Marvel Comics

It is a little-known fact that, despite the 80s cartoon being the most recognizable bit of Transformers media, the Marvel comic actually came first. One of the twin titans of the comic-book industry, Marvel published to date the longest run of consecutive Transformer comics, from 1984-1990, and picked up again for a year of "Generation 2" in 1992. Marvel's run is notorious for its wildly variable quality, with a high point generally considered to be Simon Furman's run on the last 1/3 of the US series, and a low point the story arcs roughly between issues #20 and #40, which pushed suspension of disbelief to a new height ("Carwash of Doom" is the most oft-cited example). Artistic quality never approached the standards of Dreamwave's later books. Still, the Marvel issues provide a major topic of conversation for the Transfan--often because of their lackluster quality.

The Original Series Generation 2 (comics) Headmasters (comics) G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers The Marvel Universe