Just see an ad for this. Not sure quite how 'definitive' this is but thought it'd be worth mentioning.

Transformers The Definitive G1 Collection

 

I bought Issue 1 on impulse yesterday, and to be honest for £9.99 per issue it sounds like reasonable value. Issue 1 is Volume 6: Target 2006 (a great place to start). It's gonna have a mix of Marvel G1, Dreamwave and IDW, but claims that it will have all Marvel UK and US stories in order, with the UK black and white copies in colour. The quality of the book is really good - decent quality print, nice and glossy, hardback - looks and feels very good. A few extra features in too, but nothing groundbreaking.

For anyone who doesn't have the Marvel G1 collection, this is a great way of getting it with the costs spread out nicely. They'll undoubtedly string it out with Dreamwave and IDW stuffed in between (Issue 2 is Stormbringer) so you'll be forced to get the entire series, but the spines are decorated to create a montage so most collectors would want them all anyway.

I already have Transformers Classics and Transformers Classics UK collection (i.e. all Marvel UK and US comics) bit I'm still gonna subscribe to this because it just looks cool!

 

I got mine at w h smiths a few days back. Unmissable for 1.99. I'll probably set up a subscription. Issue 2 will be 6.99 and after that it's 9.99.

 

LOL, this is me. But add that I have numerous other TPB series of the Marvel stories, plus a complete run of the UK comics! What can I say? The Marvel TF saga really is "true" Transformers for me, and I love hardback editions, so this is a must-have.

I'm less keen on the Dreamwave and IDW stuff, but it's all OK, so bring it on!

I do wonder if we'll get some of the thus-far uncollected Dreamwave issues (e.g. vol 3). Unlikely, I know, but there's always a chance. If I remember issues #1-6 (the first story arc) was not plagued by the same "forgot to pay the writer and artist troubles"...

 

I have a question. The advert on telly shows the first issue book mounted on a large card board with what looks like an accompanying magazine or something, however when I found a copy in WHSmiths it's just the book alone mounted on a card slightly larger than the book. Are there two versions released? Or is the television thing shown a subscription version?

 

According to Simon Furman, who's doing a signing of this at Orbital in London on the 14th of this month, the set will eventually collect everything that Dreamwave ever published. That's along with the entirety of Marvel US and UK (including colourised b&w strips like Race With The Devil), and a large chunk of IDW. This thing is going to be a *tome*.

I've got the first 4 issues from the test run they did before Christmas, and they're all beautifully done.

Seriously, get a subscription if you're in any way tempted.

 

So, what are the dimensions of these volumes? Are they UK page sized, or shrunk down like the IDW Paperbacks? If they're bigger, I'd definitely consider finding a way to import at least the Marvel portion of this.

 

That'd be pretty awesome.

So, anyone have the link as to how us peoples across the pond can get these?

I loathe IDW's Marvel releases....

 

The site says it's UK only I'm afraid, presumably because it's primarily a newsagent-based multi-part publication. Do you have those in the States? There are always ads on TV here for these things, like at the moment they're pushing this "Build a working R2D2 in 100 weekly parts, first issue £2.99! (Regular price £9.99)", so you end up paying hundreds for something that isn't finished for years.

Anyway! This is using that model, which will be why it's limited to here. Get yourself a kind benefactor to subscribe and send you the issues, I guess!

As for the size, they're not in the original A4, but they're larger than the IDW collections. That must be so they can standardise all the various paper sizes without losing image quality.

 

I've seen that Vol 2 has hit WH Smith, but as a subscription I Haven't had it delivered yet. Anyone else had theirs yet?

 

No, but nowhere did they promise a "day of release" delivery. Remember, they deliver 2x volumes ONCE a month. They're not going to deliver #3 to subscribers before it's release date, therefore I don't expect to get my first package (containing #2 and #3) till at least the end of the month.

 

So what are the correct spines if theyv resent issue 1 out again? I have the retail versions,are these the correct spines? Grimlock and prime was issue 2 spine.

 

Just received my issues 2 and 3 through the post with my free key chains

 

It's not the artwork that's incorrect, it is the size of the 'black box' on the spine that contains the volume number. The issue #1 released thus far (retail or subscription) has a box that's longer than the rest of the collection.

The corrected issue #1 (and fair play to Hachette for going through the effort to correct this for a relatively minor error) hasn't been sent out to anyone yet - it will go to subscribers in the next couple of months, and also - for non-subscribers - it will be included free with retail release of issue #7.

 

I picked up issue Target 2006 in Smiths and Stormbringer in Asda, which I had never read before! Great value for 1.99 and 6.99 each

 

I had already picked up issues 1 and 2 from WHSmiths before realising they came with free gifts by subscribing. I then subscribed and issues 1 and 2 arrived through the post with the first free gift.
My only concern is that the 2 books were packed in an oversized cardboard box with no padding/bubble wrap and they were just rattling around inside. This is terrible packaging and it is only a matter of time till the box is squashed or knocked and the books will be damaged. What were they thinking, is anyone else seeing this? I am going to phone them tomorrow to raise my concern. At least the books you buy in the shop have protective card down the back.
Are the full 80 books being sold retail? If so, after my free gifts I might just buy from WHSmith for the remaining books.

 

Here's a comparison pic, Marvel UK/Marvel US/Hachette Partworks:


The Hachette reprints of Marvel US are the same size as the US comics, but you can see more of a border to the left of the page, making the books longer than your usual reprints. When it comes to the reprints of Marvel UK material, it uses that space to fill the page a lot better than the IDW Classics UK books do, but still isn't quite representative of the original Marvel UK experience.

 

Also, the US stories that were in the UK comics sometimes had dialogue edits. You could see where they had used something like Tipex to erase the text and wrote in new dialogue. This was so the UK/US stories flowed better and to link the stories. Our US friends were none the wiser that we were changing their stories slightly.
The IDW and Hatchette stories are just direct prints from the US comics and don't have these edits, so if you are wanting the true vison of the entire story, only the original UK Marvel comics will give you that.
Without these edits, some stories and conversations won't make sense when we eventually read them all as a whole. Luckily I own every UK comic so I know where the mistakes will be.

 

Not necessarily. Furman is in charge of the Hachette run so might actually include some of major edits in the books. And "true vision of the entire story" is subjective, some might prefer the Marvel US run. Plus the UK run doesn't even fit with itself when you get to the Earthforce stories.

Another size comparison for the reprints:


Original art on the left, Marvel UK on top, Hachette in the middle, IDW Classics UK on the bottom right. Shows how much smaller the Classics UK printing is, and while the Hachette isn't as big as the Marvel UK issue, it's not a bad version. I believe the Titan reprint was the same size as the Marvel UK issue.

 

I hope Furman keeps in the UK comic edits. I feel it will have better continuity for the original G1 run. My previous post was because in the Hachette book one there is already a difference between the UK/US comics in the "Aerialbots over America" story. It is the American version and not the UK version so I assumed Furman isn't using the UK versions. Unless, like you say, he is only doing the major edits.