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Titan Books is part of the Titan Publishing Group with Titan Magazines. Founded in 1981 by comic fan and Forbidden Planet founders Nick Landau, Mike Lake, and Mike Luckman, it has been one of the United Kingdom's big boys when it comes to publishing U.S. comics for UK readers and also publishes prose fiction and making-of/art books.
In 2001, Titan Books acquired the rights to reprints of Marvel Comics' U.S. Transformers run, publishing the complete near-complete American series in several volumes of trade paperbacks and hardcovers. They have also released much of the Marvel UK material. As they went for the license before Dreamwave Productions had hit big, they were able to get global licensing rights and the option to use Marvel characters without spending much![1]
Marvel Comics Generation 1 continuity collections[]
U.S. collections[]
As writer Simon Furman was responsible for curating these collections, he made the decision not to start from the very beginning, but instead by reprinting some of his own most popular work late in the comic's run. After a pair of volumes covering the very end of the U.S. title, the next pair reprinted the rest of Furman's tenure leading up to that point, then his follow-up series Generation 2, before finally going back to the very start of the comic with Bob Budiansky's work, which was simply reprinted chronologically. Each subsequent pair of paperback volumes had connecting covers by Andrew Wildman, which themselves could all join together end-to-end to create one ridiculously-long piece of artwork; the hardcover editions, meanwhile, had standalone covers by different artists.
| Reading order | Release order | Cover | Title | Contents | Notes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Archivo:Titan-BeginningsSC.jpg | Transformers: Beginnings |
The Transformers issues: #1 "The Transformers" #2 "Power Play!" #3 "Prisoner of War!" #4 "The Last Stand" #5 "The New Order" #6 "The Worse of Two Evils! |
Features: "More Than Meets the Eye...", a foreword by Jim Salicrup; cover gallery | 28/02/2003 (TPB) 26/03/2003 (HC) |
| 2 | 8 | Archivo:Titan-NewOrderSC.jpg | Transformers: New Order |
The Transformers issues: #7 "Warrior School!" #8 "Repeat Performance!" #9 "DIS-Integrated Circuits!" #10 "The Next Best Thing to Being There!" #11 "Brainstorm!" #12 "Prime Time!" |
Features: "The Last One on the Ark", a foreword by Bob Budiansky; "The Story so Far", a recap; cover gallery | 30/05/2003 (TPB) 27/06/2003 (HC) |
| 3 | 9 | Archivo:Titan-CybertronReduxSC.jpg | Transformers: Cybertron Redux |
The Transformers issues: #13 "Shooting Star!" #14 "Rock and Roll-Out!" #15 "I, Robot-Master!" #16 "Plight of the Bumblebee!" #17 "The Smelting Pool!" 18 "The Bridge to Nowhere!" |
Features: "A Tale of Two Worlds", a foreword by Bob Budiansky; "The Story so Far"; cover gallery | 21/08/2003 (TPB) 19/09/2003 (HC) |
| 4 | 10 | Archivo:Titan-ShowdownSC.jpg | Transformers: Showdown |
The Transformers issues: #19 "Command Performances!" #20 "Showdown!" #21 "Aerialbots over America!" #22 "Heavy Traffic!" #23 "Decepticon Graffiti!" #24 "Afterdeath!" |
Features: "A Love - Hate Relationship", a foreword by Simon Furman; "The Story so Far"; cover gallery | 21/11/2003 (TPB) 19/12/2003 (HC) |
| 5 | 11 | Archivo:Titan-BreakdownSC.jpg | Transformers: Breakdown |
The Transformers issues: #25 "Gone but Not Forgotten!" #26 "Funeral for a Friend!" #27 "King of the Hill!" #28 "Mechanical Difficulties!" #29 "Crater Critters" #30 "The Cure!" |
Features: "Yo - Transformers!", a foreword by Brad Mick; "The Story so Far"; cover gallery | 23/03/2004 (TPB) 01/07/2004 (HC) |
| 6 | 12 | Archivo:Titan-TreasonSC.jpg | Transformers: Treason |
The Transformers issues: #31 "Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom" #32 "Used Autobots" #35 "Child's Play" #36 "Spacehikers!" #37 "Toy Soldiers!" |
Features: "Me, Grimlock", a foreword by Gregg Berger; "The Story so Far"; cover gallery; "Man of Iron", a writeup about the "Man of Iron" storyline
Omissions: Issues #33 and 34, which were a colourised stopgap reprint of the Marvel UK story "Man of Iron". This story is also omitted from the UK collections. |
25/06/2004 (TPB) 23/072004 (HC) |
| 7 | 13 | Archivo:Titan-TrialByFireSC.jpg | Transformers: Trial By Fire |
The Transformers: Headmasters issues: #1 "Ring of Hate!" #2 "Broken Glass!"[2] #3 "Love and Steel!" #4 "Brothers in Armor!!" The Transformers issues: |
Features: "Headmasters Proposal", the original miniseries proposal by Bob Budiansky; cover gallery | 24/09/2004 (TPB) 22/10/2004 (HC) |
| 8 | 14 | Archivo:Titan-MaximumForceSC.jpg | Transformers: Maximum Force |
The Transformers issues: #40 "Pretender to the Throne!" #41 "Totaled!" #42 "People Power!" #44 "The Cosmic Carnival" #45 "Monstercon from Mars!" |
Features: Bob Budiansky sketchbook; cover gallery; gallery of Titan's Transformers trade paperback covers
Omissions: Issue #43, a stopgap adaptation of "The Big Broadcast of 2006". The UK-original framing device to this story is included in Space Pirates, but not the story itself. |
26/11/2004 (TPB) 17/12/2004 (HC) |
| 9 | 15 | Archivo:Titan-DarkStarSC.jpg | Transformers: Dark Star |
The Transformers issues: #46 "Ca$h and Car-nage!" #47 "Club Con!" #48 "The Flames of Boltax!" #49 "Cold War!" #50 "Dark Star" |
Features: sketchbook covers for Transformers issues #29 and #36; cover gallery | 21/01/2005 (TPB) 25/02/2005 (HC) |
| 10 | 16 | Archivo:Titan-LastStandSC.jpg | Transformers: Last Stand |
The Transformers issues: #51 "The Man in the Machine!" #52 "Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?" #53 "Recipe for Disaster!" #54 "King Con!" #55 "The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!" |
Features: Bob Budiansky paperwork, including treatments, sketches, and page layouts; gallery of Titan's Transformers hardback collection covers; cover gallery | 25/03/2005 (TPB) 22/04/2005 (HC) |
| 11 | 3 | Archivo:Titan-PrimalScreamSC.jpg | Transformers: Primal Scream |
The Transformers issues: #56 "Back from the Dead" #57 "The Resurrection Gambit!" #58 "All the Familiar Faces!" #59 "Skin Deep" #60 "Yesterday's Heroes!" #61 "The Primal Scream" #62 "Bird of Prey! |
Features: "New Head on the Block", a foreword by Simon Furman; "Humble Beginnings", a foreword by Geoff Senior; "Who's Who in the Transformers Universe", short bios on several key characters; "War Without End!", an introduction; "Power to the People", a recap; cover gallery; "Evolution of a Cover", a look at the production of the covers of this collection and Matrix Quest; "Script Notes", parts of the script to issue #56 | 22/03/2002 (TPB) 26/04/2002 (HC) |
| 12 | 4 | Archivo:Titan-MatrixQuestSC.jpg | Transformers: Matrix Quest |
The Transformers issues: #63 "Kings of the Wild Frontier." #64 "Deadly Obsession" #65 "Dark Creation" #66 "All Fall Down" #67 "Rhythms of Darkness!" #68 "The Human Factor!" |
Features: "Pulling it All Together", a foreword by Simon Furman; "Melding Universes", a foreword by Bob Forward; "Who's Who in the Transformers Universe"; "War Without End", an introduction; "Lost in Space", a recap; cover gallery; "(More) Script Notes", parts of the script to issue #56 | 21/06/2002 (TPB) 26/07/2002 (HC) |
| 13 | 1 | Archivo:All fall down tpb cover.jpg | Transformers: All Fall Down |
The Transformers issues: #69 "Eye of the Storm" #70 "The Pri¢e of Life!" #71 "Surrender!" #72 "...All This and Civil War 2" #73 "Out of Time!" #74 "The Void!" |
Features: "The Beginning and the End", a foreword by Simon Furman; "Bits and Pieces", a foreword by Andrew Wildman; "War Without End!"; an introduction; "Who's Who in the Transformers Universe", featuring short bios on a different selection of characters; "Prelude to Disaster: The Story So Far...", a recap; cover gallery; "Evolution of a Cover", a look at the production of the covers of this collection and End of the Road | 24/08/2001 (TPB) July 13, 2001 (BotCon-exclusive HC) 25/07/2003 (HC) |
| 14 | 2 | Archivo:End of the road tpb cover.jpg | Transformers: End of the Road |
The Transformers issues: #75 "On the Edge of Extinction!" #76 "Still Life!" #77 "Exodus!" #78 "A Savage Circle" #79 "The Last Autobot?" #80 "End of the Road!" |
Features: "Asked and Answered", a foreword by Simon Furman; "The Story So Far...", a recap; "You Only Order Twice", an afterword by Rob Tokar; cover gallery | 23/11/2001 (TPB) 08/12/2001 (HC) |
| 15 | 5 | Archivo:Dark designs tpb cover.jpg | Transformers: Dark Designs |
Transformers: Generation 2 issues: #1 "War Without End!" #2 "All or Nothing!" #3 "Primal Fear!" #4 "Devices and Desires!" #5 "The Power and the Glory" #6 "The Gathering Darkness" |
Features: "Eating My Words", a preface by Simon Furman; "Prophetic Words", a preface by Richard Starkings; a recap of the original Marvel Transformers series; a recap of the G.I. Joe issues leading into Generation 2; cover gallery
Omissions: The Transformers: Generation 2 story, "Ghosts" |
27/09/2002 (TPB) 25/10/2002 (HC) |
| 16 | 6 | Archivo:Rage in heaven tpb cover.jpg | Transformers: Rage in Heaven |
Transformers: Generation 2 issues: #7 "New Dawn" #8 "Escalation!" #9 "Swarm" #10 "Total War!" #11 "Dark Shadows!" #12 "A Rage in Heaven!" |
Features: "Armageddon Then", a preface by Simon Furman; "For Whom the Bell Tolls", a preface by Manny Galan; "Smash and Grab", a preface by Derek Yaniger; cover gallery | 27/12/2002 (TPB) 24/01/2003 (HC) |
Omitted U.S.-originated material[]
Though comprehensive, Titan's U.S. collections were by no means complete, and omitted several stories due to either editorial decisions or understandable mistakes. The absent material includes:
- Ralph Macchio's adaptations of animated material, consisting of the standalone miniseries Transformers: The Movie, and issue #43, "The Big Broadcast of 2006". Neither of these stories were pertinent to the ongoing plot of the U.S. book. However, they were both relevant to the UK storylines being reprinted around the same time; the first six UK collections were introduced by a prose summary of the movie's events, encouraging readers to watch the film to get the full scoop, while the Transformers: Space Pirates collection included a prose summary of "The Big Broadcast of 2006" at the appropriate point.
- Material concerning G.I. Joe, possibly due to a differing license. This means all four issues of G.I. Joe and the Transformers, the 1986 crossover by Michael Higgins, and issues #138 to #142 of G.I. Joe by Larry Hama, which led directly into the Transformers: Generation 2 book by reintroducing Megatron.
- "The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas", a four-page comic produced by Marvel, written by Budiansky, published in Woman's Day magazine. This was originally published around about issue #14-15. (To be fair, we didn't even cover this until long after the reprint collection had ended.)
- Issues #33 and #34, which reprinted the UK story "Man of Iron". We mention it here as the U.S. version featured exclusive colours by Nelson Yomtov. The UK collections didn't reprint it either, sadly!
- The Generation 2 story "Ghosts", first printed as a free promotional comic and then again as a back-up in the second issue.
- Any profile material, including The Transformers Universe issues #1 through 4 as well as additional profiles that supplemented the content of the main comic.
UK collections[]
Colour[]
As with the U.S. collections, while curating the material from the UK comic, Simon Furman chose to lead with the highlights from his own work on the series. However, as the UK stories were typically written as filler material between U.S. stories, they have a much less straightforwardly continuous narrative from start to finish—leading Furman to focus just on stories from the height of the comic's popularity, tying into the widely-seen The Transformers: The Movie, across six volumes beginning with "Target: 2006". Each collection began with four pages of background material on the history of the Marvel UK Transformers title, followed by a single two-page spread giving a review/summary of The Transformers: The Movie (this spread was nearly identical across the volumes, with only a single paragraph differing to explain how each particular collection's stories related to the film's events). Individual covers for the collected issues were only included in the form of a collage surrounding the blurb on the back cover of each book.
The last four volumes mopped up most of the remaining comic material from the series' heyday, with storylines focused on the Wreckers, Dinobots and Predacons. These collections saw the introductory background material reduced to three pages, with the movie review/summary being dropped entirely. Blurbs for the last three volumes specifically called out "bonus stories", apart from the main title story—for instance, the final volume reprinted most of the Christmas strips from the comic's run.
| Reading order | Release order | Cover | Title | Contents | Notes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Archivo:TitanDH.jpg | Transformers: Dinobot Hunt |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #243-260 | 26/03/2004 |
| 2 | 9 | Archivo:TitanSG.jpg | Transformers: Second Generation |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: Marvel UK The Transformers editorial | 23/08/2004 |
| 3 | 1 | Archivo:TitanTarget2006tpb.jpg | Transformers: Target: 2006 |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #1-77. | 23/08/2002 |
| 4 | 8 | Archivo:TitanPrey.jpg | Transformers: Prey |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #261-332 | 21/05/2004 |
| 5 | 2 | Archivo:TitanFA.jpg | Transformers: Fallen Angel |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #78-120 | 29/11/2002 |
| 6 | 3 | Archivo:TitanLoU.jpg | Transformers: Legacy of Unicron |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #121-153 | 24/01/2003 |
| 7 | 6 | Archivo:TitanCoF.jpg | Transformers: City of Fear |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #228-242 | 24/10/2003 |
| 8 | 4 | Archivo:TitanSP.jpg | Transformers: Space Pirates |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #154-187 (including a reprint of "The Wind of Change!") | 25/04/2003 |
| 9 | 5 | Archivo:TitanTW.jpg | Transformers: Time Wars |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
|
Background: issues #188-227 | 24/07/2003 |
Black & white[]
Marvel UK's later material, produced solely in black and white, was reprinted in a series of digest-size paperbacks. It was claimed that if these reprints were successful, Titan would finance future colour releases, but this evidently did not pan out. Some stories (notably "The Big Shutdown!" and the Survivors saga) had previously been reprinted within the original UK comics themselves in colour.
| Reading order | Release order | Cover | Title | Contents | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Archivo:Titan B&W Compilation-Fallen Star.jpg | Transformers: Fallen Star |
The Transformers (UK) issues:[3]
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23/09/2005 |
| 2 | 2 | Archivo:Titan B&W Compilation-Way of the Warrior.jpg | Transformers: Way of the Warrior |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
Plantilla:Collist |
22/07/2005 |
| 3 | 1 | Archivo:Titan B&W Compilation-Aspects of Evil.jpg | Transformers: Aspects of Evil |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
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23/05/2005 |
| 4 | 4 | Archivo:Titan B&W Compilation-Earthforce.jpg | Transformers: Earthforce |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
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23/12/2005 |
| 5 | 5 | Archivo:Titan B&W Compilation-Perchance to Dream.jpg | Transformers: Perchance to Dream |
The Transformers (UK) issues:
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24/02/2006 |
Omitted UK-originated material[]
Compared to the U.S. collections, the UK collections omitted a much longer list of material (though this may because there was a significantly larger amount of material to begin with). The absent material includes:
- The first UK-original story, "Man of Iron". Written by Steve Parkhouse, this was printed in issues #9-12, and was the only UK story to be reprinted by the U.S. book.
- The rest of the UK comic stories from the early days of the book, all penned by Simon Furman, consisting of "The Enemy Within!" (#13-17); "Raiders of the Last Ark" (#18-21); "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" (#29-30); "The Wrath of Guardian!" and "The Wrath of Grimlock!" (#31-32); "Plague of the Insecticons!" and "And There Shall Come...a Leader!" (Annual 1985); "Christmas Breaker!" (#41); and "Crisis of Command!" (#42). Furman, acting as a consultant for Titan, may have had some say in these stories not being reprinted, as later comments indicate he wasn't so proud of his early work.[4] Helpfully, all of these significant omissions from the early UK comics were precisely what was included in the very first volume of IDW Publishing's later reprint series The Transformers Classics UK.
- "The Special Teams Have Arrived", a short advertisement comic about the Special Teams produced by the regular Marvel UK team for Hasbro. This was supplanted in continuity by an expanded retelling in "Second Generation!".
- The Action Force crossover story "Ancient Relics!", which ran across The Transformers #125 and Action Force #24-27. (The also-omitted U.S. crossover, G.I. Joe and the Transformers, did not take place in UK continuity.)
- A handful of Annual comic stories written by authors other than Furman: "To a Power Unknown!" (Annual 1986), "Peace" (Annual 1989), "Destiny of the Dinobots!" (Annual 1990). Incidentally, none of these particularly fit into continuity without some massaging.
- Any of the Annual prose stories: "Missing in Action", "Hunted!" (Annual 1985); "The Return of the Transformers", "State Games", "The Mission" (1986); "Doomsday for Nebulos", "Stylor's Story", "The Final Conflict" (1987); "Prime Bomb!" (1989); "Trigger-Happy!" (1990); "The Magnificent Six!" (1991); and "Another Time & Place" (1992).
- Any prose recaps, such as the Robot War features and the annual recaps "In the Beginning...", "The Saga of the Transformers — So Far!", and "The Quest!".
- Any profile material, such as the Fact Files or the Transformers AtoZ, which adapted the Universe profiles to better fit the UK continuity.
- Any of the letters page and editorial material, such as relevant Robo-Capers strips (except "The Wind of Change!") and the prose story "Dreadwind's Xmas!".
Best of Transformers[]
There was only one release in the Best of Transformers series, collecting Furman's run starting with the Matrix Quest through to Unicron's defeat.
| Cover | Title | Contents | Notes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archivo:Best of Transformers.jpg | Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm |
The Transformers issues:Plantilla:Collist | Features: an introduction by Simon Furman
Omissions: the alternate-universe interlude "Rhythms of Darkness!" from issue #67; issue #68, "The Human Factor!", likely due to Furman's expressed dissatisfaction with that story.[5] Both were already reprinted in Matrix Quest. |
April 2008 |
Titan Magazines live-action film series continuity collections[]
Titan Books also put out a small selection of trade paperbacks collecting strips and other features from Titan Magazines' long-lived Transformers movie tie-in comic in the form of Transformers Adventures. These digest-sized volumes were aimed at younger readers and retailed at an affordable £4.99.
Notes[]
- Several Marvel stories omitted from Titan's collections proved to be so elusive that they were reprinted as part of IDW Publishing's Best of the Rarities in 2022, including "Ghosts", "The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas", "Another Time & Place", and "Dreadwind's Xmas!".
References[]
Plantilla:Reflist
External links[]
- ↑ Simon Furman: "...I pitched to [Titan Books] the idea of collecting the Marvel American... U.S. comic material. And so we managed to secure that license, which was for the world, just before the Dreamwave thing kicked in, and suddenly it was very popular again. So, y'know, for a good while Titan had exclusive world rights on all the previous comic material." Interviewer: "And they pretty much were able to reprint everything as well, weren't they?" Furman: "We did, yeah, and we talked to Marvel and got their OK to use the Death's Head ones... And because, again, Transformers wasn't particularly back in any big way by this point, neither Marvel nor Hasbro had any much kind of investment in it, so the idea of [reprinting] everything didn't bother anybody at the time. So yeah, we were quite lucky. And even to the extent where we paid Marvel a little bit of money just so we could run the one-page Death's Head story that we used to copyright him back in the day. [...] It was all very amicable, and I think only later, once the Dreamwave bubble was at its biggest, did everybody start to kind of clamp down on what could be done by who and in what territory." The interviewer goes on to mention the absence of Death's Head, Circuit Breaker, and Spider-Man in later reprints.
- ↑ Despite this volume being a UK publication, the U.S. master of "Broken Glass!" is used. See Krunix for more information.
- ↑ The indicia printed in this collection erroneously lists the issue numbers from the previous collection, Way of the Warrior.
- ↑ "I just don't think ["The Enemy Within!" is] my best work. And certainly in terms of Transformers, I only hit my stride later. I possibly could have done with some editorial guidance on my early stories. I look back and, certainly in terms of my technical abilities, I wasn't really clued up enough about how much or how little to put on a page and how not to drive your artist insane... I could have done with some judicious editing."—Simon Furman in interview in The Transformers Classics UK vol. 1
- ↑ Plantilla:Citesocial