“Man of Iron” is one for the history books as it is the first UK-original Transformers comic story ever published. It blithely spurns the All-American good vs evil Transformers story in favour of a decidedly slow-burning and altogether sinister foray into the world of the robots in disguise.
“Spotlight Ultra Magnus” provides two things: a glib exploration of Ultra Magnus’s reinvented character, and a generous feeding of writer Simon Furman’s sapling new Transformers universe. The story itself focuses its narrow spotlight beam on just three Transformers: Scorponok, Swindle and, of course, Ultra Magnus.
What are the odds on today being your birthday? 1 in 365, I would imagine. But whether or not it is your birthday, The Transformers want to make sure you celebrate it with one of their cards! Or at least, they did 20 years ago. Showcased here are three official Transformers birthday cards published in the UK in 1986/1987.
The “Spotlight” format is the model opportunity to delve deep into a Transformer’s character, to really get under their armour and see what sparks their circuits. So far, with the Spotlight series, each issue has been more of a story that happens to feature the spotlight character rather than any in-depth psycho-examination.
Nick Roche’s artwork makes a most welcome return to Transformers with “Spotlight Hot Rod”, a pneumatic actioner where Evil Kneival meets Mission: Impossible meets The Chronicles of Riddick.
