would be good (even if its an awful story), and how about the original Universe mini-series?

 

According to James R on the IDW boards:

"Like the new TF CLASSICS US, this series will be printed on "woodfree" paper -- the same paper used on all IDW's highest quality books. This helps preserve the vintage feel of the material while minimizing the garishness of old-school coloring. "