Help! I just joined the TF Collector's Club and *I thought* one of the perks of joining was that you get to read some of the comics that have appeared in the pages of their magazine. In particular, I want to read the Combaticons origin story that apparently ran in 2011 sometime. But now I'm logged in and I don't see anyplace to read comics online. Did I just imagine the whole thing?
I'm afraid you did - the collector's club comics are not available anywhere other than in the magazines they were originally published in. Though they are planning to release - and may indeed have already released the first of, I'm not sure - print collections of the magazine that you can buy through the club store now that you're a member. What you are likely thinking of is the fact that the club DID used to offer many exclusives PROSE STORIES on their website. Those disappeared after the security crash that forced changes to the website last year, and since then, the availability of exclusive stories is something that's been removed from the list of things the club offers, though - as is par for the course for the club - they have not actually ADDRESSED their absence.
That's disappointing. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for a reprint of the Combaticon story. I looked at their store and they have a "Transformers Collectors' Club Magazine Collected Edition Volume 1" for sale, which features "Issues 1-6 of the TCC Newsletter from 2005." So I guess it involves everything, not just the comics. (If there are any from 2005.) Thank you for letting me know!
Yep, that's the thing I was thinking of. It does indeed collect everything, not just the comics - which is a smarter approach than you might think, since the profiles published in those early magazines are virtually required reading for the comics, as they explain backstory, origins and motiviation for the new characters that is nearly entirely absent from the comics themselves. They managed to strike a better balance as time went on. If it's of any interest to you, the first two years' worth of comics were collected in one small trade paperback by IDW a few years ago (because IDW co-produced those strips, and none afterward, which is why there haven't been any more collections by them) titled "Balancing Act". It's out of print, but you could try hunting it down.
