"The Chain Gang"

"The Chain Gang" does for the Pretenders what "World's Apart" did for the Headmasters; it introduced a bunch of new toys to the UK market using a rushed story with an inconsequential plot and very little characterisation. And what was worse is that it didn't do it in a 32p comic, it did it in a £3.95 annual.

The script is a light-hearted join-the-jots jaunt spread over six pages with a pay-off at the end which is neither funny nor satisfying.

Dan Reed turns in mediocre artwork. Normally I can take his take-it-or-leave it style, but a particularly horrendous demonstration of poor proportion on Bomb-Burst's jet mode in one panel is enough to put you off. Still, he does a better job of rendering the characters and making the robots look like actual individuals than his American counterparts.

Though for a UK story supposed to highlight the six UK Pretender toys, Splashdown's appearance instead of Waverider's is a (deep sea) mystery.

This story was the only time the original Pretenders took centre stage in a British strip, but to be honest they needn't have bothered. And any potential readers certainly shouldn't.



"The Chain Gang" (6 pp) was originally published by Marvel Comics Ltd in the Transformers Annual (1989)

Dan Abnett • Script | Dan Reed • Art
Glib • Letters | Euan Peters • Colour