>As I stated in my last blog, I didn’t start collecting comics until I was 12. In the years leading up to that during the 1980’s when there was an abundance of totally awesome toy/ cartoon franchises that would go on to be comic book series, the seeds were planted for comic book fanaticism. I’ve discussed how He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was my first foray into this world, but by far the most memorable for me had to be those robots in disguise, the Transformers.

To a young boy growing up in the 80’s, theres nothing cooler than robots, and if a robot could turn into a big-rig, jet plane, tape recorder, or a really fast car, well, that was the coolest thing in the world. The first robot in disguise I remember owning was brave Autobot leader Optimus Prime which quickly became a prized possession along with Megatron. The unfortunate thing about my Transformers, and most of my really cool toys was that every summer when I would go to Houston to stay with my Grandma, back in Louisiana, my mom had sold most of my toys in a yard sale to make room for the new round I’d bring back with me.

The Transformers cartoon totally rocked and captivated my attention probably more than any cartoon series at the time (except maybe GI Joe) I begged my mom to take me to see the movie, which despite a very 80’s soundtrack, to this day is still pretty well awesome. The tone of the cartoon series changed after the release of the movie as more of the story was set on Cybertron, and things became a little more bleak in the story telling. I’m pretty sure that this was around the time I started drawing as well, and what was I doing in school when I should have been doing classwork? I was trying to perfect drawing Optimus Prime and various Autobots and Decepticons from the cartoon.

From time to time, I would come across the comic series released by Marvel, which much like the GI Joe comic book, was a slight bit grittier than it’s cartoon counterpart. The comic series would delve more into Cybertronian history as well as robot spirituality with a character named Primus who was something of a deity to the Autobots. After a decline in popularity in the 90’s, the Transformers would make a comeback in the current decade with new toy lines, new cartoons, new comic series, and a blockbuster live action/CGI film with a sequel due for release this summer, showing that these robots in disguise have a real staying power.

-Jim

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